The holiday season is here, and First Friday in December provides a great opportunity to see what local artists, makers and crafters have been up to. Enjoy a stroll downtown and meander through galleries and public art spaces to meet the artists and enjoy the wide variety of mediums on display.
Art Shop Gallery
202 W. Pioneer Ave.
30% off sale
First Friday sale hours, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Art Shop Gallery hosts a 30% sale on all prints in the gallery from 5-7 p.m. on First Friday. Visit the gallery online at artshopgallery.com.
Bunnell Street Arts Center
106 W. Bunnell Ave.
Mixed media work by Tamara Wilson
Opening reception, 5-7 p.m. Artist talk, 6 p.m.
Bunnell Street Arts Center presents Fairbanks installation and studio artist Tamara Wilson and her exhibit, “Street Lamp.” Stemming from her love of lamps, Wilson creates artwork influenced by who and what occupies domestic spaces as a way she can share remnants of daily lives. Eager to support other artists across Alaska, one way Wilson does this is through her mobile art space, The Lemonade Stand.
Bunnell’s Artist in Residence through Dec. 13 is San Francisco-based artist Lucas Murgida, whose projects address ideas of service, perception, liberation, privacy, power and labor, utilizing the aspects and roles of human existence like furniture, locks, teachers and service professionals. From time spent working as a professional locksmith, the artist birthed a conceptual project called “The Locksmithing Institute,” where he travels and teaches themes and skills related to locksmithing. Bunnell hosts “The Locksmithing Institute: Lesson 16 Tangled/Entangled/Untangled” from Monday, Dec. 8 to Friday, Dec. 12, noon to 3 p.m. Using washed up, tangled bundles of fishing rope, community members will work alongside Murgida to repurpose them into a collaborative art project. This activity is free, and community members are invited to bring your own salvaged rope or use materials provided. Visit the gallery online at bunnellarts.org.
Fireweed Gallery
475 E. Pioneer Ave.
Watercolor paintings by members of the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society
Open First Friday, 5-7 p.m.
Fireweed Gallery continues its exhibit of watercolor paintings by members of the Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society. These paintings were created during or inspired by the group’s September workshop instructed by Gayle Weisfield. Visit the gallery online at fireweedgallery.com.
Grace Ridge Brewing
870 Smoky Bay Way
Paintings by John Sheipe. Handmade guitars by Dave Gerard. Fiber arts by Bonita Banks and Lisa Talbott
Opening reception, 5-7 p.m.
Grace Ridge Brewing presents work by several Homer artists, including acrylic paintings by John Sheipe, handmade guitars by Dave Gerard and fiber arts including felted landscapes, scarves and hand towels by Bonita Banks and Lisa Talbott of Kindred Spirits Weaving Studio. Sheipe, Banks and Talbott will have work at the gallery all month long, while Gerard will be onsite during First Friday.
Homer Council on the Arts
355 W. Pioneer Ave.
Nutcracker Faire weekend
Nutcracker Faire hours: Saturday, Dec. 5, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 6, noon to 5 p.m.
Homer Council on the Arts wraps up its “Fun With 5x6x7” exhibit, with a few of the original pieces from the November exhibit remaining on display through December. The gallery will be closed to the public on First Friday as staff prepares for the annual Nutcracker Faire weekend at the Homer High School. A holiday tradition since the 1990s, the Faire highlights the skills and creativity of Kenai Peninsula artists and makers and community members can enjoy arts, crafts and more at the 75 vendor booths, as well as a lineup of live music. Find the list of vendors online at homerart.org/event/2025-nutcracker-faire/. Faire hours are Saturday, Dec. 6 from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 7 from noon to 5 p.m.
Homer Brewing Company
1411 Lakeshore Drive
Memorial exhibit of abstract art by Jack Packer
Opening reception, 4-7 p.m.
Homer Brewing Company hosts a month-long memorial exhibit of colorful abstract work by community member and artist Jack Packer, who recently passed away. Working in colored pens on cardstock, Packer created whatever his eye found pleasing and was well known for giving his work away to anyone who enjoyed it. The father of Homer artist Sharlene Cline, he lived with his daughter and her husband Rick from 2003 until his final day, and this exhibit showcases just some of the vast collection of work he created through the years. Everyone is welcome and community members who knew him are invited to leave words on stationary provided that will be given to the family. Twitter Creek Gardens will also be on hand with a pop-up of veggies and merchandise. Brewery hours are Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Independent Living Center Activity Space
Kachemak Center Mall, 601 Pioneer Ave., Suite 20
Work by participants of ILC’s Artability program
Reception, 4:30-7 p.m.
Homer’s Independent Living Center hosts an exhibit of artwork in their new activity space. Only open to the public on First Friday, community members are invited to stop by, see a variety of artwork created by more than 20 individuals participating in the Artability program and learn more about the program. Artwork includes mixed media, alcohol tiles and painted buoys and corks. Artability has been meeting every Friday for the past two years and is an art group created by the inclusive recreation program (T.R.A.I.L.S) at the Independent Living Center. The group strives to provide an inviting and inclusive space for all, with hopes to empower artists of all abilities to create art and display them to the community.
Kachemak Bay Campus
533 E Pioneer Ave.
Student work
Opening reception, 5-7 p.m.
