Artist Talks @ Bunnell

“For more than a decade, drawing has been central to my artistic practice. Working with pencil and black ink, I build dense structures of lines that gradually form fragments of coniferous branches. The process itself is essential to my work and often takes on a meditative quality, unfolding through repetition, rhythm, and sustained attention. Nature holds a particular significance for me as a constant source of inspiration. The recurring motif of coniferous branches originates in the landscape of my home environment, where such trees are abundant. In my work, this natural form becomes a universal structure through which broader reflections on life, perception, and the many forms emerging from nature are revealed.” Learn More.

This body of work takes place locally in the landscapes of the Kachemak Bay area, among the plants and animals we share space with. It contains many of the ideas and themes I continue to explore in my art: Relationships to nature, community, and self, appreciation of the ordinary and the beauty found anywhere, acknowledgment of anxieties, sorrows, and unknowns, expressions of holding and being held. Also included is playfulness and curiosity as I followed what most excited me creatively. I let myself embrace eclectic concepts and imagery with trust that the work would fit together through pattern, color, and possibility of evocation. I often approach painting like collage, pulling observational and imagined images together with the question of how they relate. This exhibit offers a question that comes to mind almost daily–what color blue–on horizon, on cloud bottom, on coffee mug, water jug, on the palette. Blue is open to interpretation, an invitation to notice. Learn more. 

“I discovered the book “Alaskan Igloo Tales” (c. 1974, illustrations by G. Agupuk) years ago while working in Nome, AK’s Indian Education Art and Culture Program. At that time, the stories in this book felt strange and distant from modern Native culture and experience. My self-studies in myth, history, Native cultures, and spirituality renewed my interest in the fascinating and inspiring stories in “Alaskan Igloo Tales.” I’ve chosen to visually reinterpret the book’s Inupiaq-identifying stories based on my new understanding, gained through studying Joseph Campbell’s mythic language and symbols. This project started with two residencies at IAIA in Santa Fe and continued with a residency at Makotaay Art Village in Taiwan. I’ve illustrated all thirty stories in watercolor. These watercolor sketches serve as composition and color studies for moku hanga, a Japanese woodblock-style printmaking process.” learn more. 

Just Listen “I’ve come to believe in the river, where we are most aligned with flow. Responding to each turn and turbulence with a measure of calm. It requires space for attention. It requires listening. This selection of works is the result of listening. Of guided intuition. The works have differing origins. For some, it began with first light skipping across the snow. Or it was pangs of distant connection, or the immediacy of a bond. Others evade my certainty. They all shift and defy their inception. To define their relationship would limit their potential, and the moment is wildly full of potential. Stand in the water, in the snow. Just listen.”

“I remember the first summer I noticed the trees shriveling, turning grey, eaten from the inside out. The air was hot and the rain never came. The swing tree and the joy it brought, lives now only in my mind. more.

An installation and studio artist from Fairbanks, Tamara Wilson exhibits  “Street Lamp” for the month of December at Bunnell Street Arts Center. The exhibit opens on first Friday, December 5th from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. Artist Statement: “Creatures created from a place of wonder, wander, joy, and grief. As my work shifts away from deciphering my curiosity of domestic space, I have become increasingly fixed on what slash who occupies these spaces. Manifested from a love for lamps, many of these artworks have literally and inspirationally evolved from the table lamp."   https://www.bunnellarts.org/tamara-wilson-exhibit-december-2025/

This year’s exhibit represents 137 works by 68 artist members from Alaska and beyond. Professional development through annual exhibition opportunities is heart-centered Mission work. Thank you to the new and renewing artist members of this year! more

“As I engage with the variety of communities across Alaska through my craft as a weaver I hope to share this knowledge, joy and passion through a series of weaving demonstrations, speaking engagements as well as weaving workshops. It’s my hope.. to engage with the community by sharing my art and craft in as many ways as possible.” – Laine Rinehart

