By Heather Kallevig

Special to the Homer Independent Press

If you’ve driven past Grace Ridge Brewery lately, you may have noticed a new addition has arrived to “grace” us with her presence. 

The brewery keeps patrons happy with a rotating selection of unique and flavorful beers, kombucha, seltzer and hop water. They now have something new and exciting to capture their attention as they walk from the parking lot to the front door. Look up and you’ll see a 16-by-10-foot mural of a humpback whale joyfully breaching. Pause for a moment and appreciate it. One can almost imagine the whale wanting a better view of the sherbet sunset in the background that reflects on the bubbles of her brilliant splash.

You may recognize the style of the artist Kathleen “Kat” Dose-Koehl. Since 2023, she has worked with Sally Oberstein through the World Arts Festival to enhance the beauty of Homer, one mural at a time. From St. Charles, Illinois, Dose-Koehl hasvisited Homer since 2015 where she first met Sally through a couch-surfing connection. 

What began as a chance meeting has blossomed into a decade-long friendship.  Dose-Koehl and Oberstein have traveled the world, often together, exploring international styles of art. It was a natural fit for Dose-Koehl to join in when Sally began the World Arts Festival in Homer. Initially Dose-Koehl helped her friend wherever she was needed, serving at events, shuttling artists, staffing shows, etc. It wasn’t long, however, before she was ready to put her own artistic skills to use.

Artistry is a strong part of Dose-Koehl’s background. The daughter of an art teacher, Dose-Koehl was given ample opportunity to play, explore and hone her craft. Her grandmother was an award-winning artist. Her grandfather painted large-scale signs for cinemas and theaters. During World War II, rather than enlist as a soldier, he painted topographic maps for officials planning campaigns and battle strategies. 

Dose-Koehl began her career professionally working as a faux-wall painter. It was a natural segue from decorative textures and wood grain finishes to landscapes, art scenes and other larger murals. This work has given her the opportunity to travel the world painting. Fortunately for us, those travels have brought her, from time to time, to Homer.

Her first Homer mural was painted on Pioneer Avenue in 2023 on the west side of the Alaska Wildberry building. For this first piece, Dose-Koehl created an impressionist-style painting of the Homer Spit. Her inaugural piece continues to be one of her favorites.  

“I love how you can’t see the picture very clearly at first when you stand up close to the building. But if you step further away — there it is!” she said.

She has returned each year to paint another mural in various locations around Homer. In 2024 she painted an alpenglow scene near the end of Homer Harbor on the Spit. In 2025 she painted an image of salmon racing across the wall of the Pioneer Car Wash on Pioneer Avenue. This year a whale splashed onto Grace Ridge Brewery.

Painting murals can be challenging work, especially when an artist is transferring the original drawing to a building-scale piece. There’s a lot of pressure to get it right. Dose-Koehl enjoys finding new and inventive ways to complete her work. A few years ago, she was introduced to virtual reality, or VR, art. She can upload her original image into her goggles, which then display the image onto the building.

With the goggles she doesn’t have to rely on a grid or freehand. She simply follows the projected lines of her original pieces as they’re displayed using the goggles. Once the drawing is on the wall, Dose-Koehl can do her magic and paint.

These murals are a collaborative project under the World Arts Festival. Oberstein plays the essential role of organizer, finding interested owners, acquiring funding and connecting them with Dose-Koehl. They then work together to design a concept. The World Arts Festival is all about community. So once everyone is satisfied, Dose-Koehl and Sally seek public input. Each piece is specifically designed so anyone can take part in the creation. The original blocking, similar to color-by-number, is open to any age or skill level. These volunteer artists are then awarded by having their names added to the final mural on the wall.

This year’s mural was dedicated to one of these community participants.  According to Dose-Koehl, RJ Nelson was a dedicated helper, especially with the first mural of the Spit. She returned year after year to take part and Dose-Koehl looked forward to collaborating with her.  Sadly, RJ Nelson died this year. Dose-Koehl is honoring her memory through her work at Grace Ridge.

The owners of Grace Ridge Brewery, the Stead family, are proud to be a part of this legacy.

According to Meagan Stead, “It was really fun to watch her bring the whale to life, especially with the community getting involved and helping paint the first layers. The whole process happened so quickly that I was in shock that such a massive, beautiful mural could come together in such a short amount of time.”

Stead said she was a little nervous at first about the process.

“Everything moved so fast that I didn’t really have much time to wrap my head around the fact that we were about to have this incredible mural permanently transform the space,” she said. “But now that it’s finished it just feels right. It fits the brewery perfectly. I think it complements the space so well and brings so much more life and energy to it.”

This is exactly the outcome most artists hope to achieve. As a professional artist, the ultimate goal is the satisfaction of the people who will be living with your paintings day after day. Dose-Koehl continues to work around the globe creating commissioned pieces as they come. She will be returning to Homer in September to create a community-collaborative mural, this time on the Duncan House Diner. 

When asked what her dream project would be, Dose-Koehl says she’d like to create an art trail that draws people to towns across the Midwest — small, rural villages, mostly off the beaten path.  She’d like to collaborate with other artists to create something so fabulous that people would embark on a journey to see their art. Travelers would follow the trail to these lesser-visited places hoping to see the art and stay to enjoy the communities.

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity, check out the amazing Homer murals created by Dose-Koehl with the help of Oberstein and the World Arts Festival.  Maybe you’ll even participate in her upcoming mural when they call for volunteers in September. It’s pretty special to have your name on a lasting piece that beautifies Homer.

To learn more about Dose-Koehl’s work, check out her website.