Waterfalls are starting to run along the North Shore. Photograph by Bryan Hansel.
Greetings from the North Shore, where early spring snows coated the ground with white last night, bringing a welcome dose of moisture by the Big Lake.
It snowed!
Other signs of spring continue to accumulate: the pussy willows are blooming in some spots and hardy perennials are beginning to push up with hopeful green. Vaccinations are well underway in the county, too, with 40 percent treated to date. So, good news all around.
Our online lives continue to be enriched as well.
North House Folk School’s Wood Month features a webinar on Thursday and a Lunch & Learn on Friday this week. Master craftsman Curtis Buchanan will present “Understanding the Nuances of the Drawknife” in a webinar at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Curtis Buchanan will give a webinar presentation on the drawknife during a webinar through North House Folk School on Thursday.
Buchanan will discuss this essential woodworking tool in-depth, covering what to look for and how to refurbish an old drawknife, the advantages/disadvantages of a bevel up and a bevel down drawknife, and how to use a drawknife to shape a chair spindle. Free. To register, click here.
On Friday, Barn “the Spoon” Carder will join North House from his home in The Forest of Dean to chat about his work carving and selling wooden spoons, and the community that has grown around green woodworking. Barn is the 2020 Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellow.
Barn “The Spoon” Carder will present at an online Lunch & Learn on Friday, March 12.
Carder became a full time spoon carver in 2008, growing a tiny business that started out as some precious knowledge of trees, along with an axe and a knife in his pack. He set himself to carve out an ancient living in a modern world. He now runs a shop and craft school in London England, as well as an online learning resource Spoonclub. Bring your lunch to listen in, and don’t forget your wooden spoon. Free. To register, click here.
Painter Adam Swanson is the Instagram Takeover Artist at the Grand Marais Art Colony on Thursday and Friday.
Adam Swanson is the Art Colony’s Instagram Takeover artist on Thursday and Friday.
Swanson is a painter whose work addresses the human presence, perseverance of nature, and underlying Threads of danger woven through societies. After years of travel and a few stints in Antarctica, Adam returned to Minnesota to work more seriously on developing his artistic voice in 2009. He currently lives in the woods and paints full time. Note: These Instagram takeovers are always fun, as the format is determined by the artist and often includes live feeds of them working. He will be teaching a class at the Art Colony in June. Follow along here.
Exhibits:
A new show has opened at the Johnson Heritage Post entitled “Reflecting Light Into Darkness.” This is the 12th annual art show sponsored by the Spirit of the Wilderness and the Cook County ISD 166 High School Art Class. The exhibit features a great mix of mediums and artworks by the Cook County community.
Northern lights by David Coleman, one of many pieces in the new exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post, “Reflecting Light Into Darkness.”
The exhibit runs through March 28. Gallery hours are Thursdays. 1 – 4 p.m.; Fridays & Saturdays, 10 a.m.– 4 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Covid protocols are in place. For more information, click here.
Betsy Bowen will open a new exhibit at her gallery, 302 1st Ave. W. in Grand Marais on Monday. “The Farm in Winter” will feature a great selection of new etchings and drawings by Bowen. The work derives from the “Solstice to Equinox, 100 Day Project” supported by the North Shore Artists League.
The Farm in Winter, a new exhibit of etchings and drawings, opens at the Betsy Bowen Gallery March 15.
The studio will be open Monday, March 15 through Saturday, March 20, noon to 5 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the studio. Everyone welcome.
Lutsen sculptor Greg Mueller has opened a solo exhibit in the windows of Studio 17, the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s new building on Hwy. 61. E Entitled “No Vacancy,” the exhibit features a collection of sculpture assemblages.
Greg Mueller’s exhibit, No Vacancy, featuring sculpture assemblages is on view in the windows of Studio 17.
The exhibit continues through March 30.
Hovland artists Dan and Lee Ross will open a new exhibit at the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis on Saturday, March 13. Entitled “Untying Time,” the exhibit features new work, including monoprints, collages and sculpture.
“Blocks of Time” is one of the pieces in Dan and Lee Ross’ exhibit at the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis. The exhibit is online now. It continues through April 17.
The gallery is located at 25 Groveland Terrace in Minneapolis and is open by appointment. The exhibit is also online and is live now. To see it, click here.
In Duluth, the Duluth Art Institute is featuring a number of new exhibits at The Depot, including a ceramics exhibit by members of the Art Institute’s clay studio. Here’s a video of the exhibit with music by Dave Lynas on his handmade instruments.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery, which is temporarily closed due to Covid concerns in Thunder Bau, is featuring a number of exhibits, including“Piiwewetam: Making is Medicine.” The commemorative exhibition presents artwork by the Gustafson family, showing how beadwork and hand-made items come from an ecology of relationships and love. The exhibition honors their son and brother Piitwewetam (Rolling Thunder) also known as Jesse Gustafson.
