First Friday exhibits include Patrice Helmar's photography
Patrice Helmar was born among photographs and photographers. Her late father, Paul, was the owner of Juneau Photo Works and Helmar grew up in its darkroom. Her mother, Kim Metcalfe, studied photography in Seattle and has also been a source of creative inspiration to her daughter.
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Helmar is honoring her roots by showing a collection of new photographs at Annie Kaill's this month.
"I just wonder what my dad would say," Helmar said. "When I was a baby he would give us the camera and let us take photos. We were always around his shop, my brother and I, while we were growing up. I'm definitely trying to honor that and get back to that."
Though she said her true love is film photography and hand printing in a darkroom, Helmar's upcoming show is digitally based. In honor of the traditional art of printing from film, she set out to create a series of the most perfect digital prints possible.
"There's an absence in print quality," Helmar said. "I think that's an essential missing link in photography today. People are used to seeing pixels instead of fine grain. It's just a shame."
To get the best prints she could, Helmar chose a printing process in which the final photograph is printed using a photographic chemical process and then sublimated onto aluminum.
Her images capture the beauty of her home state of Alaska as well as travel images from Greece and Turkey.
"I think it's a really important thing as an Alaskan to get an outside experience if you want to be an artist and you want to bring something to the table in the community," Helmar said. "I want to show young men and women growing up in downtown Juneau things that I was amazed at and found beautiful in the world."
Helmar is mainly inspired by documentary and street photography. She was born into photography and said she has never taken a break from shooting photos, that she's never known anything different.
"I constantly miss my dad because he was the driving force," Helmar said.
Her father was a Vietnam vet who, in addition to running his downtown store, was the photographer for a small legislative reporting newspaper that he ran with his wife. He studied, examined, and photographed people, drawing on his study in visual anthropology. Helmar said she highly values photos such as his that were explaining cultures and even inciting social change.
She said she is satisfied with and "stoked" on this digital project, but her aspiration is to shoot film again and get her hands back in the chemicals.
"I have dreams about darkrooms," Helmar said. "I'm committed to trying to relearn that form and science, because I'm just not happy otherwise."
Helmar is also a songwriter and will be debuting with her new band, Myth Barber, at Folk Festival this year. She said the style can't be categorized into one genre but is "music for the people." She has written and performed songs since she was very young and said she is excited to still be playing.
Helmar said she is very grateful to the artistic community in Juneau for being supportive in her efforts for this show.
"(Juneau's artists) could be anywhere else in the world doing this, but we love Alaska," she said. "We love our community, and art is a way of inspiring others to do the same thing."
Here's a look at what's going on around town for April's First Friday Artwalk.
KTOO
Egan and Whittier
Reception from 4:30-7 p.m.
From now through the end of May, KTOO will host the annual Alaska Photographic Arts Association members' spring exhibit.
This year's show will feature work from 13 photographers: Bob Armstrong, KTOO's own Jeff Brown, Matthew Brown, Daniel Buckscott, Brad Cure, Marilyn Holmes, Pat Kalbaugh, Iris Korhonen, Joe McCabe, Patrick McCormick, Lance McVay, Terra Parker and Michael Penn.
The show can be viewed during KTOO's regular business hours, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday.
Juneau Arts & Culture Center
350 Whittier Street
Reception from 4:30-7 p.m.
The Juneau Arts & Humanities Council gallery will feature the seventh annual University of Alaska student juried art exhibition. Work will include painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography and Northwest Coast art.
Guest juror for the show is artist Miah Lager.
This year's award for "Best in show" went to Bonilyn Parker's "Family Tree." Honorable mentions were awarded to Katerina Kuntz-Tadda's "Wake Up," SueAnn Randall's "Organ Donor," and Rob Roys' "Woman with Tube Socks."
The exhibit will run through April 22.
Back Room at the Silverbow
120 Second St.
Introductory program at 6 p.m.
AWARE will launch Sexual Assault Awareness month with an art exhibit called "Healing Art: Surviving Violence." The exhibit will be unveiled with a family-friendly program at 6 p.m. that will include an introduction of the artwork, music, speakers and unique expressions of healing.
For more information about Sexual Assault Awareness month, visit www.awareak.org
The Canvas
223 Seward St.
Reception from 4:30-7:30 p.m.
The Canvas will host a joint show, "Friends & Neighbors," featuring the work of Barbara Craver and Constance Baltuck Hartle. Both artists focused on figure studies for this show.
Craver is well-known for her pastels, primarily of landscapes. She said the focus on the human figure was an enjoyable challenge for her.
"Working on pieces for this show, 'Friends and Neighbors,' has taken me in unexpected directions," she said in an artists statement. "Rather than laboring over a person's likeness I tried to explore people doing everyday things, people in landscapes, and finally using the human figure as the jumping off point for abstraction."
Hartle, another well-known local artist who has shown her work at various galleries around town, said she usually concentrates on the landscapes and flora of Southeast.
"Over the years I've incorporated figures into a lot of my work, but only rarely have they been the main focus, " she said in an artist statement. "Trying to capture a likeness or the beauty and complexity of the human form has given me some of my most challenging and most rewarding experiences as an artist."
Friends of the Alaska State Museum Store
124 Seward St.
Reception from 4:30-7 p.m.
The Seward Street shop will feature a regalia art exhibit featuring the work of museum store staff members Ruby Soboleff and Starlene White. At 5 p.m. White will give a demonstration on weaving cedar roses and at 6 p.m., Soboleff will give one on weaving cedar birds.
For more information, call 465-2901.
Baranof Hotel, Treadwell Room
127 N. Franklin St.
Reception from 4-8 p.m.
The Treadwell Room of the Baranof Hotel will host a benefit event for Kenny Bennett, a longtime Juneau resident who was injured in a violent crime. The evening's events include an exhibit by the Plein Rein painters, a silent auction featuring donations from local businesses, a bake sale and live entertainment by Little Black Raincloud Co. Appetizers will be provided by the Baranof, and a no-host beer and wine bar will be provided by local distributors.
Ten percent of all proceeds will be donated to the Victims of Violent Crimes Fund.
Annie Kaill's
244 Front St.
Reception from 4;30 -7 p.m.
The photographs of Patrice Helmar will be featured at Annie Kaills. Helmar, a fifth generation Alaskan, shares images of her trips to Greece and Turkey as well as Alaska-based images. Photographs are large format polaroids printed using the process of aluminum sublimation and some smaller aluminum sublimated prints.
Ruby Room
Emporium Mall
Reception from 4:30-7 p.m.
The Ruby Room will feature a group show of work submitted by members of its Tuesday night open studio sessions. All members of the drawing group were invited to show their work; selections are not limited to pieces completed during the Tuesday sessions.
Faciliated by Rob Roys, the drawing group meets from October through April. Interested artists should contact Roys at juneaudrawing@gmail.com
3213356.
Alaska State Museum
The state museum will content to display the work of two solo artists, Stron Softi and Jeremy Kane. Softi's work includes carvings and mutlimedia works, and Kane's show is a collection of his latest ceramic pieces.
The museum offers free admission on First Fridays from 4 until 7, and the show runs through April 25.
Juneau Douglas City Museum
The exhibit "Hoop Time: Gastineau Channel Basketball Through the Years" will continue at the city museum through Nov. 21. The show offers a look back at the tournaments history and focus on fun, competition and sportsmanship.