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On the first Friday of each month, Juneau galleries, museums, and shops stay open late and host show and exhibit openings, artist meet-and-greets and more. Following is information about events available as of press time. All events and openings are on Friday, Feb. 5. To have your event listed here next month, e-mail details to editor@capweek.com no later than one week prior.

Alaska State Museum, 395 Whittier St.

February marks the opening of new exhibits at the museum. The work of Alaska's top craft artists will be on display in a juried exhibition entitled "Earth, Fire and Fibre XXVII," which features works in clay, fabric, wood, metal and other materials.

Paintings of Alaska's northern wilderness, and sculptures reflecting a life spent fishing, will also be on display. The artists, Bill Brody of Fairbanks, and Annette Bellamy from Halibut Cove, are well-established figures in Alaska's art community, having won numerous awards between them. An opening reception for the exhibitions will be held Friday from 4:30 to 7 p.m., sponsored by The Friends of the Alaska State Museum. Admission to the museum is free as part of Juneau's First Friday Art Walk.

Brody has painted in Alaska since the 1960s. He has gained a reputation for his landscape paintings, often made during outdoor excursions in Alaska's national parks. The paintings in this exhibit were all made in 2008, the results of a summer of painting in Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias, and Gates of the Arctic national parks. He will also be showing panoramic photographic works that he makes by digitally combining numerous images of the remote areas where he paints.

Bellamy, who has a studio in the small community of Halibut Cove, near Homer, works in ceramics, glass, steel and other materials. She has fished commercially with her husband for more than thirty years, and her sculptural works explore the materials and tools of a life lived close to the land and sea.

Earth, Fire and Fibre is organized every two years by the Anchorage Museum at the Rasmusen Center as a competitive showcase for Alaska artists who work in traditional craft genres such as jewelry making, ceramics, quilting and wood carving. The exhibition is one of the state's longest-running juried exhibitions. Selected artworks often challenge the usual preconceptions, blurring the lines between art and craft.

Ellen M. Anderson is the sole Juneau artist represented in the exhibit with her piece, "Minerality," made of hand-painted silks, net, beads, and distressed felt.

These exhibitions will be on display through March 27.

Annie Kaill's, 244 Front St.

For February's First Friday event, Annie Kaill's will hold a drawing for a Valentine's Day gift basket featuring candies, soaps and whatever other exciting stuff they decide to include. The First Friday event will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday.

JUNEAU ARTISTS GALLERY, 175 S. FRANKLIN ST.

Mosaics by Christine McQuitty are featured during February at the Juneau Artists Gallery. McQuitty is the newest member of the cooperatively run gallery and will be available to discuss her work from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday.

McQuitty began working with mosaics about three years ago when her sister sent her an unfinished mirror, some tiles, wheel and nipper tools, grout and a book about mosaic craft. She briefly skimmed the book and then proceeded to put the tiles in a bag and smash them into pieces, which turned her first project into a giant jigsaw puzzle. By the time she finished that first mirror she had discovered a passion for the design, color, and process of mosaic.

Mosaic tabletops, frames, boxes, shelves, trivets, plant stands, birdhouses, and mirrors are some of the items McQuitty has embellished. Her goal is to continuously challenge herself with more ambitious projects and designs, and to keep refining her techniques and processes. McQuitty will be happy to share the techniques and processes she has learned with visitors to the gallery during Friday's opening reception.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

JUNEAU ARTS & CULTURE CENTER, 350 WHITTIER ST.

Joe McCabe will be exhibiting a new body of fine art photographs in February at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council Gallery. An opening reception will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Friday.

The works in this collection literally reflect Joe's fascination of reflections. To McCabe, reflections represent a glimpse into a perpetually fluid, alternate world that can tease a viewer's perceptions of reality. All the photographs in the collection are, of course, reflections and were made in and around Harris and Aurora harbors as well as Auke Bay. In an effort to convey his alternative, reflective view of the world, McCabe has digitally inverted each photo in order to create a mirror image of the reflection. The resulting photograph represents a new reflected reality in which the mirrored quality of the reflection has been removed and the scene appears as if reality has been somehow warped.

Based in Juneau, McCabe's subjects encompass the beauty of his Alaskan surroundings and include still lifes, landscapes, and wildlife. He uses digital cameras and software to create images that he hopes will resonate with and engage the viewer.

For more information, visit http://www.jmmphotography.com/.

JUNEAU-DOUGLAS CITY MUSEUM, 4TH & MAIN

The museum has invited artists of all ages to create work for the annual "12x12x12 Community Art Exhibit." Work will be on display through the month of February. An opening reception will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

Friday also marks the opening of "MouthPower," a traveling exhibit from the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry. The exhibit features interactive learning stations that teach kids (and adults) about the power of a healthy smile and the importance of oral hygiene in a healthy life. The exhibit will be on display through April 24.

For more information, call 586-3572 or visit online at http://juneau.org/parkrec/museum/.

KTOO Studios, 360 Egan Drive

New works by photographer Ron Klein will be in display at the station during the month of February. An opening reception will be held from 4:30-6 p.m. on Friday. For details, call 586-1670.

Silverbow Backroom, 120 Second St.

The Juneau Homeless Coalition is will continue its presentation of "Out of the Rain: A Snapshot of Homelessness," a gallery showing of photographs taken in and around Juneau and the unveiling of its 2010 calendar "Out of the Rain."

The opening reception will be held on Friday and the show will be on display through the month of February.

Both the calendar and gallery showing features photographs on the subject of homelessness taken by Juneau photographers Scot Allen, Lance Caldwell, Marilyn Holmes, Doug Sturm and Teri Tibbett. Call 463-6425 for details.

THE CANVAS, 223 SEWARD ST.

The Canvas will hold an opening for Magil Pratt's "Miniatures" from 4:30 to 7 p.m. A studio sale will be held at the same time, as The Canvas is clearing out the pottery studio and uncovering fabulous masterpieces from the drawing and painting studio. For more information, call 586-1750 or visit http://canvasarts.org/.

Zephyr Restaurant, 200 Seward St.

Averyl Veliz will exhibit art from her book and art for a future animated movie upstairs at Zephyr Restaurant during the month of February.

"A Klondike Tale" is a visual development art book for an original tale that takes place in the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. The Native Tlingit Spirits are put to the test of dealing with human invasion of Alaska and its ensuing corruption and degradation of their beloved habitat. The Spirits are pulled into the world of mans' greed and a town's whirlwind expansion when one of their own joins the men on a quest for wealth and power.

An opening reception will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday. Prints vary in price and hardcover books are available for $60.

For more information, visit http://averylveliz.blogspot.com.