“Raven Stole the Stars, Raven Stole My Heart is a collection of prints that I have created through my process of self reflection and growth. I am Denaakk’e Koyukon Athabaskan and Lingít, more specifically Raven/ Dog Salmon clan or sukteeneidí. My show title reflects a well known Tlingit story about Raven stealing the sun; in the context of Raven stealing my heart, it is meant to represent myself and my own agency in regards to the choices I make and associated consequences.” – Ethan Kayaaní Lauesen

“Mountains of bare rock, like those on the north side of the Brooks Range, interest me, since devoid of trees, the mountains show their geological journey. In my paintings I always have tried to be true to the land’s geological story, showing the layers and shapes of rocks as they exist today. But the geological history—dating of layers, push of plates, classifying of rocks and minerals—is too linear an understanding and does not capture the experience of sitting before a mountain and looking. All time feels present when silently looking at a mountain; all past and all future become one in the moment." more...

“My work embodies playfulness, communicating meaning through perspective and  relationships. Inspired by interconnected environments and organisms, my pieces reveal stories through interaction—a decoration under a handle, inside a vessel, or clues on the bottom. My functional vessels encourage use, echoing a message of reciprocity with nature: care for it, and it will nourish us." more

“There are many things that I am inspired by: old New England tobacco barns, the color of honey, glacial ice, Sung Dynasty pottery, Native Alaskan ivory bird carvings, children’s book illustrators such as Harrison Cady, Tasha Tudor and Jerry Pinkney, Danish furniture, cooking, dodo birds, redpolls,  the work of French automobile body designers the 1930s and 40s such as Gabriel Voisin and Jacques Soutchik.…. As I am working in the studio, my interests blend together and emerge within the world of functional objects. Simple and clear statements that speak of my desire to tell a story that will somehow stir the souls of others.” more.

“In the past year, I have moved between two vastly different environments – a woodworking fellowship in urban Philadelphia and my home studio outside of Fairbanks – and been imprinted with their unique visual energies and abundant sound. Recent pieces convey the shaking of elevated trains, the buzz of insects and heat rising from a weed-infested ditch, urban demolition and construction, endless traffic and the places where nature breaks through human control. I’ve applied the same attention to action and noise in a more familiar Alaskan setting – water and ice surge down a creek, the backup alarm for heavy equipment at a nearby mine duets with a woodpecker, dogs’ voices split the cold, the downtown power plant and rail yard trade off in conversation, trees crack and fall in a windstorm. more...

“My pottery is made to be used and enjoyed in the home, and each piece is deeply inspired by the natural world. My love for nature began in my adolescence, working at a local Michigan nature preserve—a formative experience that continues to shape my creative vision. To this day, I spend countless hours observing animals, studying plants, and exploring geology, drawing endless inspiration from the living landscapes around me. Using my passion for carving and drawing, I strive to capture the essence of these natural inspirations in my surface decorations. Every image is hand-carved, then thoughtfully combined with glazes chosen to complement and enhance the carving. The result is pottery that not only serves a functional purpose but also tells a visual story of the places I live and explore.” more

"My paintings reflect the tenacity of an Alaskan summer, autumn’s brilliant demise, winter’s seemingly impossible unraveling, and the amazements of spring. This body of work emphasizes the endless details, changing seasons, and everyday beauty here in the North.” more.

“My creativity and life stories are expressed with coastal marine themes that capture the wild beauty of my home, Alaska. Encaustic is my material of choice – a blend of beeswax, damar crystals and pigment – often using charts, scraps of paper and found objects that are embedded in the wax medium. I draw upon first-hand experiences of fishing, its dangers and excitement." more.

“Every time I pick up a limpet shell I marvel at its compact form with its subtle shifting curves and endless variety of striations and ribs. Their color, pattern and textures layered in an inimitable way that strains my greedy eyes.  I love to pinch them out of clay and this activity brings me great pleasure.  The barnacle on the other hand populates surfaces with a multitude of jagged and clustered forms. Duplex, quadraplex, high rise insanity their variation of sizes clustered together suggest family or village.  These toothy forms offer me the opportunity to recklessly claw and scrape the clay surface into a satisfying jumble of planes.” more

