First Friday art exhibit openings provide holiday shopping opportunity

‘Tis the season for holiday shopping, and December’s First Friday exhibit openings and weekend festivities are a great way to kick off the season while supporting local artists and businesses.

Well known Alaskan artist Barbara Lavallee will sign and personalize her books, watercolor prints and calendars, as well as debut her 2020 calendar, titled “Home Sweet Home,” at the Art Shop Gallery.

Bunnell Street Arts Center showcases Ninilchik’s Indigenous artist Argent Kvasnikoff and his body of work that features his culture’s endangered Dena’ina language.

Fireweed Gallery hosts artist Andy Hehnlin, who melds his love of mining and painting, incorporating gold and other mined materials into his work.

Known for her intricately detailed doodles, Felicity Rae Jones debuts new work at Grace Ridge Brewing.

It may not seem like it right now, but Winter Solstice is right around the corner and Carla Klinker Cope’s colorful mural represents the push and pull between light and dark. Find this large painting on the west wall at K-Bay Caffe.

To help make your Christmas shopping for those out of town friends and family even easier, Ptarmigan Arts hosts their annual Flat Rate Box Show, an exhibit of local artist’s work with accompanying USPS boxes. Stop, shop, ship.

Homer artist Kathy Smith’s glacier-inspired paintings grace the Pratt Museum.

And the Salmon Sisters are hosting Kim McNett and her Alaskan nature-inspired drawings.

Take a short drive out East End Road to Dean Gallery where they are featuring sculpture, jewelry and wall art by several local artists.

If you are in the mood for local arts, crafts, food vendors and musicians under one roof, you will want to head to the Homer High School this weekend for Homer Council on the Arts’ annual Nutcracker Faire, happening Saturday and Sunday.

Art Shop Gallery

202 W. Pioneer Ave.

Home Sweet Home with Barbara Lavallee

5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception

Alaskan painter Barbara Lavallee is well known for her hot tub scenes, big lazy cats, and the whimsical way she portrays Alaskan Natives. A large selection of her prints and a wall of originals will be on display, along with her children’s book and 2020 calendar titled Home Sweet Home and she will be on hand to say hello.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

Apollo’s Siheyuan with Argent Kvasnikoff

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception, with 6 p.m. artists talk

Indigenous artist Argent Kvasnikoff (Dena’ina, Ninilchik) draws on his studies of linguistic anthropology and art history in this humanist-themed solo exhibit. Born in Homer, Kvasnikoff studied linguistic anthropology and art history and today, lives in Ninilchik and works with humanist themes illuminated by his indigenous culture. Most of his work involves his culture’s endangered Dena’ina language through the Qena Sint’isis project, a project whose visual works consist of calligraphic abstractions based on a written alphabet created to correspond with Dena’ina phonology. The alphabet incorporates visual symbolism from the across the traditional Dena’ina lands, as well as throughout periods of time from ancient Kachemak culture to information and synthesis age concepts. In 2018, he began work on the corollary Yił project, which started with his creation of a unique calendar system that corresponds to Dena’ina linguistic data related to the natural and atmospheric phenomena of the Cook Inlet region. Kvasnikoff’s work consists primarily of ink and mixed media painting and includes work in 3D printed forms, as well sculptural work. Kvasnikoff will discuss his work during a talk at 6p.m.

Creative Fires Studio and Dean Gallery

40374 Waterman Rd.

Sculpture, Jewelry & Wall Art

5-9 p.m. First Friday Reception

The Dean Gallery presents a collection of sculpture, jewelry and wall art, featuring local artists, Steve Panarelli, Morgan Edminster, George Overpeck, Jeff Dean, and more. Studio is located five miles out East End Road.

