Art Shop Gallery
207 W. Pioneer Ave.
Time to Unlock the Treasure Corner
by various artists
5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Reception
The Art Shop Gallery features selections from the gallery at half price as well as original work this summer from its Summer Artist series.
Bunnell Street Arts Center
106 W. Bunnell Ave.
Nature Remembered, paintings by Karla Freeman
5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception;
6 p.m., artists talk
Artist Karla Freeman has lived in Homer 40 years and spent the last six years in Baja, Mexico. She shows new paintings inspired by Alaska and Mexico. The Alaska paintings, “The Solace of Winter” contrast with the Mexican paintings, “El Calor de Verano” (the warmth of summer). Freeman notes that she is not a plein air painter.
“I have always painted in my studio remembering — deconstructing — reconstructing nature almost as a poem recalls nature,” she writes. “When I feel successful they are poems about what I feel, what I have seen and usually what I love. Palette knives allow for thick paint. All my paintings are about paint, paint and the process of painting. At times I feel that thick paint becomes a strong statement, hard to take it back, perhaps like sky-diving. Thick paint is scary and exciting. Then I want it quiet once more. I dance with contrasts as I remember nature’s ways. When I lived in Alaska I longed for less black and white and more color. Living in Mexico where there is a lot of color I am often overwhelmed by it. It is a peaceful meditation to paint with less color. I feel lucky to know both, to go from less to more again, from North to South and back once more.“
Fireweed Gallery
475 E. Pioneer Ave.
Dreaming of Teeth and Treasure, paintings by Julia Stutzer
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Julia Stutzer was born and raised in Homer, the daughter of two artists and sister to another. “Julia just turned 30, enjoys telling people that she is 30, just finished a master’s degree in teaching (but does not tell anyone she is a teacher) and thinks that life is getting better with age. She also finds it strange to talk about herself in the third person, but that’s what people do in artist biographies, right?” she writes .“She hopes you enjoy (or get some sort of feeling from) her paintings and hopes that you will indulge your creative side too. She is often astounded and inspired by other people’s cleverness and wishes more people would nut-up and make something neat.”
Of her paintings, she says, “I sometimes have dreams that evoke such a powerful feeling by their images and characters that they stick with me for years. I try to recreate those dreams and feelings, but usually it’s like grasping at mist and the picture is only partially complete, so I add a layer of consciousness. Here on the walls before you, you see what my sleeping and waking minds have made.”
Homer Council on the Arts
344 W. Pioneer Ave.
New work, paintings by Peter Alfiche
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Formely of Hawaii, Peter Alfiche moved with his family to Homer in 2009. He writes that he began painting in the winter of 2011 to relax when he was spending more time indoors. “The dark winter days didn’t matter anymore,” he writes. “All the colors were in front of me, to paint a picture of what I’d like to see.”
Picture Alaska
448 E. Pioneer Ave.
Bits and Pieces, multimedia work by Ken Green
5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Reception
Cooper Landing artist Ken Green has worked in watercolor, oils, pen and ink, but since settling in Alaska, he has allowed his magination and imagery to roam in crazy constructions of whimsical fancy built of TV parts and other bits and pieces. A lifelong artist, he has created art even while employed around the world, including Holland, Egypt, Iran, Dubai, Antarctica, England and various American states. His works often feature a fish motif, something he said he sees as integrated into the lifestyle and culture of the Kenai Peninsula. He has exhibited at ArtWorks in Soldotna and at the Kenai Landing and recently participated in the Quintessential Kenai Peninsula Artists show at the Kenai Visitor’s Center, where one of his TV salmon constructions was purchased by a Rasmuson Foundation art acquisition grant.
Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery
471 E. Pioneer Ave.
His Ashai and His Subjects, new work by R.W. “Toby” Tyler
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Longtime Homer artist R.W. “Toby” Tyler presents “His Ashai and His Subjects,” a series of paintings reflecting his love of the south side of Kachemak Bay. The exhibit contains many of his iconic images of this part of Alaska that he loves so much. The show came about as he reviewed photos he’d previously taken.
“This voluminous exhibit of my latest work, while based on these photos, are yet paintings just as if I had worked from sketches done on site,” he writes. “In their own way, each is my reaction to the scene in front of me at that moment, particularly so since I am no longer physically able to visit this enchanting country, in fact. For those who are able to do so, I hope this show will inspire you to explore this fascinating vista from Homer in all its close-up glory and find out for yourself the rewards it offers.”