A guided conversation with Megan Murphy and collaborators Ilarion (Kuuyux) Merculieff and Brianna Lee, for the book release of The Inner Garden. About the book: The Inner Garden is a channeled guidebook and vividly-illustrated card deck that offers a personalized map to learn more about yourself and your gifts so that you can navigate and address your particular needs with confidence for the rest of your life. The guidance within the book can enable you to align your own rhythm to that of Mother Earth’s seasons; determine your own unique physical, emotional, and spiritual constitution; and support you in developing and practicing heart-centered living. more www.backyardbeauty.net  

"When I received the invitation from Megan Murphy to collaborate on creating the images for this book, "The Inner Garden," I was both honored and nervous to accept the offer. As a working mother, artmaking had become less and less a priority in my life. Simultaneously, I began to feel like I was losing my artist identity and felt shame, even embarrassment, when referring to myself as an artist. Megan’s invitation to collaborate on this project has helped me remember and realize the importance of nurturing the artist within.” more

“The space we knew as our subsistence camp near Nome, Alaska, has been altered by climate change and was washed away by Typhoon Merbok. This work connects past, present, and future Inupiat and records our stories from fish camp, recording what climate change hasn’t erased – our ties to each other and the memories of place.” more...

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.

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...

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

“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...

“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” 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.

“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...  

“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

“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.      

“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

In the process of creating this show, my efforts and explorations with composition on the heated plate have led me to variations in technique, including the addition of hand-carved printing blocks inspired by a recent trip to Ireland. My family roots are deeply embedded in the history of the landscape there, shifting my work from above to below, and back again.” – Kathy Smith more

Wayfinding is a collection of hand-crafted books and box constructions which look both backward and forward in expressions of grief, hope, and gratitude. They all reflect a personal interaction with materials – the beauty of tanned salmon skin, a perfectly formed rock found on a beach walk, a unique flitch of boreal birch, or a quirky object found in a junk store – each takes me by the hand and leads its own transformation into an artist book or box construction.” – Margo Klass more...

“This body of work draws inspiration from changes I have seen take place over many years living in Alaska.  Many of them are visible and accelerated due to global warming, which deeply concerns me. I have been actively involved with the In Time of Change program for the past 12 years, studying with scientists to understand their research and what it means for our natural world.  I strive to convey, in a very personal way, what I have come to know.” – Ree Nancarrow more...

“My aim is to create a work for multiple low watt FM transmitters set up along the streets of Homer. My time will be spent engaging the local community in interviews and recording the soundscapes of the city at all times of the day and night..." more

”Honoring tradition and seeking innovation, I strive to push the quilt form into new territory. With a firm foundation in traditional textiles, and an art and design background, I am inspired to use my technical skills and creative drive to invent new ways to express my ideas in cloth. In many ways, I have pushed myself to ‘think outside the block’ with both concept and technique.” Learn more.

Ceramicist Kendra Harvey exhibits at Bunnell Street Arts Center for the month of March. The exhibit opens on Friday, March 1, 2024 from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. Harvey will also host two plate painting workshops for Bunnell’s 30th Annual Plate Project. “Storytelling is the foundation of my art. Throughout time and across cultures, mythologies have been formed out of our everyday lives. These shared narratives illuminate human nature, provide comfort, and foster connection. Reinforcing this connection is the core of my work. I want to capture the feeling of hearing a familiar tale once again, but in a new form. Through the rich history of their imagery and symbolism, animals invite endless creative freedom. Detached from the intimately recognizable human figure, they are still relatable through their roles in our lore. I see them as vessels for the human condition, emotions, and relationships. The scenes are enhanced by color interaction that’s inspired by emotional content and the landscape around me. Placing these subjects in compositions on the wall elevates them and evokes sacred imagery. Their floating positions reinforce that they belong to a world adjacent to our own, evoking the line between reality and fantasy. My work is an investigation of pervasive queries about the human experience and world around us. How do we define ourselves in the other? Which of our unique qualities can also be universal? Is there a purpose to human imagination, and why do we filter our reality through it? Through the oldest medium on earth, storytelling, I hope to inspire the viewer to consider humanity’s progress and its future while honoring its past.” learn more.