Fireweed Gallery

475 E. Pioneer Ave.

Mixed media by Andy Hehnlin

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception

Gold-miner turned artist, Andy Hehnlin often uses gold, mother of pearl or other interesting substances that he harvests from his mining operations to maximize the vivid effect of his paintings. Rarely does he employ a brush and he has had to design his own nibs for the airbrushing he does due to the heavy nature of his paints. Using sponges, toothbrushes and other random items, he creates the texture of his landscapes. After retiring from the heavy equipment contracting business, Hehnlin found he had a talent for both mining and painting the pristine landscape scenes he found throughout Alaska. Over the years he has exhibited in many galleries throughout the state.

Grace Ridge Brewery

3388 B. Street off Ocean Drive

Drawings by Felicity Rae Jones

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception

Felicity Rae Jones was born and raised in Homer. As a youth, the beauty of the landscape that surrounded her inspired her creativity. During a family trip to Mozambique, Africa, spending three months in a tent and with little to no electronics, she began drawing on any scrap of paper she could get her hands on. Returning home, she further developed both her passion for and skill at sketching. She is well known in Homer for her doodle art, intricate and detailed drawings within drawings.

Homer Council on the Arts

344 W. Pioneer Ave.

Homer Nutcracker Faire

Saturday, Dec. 7, 11a.m.-7:30pm, Sunday, Dec. 8, noon-6p.m. at the Homer High School

Join Homer Council on the Arts for their annual holiday kickoff, the Homer Nutcracker Faire, featuring more than 100 artists from around the Kenai Peninsula, as well as food vendors and musicians.

K Bay Caffe

378 E. Pioneer Ave.

Burst by Carla Klinker Cope

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception

An exploration of light in darkness, Carla Klinker Cope’s exhibit was inspired by what she considers to be the fragile northern environment, seeped in the extremes of light and the darkness, and marked by Winter Solstice. As the days have gotten shorter, Cope’s thoughts have turned to light, stars, solar flares, black holes, magnetic fields and gravity. Eager to create a body of work that would represent the theme of light returning, she set out to create a 16-foot wide temporary mural for the coffee shop’s western wall. Her painting Burst refers to the idea of a burst of light, a burst of energy, bursting into flames, bursting forth and bursting out. Driven by color, pattern, and the push and pull between light and dark, Cope wanted

this painting to be about a deep darkness exploding with energy, crystallized in symmetry. Using paint pens, watercolor inks, acrylics, exterior latex house paint, and gesso, the mural is mixed media on wood, live edge local slabs or canvas, and can be rearranged so that the star is on the outer edges and the black hole is in the center. Cope lives and works in Homer. She earned her bachelor’s in fine arts from Oregon College of Art and Craft and lived and painted in Oregon, Wisconsin and California before returning to Alaska to raise a family.

Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

Flat Rate Box Show

5-7 p.m.

Beginning Dec. 6 and continuing through Feb. 5, Ptarmigan Arts will host its annual Flat Rate Box Show, a holiday gift show that makes shopping easy, as each item on display will already be matched to the right USPS flat rate box for ease of shipping. Member submissions include ceramics, glass, woodwork, weavings, jewelry and graphic art.

Pratt Museum

3779 Bartlett St.

Kathy Smith’s Rivers of Ice

5-7 p.m.

Kathy Smith is a prolific Homer painter whose work is represented in the Pratt Museum’s permanent collection. This exhibit, Rivers of Ice is an exploration and a personal record of her visits to several Alaskan glaciers, and a testament to the ravages of time and the effects of a changing climate on the Alaskan landscape. In addition to the exhibit, local history enthusiast Beth Cumming will be on hand to sign her new book, And Some Stayed On: Settling the North Shore of Kachemak Bay and Points Beyond, 1900-1959.

Salmon Sisters

1554 Homer Spit Rd.

Drawings by Kim McNett

5-7 p.m.

Homer artist Kim McNett’s work draws upon Alaska’s wild landscapes and rich biodiversity. Fueled by curiosity and fascination, she is constantly exploring vast and remote reaches of the state, and as a teaching artist and wilderness guide, she seeks to awaken the bond with nature that she believes is inherent to everyone.

“Beyond Ocean,” a collaborative piece by George Overpack, Jeff Dean and Morgan Edminster, on display at the Dean Gallery through December. (Photo provided)