Summer isn’t quite over with September First Friday art openings

Although school is back in session, the fireweed has gone to fluff and the Labor Day weekend heralds the traditional end of the summer season, First Friday still thrives in September. Galleries feature shows by new and returning artists. Bunnell Street Arts Center has a solo-show by Indigenous artist Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich that looks at “the transformative power of adaptation to one’s environment,” she writes.

Another exhibit of Indigenous artists, “Protection: Adaptation and Resistance,” continues at the Pratt Museum & Park through September — the last chance to see the show on First Friday before it closes this month.

Homer artist Ed Hutchinson, “the Shadow Painter,” returns with his unique style of white-on-white painting at the Art Shop Gallery. Also returning is Florida-born artist Jay Wright at Grace Ridge Brewing. The Dean Family holds an opening reception at their home and studio out East End Road with new work by Jeff, Ranja and M’fanwy Dean, including an open studio for a sculptural table by Jeff Dean. Another well-known Homer artist, Linda Jones, shows her work at Fireweed Gallery.

In a multimedia show, the Homer Council on the Arts highlights the Back to the Bay expedition from Homer to Bristol Bay in a double-ender sailboat. “Sailing Back to the Bay: A Multimedia Logbook” uses photos and videos to show the trip.

And in a fundraiser to nurture the next generation of artists, Ptarmigan Arts holds a show and offers for sale works to benefit its endowed scholarship through the Homer Foundation.

Art Shop Gallery

202 W. Pioneer Ave.

New White-on-white oil originals by Ed Hutchinson

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

Known as “the Shadow Painter,” Edward Hutchinson shows new work using his technique of thick paint that casts shadows as the eye looks across the work. For September he shows new paintings on the theme of Arctic wildlife.

“When I paint, I disconnect my eyes, arms, and hands from my brain and reconnect them directly with my soul, my heart, my feelings, and turn them loose on the canvas without thought as to what might happen,” he writes. “When complete, I look at the painting and name it according to what I see. I think of myself as an abstract expressionist.”

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

Allaŋŋuq by Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception, with 6 p.m. artists talk

Erin Ggaadimits Ivalu Gingrich exhibits Allaŋŋuq for the month of September

“Allaŋŋuq elevates deep ancestral understanding of the power of wild non-human beings and the transformative power of adaptation to one’s environment,” she writes in her artist’s statement. “Change is a natural element of the living world and it can occur hourly, daily, seasonally, through lifetimes and millennia. Natural beings adapt to these changes in the environment through transformations. Since time immemorial, my ancestors have studied how the wild beings of the nuna(land) here transform.”

Raised in many wild places in Alaska within a family of Iñupiaq and Koyukon Athabascan artists, her work connects with historically traditional beliefs stemming from her ancestors’ value for the natural environment as gifts gathered from the land. Ivalu’s experiences with Alaska’s biodiversity through the lens of sacred subsistence lifeways fundamentally shaped her understanding of the value of Alaska’s ecosystems as both an immeasurable entity, and a gatherable gift sustained over generations. To continue the practice of these beliefs, Ivalu’s work explores representations of these wild resources that make the environment unique through carved, painted, and beaded sculptural mask forms.

Creative Fires Studio and Dean Gallery

40374 Waterman Rd.

New work by Jeff, Ranja and M’fanwy Dean

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

The Dean Gallery shows Jeff Dean’s new heat-colored steel engraving, “Morning on the River,’”as well as new prints on maple from M’fanwy and metal prints by Ranja Dean. An open studio shows Jeff Dean’s 9-foot, live edge black cherry and heat-colored steel “Salmon Stream Table.”

Fireweed Gallery

475 E. Pioneer Ave.

Kachemak Seasons by Linda Jones

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

Fireweed Gallery presents “Kachemak Seasons” by Homer artist Linda Jones. mixed media artwork with colorful and pleasing acrylic swirls that background and highlight illustrations of wildlife and with applications of other natural elements. A selection of artglass also is included.

Grace Ridge Brewery

870 Smoky Bay Way off Lake Street

New work by Jay Wright

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

Born in Miami, Florida, artist Jay Wright grew up in the outdoors and came to appreciate its abundant wildlife. His travels led him to Alaska, where he decided his heart lies.

“Alaska’s grand, natural beauty, ruggedness and stunning wildlife was just the place for him to call his permanent home,” Grace Ridge writes of his work. “As with all of his life’s adventures, he goes in with the reckless abandonment of a fearless child, and captures what his eye sees: the beauty and simplicity of nature at its finest.”

Homer Council on the Arts

355 W. Pioneer Ave.

Sailing Back to the Bay: A Multimedia Logbok

5-7 p.m., First Friday Opening Reception; masks required

September’s exhibit is “Sailing Back to the Bay: A Multimedia Logbook” featuring photos, video with sound design, and some artifacts from the summer voyage of a Bristol Bay double-ender sailboat from Homer to Bristol Bay.

Ptarmigan Arts Back Room Gallery

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

Scholarship fundraiser

Open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m with extended First Friday hours until 7 p.m.

Ptarmigan Arts holds a scholarship pop up show. In the mid-1990s, the gallery established a scholarship fund for local high school students to encourage their education in the visual arts. The scholarship is now supported by a permanent endowment fund through the Homer Foundation. Come by and browse the artwork donated by our artists and others. Every purchase grows the scholarship fund and helps provide meaningful financial support to the next generation of Homer artists.

Pratt Museum

3779 Bartlett St.

Protection: Adaptation and Resistance by multiple artists

4-6 p.m.

“Protection: Adaptation and Resistance” closes at the end of September. Curated by Asia Freeman, the exhibit explores how a new cohort of Alaska Indigenous artists embrace customary artforms and modern technology to create innovative new platforms for sharing, storytelling; reconnecting with ancestral knowledge; and strengthening relationships to land and with one another.