North Shore Arts Scene

How do we even begin to talk about all that happened on the North Shore this week? First snow?

The 50th anniversary commemoration of the Edmund Fitzgerald at Split Rock Lighthouse?

The explosion of northern lights nationwide?

Let’s go for all of the above.

This week, look for art-making and theater opportunities, as well as live music and plans for the holiday season.

Add to that the fact that a new art exhibit opened at the Johnson Heritage Post, featuring works by artists of all ages in the community, and you have some idea of how busy and varied life on the North Shore has been.

This week, the Johnson Heritage Post revives an old tradition: the Annual Ornament Contest and Fundraiser.

Members of the community are invited to create and donate a handcrafted ornament to be featured in the competition and made available for sale to raise money for the Cook County Historical Society’s 2026 community programming. Youth, ages 5-13, and adults are encouraged to participate.

Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the adult category, and for first place in the youth category.

All proceeds generated from the sale of the ornaments will directly support the Cook County Historical Society’s community programming scheduled for 2026. Ornaments that remain unsold after Dec. 31 may be returned to the artist if they choose.

To learn more, click here.

Also on Thursday, modern dance classes will be held at the Colvill Town Hall starting at 6 pm.

Entitled “Drop In Practice,” the event features modern dance classes for every age. Open to all. Suggested donation of $15. For more information, including the teaching schedule and teacher bios, email DropInPractice@gmail.com.

On Friday and Saturday, Murder Mystery Dinner Theater comes to Grand Marais with a performance on Friday night at Up Yonder and on Saturday at Caribou Highlands.

On Friday, the Showdown at the Kar-a-OK-e Corral will be performed at Up Yonder.

The play: Every year, the most talented singers from around the north shore meet up at the famed Kara-OK-e Corral for the state’s most prestigious contest- “Cook County’s Got Talent”. The best of the best are put to the test, but this year, the competition is fiercer than ever before, and the contestants will do whatever it takes to knock out the competition. So when foul play occurs – will the culprit face the music… or beat the rap? Tickets are $50. Social hour starts at 5:30 pm.

On Saturday, the dinner theater mystery The  Private Eye Team will be performed at Caribou Highlands.

The play: Alexander Van der Anderson has been murdered – and by a member of his own family! Detective Roland Hardway is going to need your help to crack the case! But be careful, because someone in your group is a killer!  It’s half comedy show, half game and a whole lot of fun.

For more info, tickets, and menus, click here 

Also on Saturday night, writer and actor Benjamin Boucvalt brings his powerful solo piece, “No Matter What You Tell Me,” to the Arrohwead Center for the Arts, sponsored by the Grand Marais Playhouse. The performance starts at 7 pm.

This dramatic comedy is funny, heartbreaking, and fiercely hopeful. Told in the first person, this is a story of one family secret that leads to another. A story that proves how family is fraught, never really what it appears, and, despite it all, so very necessary.

Benjamin’s work is well known to audiences who have visited the Great River Shakespeare Festival, where he has performed for 13 years. Notable performances include Orlando in As You Like It, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, and Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. Other theaters include the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Curtain Theatre, St. Petersburg Shakespeare Company, and the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. Benjamin published his second book, “The Name Hennessy,” in the summer of 2024. He voices one of the main characters in the audiobook that was also released last year. It is a STELLAR, fully dramatized audiobook, with individual actors reading each character, all recorded together on stage.

To tickets, click here.

WISE (Women’s Initiative for Service and Education) will open its annual Online Auction on Saturday, Nov. 15. The auction runs through Sunday, Nov. 23.  See a preview here.

Search no more for holiday gifts, gatherings, and opportunities to give generously! The 6th annual WISE Online Auction will be taking bids live from 12 a.m., Nov. 15, and running until 10 p.m., Nov. 23. Over 100 items, ranging from $20 to $1200, including over 50 gift certificates, are in the auction.

Funds will be used for classroom grants, donations to local nonprofits that serve families and children, and scholarships for two high school seniors, as well as adults.

For more information, contact Ann Marie Mershon, annmarie@boreal.org.

On Wednesday, Nov. 19, the annual Empty Bowls Fundraiser to help the hungry in Cook County will be held at Up Yonder with two seatings: 11 am – 1 pm and 5-7 pm.

Twelve percent of Cook County residents go hungry every month. Empty Bowls addresses Cook County’s food insecurity through several community hunger programs. Funds from last year’s Empty Bowls event were distributed to Birch Grove Community School, Cook County Food Shelf, Cook County Public Health and Human Services, Cook County Ruby’s Pantry, Cook County Schools, Cook County Youth Agency Coalition, Cooperation Station Daycare, Great Expectations School Lunch Program, Oshki Ogimaag Charter School, and the Violence Prevention Center.

Every year, the Grand Marais Art Colony works with its local Empty Bowls organization and area potters to produce handmade ceramic bowls for this event, which includes both a lunch and a dinner.

 Empty Bowls urges everyone to donate at www.emptybowlscookcounty.org. Alternatively, send checks payable to “Empty Bowls Cook County” to Empty Bowls, P.O. Box 294, Grand Marais, MN 55604.

