By Jacqueline McDonough

Special to the Homer Independent Press

September is when the fruits of our labors ripen with a delicious vengeance. There’s fish to be smoked, berries to be jammed, and veggies to be picked and pickled! 

Bon vivants looking for the best in art and food know this is the month to visit Homer, on the second weekend of the Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Homer extravaganza. Five of the First Friday galleries are pairing up with local restaurants and food purveyors to feature tantalizing small bites. Come celebrate two of Homer’s best scenes, art and food, in one collaborative evening.

Art Shop Gallery

202 West Pioneer Ave.

Artistry in wood by Gerard Garland

Opening reception 5-7 p.m.

Since 1946, Gerard Garland has been woodworking, and his years of mastery show in the delightful works of art he has created. The exhibit features beautiful tables of different sizes, treasure boxes, and many other sculptural and artistic shapes made from wood. Garland uses local woods like birch and cottonwood, as well as other hardwoods like maple, purple heart and hickory. This Rasmuson Foundation Sculpture award winner is also known as an architectural designer, builder, cabinet maker, and a mathematician and professor.

Local foragers and food producers Adventure Harvest will be adding their own wild and spiced touch to the opening reception, as part of Taste of Homer.

Bunnell Street Arts Center

106 W. Bunnell Ave.

“Luminous Threads,” new work by Carla Klinker

Opening reception 5-7 p.m. Artist talk 6 p.m.

“Luminous Threads” is a new exhibit by Homer artist Carla Klinker that delves into the wild and magical powers of the stinging nettle. The long bast fiber of the nettle, Urtica dioica, has been used to make string and cloth for thousands of years across the world. Klinker received a Rasmuson Individual Artist Award for Project Nettle in 2025 and will be hosting a two-day workshop later in the month to share how to create cloth with this challenging and ubiquitous natural material.

Klinker’s work spans painting, sculpture and textiles, exploring themes of networks, transformation and belonging to place. She writes that she is deeply informed by her experiences growing up at the edge of an ocean, at the end of a millennium and as a mother.

Artist Statement:

“This body of work marks an intentional shift toward art-making that begins with love and seeks to illuminate invisible threads of connection. ‘Luminous Threads’ explores the delicate balance between overwhelming complexity and profound connection. The centrality of light provides an organizing structure within the expanse of natural networks.

“Through images of light filtering through branching structures, free-form organic forms, and hand-woven strands of natural fiber, this collection traces the hidden architecture underlying my emotional and sensory landscapes, and maps an ecology of interconnectedness.

“At the center of these works, glowing circles and illuminated paths emerge from the shadows, offering a place of refuge and direction. They are invitations to pause, to breathe, and to experience awe — not by untangling the wildness around us, but by finding love, clarity and peace within it.” 

As a Taste of Homer accompaniment to art lovingly crafted from natural materials, there will be smoked treats from the sea by fisherwoman-owned Stickleback Fish Company. This local company was recently voted the people’s choice commercial winner of the 2026 Salmon Fest Smoked Salmon Super Bowl.

Grace Ridge Brewing

870 Smoky Bay Way

New work by John Winters

Opening reception 5-7 p.m.

Soldotna artist John Winters returns to Grace Ridge Brewery to display his paintings of nature scenes. Rich in color and story, they reflect his decades of experience immersing himself in Alaska’s landscapes.

Artist Statement:

“I feel the same way about Alaska’s amazing scenery, lore and wildlife now as I did when I set foot here over 40 years ago. My art is self-taught, the product of working and playing in the woods, on the rivers and the beaches. I eventually settled on the Kenai Peninsula. But I travel around the state as often as I can, revisiting my favorite places from the past, and exploring new ones. 

“Never stop creating. Never stop absorbing your surroundings.”

Lil’ Tutka Brew Pub will provide small bites of handcrafted pub food with local touches, as part of this year’s Taste of Homer celebration.

Homer Council on the Arts

355 W. Pioneer Ave.

“Weathered,” paintings by Holly Dickinson

Opening reception 5-7 p.m.

