Community Calendar

Homer, Alaska – Join Princess Daazhraii Johnson, current artist in residence at Storyknife Writer’s Retreat, for a screening of her films This Is a Story About Salmon, Gath & K’iyh, and Two Old Women at Bunnell Street Arts Center on Thursday, April 9th at 6pm, free.

This event, co-sponsored by Storyknife Writers Retreat and Bunnell Street Arts Center, will feature a screening of three short films by writer and producer Princess Daazhraii Johnson. After the screening, Johnson will discuss her work and take questions from the audience.

The film This Is a Story About Salmon explores the central role of salmon in Alaska Native subsistence communities and shows how these communities come together to support one another, heal, and bear powerful witness to their resilience and resistance. Gath & K’iyh: Listen to Heal highlights a gathering of community members and renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma to honor salmon and birch trees as part of a process of collective healing. Shaaghan Neekwaii: Two Old Women is the first screen adaptation of Velma Wallis’s 1993 novel, filmed in Fairbanks, Alaska, and told entirely in the Gwich’in language. The screening is free.

Artist bio

Princess Daazhraii Johnson (she/her) is Neets’aii Gwich’in and a Peabody Award winning producer/writer and Emmy-nominated writer/producer of PBS Kids Molly of Denali and HBO’s True Detective. She is humbled to serve on the board of Native Movement and NDN Collective – collectively, she works to protect the lands, waters, animal and plant relatives that continue to take care of all of us. Her most recent short narrative film, “Shaaghan Neekwaii” (Two Old Women) is based on Velma Wallis’ award-winning book and is entirely in Dinjii Zhuh K’yaa – the Gwich’in language.

Storyknife Writers Retreat’s mission is to give women writers the time and space to explore their craft without distraction. Storyknife provides women with a community to support their efforts, lifting their voices.

Bunnell Street Arts Center’s mission is to spark artistic inquiry, innovation and equity to strengthen the physical, social and economic fabric of Alaska.

Join local writers Rich Chiappone and Justin Herrmann for a hands-on writing workshop exploring the possibilities of extremely short personal essays. This spring explores travel, vacations, and other adventures. Write the experiences of your lives together to make memories worth sharing. This class takes place at Kachemak Bay Campus, three consecutive Saturdays beginning April 11, from 10 am to 2 pm in Pioneer Hall and is only $89 for all three days. To register or for more information, visit kpc.alaska.edu/communitycourses or call (907) 235-1674.

Homer, Alaska – Tamara Ann Burgh is Artist in Residence at Bunnell Street Arts Center April 1-29, 2026. Burgh’s exhibit of watercolor illustrations and woodblock prints opens on First Friday, April 3 from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. During her residency she will lead a watercolor workshop April 15 from 6 to 8 pm. Register at BunnellArts.org.

Artist Statement

“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.”

Bunnell Arts by Air presents guitarist Bill White in concert at Bunnell Street Arts Center and broadcast live on KBBI AM 890 on Friday, April 10th, 2026 at 7pm. Tickets available at Bunnell. In-person audience must be seated by 6:45pm.

Dr. Bill White is a classical guitarist and composer based in Homer, Alaska. Originally from Nampa, Idaho, Bill has appeared as soloist and chamber musician across the country and has released two albums: Moderno non Troppo, a selection of modern-but-not-too-modern works for solo guitar, and Echoes, a collection of works for viola and guitar recorded with his wife Elizabeth. As a composer, Bill’s works focus on texture and processes, often for large ensembles of similar instruments.

Recent commissions include Sound Spaces for mixed electric and classical guitars for the Oh My Ears! festival in Phoenix, Arizona and Bowing, Breaking for strings, written for Homer OPUS. Bill holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Arizona State University where he studied with Jiji Kim. Other teachers include Marc Teicholz, Nicholas Ciraldo, Lily Afshar, and James Reid.

Jubilee! Youth Performing Arts Show- Directed by Kjirsten Swanson, prepare to be amazed by local youth talent! Friday, April 10th starting at 7pm at the Homer High School Mariner Theater Admission: $10 Youth / $20 General

All proceeds support the Ron Senungetuk Summer Youth Scholarship Fund! (Now accepting applications)

homerart.org/event/2026-jubilee-youth-performing-arts-show/

Tina Konec, a visual artist from Slovenia is Artist in Residence at Bunnell from April 9 to May 29, 2026 through the Transatlantic Rising Stars Project that places European artists in residencies around the United States.

This residency seeks to promote creative and cultural exchange. Homer-based artists are invited to share 5 images of their work at a casual potluck dinner following Tina Konec’s artist talk on April 12, 6 to 8 pm.

Artist statement

“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.”

Homer, Alaska – Tamara Ann Burgh is Artist in Residence at Bunnell Street Arts Center April 1-29, 2026. Burgh’s exhibit of watercolor illustrations and woodblock prints opens on First Friday, April 3 from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. During her residency she will lead a watercolor workshop April 15 from 6 to 8 pm. Register at BunnellArts.org.

Artist Statement

“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.”

Homer, Alaska – Tamara Ann Burgh is Artist in Residence at Bunnell Street Arts Center April 1-29, 2026. Burgh’s exhibit of watercolor illustrations and woodblock prints opens on First Friday, April 3 from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. During her residency she will lead a watercolor workshop April 15 from 6 to 8 pm. Register at BunnellArts.org.

Artist Statement

“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.”

Homer, Alaska – Tamara Ann Burgh is Artist in Residence at Bunnell Street Arts Center April 1-29, 2026. Burgh’s exhibit of watercolor illustrations and woodblock prints opens on First Friday, April 3 from 5-7pm with an artist talk at 6pm. During her residency she will lead a watercolor workshop April 15 from 6 to 8 pm. Register at BunnellArts.org.

Artist Statement

“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.”

Watercolor Workshop, April 15, 6 – 8 pm @Bunnell

Animal Self-Portraits – Based on the Inupiaq myth “The Man Who was a Caribou” included in the book Alaskan Igloo Tales, attendees draw/paint pictures of themselves incorporated into mythic and animal imagery. “Where Christian beliefs identify with nature as completely other, traditional Indigenous peoples see no separation between man and nature/animals. Inspired by this story—a hero’s journey set in the Alaskan Arctic— attendees paint/draw pictures of themselves as animals they might identify with.”

$20 discount/ $25 general / $30 pay it forward. The workshop accommodates a variety of ages and skill levels. Limit 12. Register: https://bunnell-street-arts-center.square.site/tickets-workshops

Biography:

Tamara is of Swedish and Inupiaq/Kawerak descent, with ancestry from Golovin and Nome, Alaska. Her inspiration as an artist stems from her spiritual and metaphysical practices, which began in her teens when she became an Evangelical Christian, a path she eventually concluded failed to deliver on its promised excision of inherited ancestral shame.

Her spiritual journey has evolved over the years through study and trial-and-error practices. However, encountering the power of myth in Joseph Campbell’s books and teachings marked the beginning of an enlightening process toward autonomy and, more importantly, healing the shame that had unconsciously driven her and her family. Campbell’s work, along with that of other spiritual teachers and cultural mythology, inspired her to create Indigenous-identifying and potentially shame-healing mythical imagery—her main goal as an artist.