Bunnell Street Gallery

About Us

• Mission Statement

• History

• Previous Exhibits

Mission Statement

To nuture and present innovative art of uncommon quality in all media.

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A Grassroots Gallery Imagines New Frontiers

An innovative arts scene in Homer, Alaska is not as much about critical dynamism as it is about adventurous inclusion of all those committed to making and sharing art. Homer's art scene is built upon a few essential characteristics of the Alaskan personality. Individualism. Resilience. Independence. Creativity. It seems that if you measure up on these fronts, you'll likely create some interesting artwork. People around here are handy, and after building one's home, learning to fish and turning the woods into gardens, painting and potting, poetry and photography seem to flow easily forth. What's noteworthy is not so much virtuosity as drive, the need to make, and the numbers of people who participate in a creative process with spiritual intensity. These long winters are an existential challenge. They'll drive anyone to philosophizing and searching, ultimately wrenching a personal creative statement from deep within. The development of Homer's Bunnell Street Gallery offers a thriving example of how a community can find its center around art-making and sharing.

The seeds for the success of this gallery were sown in 1989 by a small group of artists led by Joni Whitmore who collectively expressed the vision and energy to plant a dream of a gallery to which Homer would be quickly and deeply attached. Driven by a need for warm studio space and the promise of art sales, these folks identified gallery potential in the historic, albeit dilapidated, Inlet Trading Post. Down by the shore of Bishop's Beach overlooking spectacular Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountain Range, the setting commanded appreciation and idealism. Claiming the first floor of the old building, the original "Great Company Gallery" invoked substantial renovations, resuscitating the beloved old building into an inviting gallery space. Ancient linoleum was scraped up to reveal hardwood floors in fine condition. Innumerable hardware bins and partitions were removed to expose the space to sunny southern exposure. The gallery was a mix of studio and retail areas. Tie-dyed T-shirts multiplied beside stoneware pottery, silver jewelry, wild-flower notecards and paintings of fantasy scenes. The collection was spirited, zany, and funky.

After one year the venue might have collapsed from desertion by most of the original crew. However, one of them, Kurt Marquardt, who had been chiefly responsible for renovations, decided to purchase the building. He was committed to the gallery's survival and welcomed another group of artists to collaborate with him to keep the gallery open. Kurt's commitment has been a critical reason for the gallery's continued growth. From the beginning of his ownership of the Old Inlet Trading Post building, he agreed to a "pay as you can" contribution from the gallery. Five years after Kurt purchased the building the gallery was finally ready to carry a contractual lease. Bunnell Street Gallery has now rented its space for five years at a discounted rate that reflects its non-profit status.

The new crew decided to change the gallery's format to showcase original fine art. "Bunnell Street Gallery" was its new name, and it initiated the current trend of local art shows changing monthly with a generous opening reception. Bunnell Street Gallery was immediately embraced by the community for its serious effort, a great step-up to a real gallery in Homer. Forging a conceptual structure to underpin the physical vision has been a slower, community-based project. The gallery has been in a steady process of evolution since its inception. The original collaborators joined others to form a charter Board of Directors and become a legitimate 501(c)(3) organization. In this move we affirmed several important goals: (1)self-sufficiency through a broader basis of financial support than sales, including fundraising events, membership and grants (2) attracting community support including volunteers for Board positions and gallery hosts (3) more effective networking and collaboration with other local, State and National non-profits.

The fiscal viability of artwork sales as a means of support of this gallery was still bleak after the first three years. Our short summers bring many art-loving tourists, but not enough to carry us through the year. More importantly, a growing motivation for the gallery leadership is art appreciation, education and exposure. Works of art need not be for sale. Separating art from the market as the measure of its value proved to broaden the scope of what the gallery presented and enjoyed.

Bunnell Street Gallery expanded its mission to accommodate concerts and performances suited to the intimate "salon" setting of the gallery. Responding to the ongoing need to exhibit, promote and educate in the visual arts area, the gallery brought a balance to our community that is already rich in large performance art venues and natural history exhibitions. Now, in addition to a forum for the visual arts, the community seeks frequent intimate music programs, concerts, plays, films, artist's lectures and writer's readings at the Gallery.