" I make two kinds of art: for myself, and for other people. The art I make for myself — paintings and mixed media pieces — come from a place of uneasiness and isolation. I dwell on worst case scenarios: violent breakups, car crashes, bloody accidents. Sometimes the lonely characters I create are silly or absurd in their nightmarish realities. I enjoy straddling the line between comedy and horror. The art I make for other people — cards and valentines — are my light hearted, whimsical tokens of love. I cut and collage each one with the recipient in mind — a tiny altar devoted to them. I send them in homemade envelopes all across the world to friends, mentors, and sometimes strangers from the internet. The dichotomy in my work is a reflection of my heart — full, optimistic, and willing to be broken over and over. Magically regenerating, Valentine’s Day after Valentine’s Day. I paint to put form to my angst and loneliness, and I make cards in an attempt to connect and send love in physical form." - Megan DeCino Learn More.

“Perseverance is an exhibition of multicolor intaglio etchings and other works on paper by Carol Lambert. Lambert’s images touch on common experiences, including birth, death, trust, fear, safety, threat, and conditions on planet Earth. Both cartooning and classical drawing inform her whimsical style. Her work bridges fantasy and realism as she explores her theme of resilience in the face of peril.” – Carol Lambert Learn More

Artist Statement: “My photography focuses on telling stories, so my goal is to build a narrative from a group of images, organized in a specific order instead of aiming for visual excellence in one single image. An isolated photograph has a certain aesthetic value, but a set of photos uses the power of visual storytelling to tell a story and stories are powerful tools of communication. That is what I try to achieve as a photographer. This exhibition is about isolation, or my personal vision of my son’s isolation, his strategies to adapt to his new life, his special relationship with the sea, his particular vision of Alaska, his experience here.” – Rafael de la Uz   Learn More.

Bunnell Street Arts Center welcomes multidisciplinary artist, Lydia Moyer from September 23rd – October 22rd as artist in residence. Moyer will exhibit work, share an artist talk, and offer community workshops throughout the month of October at Bunnell Street Arts Center. Moyer says, “My work is a transpersonal response to a sense of crisis in the world. It casts the individual amidst the collective, wrestling with the overwhelming social, political, and environmental concerns that are the shadow of late capitalism, particularly as it looms in the U.S. I bear witness to these concerns alternately by conflating one with another, speaking from the past or future in order to address the present, and playing with the absurd and uncanny amidst melancholy and grief. Moving equally and sometimes seamlessly between self-created and existing materials, I hope to evoke a felt-sense of unshielded – and unheroic – awareness through image, sound, and text.”

“Taking Care” exhibit statement:  How do artists express care for self, community, other life forms and the land? How do artists picture resilience, innovation, and healing? As first responders, artists lead as healers through their creations. In times of tension, crisis or distress, artists surface truth and create images of energy, vibrancy, and hope. The exhibition, “Taking Care,” aims  to foster hope, spark joy, and nurture self and community resilience.   More.

Inuit artist, Lawrence “Ulaaq’’ Ahvakana, shows a variety of sculpture in stone, wood, bronze and glass as well as masks and two-dimensional works on paper. “My inspiration is our Inuit stories, from everyday Northern Alaska lifestyle of subsistence, ceremonies, and the natural cycles of Arctic living depicted in stone, wood, bronze, glass, others including prints, paintings and drawings.” more

“In the spirit of inclusivity, I blend the spiritual symbols of Western culture with those of the Alaska Native people, elevating the culture and worldview of my ancestors. I acknowledge the duality of my heritage and invite the viewer to consider Alaska Native beliefs as equal to Western beliefs. I present images of Alaska Native women, inspired by friends, family and fellow artists as the powerful beings I know them to be. Additionally, the land, animals and plant life take a rightful place as equals in my paintings.”   more.

