Art Shop Gallery
202 W. Pioneer Avenue
Throw a Little Party, new pottery by Libby Berezin
5-7:30 p.m., Reception
Libby Berezin shows new pottery designs in serving pieces, vases and tea pot sets. She also shows her new glaze, “Beach.”
Bunnell Street Arts Center
106 W. Bunnell Ave.
Close to Home, iPad paintings and charcoals by James Behlke
5-7 p.m., Reception;
6 p.m., artist talk
Noon-2 p.m., Free demonstration and workshop, Saturday
Winner of the 2012 Juror’s Choice Award, Anchorage Museum XXXIV All Alaska Juried Show winner, Anchorage painter James Behlke shows new landscapes looking from Kincaid Park towards the Kenai Peninsula. Behlke says, “The iPad is an amazing art production device. I can draw in low light or dark and see what I’m drawing.”
Diamond Ridge Art Studio and Gallery
Big Bear Boardwalk, 4025 Homer Spit Road
Alaskan Fabrications, work by Leslie Garrison and Royce Page
5-7 p.m., Reception
New to the Homer Spit, the Diamond Ridge Art Studio and Gallery, located between Frosty Bear Ice Cream and The Fresh Catch Cafe on the Big Bear Boardwalk, highlights the work of Leslie Garrison and Royce Page. They design scenes which include landscapes, wildlife and other Alaska themes. Garrison will be on hand to present both her prints and cards made from fabric, as well as pillows, bags and wine cloaks.
Fireweed Gallery
475 E. Pioneer Ave.
Regarding Alaska, pencil drawings by Sue Taylor Perez
5-7 p.m., First Friday Reception
Sue Taylor Perez’s show features fanciful animal and fishing themes. Hailing from Nebraska, Sue’s fishing family resides in Kasilof. Family visits provide the stimulation for her fishing themed art. Using the “zentangle” technique of sketching a variety of repeated patterns, her animal designs are extractions of her meditations, leaving creatures reduced to their basics with the integrity of the subject undiminished.
Homer Council on the Arts
344 W. Pioneer Ave.
Quilts, by Beth Christiansen
5-7 p.m., Reception
10 a.m.-7 p.m., Mary Epperson Day Community Art Project
7 p.m., Mary Epperson and volunteer appreciation
Longtime Homer resident Beth Christiansen shows her quilts. Born in 1956 and a Homer resident since 1961, Christiansen says she attributes her love of quilting to her mother, Karen Nussbaum. “My ideas come from my surroundings and my imagination,” she says. “Once I get an idea, the pieces just seem to fall into place with one another.”
First Friday also is Mary Epperson Day, a day to honor one of HCOA’s founders and a Homer music teacher and performer. From 10 a.m.-7 p.m., visitors are invited to explore the idea, “What do the arts mean to you?” by writing on the walls of Etude Studio, Epperson’s music studio next to HCOA. At 7 p.m., share gratitude to Epperson and volunteers with word and music.
Picture Alaska
448 E. Pioneer Ave.
Drawing from Life, recent work by the Homer Life Drawing Group
5-7:30 p.m., Reception
“Drawing from Life” shows recent works by the Homer Life Drawing Group, including James Buncak, Dave Ellington, Sarah Frary, Rich Gustafson, Michael Murray, Lee Post, Lynda Reed and Leo Vait. Artists of all levels are invited to join the life drawing group, which meets weekly to draw from a live model.
Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery
471 E. Pioneer Ave.
New work, batiks by Janaan Kitchen
5-7 p.m., Reception
Janaan Kitchen has work in the permanent collection of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art and has been selected for the Alaska 1-percent for art program in several public institutions, including a 48-foot mural in Crooked Creek School. She may be the only artist worldwide to work with batik on paper, a very delicate process requiring thin rice paper, which, although strong when dry, is extremely fragile when wet. She produces these “paper batiks” the same traditional way as those on fabric. Finished batiks usually are matted and framed under glass or acrylic.
