HCOA holds Quixotic fundraiser
The Homer Council on the Arts holds a fundraiser at 7 p.m. today at the Homer Theatre for its fall show, Quixotic Fusion. Video selections of Quixotic performances will be shown. The fundraiser also includes live auction with items such as massages and meals at local restaurants. Tickets are $10 at HCOA or online at homerart.org.
A troupe of 22 performers, musicians and theater technicians, Quixotic is a multimedia group that combines dance, theater, aerial acrobatics, music, sound, film and visual effects. Mica Thomas, the co-artistic director, was raised in Homer and studied theater at Pier One Theatre and Homer High School. Quixotic visits Homer from Oct. 14 to 19, with school workshops and two live performances.

Percussion workshop offered
Percussionist and drummer Eddie Wood offers a workshop from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Homer Council on the Arts. The emphasis of the workshop is on hand and finger drumming, with improvisation and ensemble exercises. No experience is necessary. The workshop is for youth and adults ages 16 and older. The fee is $60 for HCOA members and $75 general. To register, visit www.homerart.org or visit HCOA 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

Celtic Club holds St. Pat’s Day bash
The Kachemak Bay Celtic Club holds a St. Patrick’s Day celebration from 5 to 9 p.m. March 17 at Alice’s Champagne Palace. The evening includes dancing, pub-style sing-alongs, a kilt raffle and a silent auction. Contests include Irish jig dancing, limericks and a lovely legs contest for kilted gentlemen. Traditional Irish food and drink will be available for purchase. This is a family-friendly event. Traditional dress is encouraged.
Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students, $25 a family and under 5 free, on sale at the Homer Bookstore. Proceeds support the Kachemak Bay Highland Games to be held July 6 in Homer.

ASCA seeks art for Art Bank

The Alaska State Council on the Arts is requesting applications of visual artwork to purchase for the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank. Alaska artists are invited to submit up to six recent works in any media. Purchased works become part of a lending collection displayed throughout state public areas. All entries must be done through www.callforentry.org. Search for “Alaska Contemporary Art Bank 2013” on that site. Only works priced at under $4,000 will be considered. The deadline for application is 9:59 p.m. March 1.

Homer oral histories available
Oral histories from the Alaska Communities of Memory Project are now available online through the Project Jukebox Oral History Program, University of Alaska Fairbanks. The project was a statewide effort from 1994-1996 funded by the Alaska Humanities Forum to provide an opportunity for people in communities around Alaska to share memories of their community and to reflect on what made their community special. The Homer Communities of Memory Project Jukebox includes stories gathered at Land’s End Resort on April 26-27, 1996.
The Project Jukebox online link at jukebox.uaf.edu/site7/project/616 includes stories told at that session by Ralph Broshes, Marcee Gray, Mark Marette, Sandy Miller, Bob Moore, Don Ronda, Dave Seaman, Gert Seekins,
Diana Tillion, Carolyn Turkington and Wilma Williams.

Bunnell receives Allen Foundation grant
For the third year in a row, Bunnell Street Arts Center has been awarded a $10,000 grant from the Washington-based Paul G, Allen Family Foundation. The grant supports Bunnell’s Visual Arts Exhibition Program which showcases Alaska artists in monthly solo and group shows featuring an opening reception and artists talk on the first Friday of each month.

Smith given Combs Award
Bunnell Street Art Center’s Alex Combs Award Committee voted unanimously to award Homer painter Kathy Smith a $1,500 Alex Combs Award to support the cost of tuition, materials and workshop fee for her to study encaustic monotype printmaking with Paula Roland in Santa Fe, N.M. in November.
“Kathy’s work is constantly evolving, and this award will support that. She is focused and knows exactly what she wants to do,” the committee said. “Kathy knows the next step she wants to take in her artistic development and she demonstrated how, in terms of the progression of her work, she can do that with this workshop. She deserves this opportunity. We are excited to support her.”
The Alex Combs Award was established in 2009 to honor the late Halibut Cove artist and teacher. Private donations and proceeds from the sale of his paintings, donated by his estate, support this annual award for Alaska painters, ceramicists and sculptors to participate in art workshops and mentorships.

Oregon writer to present spring workshop
Registration has opened for an upcoming Kachemak Bay Campus spring writing workshop with Oregon writer Debra Gwartney. Gwartney is the author of the memoir “Live Through This,” a finalist for the National Books Critics Award, and a 2012 Kachemak Bay Writers’ Conference presenter. Her workshop, “The Art of Scene Writing in Personal Narrative,” will be held the week-end of May 3-5 at the Kachemak Bay Campus. The focus of the workshop will be on the various elements related to the building blocks of narrative, scenes. Each participant will bring a four- to five-page scene, and as a group also study scenes from books and essays, discuss participants’ work, and write new scenes to present and workshop. Space is limited, and advanced registration is required. The fee is $185.
Gwartney also is the co-editor with Barry Lopez of “Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape,” published in 2006. She is the recipient of many fellowships, including those from Hedgebrook, the Wurlitzer Foundation, the American Antiquarian Society and the Oregon Arts Commission. She is currently on the nonfiction faculty for the master of fine arts program in writing at Pacific University and lives in Western Oregon.