Fall Has Fallen, Bluegrass Masters & New Inuit Prints

by Joan Farnam on October 31, 2019

It's drop my leaves day. Photo by Daniel Olson.

It was a drop-my-leaves day for this tree. Photograph by Daniel Olson.

Daniel Olson’s photograph, above, says it all about this week on the North Shore. Fall has fallen, and winter’s on the way.

That also means there are some great things to do and see indoors this week.

The 29th annual Bluegrass Master’s Weekend kicks off at Lutsen Resort this weekend, a 3-day feast of bluegrass music sponsored by the North Shore Music Association. Look for lots of jamming in rooms scattered throughout the resort all weekend. It also features a whole day of workshops with master fiddler Dan Kelly on Saturday and a concert with Kelly and Michael & Jennifer McClain and the Banjocats on Saturday night in the Lutsen Resort Ballroom.

Master fiddler Dan Kelly is the featured musician at this year’s Bluegrass Master’s Weekend at Lutsen Resort.

Kelly, who won the Grand Masters Championship in Nashville at age 17, has toured with Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Faith Hill, Steve Wariner, and Lonestar. During that time, he performed at the Kennedy Center, the Grammy, CMA & ACM award shows, the Tonight Show, Late Night with David Letterman, Good Morning America, and at Carnegie Hall. He joined the Banjocats with Michael and Jennifer McClain in 2016.

He will be teaching fiddling workshops on a variety of topics all day on Saturday. Attendance is open to all and is $40 for the entire day. Participants can also choose to attend only segments, at $2 each/15 minutes.

Michael and Jennifer McClain and the Banjocats will be in concert with Kelly at 8 p.m. on Saturday night in the Lutsen Resort Ballroom. Tickets are available on-site. Note: To get a preview of the concert, listen to WTIP’s The Roadhouse on Friday night –Michael and Jennifer McClain will be interviewed and play a few songs during the first segment, which will air at 5 p.m.

Here’s a video of the McClains and the Banjocats performing.

To find out the class schedule and more information, click here. The public is invited to bring their instruments and join in the jamming or, just drop by for a listen on Saturday.

Meanwhile, this Friday, Bluefin Grille is hosting the Fall Food & Wine Lovers Weekend Friday through Sunday. The event features wine tastings and multi-course dinners prepared by Timothy Fisher, executive chef at Loew’s Hotel in Minneapolis. To find out more and make reservations, call 663-6200.

Also on Friday, which is National Author’s Day, author Tim Cochrane will be at a book signing at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino from 7-9 p.m. Cochrane has written “Gichi Bitobig, Grand Marais: Early Accounts of the Anishnaabeg and the North Shore Fur Trade,”“Minong–The Good Place: Ojibwe and Isle Royale,” and “A Good Boat Speaks for Itself.”

Tim Cochrane will be a book signing at the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino from 7-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1.

Books will be available for purchase, or fans can bring their own copies for Cochrane to sign.

Also on Friday, Greg Lecker, who was the featured artist at the Johnson Heritage Post earlier this year, will open a new exhibit in the Great Hall at Tettegouche State Park on Friday, with a reception from 7-9:30 p.m.

“Rain makes the difference,” by Greg Lecker. The painter opens an exhibit at Tettegouche State Park on Friday.

The exhibit, entitled “Watershed,” explores themes of water and the Northwoods. At the reception, Lecker will give a brief discussion about his creative process, and Briand Morrison will play. Refreshments will be served. All invited.

On Saturday, the annual Paint-A-Bowl for Empty Bowls event will be held in the Founders Hall at the Grand Marais Art Colony from 1-3 p.m.

Paint-A-Bowl for Empty Bowls will be held at the Grand Marais Art Colony from 1-3 p.m. Saturday.

There will be lots of bowls to “paint” with colorful glazes. They’ll then be fired and donated to the Empty Bowls event, which will be held Thursday, Nov. 14 at St. John’s Catholic Church. All are invited to try their hand at painting the bowls. There is a small $5 donation to cover material costs. Call the Art Colony for more info, or just show up.

Also on Saturday, the North Shore Winery will host the 4th annual Harvest Festival at the winery, featuring tours, live music, wine tasting and more. The event will be held from noon to 7 p.m.

Exhibits:

This is the last weekend to see “Wild Wonder: An Art Exhibit by Deb Kirkeeide and Kristen Palm at the Johnson Heritage Post.

This is the last weekend to see “Wild Wonder” at the Johnson Heritage Post.

The Heritage Post is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday.

Also in Grand Marais, Sivertson Gallery announced this week that the 2019 Cape Dorset Annual Print Collection has been released and is currently on view at the gallery.

“Floral Transformation” by Ningiukulu-Teevee, stonecut and stencil print, is on view at Sivertson Gallery.

The collection features original stonecuts, lithographs, and etchings from artists of the Far North. The gallery is one of the few U.S. host galleries to represent this yearly catalog of prints.

Members of the Northwoods Fiber Guild are exhibiting work at the Angry Trout.

This needle-felted painting by Melanie Mathieson is one of the works on exhibit at the Angry Trout.

