Summer Festivals & the Belvo/Cushmore Exhibit

by Joan Farnam on July 19, 2018

“The woman I am leaving” by Stephan Hoglund.

Greetings from Grand Marais where glorious summer days have arrived, bringing beauty and warmth and new hatchlings cheeping from nests. This week, look for the opening of the Summer Theater Festival, a new Hazel Belvo/Marcia Cushmore art exhibit, the North Shore Water Festival and the first summer flower show of the season. It’s also the weekend of WTIP Community Radio’s summer membership drive with lots of live music scheduled outdoors as well as in the studios.

First up is a chance to learn about knot work at North House Folk School. Knotmaster Ben Byron is the summer resident at North House Folk School this week and will be demonstrating the craft from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. He will also teach a mini-course on Saturday at 10 a.m. where participants can learn how to make a nautical key chain.

Ben Byron will be demonstrating knotowk at North House Folk School this weekend. He will also teach a mini-class on Saturday on making a knot work key chain.

For more information about the class, call North House at 387-9762. Click here for complete info about the mini-courses this summer at North House.

Also on Thursday, the Grand Marais Writer’s Guild will meet at the Grand Marais Public Library at 6 p.m. Each month local writers get together to chat about what they’re working on and do a few writing prompts. Participants are asked to bring a notebook. The event is facilitated by Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux. Free.

The big event of the week is the opening of this season’s Summer Theater Festival at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. This year, the Grand Marais Playhouse will present “Shrek The Musical” and a comedy, “Mom’s Gift.” They will be performed in repertory Thursday through Sunday from July 19-Aug. 12.

“Shrek the Musical” opens tonight at the ACA at 7 p.m. and features a stellar cast performing the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film.

Shrek the Musical opens at the Arrowhead Center on Thursday at 7 p.m.

“Mom’s Gift,” an award-winning comedy, opens on Friday, July 20, at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts and will be performed in repertory with Shrek through Aug. 12.

The Grand Marais Playhouse‘s production of “Mom’s Gift” opens at the ACA on Friday at 7 p.m.

All performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $25 adults, $15 under 18 and can be purchased at www.grandmaraisplayhouse.com or at the door. For the schedule of the performances, click here. Tickets can also be purchased through the Playhouse’s Facebook page.

On Friday, the North Shore Water Festival kicks off in Harbor Park and runs through the weekend.

The North Shore Water Festival will be held in Harbor Park this weekend.

Experts will be on-hand offering fishing, touring kayak and canoe demonstrations, stand-up paddle board (SUP) demo activities in the harbor, including SUP yoga. Most activities are free and only require a waiver and/or registering in advance for SUP board yoga. The event continues through Sunday.

The pièce de résistance this weekend is the exhibit “Belvo/Cushmore: Paintings & Drawings 2018.” which opens at the Johnson Heritage Post with a reception from 5-7:30 p.m. on Friday.

A new exhibit featuring the works of Hazel Belvo and Marcia Cushmore opens at the Johnson Heritage Post on Friday.

This promises to be a fascinating exhibit, featuring the work of these famed artists. Cushmore will give an Artist Talk about the exhibit at 2 p.m. on Saturday. All invited. The exhibit continues through Aug. 12. The Heritage Post is closed on Tuesdays. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and Monday and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday.

On Saturday, the Cook County Market continues in the Senior Center parking lot with lots of arts and crafts from local artisans. Fresh produce and homebaked goods are also featured. The Market is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also on Saturday, Andy Ness will give an artist talk at the Grand Marais Art Colony from noon to 1 p.m. entitled “Blurring the Lines Between Fine Art and Fashion.”

Andy Ness will give an Artist Talk at the Grand Marais Art Colony at noon on Saturday entitled “Blurring the Lines Between Fine Art and Fashion.”

Ness will discuss the works of Hussein Chalayan, Leigh Bowery and Yayoi Kusama, artists who often integrate an array of artistic media and influences into their clothing. The presentation is free. All invited.

Also on Saturday, the West End Garden Club will host its annual summer flower show at the Birch Grove Community Center in Tofte entitled “Birds, Bees and Flowers” from 1-4 p.m.

The West End Garden Club’s flower show will be from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday at the Birch Grove Community Center. Refreshments will be served. All invited. Free.

Two Master Gardeners from Cook County Extension will be on hand to answer questions. The show features unique floral displays created by garden club members using the best of what’s locally in bloom. Many different varieties of garden and wildflowers will be on display. Refreshments will be served. All invited. Free.

On Sunday, Chik-Wauk Nature Center on the Gunflint Trail will host David Battistel, who will talk about John Paulson and the Paulson Mine, at 2 p.m. The Paulson Mine is located in western Cook County.