Empty Bowls in Cook County started in 2006 and works in collaboration with the local school, the Grand Marais Art Colony and the generous donations of local businesses.

Since 2006, the annual Empty Bowls soup lunch, dinner, and handmade bowl sale fundraiser has played a critical role in battling food insecurity in Cook County. With an annual fundraising goal of $30,000, Empty Bowls plays a vital role in our community’s health and well-being.

Empty Bowls Cook County is a 501c3 nonprofit, and donations are tax-deductible to the extent provided by federal law.

Also on Wednesday, the new apartment complex, the Heights, Bluffs, invites the public to celebrate its upcoming completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and guided tours on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 1 pm, hosted by the Cook County Chamber of Commerce. The ceremony will be followed by guided tours of the project on a first-come, first-served basis. Tours will run from 1 pm to 5 pm.

The event coincides with the Empty Bowls Fundraiser at Up Yonder next door, which will have servings from 11 am to 1 pm and 5-7 pm.  Join in on the ribbon cutting and/or a tour while supporting this annual food-related fundraiser for the community.

Nov. 20 is Give to the Max Day in Minnesota. To find out more and donate to your favorite nonprofits,click here.

 Exhibits: 

Transitions: Navigating Change, a community art exhibit organized by the Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church, opened at the Johnson Heritage Post on Friday.

This is an eclectic and highly recommended exhibit, showcasing the creativity and talent in the Cook County community. Artists of every age contributed work to this show, and it features a wide variety of media.

The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday and from 1-4 pm Sunday.

Watercolor artist Sandy Maxwell is exhibiting her work in the Great Hall at Tettegouche State Park.

The exhibit continues through the month of November.

Painter Wayne Pruse is exhibiting work at the Silver Bay Public Library.

The paintings are inspired by life on the North Shore. The exhibit continues through the end of this month.

The 65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial continues at the Duluth Art Institute. This multi-media regional exhibit features 69 works in all.

 

To view the complete show:

Upcoming: 

Winterer’s Gathering, a weekend exploring life in the North with classes, workshops, presentations and the Arctic Film Festival, will be held at North House Folk School, Nov. 21-23.

The 2025 Winterers’ Gathering will welcome featured speaker Dr. Paul Bierman, a geoscientist, environmental historian, and writer focused on the interaction of people and Earth’s dynamic surface, especially in Greenland and other climate hotspots. Bierman will teach a workshop and offer a public talk, Greenland’s Value is its Ice, on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7 pm. Free. Open to the public.

One of the highlights of this event is the Arctic Film Festival, which screens a wide range of films from around the globe about the Arctic throughout the festival.  One of the films that will be screened is Bad River. See the trailer below.

It will be screened at 2:25 pm on Friday.

To see the complete film schedule and all the events at the festival, click here. And stay tuned.

Holiday craft fairs and festivals are planned for the next few weeks. Here’s a quick preview:

Up On the Yonder Holiday Sale at Up Yonder is from 11 am to 5 pm on Saturday, Nov. 22.

For more info, click here.

The North Shore Winery will hold a Holiday Market on  Nov. 28.

To find out more, click here.

The Oh Ole Night Parade and fireworks are in Grand Marais on Nov. 28.

For more info, click here.

The Hovland Winter Arts Festival will be at the Colvill Town Hall on Saturday, Nov. 29.

 To find out more, click here.

The Northwoods Fiber Guild’s Open House and Holiday Sale will be at Studio 21 on Dec. 6. This is the iconic holiday sale in Cook County featuring a great selection of handmade goods by Fiber guild members.

The Grand Marais Art Colony will hold a Holiday Market at Studio 17 on Dec. 6 as well.

To find out more, click here.

Stay tuned for details on all these events.

Artists at Work:

 Online findings:

How does the Western landscape shape one’s sense of gender and identity?

The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis is running a film series about the West this month. Artist, writer, and curator Leila Weefur sat down with the Walker Reader to talk about filmmakers reimagining the Western genre’s boundaries as a vehicle for examining power, identity, and resistance.

As the curator of the Walker’s fall film series, Landscapes of Myth: Westerns After The Searchers, Weefur shares the inspiration behind their film selections and how Western films have shaped our understanding of America and our relationship to each other. Read the interview here. It includes photographs and examples.

Can Music Heal the Brain?

A Neil deGrasse Tyson interview about the brain and music. (Note: this is on Facebook.)

Online Music:

This week’s music selections courtesy of David Seaton

Photographs:

 Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:

Wildlife: 

 

Potpourri:

A few more northern lights photographs:

 Landscapes, Skyscapes, Waterscapes:

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

PS: Donating to NorthShore Artscene today will help it continue in the future. Thank you!

  Your contribution is another way to say Thank You! to Jeremy Lopez (tech guru, Live Music Schedule) and Yvonne Mills (proofreading) for their dedication and support. Thank you to Visit Cook County for their outstanding Events Calendar, too.