Sense-inspired creations at June’s First Friday events

The sights, sounds, taste, touch and smells of summer are upon us. Stop by Homer’s art galleries and enjoy First Friday Opening Receptions that showcase local artists and their sense-inspired creations.

Art Shop Gallery

202 W. Pioneer Ave.

Jewelry by Liz Bowen

First Friday Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.

Art Shop Gallery hosts new jewelry by Liz Bowen, including earrings and pendants.

Alaska-born glass artist Bowen was one of the first in the country to use Dichroic glass to create her jewelry line, Aurora Fire. She is inspired by the beauty of her surroundings and incorporates those elements into her wearable art.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

Paintings by Antoinette Walker and CSA Boxes with work by six local artists

First Friday Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m. Artists’ talk, 6 p.m.

Bunnell Street Arts Center debuts this year’s CSA Art Boxes with original art by Abigail Kokai, Adele Person, Marie Herdegen, Sharlene Cline, Valisa Higman and Winter Marshall-Allen. Also on display through the month are encaustic paintings by Kodiak artist Antoinette Walker. Known primarily for her coastal marine subjects, Walker’s medium includes heated wax, to which colored pigments are added. Embedding papers, charts, fish tickets and found objects to the wax, her pieces reflect her love of Alaska. Her work is recognized and collected throughout Alaska. It has been exhibited in the Anchorage Historical Museum and is held in the collections of the Pratt Museum in Homer, Alutiiq Museum in Kodiak, Baronov Museum in Kodiak, Kodiak Public Library, Providence Hospital, Kodiak and Credit Union 1 in Kodiak.

Creative Fires Studio and Dean Gallery

40374 Waterman Road

New and current work

Open 5-7:30 p.m. First Friday

The Dean Gallery invites everyone to stop by and browse their unique gallery space, which features originals and reproductions of M’fanwy’s intricately carved maple panels, Jeff’s heat-colored steel wall art and Ranja’s graphite drawings. You’ll also find bronze and wood sculptures, cards, stickers and other gift items.

Fireweed Gallery

475 E. Pioneer Ave.

Encaustic paintings by Amy Hunt and Robert Bezek

First Friday Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.

Fireweed Gallery hosts “Happy Place,” vibrant encaustic paintings by Amy Hunt and Robert Bezek. Hunt, a physical therapist and jewelry artist, became interested in the hot wax technique in 2011, and her partner, Bezek, a retired architect, soon joined in. The couple’s hot wax abstract paintings are light and colorful and capture the world around them through their own happy and whimsical lens.

Grace Ridge Brewing

870 Smoky Bay Way

Paintings by Jennifer DePesa

First Friday Opening Reception, 5-7 p.m.

Grace Ridge Brewing presents new work by Homer artist Jennifer DePesa. A visual artist specializing in oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings, DePesa finds inspiration in the natural world and seeks to capture its beauty through bright and bold colors to create a visual narrative that sparks a dialogue between the viewer and the natural world. She believes that by highlighting the details in the everyday, we can cultivate a greater sense of mindfulness, gratitude, and environmental stewardship, and find beauty in the simplest moments of life.

Homer Council on the Arts

355 W. Pioneer Ave.

Paintings by Jenna Gerrety

First Friday Opening Reception and live painting demo, 5-7 p.m.

Homer Council on the Arts hosts “Omnipresence: A Blue Period,” new work by Jenna Gerrety. For this exhibit, Gerrety was inspired by the color blue: “Blue is omnipresent, from the sea to the sky to the logos of all the big tech companies– we are surrounded by blue. How strange that at one time blue pigment was more rare and valuable than gold, how strange that oceans were once described as wine-dark and the skies were cloudy or clear, how strange that a color added so recently to our vernacular claims such an important place in our culture.” An Alaska-born and raised artist, Gerrety enjoys exploring and sharing the delights and contradictions of our home terrain.

Pratt Museum & Park

3779 Bartlett St.

“In A Time of Change: Boreal Forest Stories”

First Friday free admission 4-6 p.m., no reception

Pratt Museum & Park hosts their summer exhibit, “In a Time of Change: Boreal Forest Stories” that opened on May 25 and will run through September. “Boreal Forest Stories” is a cross-disciplinary, collaborative project examining change in the boreal forest through narrative. For over a year and a half, 44 creators, including artists, writers, environmental educators, and humanities scholars, exchanged knowledge and perspectives on the boreal forest with scientists and explored narrative as it applies across the disciplines. Through their original works, participants relate stories rooted in the boreal forest, including its ecology, its inhabitants, and their interactions.

Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

First Friday hours, 5-7 p.m.

Ptarmigan Arts invites the public to stop in and see the new artwork on display by their cooperative of artists, from jewelry to wood, paintings to photography, glass to masks, and so much more.

Dichroic jewelry by Liz Brown is featured at the Art Shop Gallery through June. Photo provided by the Art Shop Gallery

“Happy Place,” an encaustic painting by Amy Hunt and Robert Bezek is on display at Fireweed Gallery through June. Photo provided by Fireweed Gallery

CSA Boxes with work by six local artists are available for sale at the Bunnell Street Art Center starting June 1, 2023. Photo provided by Bunnell Street Art Center