The Cascades, Manitou River by Arden LaBonte.
Spring is almost here — certainly the rivers and creeks as well as migrating birds think so. The waterfalls are full and noisy and sightings of loons and eagles, song sparrows and mourning doves abound. Temps? Not so much, but they should pick up nicely this weekend, just in time for the Grand Marais Kite Festival.
The first annual Grand Marais Kite Festival is this Saturday, featuring professional kite flying demonstrations, a group fly as well as kids’ activities.
The Grand Marais Kite Festival is this weekend.
Avid kite fliers from the Twin Cities, Mitch Kiel along with his friends Richard Masak and Pam Hodges, will be in downtown Grand Marais demonstrating kites between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Saturday. They will primarily be in the Coast Guard parking lot. And, depending on wind conditions, they may also fly in other locations around downtown Grand Marais.
The kite flying trio: Kiel, Masak, and Hodges are all members of the American Kitefliers Association (AKA) and have been flying kites professionally for many years at kite flying festivals and national conventions across the United States, Canada and overseas in Singapore.
A kids’ kite-making class will take place on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at the Fireweed Bike Co-op, located near the Coast Guard parking lot, with a group fly to follow. Kites and kite-making kits will be available through Fireweed as well. Don’t forget to look up this weekend for some air candy.
For eye candy, there are two great exhibits in Grand Marais: the Members Show & Sale at the Grand Marais Art Colony and “Three Views of Nature” at the Johnson Heritage Post.
The Members’ Show at the Art Colony features a wide range of work by member artists throughout the region. Paintings, woodcut prints, fiber art, ceramics, wood carving and more fill the Founders Hall.
The Grand Marais Art Colony Members Show & Sale continues through May 6.
The Art Colony is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
“Found: Three Views of Nature” is an outstanding group art show at the Johnson Heritage Post. Artists include Bethany Kepler, an encaustic painter, Stanley Leonard, a block print artist and photographer, and Stephanie Molstre-Kotz, a mixed media artist.
“The Long Velvet” by Stephanie Moistre-Kotz is one of the works at the Johnson Heritage Post.
“Found: Three Views of Nature” continues at the Heritage Post through May 20. The Heritage Post is closed on Tuesdays, and is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, and Wednesday through Saturday, and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday.
Also this weekend, storyteller Rose Arrowsmith-Decoux will tell “Animal Tales of How and Why” at the Grand Marais Public Library starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Rose Arrowsmith Decoux will tell animal tales at the Grand Marais Public Library on Saturday.
Other fun things to do this weekend include the Gunflint Green-up Anniversary Potluck at the Seagull Lake Community Center on Saturday. The community is invited to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Gunflint Green-Up, which began a year after the Ham Lake Fire. The goal was to help plant new trees and bring greenery back to the section of the Gunflint Trail that had burned. Thousands of trees have been planted in that area. The celebration includes a 3 p.m. Walk in the Woods with Myra Theimer, U.S. Forest Service, to check on the trees with a potluck at 5 p.m. Brats are provided. All welcome.
On Saturday night Kevin Kling and Simone Perrin will perform “Finding Your Voice: Stories & Song” at Gunflint Lodge from7-9 p.m.
Kevin Kling and Simone Perrin perform at Gunflint Lodge on Saturday night.
The evening brings legendary Minnesota story-teller Kevin Kling and songstress Simone Perrin to a legendary Minnesota destination to share stories and song. Kling, best known for his popular commentaries on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and his storytelling stage shows like “Tales from the Charred Underbelly of the Yule Log,” delivers hilarious, often tender stories. Tickets are $15 and available at the door.
On Monday, the Grand Marais Playhouse will hold auditions for “Mom’s Gift,” a comedy by Minnesota-born award-winning playwright Phil Olson. The auditions will be held at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. For more info, email Sue Hennessy at sue@grandmaraisplayhouse.com
Exhibits:
Tettegouche State Park is featuring waterfall photographs by photographer and author (“Waterfalls of Minnesota”) Lisa Crayford.
Photographer Lisa Crayford is exhibiting her photographs of waterfalls at Tettegouche State Park.
An opening reception will be held at the Visitor Center at the park from 7-8:30 p.m. on Friday, May 4. The exhibit continues through the end of the month.
In Duluth, Ann Kleftstad opened an exhibit of her drawings and sculptures at the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe this week, entitled “carbon,” which continues through May.