Inspired by the weathered details of everyday life as much as the dramatic landscapes of coastal Alaska, Holly Dickinson’s paintings explore where nature and home meet. Through bold contrasts in texture and color, her works find beauty in both the overlooked and the extraordinary, revealing how the natural and built environments intertwine.

For the opening reception, HCOA is partnering with Taste of Homer and culinary artist Todd Hindman. The creator of Udder Delights ice cream will be serving scoops of his imaginatively concocted frozen desserts, such as “Fawlty Towers Ice Cream with Basil and Honey Pine Nuts” and the dairy-free “Follow Your Tart Rhubarb Sorbet.”

HCOA at South Peninsula Hospital

4300 Bartlett St.

“Summertide,” artwork by Kathleen McCarthy

No opening reception

“My work is the exploration of light and shadow and their transient nature in the world,” McCarthy wrote in her artist statement. “I try to capture that feeling when you see the sun filtering through the trees, momentarily changing the color we see all around us. Looking for hidden overlooked hues in the shadows. The unexpected pop of bright red, the deep purples, the golden glow on the horizon. That’s how I’d like my art to feel — transient, vibrant, and a little overwhelming.

“Using acrylics, and watercolor with pastel, my goal is to bring the peace of the outdoors and all its beauty inside, to splash the walls with color and fill them up. To showcase the little fleeting moments of the world around us as a reminder to take time to pause and enjoy it.”

Homer Public Library

500 Hazel Ave.

“Kachemak 180: The View From My Deck,” landscape photography by local photographer Jim Lavrakas

No opening reception. Regular library hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday.

Over the span of about 10 years, the view from Jim Lavrakas’s deck on Mountain View Drive in Homer has provided an ever-changing panorama, allowing him to capture the many moods of Kachemak Bay and the surrounding mountains. This exhibit includes landscape photos printed on metal of stunning vistas ranging from a brooding Grewingk Glacier to a rainbow over the Homer Spit.

A Homer resident since 2010, Lavrakas has operated an eco-tour business on the bay and served as executive director for the Homer Chamber of Commerce. Previously he was an award-winning photographer for the Anchorage Daily News, covering a wide variety of stories for three decades. In 2012 he published his first book, a retrospective on the amazing people and places he came to know through his photojournalism assignments, “Snap Decisions: My 30 Years as an Alaska News Photographer.”

This Art in the Library exhibition is sponsored by the Friends of the Homer Public Library. The public is invited to view this exhibit during open hours at the Homer Public Library in the fireside reading lounge through Sept. 20.

Pratt Museum

3779 Bartlett St.

“Octopus,” a painting by Edward Whetstone Hutchinson

Reception 4-6 p.m. Artist talk 5 p.m.

Join the Pratt Museum to celebrate the installation of “Octopus,” a white-on-white oil painting by Edward Whetstone Hutchinson in the museum’s marine gallery. Hutchinson is known for his distinctive white-on-white oil paintings, as well as his role as an active supporter of and contributor to the cultural life of the Homer community and the Pratt Museum. 

Classical guitarist Bill White will perform music, and Vida’s Thai Restaurant will provide delectable appetizers in collaboration with Taste of Homer. As usual, admission to the museum during the First Friday reception is free.

Ptarmigan Arts

471 E. Pioneer Ave.

“Autumn Ambiance,” works by co-op member artists

Extended hours Friday until 7 p.m.

What is your favorite thing about fall? Apple pie, pumpkin spice lattes, fresh harvest vegetables, hay rides or the crisp breezes? Autumn holds a magic that swirls around us during gatherings at bonfires, and a joy that fills the pumpkins that we carve out! This season provides a bounty from the labor of our hands, as it is a time of gathering and preparing for winter. Please join the Ptarmigan artists as they show Homer the fruits of their creativity, celebrating the autumn season. This gallery-wide show will feature mediums such as painting, jewelry, photography, clay, fiber arts, mosaics and more. 

Ptarmigan Arts has been doing occasional weekend pop-up shows with non-member artists this year; visiting artists are invited to stop by and see if this would be a good opportunity for them. Open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. with extended hours until 7 p.m. on First Friday.