The Harvest 2020. Amymarie Schmidt took this photo of her sons harvesting carrots from their farm in Hovland. Her eldest, Arrow, is behind that carrot forest. Caleb is holding his choice.
Greetings from the North Shore, where the harvest has begun. Already, garlic and onions are out of the ground, and peas and beans are picked. Soon, if not already, the potatoes will be lifted from the soil, and, of course, there are always carrots, and beets and tomatoes, and soon, apples, winter squash and pumpkins.
This fall will be a little different for art and artists, though, as virtual, or some variant of it, will replace many in-person gatherings, but creativity is the name of the game here, so read on.
First up is North House Folk School, which continues its weekly Crafting in Place series. This week, boatbuilder and resident artisan Josh Tolkan is on campus, working on a difficult plywood canoe project. He will be demonstrating from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Thursday through Saturday on campus.
Boatbuilder Josh Tolkan is the instructor-in-residence at North House Folk School this week.
Tolkan will also talk about his project at a Lunch & Learn on Thursday, Sept. 3, at noon. It’s Facebook Live, so it’s a great opportunity to bring any boatbuilding or maritime carpentry questions to this master. Click here to view the Lunch & Learn.
North House is combining both virtual and social-distanced, in-person classes this fall. To find out more, click here.
The Hjordis will be sailing through September.
This is the last weekend to book at sail on The Hjordis. Photo courtesy of North House Folk School.
For more information and to book a cruise, click here.
The Grand Marais Art Colony is beginning to be active as well this fall, with a combo of virtual and in-person classes and events. One feature, its Instagram Takeover, has been on-going this summer, featuring artists demonstrating and creating work on the social media outlet on Thursdays and Fridays.
This week, painter Kathie Wheeler is featured on the Instagram Takeover. She is a representational oil painter whose work is inspired by the people and places in her life.
Painter Kathie Wheeler is the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Instagram Takeover artist this week. She’ll be demonstrating and talking about her art on Thursday and Friday at https://www.instagram.com/gmartcolony/
She will be teaching The Poetry of Plein Air at the Art Colony later this month and is the juror for Plein Air Grand Marais this year.
Plein Air painter Kathie Wheeler is the juror for this year’s Plein Air Grand Marais. (See below for details about the virtual/in-person event this year.
On Friday, WTIP’s The Roadhouse continues its creative use of virtual/live and will feature Joey Shaheen of the Wrong Omar as guest musician. He will talk about his music and play some songs from the back deck at the radio station, live, on the radio, 90.7 FM.
Here are some examples of the Wrong Omar’s music:
This is Labor Day Weekend in Grand Marais, and downtown will be busy. There are two markets featuring local artists and artisans that will be open– the Cook County Market and the Maker’s Market.
Masked and ready to go. Melanie Eldridge, of Two Birds Thai Bodyworks, offers a variety of personal care products at the Cook County Market.
The Cook County Market is held in the parking lot of The Hub from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. Covid protocols and social distancing are in place. The Maker’s Market is held next to the Beaver House and is open daily Thursday through Sunday.
Also on Saturday, plein air painter Greg Lecker will give a plein air painting demo at the North Shore Winery from 3-6 p.m.
Plein air painter Greg Lecker will be demonstrating his art at the North Shore Winery from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday. Make a reservation to attend Saturday’s demonstration at https://www.exploretock.com/northshorewinery or call North Shore Winery at (218) 481-9280.
Lecker is working on “Watersheds,” portraits of Minnesota’s three watersheds while engaging viewers in conversation and painting demonstrations.
Point of Land by Greg Lecker.
For more information about Lecker’s work, visit his website at www.greglecker.com. Make a reservation to attend Saturday’s demonstration at https://www.exploretock.com/northshorewinery or call North Shore Winery at (218) 481-9280.
This event is weather dependent – if it’s raining, the event will be cancelled. Click here for updates Also, Lecker will be interviewed about his project on WTIP on Friday at 8:40 a.m.
And on Monday, the Grand Marais Art Colony will hold an Open House at its new space at 21 W. Hwy 61 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Grand Marais Art Colony will hold an open house at its new space at 21 W. Hwy 61 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 7. Masking and social distancing required. The public is invited.
Exhibits:
The exhibit “George Morrison and Marcia Cushmore” continues at the Johnson Heritage Post, featuring archival prints and posters by both artists.
The Johnson Heritage Post is featuring prints and posters by George Morrison.
The gallery is open from 1-4 p.m. Fridays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.
In other gallery news, Plein Air Grand Marais, sponsored and organized by the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota, is both virtual and in-person this year. Participating artists have been invited to paint-in-place, or come up to the North Shore and paint here.
Greenwood Lake, Gunflint Trail, by Kami Mendlik, is one of the plein air paintings currently uploaded to the Plein Air Grand Marais site. To view the plein air paintings to date, click here.
The Plein Air competition runs from Sept. 11-18, but a new Plein Air Grand Marais website is live now, with artists posting their paintings on it as they’re completed. An exhibit will open at the Johnson Heritage ge Post Sept. 19. Stay tuned.
Upcoming:
Music lovers look forward to September for two outstanding music festivals: WTIP’s Radio Waves Music Festival and North House Folk School’s Unplugged. Both will be virtual this year, with their individual twists.
