Women Who Run with the Tides

WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES New Work by 29 Women – 25 Years

PRATT MUSEUM NOVEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 31, 2014

WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES New Work by 29 Women – 25 Years

PRATT MUSEUM NOVEMBER 7 – DECEMBER 31, 2014

Copyright Š 2014 Pratt Museum All rights reserved.

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any or by any means electronic, mechanical, or other without written permission from the editor, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Scott Bartlett, Curator of Exhibits Kim Torian Terpening, Editor Kim Torian Terpening, Cover Art Debi Bodett, Designer

Special support for the publication of this catalog was provided by Holland America Line.

Table of Contents Foreword and Acknowledgement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 About the Exhibit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Artists Charlotte Adamson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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River Meyer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Marian Tillion Beck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Krisann Meyer-Corcoran. . . . . . . . . . . 37

Annette Bellamy.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Mavis Muller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Debi Bodett.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Lynn Naden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Janet Keating Carroll.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Linda Skelton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Susan Phillips Cushing.. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Kathy Smith.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Karla Moss Freeman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Linda Smogor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Cheri Greer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Kim Torian Terpening. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Marie Herdegen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Shirley Timmreck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Adele Marie Hiles.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Judy Winn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Barbara Holman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Nancy Wise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Ahna Iredale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Barbara Madsen Wyatt.. . . . . . . . . . . . 57

JLee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Nancy Yaki.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Judy Little. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Aleda Yourdon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Toni Maury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Foreword and Acknowledgement The Pratt Museum is pleased to present Women Who Run with the Tides, an exhibit not only significant for the individuals and works included, but for the retrospective portrait it paints of Kachemak Bay as an incubator of art and artists. Those of us fortunate to have lived in Kachemak Bay are acutely aware of its power and influence.

The twenty-nine artists within drew from each other and from this environment during what many call their formative periods, and, to varying degrees, ever since. Perhaps aided by twenty-five years of distance, they write about this place and this community with admiration and love.

They describe Kachemak Bay as a dynamic place: wild, rugged, mysterious, and pristine.

From the mountains, ocean, beaches, and severe tides, they found inspiration and support, were sustained and nurtured by its pristine – and extreme – beauty. And in each other they found a community of support. All of these women (and more, no doubt) were there to encourage, inspire and challenge each other, to work and celebrate together.

A confluence of environment and community such as this is a rare gem. Co-curator of the exhibit, Kim Torian Terpening, refers to Kachemak Bay as her “truest of muses.” The nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne – the original muses – would have been fortunate to have sisters such as these. The Pratt Museum has hosted work by each of these women. We are honored to step back in time to serve as our original namesake, a mousaion – shrine of the muses – for this very special exhibit.

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Women Who Run with the Tides would not be possible without the support of generous donors including Alaska State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Homer. Special support for the publication of this catalog was provided by Holland America Line.

Thank you to all members of the Pratt Museum, whose continued support truly sustains this community museum, as well as the many volunteers who help keep everything running.

This exhibit was originally proposed and has been organized by Kim Torian Terpening and Nancy Wise. Although the project grew out of discussions with many more artists, Kim and Nancy have been diligent in coordinating every step in the complicated process of putting together a group show – all the while maintaining their joyful sense of humor.

The catalog, invitation postcard, and website created to coordinate participating artists were designed by Debi Bodett, a Kachemak Bay artist, one with whom technology has allowed the Pratt to continue working despite her relocation to the “outside.”

The exhibition was installed by Kathy Smith and Judy Winn, two participating artists who are not new to volunteering at the Pratt Museum, and whose artistic eyes and hands are always welcome.

Finally, we are grateful to all of the artists that are represented in this catalog and exhibit.

This is truly a celebration of their friendship and this place’s power to inspire. We are fortunate that the tide has brought so many of you home again to Kachemak Bay.

