Shakespeare, Empty Bowls & The Cello

by Joan Farnam on November 12, 2015

Bryan Hansel posted this photo he took last November to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald. "Lake Superior has power!" he wrote.

Last November, Bryan Hansel took this incredible photo during one of our November gales. He posted it on Facebook this week to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald. “Lake Superior has power!” he writes. Enjoy!

It’s a fun weekend coming up, crowded with some very interesting things to do and see.

A wide variety of colorful bowls have been made for Empty Bowls.

Thursday will be really busy.

First off, it’s Give to the Max Day in Minnesota and residents are encouraged to donate to their favorite charitable organization by visiting GiveMN.org and making a pledge. More than $7 million in matching gifts has been donated this year, too, including matches from Cook County. It’s a great way to double your donation. Check it out!

The Empty Bowls Fundraiser to help fight hunger in Cook County will be held at St. John’s Catholic Church, Broadway at 5th St., on Thursday as well. There are two seatings: lunch– from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and dinner– from 5-7 p.m.

Empty Bowls 2015 features a simple soup dinner with soup and bread provided by local restaurants ($5) and a beautiful array of handcrafted bowls and bowl necklaces made at the Grand Marais Art Colony by community members and local potters ($10). A silent auction offers a large selection of gift certificates perfect for holiday, wedding or birthday gifts. The bake sale provides sweet treats to enjoy at the event or take home.

Bowl necklaces are also available this year.

The national Empty Bowls project celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Empty Bowls in Cook County started in 2006 and is currently an event put on by community volunteers in collaboration with the Grand Marais Art Colony, KIDS Plus, and the generous donations of local businesses.

Those unable to attend the event can contribute to Empty Bowls’ efforts online here. Alternatively, checks payable to “Empty Bowls” may be sent to P.O. Box 413 Grand Marais, MN 55604.

Hunger remains a problem in Cook County. This year, the Cook County Food Shelf saw a significant increase in clients. With one in 10 Cook County residents struggling with hunger, other community hunger organizations also continue to find their services in high demand.

Proceeds from the Empty Bowls event battle hunger in Cook County by funding hunger programs offered by the Snack Packs Program, Cook County Food Shelf, Violence Prevention Center, ISD 166, Oshki Ogimaag Charter School, Meals on Wheels/Cook County Senior Center, Good Samaritan Fund, and others. All are invited to attend this important community fundraiser.

The cast from the Grand Marais Playhouse production of “As You Like It.”

Thursday is also the opening night for “As You Like It,” a Shakespearean comedy directed by Marco Good. This Grand Marais Playhouse production, which Good has set in the 1970s, includes both student and community members in the cast. Performances at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts are at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through Nov. 22. Tickets are available at the door and online at tix.com.

Friday night is Food Shelf Friday: buy one ticket and get one free with a $10 donation of food or cash to the Food Shelf. Sunday is Donation Day: pay any amount for your ticket. Sponsored by the North Shore Federal Credit Union.

On Friday, Cook County’s most popular cellist, Yvonne Caruthers, will give a presentation at the Grand Marais Art Colony at 7 p.m. entitled “The Art of Practice: the Practice of Art.”

Yvonne Caruthers will give an Artist Talk at the Grand Marais Art Colony on Friday.

Practicing is second nature to this dedicated musician, who moved to Grand Marais last February, inspired by her visits to Cook County during vacations and by the region’s reputation as a center for artists. Prior to moving here, she was a member of the National Symphony Orchestra, where she performed from 1978-2014. During her years in Washington, Caruthers also lectured widely on musical topics, and taught dozens of aspiring musicians with a focus on teaching how to practice as well as what to practice.

On Friday, Caruthers will perform several musical examples, using them to illustrate “The Art of Practice: the Practice of Art.” Her talk is tailored for students and practitioners of performing, visual, and literary arts. The event is a Grand Marais Arts Partners collaboration, co-hosted by the Grand Marais Art Colony and the North Shore Music Association.

This summer, Caruthers performed “In Search of the Perfect G-String,” a dramatization of her life as a professional cellist, to accolades at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts and at Gunflint Lodge. She will bring “In Search of the Perfect G-String” to The Underground at the Duluth Playhouse Nov. 21. The performance is at 7 p.m.

The Members Show & Sale continues at the Art Colony through Nov. 22.

The Annual Members Show & Sale at the Grand Marais Art Colony continues through Nov. 22. The exhibit showcases the breadth and variety of art work created by its members and includes works in glass, ceramics, oil, encaustic, sumi-e, watercolor, mono-prints, sculpture and collage. The Art Colony is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.

And not to forget: this is the last weekend for the Plein Air 2015 exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post. The exhibit includes works by 70 artists who painted outdoors in Cook County for a week, creating images of the woods, the Big Lake and the people who live here. Highly recommended. The Heritage Post is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday, when it closes for the season.

Upcoming

Winterer’s Gathering & Arctic Film Festival will be held at North House Folk School next weekend, Nov. 20-22, featuring workshops, demonstrations, speakers, the Great Gear & Ski Swap and more. The featured speaker this year is Australian adventurer and author Tim Cope who set out to travel 6,000 miles by horse from Mongolia to Hungary across the great Eurasian Steppe. It was a quest to retrace the route taken by Mongolian conquerors, who under Genghis Khan created the largest empire in history, and an odyssey into the spirit of the nomadic way of life. His book about the adventure, “On the Trail of Genghis Khan” won the Grand Prize at the Banff International Book Festival Competition. He will give a presentation on Saturday night and also offer a writing course. For more info, click here. Or call 218-387-9762.

Holidays in Schroeder will be held at the Cross River Heritage Center & Schroeder Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 21.

Kah-Nee-Tah Gallery in Lutsen will hold a First Year Celebration at the gallery from 4-8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21. Eric Frost and the Bentley Gillman will play. Refreshments will be served. There will also be a bonfire. All invited.

O Ole Night, a holiday festival, including the annual Christmas Parade in Grand Marais, will be held Nov. 27.

The New Standards Holiday Show, an annual musical treat, will be held at Papa Charlie’s at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27. Trio members John Munson (Semisonic, Trip Shakespeare), Chan Poling (The Suburbs) and Steve Roehm will be joined by special guest performers and musicians to perform holiday favorites and some non-holiday tunes. Click here for tickets.

The annual Hovland Arts Festival Christmas Sale will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 at the Hovland Town Hall.

The 10th annual Holiday Market at Last Chance Gallery in Lutsen opens Nov. 28. 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Batik by Nedra Nichols.

In other art news, Kah-Nee-Tah Gallery is featuring batiks by Nedra Nichols and a bronze sculpture by Lutsen artist Jeanne Knight.

Neil Sherman will have paintings in the exhibit “The Outdoor Painters of Minnesota Show 2015″ at the Frameworks Gallery, 2022 Ford Parkway. The opening reception is from 7-9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14.

Four Minnesota American Indian artists have won fellowships from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation based in Vancouver, Wash. The fellowships include awards of up to $20,000 each from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation based in Eden Prairie. The Minnesota winners are expressionist painter

Jim Denomie (Star-Tribune.)

Jim Denomie who lives near Franconia, and is of Annishinabe-Lac Courte Oreillesheritage; Pat Kruse, a maker of traditional birch-bark objects who lives in Onamia and is affiliated with the Red Cliff band of Chippewa and the Mille Lacs band of Ojibwe; and two artists from the Twin Cities: abstract painter Dyani White Hawk of the Sicangu Lakota (Rosebud Sioux) and textile artist Maggie Thompson, a Fond du Lac Ojibwe.

Sivertson Gallery has just received 12 new paintings by David Gilsvik.