Stortz paints with sweeping strokes, hoping to convey the vast grandeur of the Alaska landscape. Some of her paintings are as large as 30 by 40 inches.

"Each of my paintings is like a poem or prayer to place," Stortz stated in a press release.

A clinical social worker, Stortz grew up in New York City and received her master's degree in social work in 1977 from Columbia University. She began her landscape painting with explorations of New York's George Washington Bridge.

She and her family moved to Fairbanks in 1979, then Sitka in 1988. She took time off from painting in 1985, but rediscovered the brush in 2004. At first, she worked only in gouache. But lately, she's been dabbling in water-soluble oils.

Stortz paints in her studio from photographs taken by her husband, William. The show will run through Sept. 29. For more, visit www.libbystortz.com.

Annie Kaill's, 244 Front St.: Juneau artists Elise Tomlinson and Devita Stipek Writer will share exhibition walls this month at the Front Street shop.

Tomlinson often paints female forms, fields and uncommon aerial views of landscapes. She will show a series of 12 new paintings ranging in size from 5 by 7 inches to 12 by 16 inches - an unusually small size for her.

Devita Writer, known for her large-scale paintings, will be showing a new group of post-impressionistic landscapes.

For more on both artists, check out www.annieandcojuneau.com.

Hearthside Books, downtown, 254 Front St.: Juneau author and storyteller Ishmael Hope will sign copies of "Strong Man: A Tlingit Story" from 4:30 to 7 p.m.

Hope and illustrator Dimi Macheras have combined their talents to create this graphic presentation of a traditional Alaska Native story. A contemporary plotline is interwoven with the ancient narrative, chronicling a young man's high school struggles and triumphs in comic book form.

Hope is the son of the late Elizabeth Freda Hope from the Goodwin family in Kotzebue, and Andy Hope III from Sitka, a Tlingit of the Siknax.adi clan. Ishmael Hope's Inupiaq name is Analook, and his Tlingit name is Kaa Kwaask. He is of the Kiks.adi clan, of the Point House in Sitka.

Juneau Artists Gallery, 175 S. Franklin St.: Longtime Juneau Artists Gallery member Jane Terry will exhibit her newest work - wheel-thrown and hand-built ceramic plates - as the featured artist in September.

Her pieces are displayed with an assortment of found and made objects, such as crab shells, spruce cones, feathers and devil's club.

Terry works at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum. She has lived in Juneau for more than 10 years and enjoys working with paints, clay, beads and local weaving materials, including willow, cedar and spruce roots.

Juneau-Douglas High School: The debut of the new First Friday space in the JDHS library has been pushed back to October.

Librarian Barb Kreher is opening the school library's walls as a gallery exhibit space for community artists. Events will occur immediately following the school day on First Fridays, with staff, students and the public invited.

Kreher will soon announce the theme for the October exhibition. For more information, e-mail barbara_kreher@jsd.k12.ak.us.

KTOO, 360 Egan Drive: The station's halls will be filled with quilts by the Monday night Sewing Circle and the Gold Street Quilters.

Silverbow Inn, 120 Second St.: Award-winning photographer Cathy Opie will give a lecture and presentation of her work at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7.

In the fall of 2006, Perseverance Theatre was selected to receive an artist residency through United States Artists and the Rasmuson Foundation. Opie was tabbed for a multi-year residency with the goal of creating a theatrical set design that incorporated some of her photography. She arrived on Aug. 28 and leaves Sept. 8.

Opie is a professor of photography in the UCLA art department.

She has created several notable bodies of work linked by an interest in the construction of communities, including portraits of leather fetishists in San Francisco; documentation of mini-malls and freeways, and Bel-Air and Beverly Hills homes; and an ongoing series called "American Cities," which focuses on notions of civic identity.

Her work may be viewed at www.regenprojects.com/artists/catherine-opie.