November 7 – December 31, 2014

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About the Exhibit During the summer of 2012, several of us were reflecting on our early days in Kachemak Bay 25-35 years ago. We chatted about how our experiences then significantly impacted who we were becoming as young women and artists. As we continued our discussion, we began to realize that those early and powerful Kachemak Bay experiences not only informed who we were becoming but also how those memories continue to inform our artistic and personal lives even today.

We decided to reunite this dynamic group of 25+ women artists who were so active in the Homer Arts community 25+ years ago. Women Who Run with the Tides is the happy result of this reunion and, as it turns out, ultimately includes 29 artists.

A few of the artists represented have relocated to areas outside of Kachemak Bay over the years. However, the aim of this exhibit is to showcase the new work of these 29 talented woman, regardless of where they live now, who were artistically launched and nurtured in this region and who significantly impacted the Homer arts community.

It can be said that this dynamic group of studio artists, art teachers, artists in the schools and curators of the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s helped forge the future direction the burgeoning Homer arts community would take. With our talent, skills and drive, we provided impetus and form to the blossoming new arts community, serving as artists in our schools, mounting exhibitions, offering workshops, curating our own shows and working on numerous other projects in and around Homer. The Pratt Museum was a steady partner in all of this

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development, cultivating our growth as artists and arts advocates. Because of the Pratt’s strong support and partnership throughout the decades, we came to embrace the Pratt Museum, as well as many other arts groups, as they embraced us. The results have been inventive new ways to foster our lives as artists, as well as grow the artistic lives of the larger Homer community and schools.

While most of these 29 women have dedicated their professional lives exclusively to artistic pursuits over these 25+ years, some of the other’s lives have taken intermittent detours into such diverse occupations as tugboat cook, social worker, chocolatier, restaurant owner, and even a reality TV star, to name just a few. The one thing we all continue to have in common is that our artistic aesthetic continues to be deeply rooted in the culture and natural beauty of Kachemak Bay. Thank you to the Pratt Museum for providing your beautiful venue for this exhibition, for encouraging us over all these years and for saying YES to Women Who Run with the Tides.

Kim Torian Terpening and Nancy Wise Co-curators Women Who Run with the Tides

November 7 – December 31, 2014

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Charlotte Adamson Born in Berkeley, California, and viewing the San Francisco Bay from my bedroom window, I was ingrained with a sense that home is by the ocean.

Drawn to Homer 35 years ago when I moved to Alaska for the adventure, now Kachemak Bay lies intimately at my front door. With only forest and meadows between us, each day is painted exquisitely by moving sky and changing water.

Creating artwork has been a passion since childhood but has not always taken first place in the tumble of life’s priorities.

Tides carrying oiled birds had a profound influence on my life, first in Berkeley and later Homer. Rising and falling tides control our plans for each boat trip and cattle drive, and generously fill our net with salmon.

Self Portrait at Pyramid Bluff 12”w x 10”h watercolor

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Marian Tillion Beck I was born in 1953 in Seldovia, Alaska. I believe that my art is inextricably linked with my environment – that the two things cannot be separate. I draw inspiration from living on Kachemak Bay. I grew up on fishing boats, riding horses, and living the island life – all are recurrent themes in my paintings. I explain art as an expression of the sensuality of life – a catalyst for evoking smells and emotions. I believe that life itself is art and organic sculpture, shifting within the frames of the artist’s perceptions.

Art education started at a young age with my mother, Diana Tillion. I went to California Polytechnic Institute in San Luis Obispo. I worked for years in the studio of Alex Combs.

Ultimately, I tried a stint at the Art Students League in New York City.

My work is in the State Art Bank, the Rasmuson Foundation, and the Pratt Museum.

Competition 40”w x 52”h alkyd oil on canvas

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Annette Bellamy My home port is Kachemak Bay. I live on both the north and south side of the bay and on the water in between. I have commercially fished with my husband, Marvin, for over forty years, long-lining for halibut and seining or gill-netting for salmon. These years have given me a wealth of ideas.

