Last summer’s Paint In live-art series at the Homer Elks Lodge returns for First Friday this month. Artist and sign painter Dan Coe is joined by his son David as they each paint a large canvas on the back deck of the Elks Lodge. The action starts at 5 p.m., and paintings will be auctioned at 9 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Elks Scholarship Fund.
First Friday also brings one of Homer’s most celebrated sculptors, former resident Mike Sirl, with a retrospective show of his art and paintings at Bunnell Street Arts Center. Sirl lived at his Diamond Ridge Road studio from 1974 to 2000, and has become known for his realistic and playful large-metal sculptures, including life-size moose and bigger than life skates. Many of his works can be seen around Alaska as 1-percent for art commissions.
Another well-known artist, Atz Kilcher, shows his baskets and other found natural object works at Ptarmigan Arts. A reality-TV star, Kilcher is a musician, rancher, logger and homesteader who has found inspiration in natural-made art like that of what he calls his mentor, the beaver.
Another interactive art show is Homer artist Patrick Bradley’s Nebulous Spectacles, opening at the Homer Council on the Arts. The opening includes spirit animal coloring books, coloring contests, juggling and temporary tattoos. At 7 p.m. Bradley leads the Freak Parade to an after-party coloring and art jam at Alice’s Champagne Palace.
Art Shop Gallery
202 W. Pioneer Ave.
Jewelry Trunk Show, new work by Doug Horner
5-7:30 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception
Artist Doug Horner of Northern Adornments Jewelry works primarily in sterling silver, but also creates pieces using titanium, copper, brass and bronze along other media. Each piece is hand woven and every piece is a unique creation.
Bunnell Street Arts Center
106 W. Bunnell Ave.
Big Play, painting and sculpture retrospective by Mike Sirl
5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception; 6 p.m., artists talk
Former Homer artist Mike Sirl returns to for a retrospective exhibition of figurative drawings and steel sculptures. Sirl lived on Diamond Ridge from 1974 to 2000, and produced an impressive body of large-scale paintings and steel sculptures.
Fireweed Gallery
475 E. Pioneer Ave.
Ocean Playground, paintings by Karen Crandall
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Wasilla mixed-media artist Karen Crandall shows “Ocean Playground.” Watching pods of humpback whales gulping krill and kayaking to bird rookeries to watch seagulls and Arctic terns swarming the icy channels and coves in Shoupe Bay and Kachemak Bay provided the inspiration for this show.
Homer Council on the Arts
344 W. Pioneer Ave.
Nebulous Spectacles, mixed-media by Patrick Bradley
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Artist Patrick Bradley shows his original watercolors, Spirit Animal coloring books, fresh prints, temporary tattoos, cool stickers and strange illustrations. He also has a coloring contest and juggling. At 7 p.m., join him for the Freak Parade and after-reception party at Alice’s Champagne Palace, where people can join him in coloring, drawing and flexing our their left brains, all while drinking the finest ales and spirits.
Homer Elks Lodge
215 W. Jenny Lane
Paint In, large-scale live painting by Dan and David Coe
5-9 p.m., First Friday Reception
Homer artist and sign painter Dan Coe and his son David each paint a 5-foot-by-4-foot performance piece on the back deck of the Homer Elks Lodge. The paintings are auctioned off at 9 p.m. Proceeds benefit the Elks Scholarship Fund.
Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery
471 E. Pioneer Ave.
Gray Wood, Roots and Beavers, mixed-media work by Atz Kilcher
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Lifelong Alaskan Atz Kilcher adds “artist” to his list of vocations as veteran, social worker, music educator, logger, rancher, college graduate, log home builder, singer-songwriter, artist, husband and father. In his work Kilcher combines his creativity, his love of nature and his sense of what makes art.
