Artist Talks @ Bunnell

David Pettibone is a figurative painter. He makes paintings of people and places which seek to convey the visceral emotions that arise from our convoluted relationship with the natural world. Ryan Conarro makes story-centered performance and sound works that aim to cultivate relationship and community more.

Amber Webb is an artist and activist from Dillingham, Alaska of Yup’ik and Unangax̂ heritage. Amber explores pictorial Yup’ik storytelling to tell contemporary stories of oppression and resilience. Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work.  She is based in New York. Raised in Soldotna, Alaska, she is of Yup’ik descent. more.

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Visual artist Argent Kvasnikoff (Dena'ina/Alutiiq, from the Ninilchik tribe) and Alaska author Eowyn Ivey (Palmer, Alaska) discuss impacts of the virus and strategies for creative productivity. more.

Deland Anderson- "Rivers are the arteries of Alaska. Some are ancient. Some are brand new. Some are famed waterways. Others are so isolated only wild creatures travel their courses..." Atz Kilcher has been creating root and fiber baskets sourced from the landscape surrounding Homer for almost 35 years. "Each basket is adorned with found objects I have collected over the years..." Read more at www....

“I am inspired by domestic spaces, memories, investigations of how things work, daily routines, and industrial materials, but also the need to escape it all and dream. My ideal creative environment is somewhere between an auto shop and a sewing room in a place beyond the reach of cell towers on top of a mountain that is weathered in with cotton candy clouds." Read more at www. Bunnellarts.org

Ninilchik native artist Argent Kvasnikoff was born in Homer and studied linguistic anthropology and art history. He works with humanist themes illuminated by his indigenous culture, with most of his work involving his culture’s endangered Dena’ina language through the Qena Sint’isis project.

Bunnell Street Arts Center presents “Qaspeq / Kuspuk /Atikluk” an invitational exhibit of innovations in traditional Yup’ik wearable art created by Indigenous Alaska, artists October 4 – November 4, 2019. Featured artists: Amber Webb Bobby Itta Carla Gingrich Erin Gingrich Nita Rearden Darlene Wright

Alaska artist Sonya Kelliher Combs exhibits new work at Bunnell Street Arts Center during Alaska World Arts Festival.

Colleen Firmin Thomas is Gwich’yaa Gwich’in from Fort Yukon, Alaska. She studied printmaking and painting at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She lives with her family in Fairbanks, Alaska. She works with modern sewing techniques and traditional Gwich’in Athabascan materials and methods in her mixed-media paintings.

“I am exploring how all earthly things are connected by the smallest of threads and how we humans, willfully or unwittingly, alter those connections. My newest work is a series of vessels created using machine embroidery on water-soluble fiber. My desire is to illuminate the fragility of the natural world as well as its beauty, resilience, and strength.”

"My work tells a story; I iconize Alaska and my experiences here, both on land and at sea. I express my creativity and experience through coastal marine themes that capture the wild beauty of my home. I work with an encaustic medium, which is a blend of molten beeswax, damar crystals, and pigment."

“I pair simple drawings with ice and sky colored pots; generate repeating, tessellating patterns that have missing pieces or fall apart as they cover a curve; draw clouds with clay. I aim to make work that is special and also disarming – my version of village-Arctic-neo Alaskana”-Sarah Beaty

“By combining elements of Christian iconography with Alutiiq tradition, the artist suggests that they are equally important. She is asking us to consider traditional Alutiiq beliefs on the same level as Western beliefs” The Alutiiq Museum and Archaeological Repository, Kodiak, Alaska