When the fishing season is over, I work in my ceramic studio in Halibut Cove. Pots speak of a timeless human experience. Sculptural work translates a natural language. Drawings journalize daily life. Fish skin is stitched back together in homage. There are many layers of experience and ideas living with the tides on Kachemak Bay. This bay has been a place that has nurtured my creative life and continues to be my home port.

1. Hand-Built Stoneware Bowl 9”w x 6”h wood-fired Shino lining glaze, shell wadding 2. Stoneware Boat wood-fired Shino glaze, with shell wadding 8”l x 3½”w x 2½”h 3. Stoneware Boat wood-fired Shino glaze 5 “l x 2½”w x 2”h 9

WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

Debi Bodett I found home when I moved to Homer in 1982; the horizon line, the people, and the artist community. I felt magic in this community. People came and went; but always the magic remained. I finally decided that the magic lives at the bottom of the Bay, where it can always be found.

My preoccupations, while living in Homer and after, have shifted, although they remain similar. As a fabric artist I stitched small pieces of colored fabric together. Now, I stitch words and pictures through design. I am as intrigued by the story that’s not being told as the one that is: the texture, pattern and connecting lines of lives. I have a deep commitment to my relationships with people, words, and pictures to say it again and again, in a different way.

I’ve found my best-fit profession as a designer for print and web, illuminating stories.

The Collective – Jack Epperson 7”w x 7”h book, multimedia @ www.debibodett.com/jack

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Janet Keating Carroll My name is Janet Keating Carroll or J.K. Carroll, which is how I sign my work. I am from two places in Kachemak Bay: Halibut Cove and Homer.

I live my life along the shorelines of Cook Inlet. As an artist, its living edge inspires and nurtures, while as a member of the commercial fishing industry, its depth and tidal flow sustain me.

Born at the peak of the Cook Inlet salmon run and conceived on the banks of a tributary of the Kenai River, fish and water seem to run in my being. The tides are like the breath of our ocean and the creatures that use the surface, live in the water and call the great depths home are part of my art.

Morning Fog: High Tide on the River 15”w x 11”h ink, Caron d’Ache on paper

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Susan Phillips Cushing It’s been a dozen years since painting and my last solo exhibit, Women of the Sea, at the Pratt Museum. Creative energy has been centered in social services. I met my sweet smiling friend featured in this painting through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program eight years ago.

“Mona Lexi” epitomizes a young girl who has “run with the tides” and has emerged as a woman of resilience. Alaska Native Tlingit and American Indian Quinault, she chose contemporary regalia for posing. Zebra striped pants and rose-red hoody shout out her proud heart. She is rock solid, and plans to go into counseling for troubled teens.

Mona Lexi 33”w x 80”h watercolor, seaweed, rock, alder roots

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Karla Moss Freeman Raised in NYC, I graduated college in California.

Then to Alaska, where I found winters too often black and white. But the bay framed was incomparable; both an addiction and an inspiration!

From Alaska we moved to Mexico. I became overwhelmed with color: the house colors, people, and flowers. Now, with seven years in Baja, we are “snowbirds” from Baja to Northern California, studios in each place. After color, the strokes made with a broad palette knife interests me. Seeking out its contours and rhythms, I feel closer to the earth; a language I am learning to speak with thick paint, revisiting the places I love in my studio.

Sail Away 20”w x 24”h water based oil on canvas

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Cheri Greer In the summer of 1989 I drove over Baycrest Hill thinking I would be in Homer for the summer. Little did I know, the sights, sounds, and smell of the sea would change the way I express slices of ordinary life in extraordinary surroundings. With all the beauty, the most life altering experience was a sense of belonging that had not existed before. I had arrived “home” to a community full of acceptance and understanding. Drunk with possibilities, I stayed for thirteen years.

Over the years, the work has evolved from content to concept. There is great power in storytelling.

