New arts center opens in Palmer

PALMER — When I step out of the rain into Karen Lopez’s new downtown studio and gallery, I am greeted by her warm smile and the brightness of fresh paint.

I step around furniture and drop cloths to see the beginnings of an enriching addition to Palmer’s art community. Lopez’s art center, called NuKreationZ Art and Creativity Center, is located at 735 S. Bailey St. in downtown Palmer and provides a resource that Lopez sees a need for in the Valley. The space will include a gallery, workshop area, studio and a sitting area with books and coffee.

As Lopez enthusiastically speaks of her infectious and inspiring dreams for her art center, a woman comes in with beautiful prints of her photography work. The photos will hang in the new gallery alongside other creations from Alaskan artists. Lopez tells me that meeting so many new and talented artists has been a wonderful experience for her.

She leads us downstairs into the studio area and tells us about her plans to use the space for public workshops. She hopes to bring artists who specialize in all mediums to her studio to lead workshops and wants to make the space available for artists who are looking for a venue to teach from. In the future, Lopez hopes to work with the home school community and provide a place for home school students to connect with the arts. Lopez’s vision for bringing the community together with the arts is truly refreshing. Grants are available for organizations like hers that are dedicated to the community, and Lopez hopes to find funds for the art center in that manner. Works of art sold in the gallery will also support the art center.

NuKreationZ Art and Creativity Center, Lopez emphasized, is not an endeavor in business profit, but one in community profit. The art center could be a hub for artists and a place to foster an environment that encourages community support and collaborations. She knows that an ideal creative environment is one in which people have the opportunity to learn from other artists and build on each other’s enthusiasm for the arts. Lopez wants to provide the community a place where they can come to talk, live and dream art.

As a lifelong Alaskan, Lopez has a unique understanding of the needs of the community and she feels that, “Palmer is bursting at the seams to be creative.”

She intends her new studio and gallery to provide just the creative outlet the community needs.

In Lopez’s own art, she is a talented potter. She caught the itch in her mid-20s when she took pottery lessons. Lopez is inspired by the lines, forms and colors of nature and strives to re-create them in her pottery. Quaking aspen is her favorite muse.

With this in mind, it is no wonder that Lopez takes strong interest in the organic quality of raku pottery. Raku is a firing method that produces an interesting glaze. After applying the glaze, the piece is fired and pulled out while it’s still glowing hot and placed in a bucket of combustibles such as newspaper and hay. The resulting fire changes the colors of the glaze and adds interesting textures to the piece. Lopez hopes to do a demonstration of raku pottery and provided an opportunity for folks to try it at the art center’s Second Saturday opening.