Homer’s galleries and public art spaces celebrate spring with local artists showcasing new and continuing work. Stroll the galleries, meet the artists and enjoy the variety of mediums on display.
Art Shop Gallery
202 W. Pioneer Ave.
“Beach Treasures and More”
Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.
Art Shop Gallery presents an exhibit of jewelry, “Beach Treasures and More.” Mother and daughter Gayle and Marie McIntire showcase their jewelry that incorporates items gathered from local beaches. Gail, owner of Whalesong Alaska, creates handcrafter jewelry and gifts made from natural beach stones, sea glass, shells, and driftwood combined with either copper, jewelers brass or Argentium silver, various styles of beads and semi-precious gemstones. Marie, who owns 907North Designs, creates jewelry inspired by Alaska flowers, berries and mushrooms. Her ocean-inspired sea glass style earrings are her favorite to make, with her signature square knots providing a nod to the fishing industry she grew up around. Visit the gallery online at artshopgallery.com.
Bunnell Street Arts Center
106 W. Bunnell Ave.
“On this sand (together): A Story of Place”
Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m. Artist’s talk, 6 p.m.
Bunnell Street Arts Center presents “On this sand (together): A Story of Place.” An exhibit of photographs by Jenny Irene, this body of work features Inupiat familial connections to each other and the Indigenous lands and waters. Intending to connect past, present and future Inupiat and a record of stories from her family’s fish camp, Irene records what climate change hasn’t erased, including their ties to each other and the memories of place. A photographer whose work is grounded in storytelling, Irene is inspired by kinship, home and individual’s stories and she explores notions of identity, place, refusal and access through portraiture and nonhuman photographs. Irene holds an MFA in Photography from the University of New Mexico, a BFA in Photo media and a BA in American Indian Studies from the University of Washington. Her work has been exhibited internationally at the Winnipeg Arg Gallery and Hause Kunst Mitte gallery in Berlin, Germany as well as at the Portland Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, among others. Visit the gallery at bunnellarts.org.
Fireweed Gallery
475 E. Pioneer Ave.
“Meander to Mustang: Two Photographers & Their Journey to the Himalayas”
Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.
Fireweed Gallery presents “Meander to Mustang: Two Photographers & Their Journey to the Himalayas.” Last September, Homer photographers Taz Tally and Christina Whiting joined friends for a brief visit to India followed by a month-long trek across Nepal. With this exhibit, the photographers feature their individual perspectives from their shared journey.
Tally is a photographer, geologist, author and outdoor adventurer. He shows his work year-round at the Art Shop Gallery, teaches geology at UAA and graphic arts for Session.edu., is the author of “50 Hikes in Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula” and “Backroads and Byways of Alaska,” and leads local adventure and photography tours. As a youth in New Hampshire, he spent hours in the woods marveling at nature and capturing its essence through photography. His passion is landscape photography for which he has a very broad definition that includes macro textures and fabrics, sweeping vistas and underwater scenes.
Born in Alaska and raised in Canada, Whiting returned to Alaska in 1997 and moved to Homer in 2000 “for a year of adventure.” She has been photographing the world around her and around the world for more than 35 years, from landscapes and wildlife to portrait and street photography. In October 2020, Whiting created a documentary art project, “Behind the Mask — Our Stories,” and has since spent a part of every year driving around the United States and Canada, living in her car with her cat and capturing everyday life through photography, videography and recorded interviews. A writer, photographer and adventure traveler, she is inspired by creativity, community and connection and feels most at home when exploring places she’s never been before.
Visit the gallery online at fireweedgallery.com.
Grace Ridge Brewing
870 Smoky Bay Way
“In the Time of Vanishing Glaciers,” oil paintings by Renee Patten
Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.
Grace Ridge Brewing presents “In the Time of Vanishing Glaciers,” oil paintings by Renee Patten. Inspired by time spent living and working on islands in Glacier Bay, Yakutat Bay and Prince William Sound, Patten’s work showcases the natural beauty of Alaska. Painting in oils and watercolors both plein air and in the studio, Patten often paints from sketches taken in the field, creating small studies prior to choosing a final piece to paint. This body of work was created between summer 2024 and winter 2025.
Homer Council on the Arts
355 W. Pioneer Ave.
“Jubilee! Celebrating Youth in the Arts”
Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.
