Community Calendar

Homer, Alaska – Homer painter Oceans Wills exhibits “What Color Blue” at Bunnell Street Arts Center May 1 – June 2, 2026. The exhibit opens on First Friday, May 1, from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm.

Artist Statement

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.

Biography:

Oceana has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people, and landscapes of her hometown, Homer. Oceana’s primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels (a smooth archival surface) or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew.

The Little Prince
By Rick Cummins and John Scoullar. Adapted from the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Directed by Sarah L. Brewer
“Little Prince” painting by Jen DePesa

Location: Pier One Theatre on the Homer Spit
Performance Dates: May 22, 23 & 28, 29, 30 at 7:30 PM - 9:30PM
Matinee Performance Date: May 24 at 3:00PM - 5:00PM
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This play tells the story of a world-weary and disenchanted Aviator whose sputtering plane strands him in the Sahara Desert, and a mysterious, regal "little man" who appears and asks him to "Please, sir, draw me a sheep." During their two weeks together in the desert, the Little Prince tells the Aviator about his adventures through the galaxy, how he met the Lamplighter and the Businessman and the Geographer, and about his strained relationship with a very special flower on his own tiny planet. The Little Prince talks to everyone he meets: a garden of roses, the Snake and a Fox who wishes to be tamed. From each he gains a unique insight which he shares with the Aviator: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly." "What is essential is invisible to the eye." At length, both the little man and the Aviator must go home—each with a new understanding of how to laugh, cry and love again.
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"Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois"

Homer, Alaska – Homer painter Oceans Wills exhibits “What Color Blue” at Bunnell Street Arts Center May 1 – June 2, 2026. The exhibit opens on First Friday, May 1, from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm.

Artist Statement

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.

Biography:

Oceana has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people, and landscapes of her hometown, Homer. Oceana’s primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels (a smooth archival surface) or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew.

Homer, Alaska – Homer painter Oceans Wills exhibits “What Color Blue” at Bunnell Street Arts Center May 1 – June 2, 2026. The exhibit opens on First Friday, May 1, from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm.

Artist Statement

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.

Biography:

Oceana has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people, and landscapes of her hometown, Homer. Oceana’s primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels (a smooth archival surface) or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew.

Corrina Pariyar, XOCO, is an abstract expressionist, a misfit explorer of the multi-media, collage. She is a spiritual abolitionist, a writer exploring both mother and widow hoods. She is drawn towards the deities, death, & dreams, truth and love. Come see her show "the Misfit" on display in the HCOA Gallery through May 30th.

Learn more at https://homerart.org/event/corinna-pariyar/

Residency Biographies:

(ALASKA AIR) Jenny Cartwright explores capitalism and the injustices it creates from a working-class perspective. Characterized by extensive research, her creations address democracy, feminist struggles and labor. Always taking the side of those pushed to the margins, she works to rekindle both anger and hope. Moving from classic narrative to experimental films, and from multiscreen installations to sound art, Cartwright challenges cinematic conventions, blending documentary rigor with formal experimentation. Jenny Cartwright lives and works in Tiohtià:ke / Montreal. Her work was presented in 17 countries at festivals, theaters and galleries.

(ALASKA AIR) David Cherniak is interested in the moving image, its role in reproducing contemporary power structures, and its subversion. The omnipresence and uniformity of digital images lie at the heart of his practice. Coming from documentary production, he works as a film director and cinematographer. His engagement with sound art and radio documentary has led him to develop immersive sonic experience projects and multi-screen installations. Cherniak is based in Tiohtià:ke / Montréal, where he is an active member of the artist-run center article.

(TSRP EU RESIDENCY) Tina Konec was born in Maribor in 1992. In 2015 she graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design of the University of Ljubljana under the tutelage of Prof Zmago Lenárdič, before continuing her post-graduate studies under the mentorship of Tugo Šušnik. Konec creates the illustrations (Celjski Novi Tednik, 2014) and has run a series of children's workshops (International Centre of Graphic Arts 2016). She lives in Ljubljana and Oplotnica.

Homer, Alaska – Homer painter Oceans Wills exhibits “What Color Blue” at Bunnell Street Arts Center May 1 – June 2, 2026. The exhibit opens on First Friday, May 1, from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm.

Artist Statement

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.

Biography:

Oceana has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people, and landscapes of her hometown, Homer. Oceana’s primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels (a smooth archival surface) or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew.

Corrina Pariyar, XOCO, is an abstract expressionist, a misfit explorer of the multi-media, collage. She is a spiritual abolitionist, a writer exploring both mother and widow hoods. She is drawn towards the deities, death, & dreams, truth and love. Come see her show "the Misfit" on display in the HCOA Gallery through May 30th.

Learn more at https://homerart.org/event/corinna-pariyar/

Homer, Alaska – Homer painter Oceans Wills exhibits “What Color Blue” at Bunnell Street Arts Center May 1 – June 2, 2026. The exhibit opens on First Friday, May 1, from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm.

Artist Statement

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.

Biography:

Oceana has long been inspired by the ocean and spent many summers on it as a deckhand in the commercial salmon fisheries. Her earlier work centers women in the fishing industry and imagines mermaid life parallel to life on land. She spends summer on land these days and her art is inspired by the animals, rocks, plants, people, and landscapes of her hometown, Homer. Oceana’s primary medium is gouache paint on clay board panels (a smooth archival surface) or on paper. She also works in acrylic, pen, and embroidery and is learning how to sew.

Corrina Pariyar, XOCO, is an abstract expressionist, a misfit explorer of the multi-media, collage. She is a spiritual abolitionist, a writer exploring both mother and widow hoods. She is drawn towards the deities, death, & dreams, truth and love. Come see her show "the Misfit" on display in the HCOA Gallery through May 30th.

Learn more at https://homerart.org/event/corinna-pariyar/