Now in its second year with the new generation of artistic directors, the Homer Nutcracker Ballet continues in the tradition of always bringing some fresh features to the classical holiday production. As they did last year, directors Breezy Berryman and Jennifer Norton ground Tchaikovsky’s ballet in the original story line of E.T.A. Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” a tale of a curse put on a prince that turns him into a wooden nutcracker.
The ever changing and evolving Homer First Friday circuit sees two new venues offering shows this week. With K-Bay Caffe's new location on Pioneer Avenue next to Refuge Chapel and the Grog Shop, the longtime coffee roaster now has a cafe with live music and, starting Friday, art. Adam Green, who also works as a barista at K-Bay Caffe, shows his bold mixed-media paintings that experiment with color, texture, form and negative space. Across the street from K-Bay Caffe, Photo Depot also has an art show this month.
Annual Nutcracker Ballet opens
The 24th annual production of Homer’s Nutcracker Ballet opens with a matinee performance at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Mariner Theatre, with shows also at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The ballet continues next weekend at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 7 and 3 p.m. Dec. 8. All tickets are $10 and on sale at the Homer Bookstore and River City Books in Soldotna.
Applications due for Bunnell proposals
Homer’s fiber artists can be found all over, at shows like Wearable Arts, in galleries and even in small couture shops. If you want to find the heart of the art and its historical center, look no further than the Pratt Museum.
Long a home to community quilters, who for decades have created raffle quilts like this year’s “From the Sky to the Sea,” through acquiring quilts for its collection and in shows like the 2007 exhibit, “Celebrating Quilts and Quilters,” the Pratt has examined quilts as a genuine art form.
Eternal Fair, Homer-grown musician Andrew Vait’s group, has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for its debut full-length album.
“The songs that we’re going to record tell a story that deals with the passing of time, the hope for a better future for our children, about dreams, and the places we’ll go when we’re all done here,” Vait said. “We want to invite Homer to be a part of the story. Some of the rewards include an advance digital copy of the album, CDs, vinyl and some other interesting incentives.”
“Alaska Sessions,” a film about a month-long surfing trip from Sitka to Homer, shows again at 1 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Homer Theatre. Admission is $8.
For nearly a dozen years, writers have been gathering annually on the shores of Kachemak Bay, sharing their talents, insights and expertise, and celebrating their enchantment with literature, thanks in no small measure to the enthusiasm of one woman.
The Octopus Garden, a Homer Spit shop open in the summer, holds a special winter show over the Thanksgiving weekend at owner Lynn Naden’s home studio and gallery. More than 20 local artists show their work from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m Nov. 23, 24 and 25, at the gallery at 59965 Kittiwake Court, off Mile 2.8 East End Road. Turn left on the east loop of Bear Creek Drive and take the first left on Kittiwake Court.
For more information, call Naden at 235-5966.
The deadline for the Homer Council on the Arts 21st annual Kenai Peninsula Writers Contest is fast approaching. Entries are due Nov. 21. Literary artists can enter poetry, fiction and nonfiction in categories for grades K-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9, grades 10-12 and adult. To enter, visit the Homer Council on the Arts web page at homerarts.org. All entries must be registered and submitted online. For more information, call 235-4288.
Homer musician Caressa and video director Tehben Dean have won first place in F Magazine’s music video contest. The video features Caressa performing her song, “Fall for You,” and was filmed at beaches in Homer. One of 36 entries in the contest, the award was announced Nov. 3 at a reception and viewing held by F Magazine at Out North Art House in Anchorage.
In the introduction to his book, “Snap Decisions,” photojournalist Jim Lavrakas calls himself “the last ambulance chaser.” A big hunk of the 152-page photo-filled memoir includes pictures of what a 20th century daily newspaper photographer did — shooting fires, car wrecks, crime scenes and even a fiery bomb blast.
Ellis Paul and Radoslav Lorkovic
play together in Homer on Friday
Longtime friends and internationally touring folk-blues musicians Ellis Paul and Radoslav Lorkovic perform for the first time together in Homer at 8 p.m. Friday at Bunnell Street Arts Center. The concert combines Lorkovic’s vibrant blues musicianship on piano and accordion with Paul’s guitar and vocals and smart, witty songwriting. The two musicians have played together elsewhere, but never on the same stage in Homer. Admission is $20.
Imagine, for just a moment, you’re holding a backstage pass for a concert by your favorite band. There in your grubby little mitts is the key to that storied sanctum only select fans are privileged to see. Cool, eh?
Yeah, right, like that’ll ever happen.
Homer resident Jim Stearns, however, can give you the next best thing. For the better part of a decade, beginning in the late 1980s, his company provided catering and hospitality services for the Grateful Dead and other rock icons.
If variety is the spice of life, then think of this week’s First Friday as a smorgasboard of tangy treats. No matter what your taste in art, you’ll find something to please your palate. New encaustic works by Kathy Smith celebrating darkness and light. Paintings and drawings in various media by Michael E. Murray. Paintings inspired by nature from Brianna Bryngelson.
A potpourri of fashion, art, jewelry and gifts from artists throughout the Northwest. Plus, a silent auction fundraiser for a scholarship fund for students of the arts.
Bunnell Street Arts Center
The Kenai Peninsula Orchestra, in conjunction with Carnegie Hall, will present two concerts that include area students this weekend.
The first concert will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Kenai Central High School Auditorium. The second will be at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Homer Mariner Theatre.
The Kachemak Bay Campus’s history department invites the public to the book launch celebration for Vic Fischer’s new memoir, “To Russia With Love: An Alaskan’s Journey” at 7 p.m. Friday. The book, written with Charles Wohlforth, traces Fischer’s life from his early days in Germany and Russia to his decades in Alaska, where he was a delegate to the Alaska Constitutional Convention and a member of both the territorial and state Senates. Today, he continues to study state and local government policy and Alaska-Russia issues.
Privet. Ya haschoo vebit vodka? Da?
Ochen horosho.
Hello. Would you like to drink vodka? Yes? Very good. Dust off your old Russian primers, mangle Cyrillic transliterations, put on a big fur hat and get ready for the 27th annual Ritz Art and Experience Auction with this year’s theme, “Ritz at the Winter Palace.”
“Think Dr. Zhivago,” said Pratt Museum Development Director Michele “Misha” Miller.
Jo Ann and Monte Davis will perform at the Homer Council on the Arts, 355 W. Pioneer Ave., at 7:30 p.m.
Nov. 2. Tickets are $5 for youths; $10 for HCOA members and $15 for others.
This will be “an intimate, living room concert with Jo Ann & Monte,” writes the Homer Council on the Arts.
Allison Atkootchkoot Warden, also known as Aku-Matu, presents a one-woman show, “Calling All Polar Bears,” at 8 p.m. Oct. 26 and 27 at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center auditorium. Tickets are $15 general, $10 youth at Bunnell Street Arts Center and the Homer Bookstore. Warden visits Homer that week and does free outreach activities at West Homer Elementary School and Homer Middle School on Oct. 24.
Welcome to the Opera Season. We are looking forward to seeing our seasoned opera lovers and want to encourage those who are interested but have not yet attended an opera. This season’s first Live in HD Metropolitan Opera showing, “L’Elisir d’Amore,” will be a delight to all. This comedic opera is one that will have you on edge until the cosmic question, “Can you have it all?” is answered. The twist to this opera is whether you can have love and money by simply drinking a potion.