Homer Council on the Arts presents Jubilee! Celebrating Youth in the Arts. Every year, Homer Council on the Arts organizes the Jubilee! galley exhibition and Jubilee! performing arts show. Intended to highlight and encourage local youth, youth of all ages were encouraged to participate, and the result is a visual exhibit that includes works in metal, paper, wood, drawing, painting, collage, diorama, metalwork and mixed media sculptures. Visit HCOA at homerart.org.
Pratt Museum
3779 Bartlett St.
“Bering Sea Storms: Past to Present”
Reception, 4-6 p.m. Lecture, 6 p.m.
Pratt Museum hosts “Bering Sea Storms: Past to Present,” a mixed media presentation that focuses on the 2022 research cruise aboard the R/V Sikuliaq.
Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab Director Chris Maio and UAF Geophysical Institute PhD student Reyce Bogardus will discuss the research methods and activities, life aboard the ship and inclusion of Indigenous partners from the Qawalangin Tribe of Unalaska. The “Aleutians Change” video will be shown and an open discussion held. Through the presentation, the audience will gain a better understanding of how exciting and fruitful ship-based research is and how the partnerships created in the project have led to numerous broader outcomes and impacts.
Maio has over 15 years of experience investigating coastal hazards and their impacts on people and the environment. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and serves as the director of both the Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab and the Alaska Coastal Cooperative. His current research integrates coastal hazard assessments with local and Indigenous knowledge to understand and educate about how a warming climate is impacting rural coastal communities. Chris is also leading the newly funded Navigating the New Arctic ACTION project. Reyce Bogardus a PhD student at the Geophysical Institute’s Arctic Coastal Geoscience Laboratory. He has carried out geospatial and stratigraphic studies around coastal Alaska for the last 10 years. His current research is contributing to a societally relevant data gap in the Aleutians through sedimentological reconstructions of intense storms and volcanic activity as well as validated hydro-dynamic models fed by real-world observations. All three galleries of the museum will be open, as well as the museum store. A donation of $5 is suggested for the “Bering Sea Storms: Past to Present” exhibit. Visit the museum online at prattmuseum.org.
Ptarmigan Arts
471 E. Pioneer Ave.
Weekend Pop-Up of Youth Art
Gallery hours Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ptarmigan Arts showcases the next generation of Homer artists with work by local youth. On display during this weekend pop-up of work by children and grandchildren of current Ptarmigan members, work featured will include jewelry, paintings, handmade soaps, woodworking, folded flowers and more. Pop-up hours are Friday, April 4 from 5-7 p.m., when visitors can meet the artists, and Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Visit the gallery online at ptarmiganarts.com.
The Dean Gallery
40374 Waterman Road
“New work & Open Studio”
Open 5-7 p.m.
The Dean Gallery is family-owned and features contemporary art by M’fanwy, Ranja and Jeff Dean. In the gallery are also intricately carved wood panels, bronze sculptures, metal and wood wall art, seed bead jewelry and specialty prints on metal, wood, and paper. On Friday, April 4, the gallery will host an open studio where visitors can see progress on Jeff’s commission, “Flight of the Eagle,” for the Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation hospital in Bethel. Twenty feet long, the piece features four heat-colored steel eagles on a rusted and heat-colored steel and stained and textured birch plywood background. Visit them online at deangallery.com.
“Heart” by Grey Walls-Parkhill is on display at Homer Council on the Arts in their April exhibit, “Jubilee! Celebrating Youth in the Arts,” in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Homer Council on the Arts
Arctic Coastal Geoscience Lab Director Chris Maio, who is also a contributor to the Pratt Museum’s “Bering Sea Storms: Past to Present” exhibit, performs research from the RV Sikuliaq in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. Photo provided by the Pratt Museum
Earrings by Gayle McIntire are on display through April in the Art Shop Gallery’s exhibit, “Jewelry Show Beach Treasures and More,” featuring work by Gayle McIntire and Marie McIntire. Photo provided by Gayle McIntire
”Soaring Nanga Parbat” is a photograph by Taz Tally, on display through April at Fireweed Gallery in his collaborative exhibit with Christina Whiting, “Meander to Mustang.” Photo provided by Taz Tally
A working drawing for “Flight of the Eagle” by Jeff Dean, a commissioned piece for a Bethel hospital, features heat-colored steel eagles on a background fashioned from steel and birch plywood. Photo provided by Jeff Dean