Touted as one of the great mining projects of the era, the failure of the Paulson Mine in the early 1890s had a devastating impact on local economies, spanning both sides of the border. The man behind this venture, John Paulson, was until recently an almost mythological figure. His life story however, from Norwegian immigrant, to Civil War veteran, to entrepreneur and finally to widowed farmer, is one of triumph and tragedy that exemplifies the North American experience in the 19th Century.

Dave Battistel is a history teacher and instructional leader at St. Patrick High School in Thunder Bay. Since 1994 he has been actively researching and writing about the history of the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway, as well as its associated ventures (silver and iron mining and logging). He is currently writing a book on the Gunflint & Lake Superior Railroad.

All presentations are family friendly and free to the public and are held inside Chik-Wauk Nature Center.

And on Monday, the Grand Marais Art Colony will host a demo on Troubleshooting Intaglio Techniques at noon in the Print Studio and on Wednesday, Andy Ness will teach a mini-class on paper making. For more info, call the Art Colony at 387-2737 or visit www.grandmaraisartcolony.org.

Window Shopping:

Shiny Brookie by Ted C. Hansen is at Fly Box & Co.

Hannah Palma Laky has her pottery at The Big Lake.

Upstate MN is featuring Adam Gruetzmacher pottery as well as Baltic birch crates by Waam Industries. Peonies courtesy of Loren Stoner.

Breaking News:

Canadian governments gives $11.5 million to Thunder Bay Art Gallery relocation project.

The vision to relocate the Thunder Bay Art Gallery to a prominent location along the city’s waterfront is now in crystal clear focus. The art gallery received word this week that it will receive $11.5 million from Ottawa through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund, the largest allocation to be spent from that envelope to date across the country.

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is planning to relocate along the Lake Superior waterfront and just received a hefty grant from the Canadian government. Above is the proposed drawing of the new facility.

Sharon Godwin, the director of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery , said the federal dollars means that 80 per cent of the required $33 million in capital funding has been secured.

“This is a day we know the gallery will be built. This is a reality now,” Godwin said after the funding announcement, which was made on the site of the planned new waterfront gallery at Tugboat Basin immediately south of the Pearl Street entrance to Prince Arthur’s Landing. Stay tuned for details.

Artist News:

Singh-Ray Filters just released a filter that Bryan Hansel dreamed up and prototyped over the last year. You can learn about it here.

Photo by Bryan Hansel, taken with the polarizer he developed with Singh-Ray Filters.

And here’s a little music to enjoy. Axtell will be be playing at the Wunderbar next Wednesday.

Axtell plays at Wunderbar next Wednesday.

Click here to listen to one of Axtell’s songs.

Here’s the music schedule for this weekend:

Thursday, July 19:

Live Music on WTIP: SVEA, 1 p.m.; Briand Morrison & Roxann Berglund, 4 p.m.; Andrew Norcross Band, 8 p.m.
Pete K, Cascade Lodge Pub, 6 p.m.
Eric Frost, Live Music by the Campfire, Lutsen Resort, 6:30 p.m.
Maria Nickolay, North Shore Winery, 7 p.m.
Common Ground, Wunderbar, 7 p.m.
Gordon Thorne & the Wildcats, Gun Flint Tavern, 8 p.m.

Friday, July 20:

Live Music on WTIP, Fred Anderson, 1 p.m.; Gene Lafond and Amy Grillo, 4 p.m.; Mysterious Ways, 6 p.m.
Emily Haavik and the 35s, Voyageur Brewing, 4 p.m.
North Shore Community Swing Band, Grandma Ray’s, 6 p.m.
The Cruisers, Grandma Ray’s, 9 p.m.
Brothers in Arms, Wunderbar, 8 p.m.
Northland Timberland Band, Bluefin Grille, 9 p.m.

Saturday, July 21:

Live on WTIP: Plucked Up String Band, 2 p.m.; Saints of Circumstance, 4 p.m.; The Cruisers, 5 p.m.
Cook County’s Most Wanted, Birch Terrace, 3 p.m.
Pete K, Papa Charlie’s, 6 p.m.
Maria Nickolay, Cascade Lodge Pub, 8 p.m.
Saints of Circumstance, Gunflint Tavern, 8 p.m.
The Cruisers, Wunderbar, 8 p.m.
Gordon Thorne, Lutsen Resort, 8 p.m.
Michael Monroe, Log Cabin Concert, rural Grand Marais, 7 p.m., reservations at www.michaelmonroemusic.com
New Legacy Project, Zoar Lutheran Church, 8 p.m.
Timmy Haus, Papa Charlie’s. 9:30 p.m.