Art openings this month feature exhibits from two of Homer’s most distinguished artists, R.W. “Toby” Tyler, showing at Ptarmigan Arts, and Karla Freeman, showing at Bunnell Street Arts Center. Tyler and Freeman have art careers stretching back 50 years. Tyler first came to Alaska in 1953. Freeman, who has spent the last six years in Baja, Mexico, lived in Homer for 40 years.
Freeman also represents the multigenerational aspect of Homer culture. Her mother, Rachel Weiser Kaplun, was an artist and her daughter, Asia Freeman, also paints. Showing at the Fireweed Gallery is another second-generation artist, Julia Stutzer, recently turned 30, whose parents, Jan Peyton and Dave Stutzer, also are artists. Stutzer’s “Dreaming of Teeth and Treasure” attempts to recreate visions of her dreams.
Freeman’s work contrasts the Alaska winter and the Mexican summer. A tropical transplant to the north, Peter Alfiche, who moved to Homer from Hawaii in 2009, also draws on the extremes in his show opening at the Homer Council on the Arts.
Adding a bit of whimsy is Cooper Landing artist Ken Green, whose multimedia works combine wood, TV parts and other material in fantastic creations.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.