For the month of June, Bunnell presents encaustic painter from Kodiak, Antoinette Walker. Exhibit opening will be on June 2nd from 5-7pm, with an artist talk at 6pm. The evening also opens the 6th Annual Community Supported Art (CSA) project and will introduce 2023 CSA artists after Antoinette’s artist talk. “My creativity and life stories are expressed with coastal marine themes that capture the wild beauty of my home, Alaska. Encaustic is my material of choice; a blend of beeswax, damar crystals and pigment. Often using charts, scraps of paper and found objects that are embedded in the wax medium. I draw upon first-hand experiences of fishing, its dangers and excitement.” “Eroding river banks, weathered canneries, set net sites, surfaces beaten by heavy winds and torrential seas and rustic landscapes tell a compelling story. With every year there are subtle changes and inspirations for a fresh perspective. I’m drawn to these surfaces with textural layers that disclose a story. Using encaustic, painting, scraping, and scratching, I seek to reveal pieces that speak of the past and present. For me, inspiration is often a mystery. In painting, one thing inspires while another fades away. As in the landscape, changes are absorbed and reconfigured.” Bio: Antoinette Walker is an encaustic painter based in Kodiak. She is known primarily for her coastal marine subjects. Encaustic painting, also known as hot wax painting, is a form of painting that involves a heated wax medium to which colored pigments have been added. Using encaustic and embedding papers, charts, fish tickets and found objects Antoinette creates pieces that reflect her love of Alaska. Born in 1953 and raised on Kodiak Island, she has studied and practiced art for most of her life. For the past twenty-three years her primary medium has been encaustic. 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. The Visual Arts Exhibition program is sponsored by North Wind Home Collection, art sales, and individual donors. Thank You!

For the month of May, Bunnell presents Changing Landscapes, a group invitational exhibit featuring new work by Deb Lowney, Sharlene Cline and Kristin Link. Exhibit opening will be on May 5th from 5-7pm, artist talks at 6pm. As human activities increase the rate at which natural processes like glacial retreat, weathering and erosion shape the landscape, what agency do artists offer as witnesses, interpreters and documentarians of disappearing landscapes? How do artists steward how we hold and express feelings about change? How might art help humans find strength, reckon with loss, and face what is revealed with courage, purpose and love? Artists featured are: Sharlene Cline, Deb Lowney and Kristin Link.

“The majority of my creative work over the past two decades has explored the subtle mechanics that inform how people connect to each other, and how people connect to place. In particular, I am fascinated in social anxiety as a disruptive, paradoxical yet also generative energy, one that both separates people as well as leading them to incredibly creative strategies of connection. In 2015, I launched a project entitled “I AM NOT PSYCHIC’—essentially a fortune-teller booth designed specifically for those who have no psychic or mystical power. Informed by my befuddlement in crowded or chaotic public spaces, the booth offered a way to invite strangers, one at a time, into rich and reciprocal conversations.”

Jenny Irene Miller: “I’m an artist who uses photography. My art practice is grounded in all of this: place, storytelling, Indigeneity, queerness, and familial and community relations. Photography provides a space for me to practice a form of careful observation that runs deep in the Inupiaq culture I come from. My art practice considers photography’s ability to share stories, to recall people and memories, and how it has been used as a weapon in the colonial project.”

“This is the last installment of the Dusty Funk installation series, exploring performative experience and mixed media to question the status quo, identity, gender and race, and produce both beautiful and grotesque imagery in an Afro-surreal environment. I am looking for new ways to tell stories and engage with audiences with my work. Fresh inspiration abounds. The Quixotic Queericule Quazar uses comics, poetry, prose, and large mixed media paintings to tell a short story discussing identity, addiction, and the feelings associated with giving your dreams to the void.” – David Brame

“Glaciers sing. Blueberries listen. Bodies long to/for touch. “for a moment, we exist together, for a moment” is a series of sensory-based works examining communication, systems of care, semiotic beings, grief, and the aesthetics of accessibility within art and non-art spaces. Visitors are invited to participate and engage with the work through multiple entry points as a form of reciprocity. Many pieces are informed by and made in collaboration with artists, writers, musicians, researchers, and wayfarers.” – Katie Ione Craney

Bunnell Street Art Center exhibits installation artist Hans Hallinen. Join us for the exhibit opening on November 4th from 5-7pm, artist talk at 6pm. “Threshold” exhibits a series of objects designed in cooperation with algorithms and constructed with the support of computer-controlled tools by Anchorage-based artist, Hans Hallinen. More.