There’s plenty of time to see the exhibit, too. The Angry Trout will be open until Nov. 24 this year.

Betsy Bowen has published a number of new books featuring her drawings, paintings and prints that are available at her studio gallery, 301 1st Ave. W. in Grand Marais.

Betsy Bowen has published a number of new books featuring her paintings, drawings and prints.

In Duluth, the Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Ave., is featuring a new exhibit entitled “Swedish Folk Painting: A Midwest Revival.”

The Nordic Center in Duluth is exhibiting a modern take on Swedish folk painting through Nov. 9.

The exhibit features contemporary Swedish folk paintings by Judith Kjenstad, Pieper Fleck Bloomquist, and Alison Aune. The exhibit continues through Nov.9.

There are some great reviews for a new exhibit at the AICHO Galleries in Duluth at 202 W.2nd St. The exhibit features work by Rabbett Stickland and Pat Kruse entitled “Mniidoos and Wiigaas.”

Iskwaag Nibi The last waterhole. Creating a new world” by Rabbett Strickland is at the AICHO Galleries in Duluth.

The exhibit continues through December.

In Thunder Bay, the Thunder Art Gallery is currently exhibiting “Their Breath in Beads.”

“The Aftermath of Storms 2019″ by Melissa Twance is on view at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in Thunder Bay.

Upcoming:

The North Shore Readers and Writers Festival, a biennial event that locates, celebrates and fosters the literary arts and engagement with the written word, will be held Nov. 7-10. The festival is hosted by the Grand Marais Art Colony in partnership with Drury Lane Books and the Grand Marais Public Library.

At the festival, readers, writers and book professionals come together for four days filled with author talks, panel discussions, mini-classes and craft seminars. It is too late to register for classes, but it is still possible to register and attend several free public events including the opening reception at the Grand Marais Art Colony from 4:30-5;30 p.m. at the Grand Marais Art Colony.

Leif Enger will give the keynote address at the Grand Marais Public Library on Friday night. Free, There are two local writers lunchtime reading panels, set for Friday and Saturday, as well as presentation by Lorna Landvik on Literature and Laughs at Voyaguer Brewing Co. at 7 p., Saturday, just to name a few events. Call the Grand Marais Art Colony at 387-2737 for details.

And poet Michael Bazzett will give an author talk at Studio 21, the Art Colony’s new space that used to be the North Shore Pharmacy. The talk is from 5-6:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, and is entitled “Our Lands Are Not So Different.” Bazzett’s recently published verse translation of the Mayan creation epic, The Popol Vuh (Milkweed, 2018) was named “one of 2018’s 10 best books of poetry” by the New York Times. The event is free and sponsored by the Grand Marais Library Friends. All the other author talks will be held in Studio 21, as well.

Stay tuned for details next week. For more information about these and other events during the festival, check out the schedule here.

Also next weekend. the Grand Marais Playhouse will present its annual Community Youth Play – the musical “Disney’s The Little Mermaid.”

Disney’s The Little Mermaid opens at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 p.m. Nov. 7.

The play will be performed at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on two weekends, opening on Thursday, Nov. 7. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 adults, $5 youth, $3 children.

And in Finland, visual and installation artist Catherine Meier will open an exhibit at the Clair Nelson Community Center, 6866 Cramer Road, from 4-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9.

Artist Catherine Meier will open an exhibit at the Clair Nelson Community Center Nov.9.

Meier’s visual arts exhibition explores drawing, animations, projections and open space. An artist talk will be at 6 p.m. All invited.

Music:

Here’s the music schedule for this week:

Thursday, Oct. 31:

Terry Valdiva & Friends, Wunderbar, 6. p.m.
Gordon Thorne & Friends, North Shore Winery, 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 1:

Jon Miller & the Homerews, Gun Flint Tavern, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 2:

Brothers in Arms, Grandma Ray’s, 8 p.m.
Bluegrass Master’s Weekend, Michael & Jennifer McClain Band with Dan Kelly, Lutsen Ballroom, Lutsen Resort, 8 p.m.
Halloween Party, Grandma Ray’s, 8 p.m.
Jon Miller & the Home-Brews, Gun Flint Tavern, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 3:

Briand Morrison, Mogul’s Grille, 10 a.m.
Open Stage with Joe Paulik and Pat Flack, Wunderbar, 6 p.m.

Monday, Nov. 4:

Brothers in Arms, Voyageur Brewing, 5 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 5:

Roxann Berglund, Lutsen Resort, 6 p.m.

Photographs:

Let’s start with some of the wildlife photographs we found this week:

“I wonder where this goes,” by David Johnson.

Have you ever taken the time to look carefully at a pileated woodpecker’s beautiful job of carving into a tree? Photograph by Betty Hemstad.

I surprised these baby bears by Jamie Rabold.

Loons raised a duckling on Long Lake in Wisconsin, and it rode on its parents back until it was almost full grown. Watcher wondered it it would sink its parent. Photograph by Linda Grenzer.

Loons raised a duckling on Long Lake in Wisconsin this summer, and it rode on its parents back until it was almost full grown. Watchers wondered if it would sink its parent. Photograph by Linda Grenzer.