My feet still feel the waves, the moon still shines bright over the bay and my heart still remains by the sea.

Still 34”w x 42”h acrylic on canvas

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Marie Herdegen Since 1989, I have produced hand-built high-fired functional pottery emphasizing diverse shapes and textures.

My work has been shown in Portland, Chicago, Seattle, and Anchorage, and is represented in the Anchorage Museum’s permanent collection. My teapots are included in numerous permanent collections.

I share a commercial gallery on the Homer Spit and market my work at various Alaskan venues as well as from my home studio.

Low Tide Tea I 13’’w x 11’’h porcelain

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Adele Marie Hiles As a child born in San Diego, Mother engaged me in painting our front steps with water and a flux brush. Thanks Mom! Leaving San Diego State University with an art degree – emphasis on painting – and an artist husband, we discovered Homer together and loved Kachemak Bay, creating art and a family over sixteen wonderful years.

First fashioning stained glass, next fused glass, then painting canvases and murals helped me evolve artistically. Locally, my stained glass designs grace the Homer Post Office and Library. After relocating to Ashland, Oregon from Arizona, I co-owned Foray Gallery, and painted canvases and murals in homes and hospitals in southern Oregon.

The raw freedom I experienced among these strong, influential, Alaskan women still inspires my artistic skills, fluidity, and confidence.

Embrasser du regard (Behold) 60”w x 40”h acrylic on canvas

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Barbara Holman I was born in Anchorage and was always drawn to artistic expression. When potter Alex Combs visited my 4th grade classroom, I was fascinated by his work in clay. After high school, I went on to study with Alex at UAA. In the late seventies, I moved to Homer with my husband and young daughter. We built our own home, had another child, and became part of the thriving artist community. I taught ceramics for KCC and was one of the founding members of Ptarmigan Arts.

Back in Anchorage, I have maintained my production of functional and sculptural ceramics.

For the last six years I have taught hand built ceramics for Alaska Pacific University.

Shorebird 4�w x 5�h raku fired porcelain

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Ahna Iredale Lately I have been thinking of myself as a “maker.” Clay is my medium and Homer is where I create. I am a village potter, carrying on a long tradition of working with clay.

Over the years, I have responded to natural events like volcanic eruptions and the spruce bark beetle infestation by using volcanic ash and spruce ash in glazes. Through exploration and repetition, my work evolves.

I continue to be inspired by my environment: the changing light on the bay, a spiral of birds in the sky, or the texture of leaves in the deep woods. All of it becomes a translation of mark.

Early Riser 17”w x 2”d whiteware

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JLee I’ve been creating since I was seven. I spent twenty-eight years in Southeast Alaska and my family lived next to Totem Bight. I laid on the moss, daydreaming about the symbols, and began to sketch my own on the edges of my school work, then on my journal pages.

I moved to Homer and began following my creative dreams in a community that gave many ways to show work. The Pratt Museum provided opportunities to grow and show. When I moved from Homer I started a journey: looking for a community like Homer.

Twenty-three years later, I feel that the beauty of Kachemak Bay is part of my DNA. I’m proud to have been a part of a busy fabulous artist colony.

Royal Raven 27”w x 37”h acrylic on canvas

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Judy Little I was born into the natural beauty of rural upstate New York and influenced by its fiber art. My career as a production weaver began after attending classes at Worchester Crafts School in Massachusetts, followed by an apprenticeship with a family of accomplished weavers.

An adventurer at heart, I traveled to Alaska in 1976 and fell in love with Kachemak Bay and the small town of Homer. The extreme beauty of the bay, the rugged lifestyle, and deep friendships inspired me to flourish artistically and create functional, fancifully embellished, handwoven, and felted clothing. Alaska exhibitions include Earth, Fire and Fibre, Pratt Museum, and Ptarmigan Arts.

I am currently passionate about color, texture, natural dyes, symbolism, and the magic of felting in my studio in Ashland, Oregon.