With non-profit status comes a more explicit message of inclusion and dependency on volunteerism from the local folk. Volunteers have "come out of the woodwork," and today non-artist gallery hosts comprise more than half of our corps. Our membership includes everyone willing to help support the gallery, whether through labor or dollars.

Although substantial in our budget design, artwork sales are only part of a bigger fundraising picture that includes membership, grants and special fundraising projects. An essential aspect of our fundraising projects is that they are not "bake sales," (fore fronting cash for the cause). We are committed to promoting concepts for events and exhibitions that are, foremost, interesting, innovative and about art. Our "Plate Project" is a collaboration of painters and potters who make one-of-a-kind dinner plates that are premiums for gallery membership. From twenty-five in our first year, now over fifty artists help support the gallery while offering their skills, sharing and learning an exciting media. The resulting exhibition is not only our major fund-raiser; it is a showcase of local talent. Our "Edible Art Extravaganza" is an exhibition of art. Open to artists of all ages and juried by people's choice voting, it is at once as ridiculous and delightful as it sounds. It has become a New Year's Eve tradition where new artists step forward in a celebratory, supportive and non-pretentious environment.

Bunnell Street Gallery has helped draw the statewide arts scene together. An arts exchange has grown between Homer and other Alaskan cities. Artists statewide show their work here, while the Gallery's shows are traveling to Anchorage, to such spaces as Toast Theater Gallery, Alaska Pacific University, The International Gallery, Morris-Decker Gallery and the Anchorage Museum. Artists statewide attend our workshops in Homer. Alaskan communities, from Soldotna to Kodiak and Wrangell, are looking to the Gallery for direction on starting grass-roots nonprofit venues for art. Bunnell Street Gallery demonstrates that the arts can thrive with low overhead, big vision and community-wide access and support.

This gallery strives to help foster the arts and community by drawing the public in for celebrations of local and visiting talent and by showcasing the arts as a natural resource that grows through sharing. The vision of Bunnell Street Gallery is that by exposing the arts we can promote awareness of and questioning about what qualities are unique to Alaskan art and artists. This should be a dialogue between Alaskans, artists and visitors alike. We as individuals are not here to escape culture or live in the past, rather it is our vision that through the arts we manifest the dream of the pioneer in own lives. Journey, invention and discovery should be available to all through the arts. Alaska's aesthetic beauty challenges us not to reproduce its image in our artwork but to match it with imagination and ambition of our own. The vision of the Gallery is manifested in the following goals:

* to take advantage of opportunities to present high-quality art programs and seek leading artists for presentation in all aspects of our programs,

* to encourage bravery, productivity and depth of investigation in local artists and audience, such that local artists seek more exposure and the local audience expects increasing daring, education and quality arts programs,

* to utilize whatever means appropriate for artistic exchanges, including collaboration with other local and statewide agencies,

* to encourage commitment to the arts in artists and community members as a whole, drawing out the artist in everyone through inclusive opportunities, from open discussions to workshops to volunteer opportunities at the gallery,

* to convey to the visitor and community alike the warmth and richness of the local arts scene, demonstrating that grassroots commitment to the arts keeps the arts alive and thriving.

Once a hub of commerce for fisherfolk and homesteaders, a gathering place where one might sip coffee around the coal stove, the Old Inlet Trading Post lay derelict in the late 1980's as Homer grew and new and larger specialty stores outpaced the Trading Post of the past. But, as the community of Homer has grown and changed, so has our commerce. Artists and art supporters here see that our current frontier is not these mountains and woods we admire daily, but the imagination this landscape provokes. Culture is the commerce of this day. The sense of community is maintained in a site for salvaging the creative outpourings of local folk. This is perhaps an innovate concept, a way in which Homer outpaces the fractured metropolis Outside. We have found our center.

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