Klefstad writes: “(It is) a series I am creating from blow-down wood, mostly basswood, taken down by climate-change-created windstorms. These animals are life-sized, carved, then burned. They relate also to a series of animals painted in tar in wood panels. Carbon is the subtext—the carbon released from the ancient forests trapped in coal and oil and tar; the carbon that makes up our bodies and the bodies of other living beings. The carbon is made visible by burning … This carbon-rich substance, made from the bodies of extinct beings, which releases the immense energies of millennia of sunlight when burned, is what is spelling the extinction of our ecosystem.”
One of Ann Klefstad’s drawings in her “carbon” exhibit at the Zeitgeist Cafe.
The exhibit at the Zeitgeist Cafe continues through the end of May.
At the Lakeside Gallery, 4431 East Superior St. in Duluth, an opening reception for an exhibit of watercolors by Sue Brown Chapin, will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday.
“Let There Be Light” by Sue Brown Chapin, is at the Lakeside Gallery in Duluth.
Brown Chapin is the featured artist at the gallery for May.
This is the last weekend to see three exhibits at the Definitely Superior Art Gallery in Thunder Bay: Canadian Contemporary 16, from the collection of Dr. Bob Chaudhuri; “Glitched Memories” a video installation by Drew Degruyter, the “Erysichthon Film Installation” by Jon Rafman.
An image from “Glitched Memories,” on view at the Definitely Superior Art Gallery.
The exhibits at DefSup close May 5.
Upcoming:
The YMCA dance groups will present a recital, “Dance Four Love,” at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts May 10. Stay tuned for details.
The Big Lake, the new gallery store in town, will open on Thursday, May 17. Stay tuned.
Opportunities:
The search for the new executive director of the Grand Marais Art Colony has begun. For more information, click here.
The Cook County Senior Center is organizing a trip to the Minnesota Quilt Show which will be held in St. Cloud in mid-June. For more information, call the Senior Center at 387-2660 and ask for Kim Nelson.
Here’s the music schedule for this week:
Thursday, May 3:
- Jon Kallberg, Poplar River Pub, 6 p.m.
- Gordon Thorne & Friends, North Shore Winery, 6 p.m.
- Plucked Up String Band, Hometown CD Release Show, Wunderbar, 7 p.m.
- Boyd Blomberg, Gun Flint Tavern, 7 p.m.
Friday, May 4:
- Gene Lafond and Amy Grillo, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
- Pushing Chain, Wunderbar, 8 p.m.
- Eric Frost, Gun Flint Tavern, 8 p.m.
- 4-Shore, Grandma Ray’s, 9 p.m.
- Pushing Chain, Wunderbar, 9 p.m.
Saturday, May 5:
- Common Ground, Lutsen Resort, 7 p.m.
- Social Animals Duo, Gun Flint Tavern, 8:30 p.m.
- DJ Beavstar. Wunderbar, 9 p.m.
Sunday, May 6:
- Joe Paulik, Wunderbar, 6 p.m.
]Tuesday, May 8:
- Gordon Thorne, Poplar River Pub, 6 p.m.
- Tony Peterson & Dedric Clark, Gun Flint Tavern, 7 p.m.
We found a potpourri of images for you this week. Let’s start with wildlife.
Nace Hagemann writes: This little guy stopped by our work site this morning.
The return of the vultures. Photo by Thomas Spence.
A pair of moose on the run in Cook County, by Thomas Spence.
And two views of Gooseberry Falls:
Gooseberry Falls by Paul Sundberg.
Gooseberry Falls by Nathan Soley.
Other spring river shots:
Embrace the turbulence, Amnicon River, Wis., by John Heino.
Temperance River by Thomas Spence.
And the rivers run into—
Lester River and Lake Superior by Zoey Cohen Leege.
A view from on-high:
Aerial of Grand Marais by Christian Dalbec.
An iconic shoreline:
Split Rock Lighthouse by Matthew Pastick.
A pretty incredible sunset.
May Day sunset by Ann Bowman.
A fantastic find:
I found this on the shore in Hovland by Ryan R. Murray. (The company had side off-loading trailers.)
Fancy northern lights:
Northern Lights by Thomas Spence.
And finally, a series of incredible images by Jan Swart:
Stoney Point Morning by Jan Swart.
Cityscape: Morning on the Bridge by Jan Swart.
Cityscape: Those Building Blocks—Downtown Duluth by Jan Swart.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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