Mermaid Rides the Riptide 15�w x 50�h Nuno felted seamless hooded dress merino wool, hand dyed silk, silk cocoons, silk hankie, mohair, metallic and rayon yarn

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Toni Maury I moved to Alaska in 1973 and took my first pottery class from Alex Combs at the University of Alaska. Alex became a good friend and mentor as well as introducing my husband and me to the remote Alaskan community of Halibut Cove, which is known for its resident artists and commercial fishermen.

We built our first home in Halibut Cove 36 years ago, where I have worked as a potter, a deck hand on the island ferry and as manager of the community art gallery. As a clay artist, I create functional pottery, handmade tile murals and one-of-a-kind teapots and vases. The environment and lifestyle of Kachemak Bay continues to be a major influence on my work.

Bay Crossing 16�w x 36�h ceramic

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River Meyer Sitting at a distance from Alaska, living in Canada and continuing to see life as one surprise after another (moving to British Columbia being one!), I find myself reflecting on a commonly-heard phrase during my Kachemak Bay years: “Homer’s where the heart is.”

I know my heart goes with me everywhere – hard to leave it behind – yet on an emotional level, a huge part of me remains deeply connected to all that Homer represents.

Words like freedom, possibility, creativity, chosen family, adventure, challenge . . . those words live in me as a result of living in Alaska. And although my creative life now focuses around writing (and marimba) rather than fiber structures, my heart takes me back to fiber techniques in my work for this exhibit.

Wing and a Prayer 12”w x 26”h x 5”d layered rice paper, natural and structured ornament

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Krisann Meyer-Corcoran Kachemak Bay was a place where I was inspired to spread my wings. I experimented with music and theatre and, together with my sister, established a small windsock and banner business. I loved creating textures, layers, and shadows in our Alaskan-centered designs.

The day that the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef had a profound effect on me. I joined a team of people who fed oiled birds, which were delivered to us by the truckload.

The experience heightened my awareness of the importance of protecting birds and their habitats.

Currently, I create mixed metal jewelry from my studio in Colorado. The “Bird Mask Necklaces” in this exhibit are my interpretation of the freedom and wildness I delighted in while living on Kachemak Bay.

When Women Were Birds – Great Blue Heron 2 ¼”w x 4½”h reclaimed copper roofing, textured brass colored cookie tin, hammered foreign coins, brass bead caps, copper, brass and aluminum rivets, woven and crimped copper, brass and base metal wire, antiqued brass box chain, handmade copper clasp

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Mavis Muller Thirty years ago I came to Homer on vacation and forgot to go home. Not only smitten by the beauty of Kachemak Bay, I was charmed by the opportunity for an authentic, out of the mainstream way of life, in a place where the changing tide is the only time that matters.

Here is a place where I would grow as a basket and story weaver, environmental “artivist,” and instigator of community interactive, impermanent art. Identifying with migratory birds, I reserve the winter months for touring outside of Alaska, in residencies where I gather and share inspiration, and draw energy and insight through my own still-wild roots. Always and every place, with my art making, I’m advocating for preservation of Alaska’s pristine wild places, cultivating Earth wisdom, and building community through imagination and creativity.

Mavis Muller is a recipient of 2010 & 2014 Artist Fellowship Awards from Alaska’s Rasmuson Foundation, and 2010 Arts Leadership and 2011 Artist of the Year awards from Homer Council on the Arts.

A Contemplative Nature 22”w x 13”h x 22”d alder, spruce, willow, birch, cedar, nettle, kelp

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Lynn Naden I am a multi-media artist working from my home studio in Kachemak City, and have resided in Homer since 1990. Born in 1957 in California, my playground was the San Joaquin River and my family’s farms.

Upon graduating in 1980 from CSU Chico with a BA in Art, I worked as a commercial sculptor/moldmaker. I’ve participated in over 20 invitational and 15 solo exhibits. As an arts activist and educator, I’ve curated 15 exhibits and taught over 45 workshops and residencies.

