Artist Talks @ Bunnell

March 2025, First Friday w/ Sean Derry

Sean Derry spent the past two summers on the southside of Kachemak Bay carefully deconstructing a homesteading cabin dating from Alaska’s statehood. He has transformed the artifacts and materials from the cabin into a new collection of artworks. Sean hopes the project promotes a form of migration that lacks the injuries of colonization. “Key to this ideal is accepting the knowledge already present in a location and remaining mindful of how one’s presence alters the identity of a place. I hope that erasure of the cabin can exist as both an open investigation and an apology.” more.

February 2025, First Friday w/ Kim McNett

Peat is a substance of slow growth and deep time. The soggy layers of rich soil hold thousands of years of frog songs, moose tracks and the subtle work of sedge and moss that draw carbon from the air and lay it down in blankets of spongy earth. On behalf of the wild nature that flourishes in these special wetlands, I am exploring an emerging side of my artistic voice, expanding my science illustration into a realm of impression and imagination. more...

December 2024, First Friday w/ Abigail Kokai

From the “Panda Mick’s” universe, we follow the new adventures of the recent jackpot lottery winner, 97-year old Aelon Funk, the self-proclaimed “billionaire space boi.” Aelon is breaking in his “new-to-him” spaceship while he embarks into outer space, hoping to find the fountain of youth. The funk-filled spaceship and incredible life stories deliver energy to all he meets. The “Panda Mick’s” universe is a family of small, plush, muppet-like characters born out of isolation during the pandemic and created by Abigail Kokai. more

November 2024, First Friday, 10 x 10 Exhibit

“In Memory of…” offers space for reflection and to honor the people, places and experiences that shape us. The theme invites expression of grief and loss, as well as of joy and love. Variations and interpretations might include retablos, paintings, altars, constructions, mementos mori, or other works. more...

October 2024, First Friday w/ George Gianakopoulos

“Being creative is extremely important to me. It’s my passion, my life’s work and how I contribute to my community. The images, subjects and narratives in my art stitch together my experiences of family, music, pottery, agriculture and love as a stay-at-home father of two and a part-time farmer. I also play music on a regular basis. My hope is that my work communicates my passions and inspires others to create from their own experiences." more.

“Tune in: Homer” Audio Soundscape by Andrew O’Connor

Tune In: Homer” is an audio soundscape featuring voices of people and place in Homer created by sound artist Andrew O’Connor, from Toronto, Canada.

O’Connor created this audio installation from soundscapes and interviews he captured while  artist-in-residence at Bunnell Street Arts Center during the month of April 2024. The audio installation is four unique audio loops transmitted from stations located around Old Town, Homer. Anyone can experience this installation by listening to a transistor radio set to 98.1 FM and walking slowly through the neighborhood between Bunnell Street Arts Center, Two Sisters, Islands and Ocean Visitors Center, Bishops Beach, and The Driftwood Inn or on roads, trails and Bishop’s Beach. The transmission comes through more clearly when you pause. Sit at a picnic table, a rock, a bench or a beach log on any of these routes. At times you will experience two transmissions as you move from one transmitter to the next. Borrow a handheld transistor radio from Bunnell Street Arts Center set to 98.1 FM and tune in!

 

Learn more here.

Septemebr 2024, First Friday Artist Talk w/ Michael Walsh & Asia Freeman

“Clouds mediate between earth and atmosphere, imagination and make-believe. We study clouds to gauge the amount and distribution of moisture, the atmospheric stability present at a given place and time, the type of convection that is occurring, or what changes in the weather are coming. more...

 

August, 2024, First Friday w/ Steve Gordon

“When I’m mindfully moving through nature my senses are alive to color, pattern, shapes, movement, flow, and contrasts. Being in nature while fully present to the experience is a spiritual and life giving experience for me. I feel more deeply connected to myself and to God….My style of painting could be described as a painterly realism. more

July 5th, 2024, First Friday: Our Way of Living

“In Alaska we are surrounded by abundance. For over ten thousand years, Indigenous people have inhabited these lands, caring for the wild resources that surround us so that they in turn will sustain our communities. Knowing how to make use of local resources was and is a way of surviving and being in good relation to this place. This is a way of being that has been maintained over time through subsistence cycles and place-based practices that are contingent upon taking good care of the resources that surround us. This is our way of living.

Learn more here.

 

 

 

June 7, 2024, First Friday w/Bonilyn Parker

“I believe in the importance of hand-made objects in an increasingly disposable world.  Contemporary issues associated with waste, commercial manufacturing and consequential practices such as repurposing, recycling, and the DIY movement influence my work.  Embellished with the suggestion of mending, my vessels commemorate the endangered art of repair. Working in clay, I explore the spaces that exist between maker and user, disposable and reusable, sentimental and material value.  Through experiencing a handcrafted object, I urge my audience to consider the cost of a throwaway culture and the significance of the items we keep in our lives. more