Kachemak Bay Campus features an exhibit of work by students from Asia Freeman’s fall landscape painting class and David Pettibone’s fall drawing class. During Freeman’s classes, she reminds her students that they are in a process of discovery, excavation and invention, building their own language and technique and searching for what they want to say and how they wish to say it in paint. Pettibone’s students learn beginning through advanced drawing techniques, exploring in pencil, charcoal, and black and white and color compositions ranging from still life to self-portraits to animation. This exhibit includes work by 26 KBC students and is on display through the end of January, open to the public during college campus hours.
Pratt Museum
3779 Bartlett St.
“World on Fire”, oil paintings and driftwood sculptures by American artist Geoffrey C. Smith. Work by Homer High School’s Alaska History class
Reception, 4-6 p.m. with free admission to all galleries
Pratt Museum continues “World on Fire,” a special exhibit of oil paintings and driftwood sculptures by American artist Geoffrey C. Smith, and introduces a two-day-only special exhibit created by the Homer High School Alaska History class, inspired by items from the museum’s permanent collection.
Mixing fine wax and oil paint, Smith uses a palette knife to sculpt the painting and giving his work a distinctive deeply dimensional feeling displaying large strokes and layers of texture. Painted over the course of three summers spent in some of Alaska’s most remote and majestic landscapes, this exhibit captures the beauty of the state’s wildlife and the subtle, sometimes startling signs of a world in flux. Intended to speak to both climate change and the deep, enduring beauty of the natural world, “World on Fire” is an act of bearing witness to Alaska’s wild spaces, as well as an elegy, celebration and call to see more clearly, feel more deeply and protect more fiercely. This exhibit closes at the end of the month.
On display Friday and Saturday, Dec. 5-6, is an exhibit by Homer High School students in the Alaska History class. Sponsored by Ulmer’s Drug & Hardware, for this exhibit students chose items from the museum’s permanent collection that represent Alaskan history and researched and created this special display as part of their semester project. This is a free event with a suggested donation of $5. Visit the museum online at prattmuseum.org.
Ptarmigan Arts
471 E. Pioneer Ave.
“Deck the Walls,” holiday-themed items by co-op members
Opening reception, 5-7 p.m.
Ptarmigan Arts kicks off the holiday shopping season with “Deck the Walls,” a month-long holiday show featuring work by gallery members, including handcrafted ornaments, pottery, jewelry, fabric arts, knitted items, paintings, seasonal cards, woodcraft, mixed media, coasters, keychains, gift wrap, wall hangings, table runners and more. Visit the gallery online at ptarmiganarts.com
South Peninsula Hospital
4300 Bartlett St.
“Scattering of Light,” oil paintings by Kayla McGrath
On display at South Peninsula Hospital’s gallery, “Scattering of Light” continues through mid-December. A series of oil paintings by Wrangell St Elias artist Kayla McGrath that explore Alaskan landscapes and the atmospheric phenomenon that create the dramatic light within these landscapes. Using color and value to define space, this body of work showcases moments in time that seem most fleeting — last light on the mountains and reflections on a ripple in the water. Find the gallery wall through the main entrance and on display in the hallway by the lab.
The Dean Gallery
40374 Waterman Road
Find them at the Nutcracker Faire, Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7
The Dean Gallery is family-owned and features contemporary art by M’fanwy, Ranja and Jeff Dean. On First Friday, the gallery will be setting up for Nutcracker Faire. Find them Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6 and 7 in booth #58 where they will have a selection of metal, wood and paper prints, along with cards and stickers, and a few bronzes and metal wall art originals. Their monthly Open Studios will continue in January. Find them online at jeffreyhdean.com
Homer Council on the Arts will host the annual Nutcracker Faire on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7 at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Homer Council on the Arts
“Harmonize” is an acrylic painting by John Sheipe on display in Grace Ridge Brewing’s December Community Art exhibit, featuring works by numerous Homer artists. Photo provided by John Sheipe
“Aloha” is an oil and acrylic painting by Julia Garrity on display in the student exhibit at Kachemak Bay Campus in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Kachemak Bay Campus
Artwork from the Dean Gallery will be on display and for sale at the Nutcracker Faire on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 6-7, 2025, at Homer High School in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Jeff Dean
This “Fall into Winter” scarf, made by Bonita Banks with Irish wool and mohair textures, is on display through December at Grace Ridge Brewing alongside works by other Homer artists. Photo provided by Grace Ridge Brewing
Dave Gerard’s handmade guitars will be on display through December at Grace Ridge Brewing in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Beth Carroll
An untitled original abstract work by community member Jack Packer is one of numerous pieces by the artist on display through December at Homer Brewing Company as part of a memorial exhibit honoring his life, work and passing. Photo provided by Homer Brewing Company
“Daniel” is a mixed-media work by Tamara Wilson on display through December in her solo exhibit at Bunnell Street Arts Center. Photo provided by Bunnell Street Arts Center
A hand-carved wooden star trivet by Ted Heuer is on display at Ptarmigan Arts through December during their “Deck the Walls” holiday show, featuring work by gallery members. Photo provided by Ptarmigan Arts
Painted buoys by the Independent Living Center’s Artability participants are on display at ILC’s Activity Center on First Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by the Independent Living Center