I think my signature works are my bas-reliefs in clay and paper, commissioned by private and public arenas, notably “ABC’s of Kachemak Bay” on permanent display at the Homer Public Library. My work is exhibited at my home gallery and at my Octopus Garden Gallery on the Homer Spit.

33 Wishes 36”w x 48”h x 36”d cast cotton and abaca fibers, grape vine, pushki flower, voice activated plasma light, sentimental inclusions

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Linda Skelton The urge to sew and craft was inherited.

1984 after graduating UCCS – working for the summer in Homer – I never left – Kachemak Bay the best of both worlds – mountains & the ocean. Telling this to people every day.

31 summers on the Spit, still working seasonally.

A Spit Rat for the first few summers – the love of the beach has never waned.

In 1985 I emerged early one morning onto the beach to pop a bull kelp underfoot. The tide line was under the little trailer.

“Wow I slept really good last night.”

Trying to balance the beautifully creative place Homer can be and the harsh reality of living in Alaska.

I’ll take the trade-off. My heart is still here on the beach.

A Tidal Education detail – 8”w x 6”h fabric, beads

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Kathy Smith I have lived in Alaska for most of my life. My mother was an artist, my father a petroleum geologist. I live surrounded by the landscape of Kachemak Bay, which continues to guide and influence the direction of my work. Living with the tide is a constant reminder of the power of nature, its impact on daily life, and the inevitable progression of time.

Recurrent events and natural forces, such as seasonal changes and shifting tides, are often the subject for my paintings. Natural and man-made disasters such as volcanoes and retreating glaciers brought about by climate change have also found their way into my work.

My artistic background includes drawing, painting, printmaking, fiber and surface design.

Storm Tide 24”w x 24”h x 2”d oil and cold wax on panel

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Linda Smogor I thrive on visual storytelling and have been energetically chasing light ever since I can remember. I’ve long been documenting the people here in Homer and Kachemak Bay. My portraits reflect the geography, character, light and love of this place we call home.

Self-taught, I worked as a photojournalist in Illinois before moving to Alaska. Publication credits include The NY Times, Life, The Sun Magazine, American Photo, Mothering, Today’s Photographer, Illinois Times, Eugene Weekly, Shots, and Alaska Magazine.

Linda Smogor is both a MacDowell and Rasmuson Fellow. Her prints have been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Alaska and across the Lower 48.

Collections include Carr-Gottstein, The Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, The MacDowell Foundation, and numerous private collectors.

Girl Talk on the Homer Spit Boardwalk 20”w x 18”h archival giclee canvas print

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Kim Torian Terpening Born the middle child of a scrappy and talented artist father and a seamstress-plumberhomemaker mom, it was pretty clear to me early on that Ohio wouldn’t hold me for long.

As a young adult, I traveled West to Colorado then North to Montana. The larger the mountains and the vaster the landscape became, the further north I traveled, finally settling in Homer. Alaska blew my mind instantly and before too long the landscape had infiltrated my soul, settling in for the long haul. This landscape is as much a part of me as my heart.

Some 35 years later, I split my time between Homer and the quirky mountain town of Bisbee, Arizona. The bare-bones landscape of Arizona sits in sharp contrast to the fecundity of Kachemak Bay, yet it inspires me in new ways. But truth be told, Kachemak Bay will always be my truest of muses and most devoted spiritual confidant.

My studio work includes fiber sculpture, interpretive digital photography, handmade art books, perfume design and dark chocolate.

Pushki 60”w x 24”h digital image on aluminum

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Shirley Timmreck A longtime resident of Homer, I taught art for many years in my home city of New Orleans, plus several painting classes and Art Appreciation at our local community college.

My skills are varied as I work in oils, acrylics, watercolors, inks and collage.

