A Potpourri for December

Greetings from Cook County, where winter is being kind so far.

To start this week off, I decided that it might be a good idea to offer this song to you, even though I’ve posted it before. A celebration of the human spirit is always worth a minute or two, wouldn’t you say?

And we are keeping on in Cook County, although, admittedly, the cases of Covid-19 are definitely growing. They were up to 78 on Monday and undoubtedly will be higher by the end of the week. We  have community spread, as do most communities in Minnesota, but we’re taking care, following all the protocols that we can.

Here’s a link to info about what’s open, the hours, etc. You can also click here to check the WTIP Community Radio page for interviews and other information.

Meanwhile, the world continues.

North House Folk School, which has organized a lot of great Crafting in Place videos and events this year, will featured a webinar on Holiday Wreath Making with Laura Berlage at 7 p.m. tonight, Dec. 3.

In this demonstration webinar, participants will learn how to sustainably harvest balsam boughs from the forest, make their own wire base, and create a beautiful, unique wreath that is ready to hang and enjoy. Click here to register.  The webinar is free, and will be available for viewing at www.northhouse.org following the presentation, as are all of the Crafting in Place events.

Also, although the North Shore Winery is currently closed for inside and outside Tasting Room visits through Dec. 18,  it has brought back its Virtual Date Nights, featuring local musicians on Thursday evenings. This week, Gordon Thorne and host Jeremy Hanson will be on deck from 6-8 p.m., live, on its Facebook and Instagram page. Click here to see.

On Friday, WTIP’s The Roadhouse will host Oregon singer/songwriter Rhoda Anderson Habedank to chat and play a few tunes.

The Roadhouse airs from 5-7 p.m on Fridays, with interviews with musicians usually starting around 6:15 p.m.

And for a virtual art talk with three of the artists participating in the 2020 Coors Western Art Show, including local artist Neil Sherman, register for the Zoom conversation, Inside the Artists Studio, that will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 8 at noon, Mountain Time (1 p.m. Central Time).

Sherman  joins the Coors Art curator, Rose Frederick, and two other artists, Diana Woods and Sean Michael Chavez, for an engaging Zoom discussion about art and the Coors Western Art Show. Registration is required. To register, click here.

Exhibits:

The Holiday Art Underground Show & Sale has opened at the Betsy Bowen Studio Gallery, 301 1st Ave W. in Grand Marais, featuring new work by more than  37 local and regional artists.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday and by happy chance or appointment other days. For more information, click here.

And Sivertson Gallery is featuring special canvas, ready to hang prints by David Gilsvik and Liz Sivertson this season.

 Upcoming:

The 2nd Annual North Shore Artists League Online Member Show and Sale will open Friday, Dec. 11. The exhibit, featuring a wide variety of art and artists, was originally slated for the Johnson Heritage Post Gallery. It has now been moved completely online. Looks for sculpture, potters, painters, fiber artists, quilters, jewelers and more in this exciting show.

Here are a few examples of work by the artists exhibiting next week:

The Artists League exhibit will go live here on Dec. 11. Stay tuned for more photos next week.

Here’s another great art opportunity: Hazel Belvo will talk with author Julie L’Enfant about their new book, “Hazel Belvo: A Matriarch of Art” on a special Zoom event organized by the Grand Marais Art Colony from 2-3 p.m. on Dec. 16.

Registration is required. To register click here. The book is available at Drury Lane Books and online.

The Grand Marais Playhouse will present a virtual performance of A Christmas Carol, a radio play by Philip Grecian at 7 p.m. Dec. 23-25. The cast includes:

• Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Carter
• Bob Cratchit, Brad Shannon
• Fred, Johnathon Hedstrom;
• Jacob Marley, Bob Padzieski:
• Ghost of Christmas Past, Aubrey Williams;
• Fezziwig, Tom Christiansen;
• Belle, Jaye White;
• Ghost of Christmas Present, Diane Stoddard;
• Charity workers: Sara Jane Tompkins. Gerry Grant
• Mrs. Cratchit, Marcia Hyatt;
• Peter Cratchit, Jack Fitzgerald Wells;
• Belnda Cratchit, Elin Bagdons;
• Martha Cratchit, Jeanne Wright;
• Tiny Tim, Blake Williams;
• Topper, Aliya Marxen;
• Fred’s Wife, Jaye White;
• Business man, Dick Swanson;
• Business man, Mike Carlson;
• Old Joe, Don Grant;

The musicians are:  Piano, Kay Costello; Fiddle, Michele Miller. Sue Hennessy is the director.

Tickets are $7 individuals, $12 family, $25 and $50 show support. Click here to get tickets.

Kudos: 

A county of winners!

Just announced: Staci Lola Drouillard won the Northeast Minnesota Book Award in Best Nonfiction for her book, “Walking the Old Road: A People’s History of Chippewa City and the Grand Marais Anishinaabe,”

Joan Crosby Tucker won first place in Memoirs for her “Lake Chronicle: Thirteen Months in the North Woods,”

and artist/illustrator Betsy Bowen and author Phyllis Root received the honorable mention award for their book, “The Lost Forest.”

For the complete list of winners, click here.

The National Federation of Community Broadcasters recently featured an interview with Matthew Brown, the executive director of WTIP Community Radio.

 To read the article, click here.

FYI:

The Grand Marais Art Colony is again offering the opportunity to participate in the 100 Day Project. This year, the organizers are pivoting away from the commitment of a rigorous, daily effort and softening to a weekly practice instead. The 2021 project will be “Solstice to Equinox – Out of the Darkness into the Light,” and the theme is “Hope.”

Participants are encouraged to register their project on the 100DayProject website to receive weekly creative prompts. Prompts and questions to ponder will be sent each Sunday for 12 weeks, starting Dec, 21. Click here to learn more

 Potpourri:

 Here’s a great article by Ada Igoe entitled: Ice Skating in the Boundary Waters–The Slightly Obsessive Search for Wild Ice that was published in the Quetico Superior Wilderness Newsletter recently.

First, the lead photo:

Read the article here.

Here’s another interesting read, also with photographs/illustrations: Spirit Talk by Mona Susan Power. In it, Power shares an account of how the Universe might enter into writing practice: through listening to vision, intuition, and “characters who arrive like strangers and end up relatives.”

First, this painting by Julie Buffalohead, which leads the piece.

To read the story, click here.

 If you’re pretty sick of hunkering down and just want to get into a car and go someplace, here’s a tour of Zion National Park:

And here’s a video for meditators:

 Music:

Tinariwen, the desert blues band from Mali, has been nominated for the Grammy Best Global Music award for their album, Amadjar. Here’s one of their songs:

For a change of pace–one of The New Yorker’s picks for the Best Music of 2020

Some traditional blues:

And Keb’Mo’ in a Playing for Change piece.

 Photographs:

 We found some great photographs this week. First wildlife:

This one is not local, but is amazing anyway. Take a moment to really look at this one, and the next,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Landscapes, seascapes and skyscapes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have a good weekend, everyone. Be well and stay safe.

Please consider donating to NorthShore ArtScene this week. It’s easy. Just click on the button below. And Thank You!