Radio Waves will be free and will feature 13 acts in 13 hours broadcast on WTIP, 90.7 FM, and streamed through the website at www.wtip.org. This is the 13th anniversary of the popular music festival.
The Radio Waves Music Festival will be broadcast live on WTIP Community Radio all day Saturday, Sept. 12.
The jazz band, Sky Blue with Horns, kicks it off at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 12 with a live online and broadcast performance from the deck at WTIP.
Highlights include virtual performances by Red Lips from Hovland, Jim McGowan from St. Paul, and Lady Spruce from Minneapolis, as well as on-the-back-deck performances by One Less Guest, The Aho Family, the Kilborn Quartet and Chris Gillis with the Grand Marais Music Collaborative. It’s free, online and on the radio.
North House Folk School’s “Unplugged” will be live-streamed this year, with music, craft and food.
To kick off the live-streamed show on Sept. 19, Grand Marais-based Plucked Up String Band will play and Chef Beth Dooley will show how to mix a signature cocktail for the evening. Later Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass, will give the featured presentation, which will be followed by a live auction and Fund-a-Need opportunities. Then Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson will take the stage.
Eliza Gilkyson is the featured performer for this year’s Unplugged, which will be live-streamed on Sept. 19.
Tickets can be purchased online here.
Artists at Work
A ground-breaking book about Hazel Belvo, her life and her art, will be published this fall. Entitled, “A Matriarch of Art: An Illustrated art biography of one of Minnesota’s best-known feminist artists,” art historian Julie L’Enfant reviews Belvo’s focus on nature, spirituality, mythology, and eroticism during more than 40 years of making and teaching art in Minnesota.
A book about Hazel Belvo entitled “A Matriarch of Art” will be out this fall.
More great trash barrels for Grand Marais will appear on the streets soon, crafted by Sam Zimmerman featuring paintings of clan animals of the Ojibwe and their Anishinaabe names.
Sam Zimmerman has painted more trash barrels for Grand Marais.
Jeweler Steve Hahn has been busy.
One of Steve Hahn’s (Jeweler of the North) latest: Lime quartz center framed by 2 trillion Peridots set in gold.
Knitter Katie Viren‘s latest:
Wool gloves by Katie Viren.
BetsyA Bowen’s latest project is drawing for the Apostle Islands’ Alphabet Project. Her letter: W.
“Whitefish.” By Betsy Bowen, part of the Apostle Islands’ Alphabet Project.
Flower artist Monica Anderson has been growing flowers and making beautiful arrangements this summer. She can be reached at 218-370-8479.
Flower arrangement by Monica Anderson.
Actor opportunities: The Grand Marais Playhouse is holding auditions for the upcoming live stream production of “The Remarkable Susan” by Tim Kelly. Contact the Playhouse for more information.
The Practice: Anishinaabe cultural practitioner Greg Johnson is teaching winter birch bark basketry on campus at North House September 26-28.
Students’ work from Greg Johnson’s class last year.
More artwork completed this summer:
Autumn Color, beadwork by Jo Wood.
A Postcard from the True Country by Tom McCann.
Videos:
We found two train videos for you to watch: a historic video about the Flying Train in Germany crafted in 1902 and discoveries on an old railroad grade in Nipigon,
And a little music:
Live Music:
Thursday, Sept. 3:
- Gordon Thorne & Friends, North Shore Winery, 6 p.m. Make reservations at https://www.exploretock.com/northshorewinery
or call (218) 481-9280.
Saturday, Sept. 5:
- Boyd Bump Blomberg, Cook County Market, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m
Sunday, Sept. 6
- Chris Gillis & Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, Sunday Wine Down, 3 p.m., Make reservations at https://www.exploretock.com/northshorewinery
or call (218) 481-9280.
Photographs:
We found some unusual as well as beautiful photographs this week.
Here are some unusual shots:
Spider by Betty Hemstad.
Female variable Darner in yellow form by Cathy Quinn.
Other wildlife photographs:
Red Fox: Almost grown up by Paul Sundberg.
Eagles in summer by Thomas Demma.
A few great shots of people that we couldn’t pass up.
Expert diver Scott Mitchen with some of the logs he recovered from Lake Superior by Layne Kennedy.
Chard Harvest by Monica Anderson.
Just a foot …
Wild ricing by Cindy Hale.
It was the Full Corn Moon:
Wherever you are, I am there also by Lin Salisbury.
Moon setting at Brighton Beach by Wayne Ortloff.
Almost Full Corn Moon by Bryan Hansel.
And here are some beautiful landscapes/seascapes:
An incredible sunrise by Christian Dalbec.
Maple Hill Church by Don Davison.
Nice view by Jamie Rabold.
History scattered below by Christian Dalbec.
I love the nights when the air is so still that the stars reflect almost perfectly on the water. By Travis Novitsky.
Hollow Rock by Suyash Chopra.
Palisade Head by Nathan Klok.
My workplace by Bill Hansen.,
Evening calm by Ilena Hansel.
And I just couldn’t resist this one: I found it on Facebook and couldn’t trace it back to the photographer, but decided it is worth a run.
Caption This!
Have a good weekend everyone. And stay safe!
And if you’ve enjoyed NorthShore ArtScene this week, you can make a donation to help support this local effort. Click on the icon below.
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