Painting the grandeur of Alaska – fields of fireweed in bloom, majestic mountains, the amazing dance of sandhill cranes – has kept me busy in my studio on East Hill, and resulted in involvement in many exhibitions. I have also become known to Homer as a “playwright” which I stumbled into with my first play “LOUISA” that became a town favorite staged by Pier One Theatre on the Spit.

Threshold 48”w x 36”h oil on canvas

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Judy Winn I was born in 1951 and raised by the sea in Seattle. I studied art and planned to be a commercial artist.

In 1972 I met my husband Dan, and we moved to Homer, where we commercial fished in Cook Inlet. This gave me a deep appreciation for the bounty and beauty of the sea.

I started a business doing graphic design and sign painting. This led to theatre set painting and jewelry-making. I now sell my work in several galleries around the state.

I have studied with many fine artists and have been in numerous group shows.

Floating Leaves 24�w x 60�h wood and paper

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Nancy Wise As a young girl, I found solace and inspiration in the natural world, toting my box of pencils and crayons to my secret place deep in the pines, painting matched sets of bottles and chairs with fanciful arbors. Always, a connection to nature.

Finally to Alaska, glorious Kachemak Bay, creating from natural materials by kerosene light, soon from a homestead and studio in the hills.

Then, part of the blossoming Homer arts scene, painting watercolor and silk, exhibiting locally and nationally, teaching throughout Alaska, mentoring students in my home studio.

Now, a quarter century later, still in the same studio, exploring and playing with fused glass, making art inextricably connected to the rhythms, shifts, colors, light, and tides of Kachemak Bay. Life is beauty. Life is art.

Hunter Moon Birch Grove 12�w x 9�h fused glass

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WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

Barbara Madsen Wyatt Forty years a painter near Kachemak Bay, I never had an art class until college in Austin, Texas. By late 70’s, Homer painters, art books, magazines filled my hours late into snowy, Diamond Ridge nights while the babies were in bed. Alive with my young practice, during 1980’s and 90’s my work was shown in museums, universities, galleries. Now my art is hung at a friend’s bakery/café. Always a painter, sometimes storyteller, explorer of now, brush pushing paint, rider of mid-rip stream that is consciousness.

Kachemak Bay is a close, deep mystery, mixing gyres and tides, nutrient-rich colder, darker currents. A small finger of water poking into our land, connecting with all Pacific creatures, people, places, providing, taking away.

Me, I paint. That is all.

Precious Legend 40”w x 30”h acrylic on canvas

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WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

Nancy Yaki It was the summer of 1979, a pivotal point in my life. I decided to venture off to the northernmost state in the union – Alaska. What I thought was going to be a summer vacation turned into almost three decades of strength, courage and endurance. My relationship with this truly wild and pristine place, where the Pacific Ring of Fire meets some of the most extreme tides in the world, shaped who I am today.

I now reside on the shores of California’s central coast where at age 53 I can sit back, reflect, and synthesize the experiences I’ve had at the intersection of vast nature and organic, purposeful design. Gratitude to an amazing community (Homer), for supporting me every step of the way.

Cooperative Adventure 60”w x 20”h acrylic on canvas

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WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

Aleda Yourdon From the School of Visual Arts in New York City to freelance in Utah, and finally with a mixture of commercial and fine art in Alaska, I have traveled through different intensities of photography for over 40 years.

Black and white film is my medium of choice because I feel I can create a stronger image and delight in the sense of mood and emotion it can convey. Each photograph becomes its own story and entices the viewer to become involved. I include humor and mystery in my journey, along with beauty and a sense of wonder.

In Kachemak Bay, I have found all my needs to inspire me in both visual stimulation and the support of the community of artists who live here.

Rip Tide 20�w x 16�h silver gelatin print

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WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

Any time women come together with a collective intention, it’s a powerful thing – magic happens.

– Phylicia Rashad

WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE TIDES

This exhibit is supported in part by Alaska State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, City of Homer, and Holland America Line.

$24.95