Included in the exhibit are are 13 skirts and 13 letters to Jesse created/written by Shannon Gustafson. The collection of skirts is deeply bound to the moon cycle, the cycle of motherhood, the land, the water, and a mother’s body. These skirts celebrate the cycles and acknowledge the challenges that come with change.
Wiingashk, by Shannon Gustafson & Ryan Gustafson, velveteen, satin, cotton. Photography by Christian Chapman.
To see more of the exhibit and other works at the gallery, click here.
To see more work by the Gustafson’s on exhibit at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, click here.
Opportunities:
Applications for the 30th annual Grand Marais Arts Festival are open through April 26. The Arts Festival will be held July 10-11 this year in a new location, the parking lot of ISD 166, due to heavy construction in downtown Grand Marais this summer.
Applications are now open for the 30th annual Grand Marais Arts Festival.
More than 70 local and regional artists set up for the Grand Marais Arts Festival for two days during the peak of summer to showcase artist’s unique handcrafted work and provide insight into their artistic process through demonstration and dialogue. To apply to the festival, click here.
Artists At Work:
Photographer Bryan Hansel is producing a series of how-to videos on North Shore photography. Here’s the latest:
Contemporary quilter Mary Matthews won the Award of Excellence for her quilt, “Popsicle Garden,” at the 47th annual Northern Lights Juried Art Exhibition at the White Bear Center for the Arts.
Mary Matthews’ contemporary quilt, “Popsicle Garden,” won the Award of Excellence at 47th annual Northern Lights Juried Art Exhibition.
Here are some other works we found:
Zucca’s Path by Paula Gustafson.
Elise Kyllo says: Hard to believe this will become a vest once it’s felted.
David Gilsvik recently posted this painting,”Paddling Through Stars.” It’s one of his favorites.
Waterlilies in Orange by Rae Klesser. She exhibits her work at Joy & Co.
Mouse Island by Neil Sherman.
Duluth visual artist Moira Villiard recently competed this installation entitled “Illuminate the Lock: Madweyaashkaa” Waves Can Be Heard.” See it and learn more below.
Of Interest:
Luke Swinson’s Reimagining the Canada goose. He produced this for the Audubon Magazine. Read about it here.
This one gets the Totally Quirky Award:
Mary Beams posted this photograph of a woman and the life-size portrait she knitted of herself. Beams’ comment: I can’t even …
A Lake Superior Art Circle Tour:
Soon, travel will be possible. Consider a Circle Tour of Lake Superior’s art galleries. Learn more here.
Of Vikings and wool ...
Did you know that Vikings used wool for their sails? Read about it in this great article: No Wool, No Vikings here. There’s an audio version included in the story as well.
Miss being by Lake Superior? Here’s a video by Thomas Spence to bring you home.
And finally, this touching video entitled “The Day Death Fell in Love with Death.”
Music:
Live Music
Thursday, March 11:
- Gordon Thorne, Date Night at the Winery, North Shore Winery, 6-8 p.m., Covid protocols in place. Register here or call (218) 481-9280.
Wednesday, March 17:
- Davina & The Vagabond, Singer/Songwriter Series, Papa Charlie’s, All tables reserved seating. Two Tops – $40; Four Tops – $80; Six Tops – $100 Reserved tables available at 7 p.m. Show starts 8 p.m. Covid protocols in place. To reserve a table, click here.
Photographs:
We were lucky again this week. Here’s what we found:
Wildlife:
Concentration by Michael Furtman.
At least they’re not looking at me with the stink eye by Thomas Demma, taken at the DNR eagle nest.
Male Spruce Grouse all fanned out this morning by Thomas Spence.
Brief Encounter by Michael Furtman.
On alert in the Superior National Forest by Thomas Spence.
Spring house cleaning? by Siffy Torkildson.
Landscapes, Seascapes, Skyscapes and Icescapes:
Special Moments at the Little Spirit Tree by Nathan Klok.
Mackerel sky by Cathy Quinn.
Lake Superior Ice by Jeff Dixon.
Looking Up in Winter by Nancy Seaton.
Sawtooth Mountains by Paul Sundberg.
Patterns by Rose Arrowsmith.
Breaking through by Preston Buechler.
Ice curtains by Kristofer Bowman.
Ramping up by Christian Dalbec.
North Shore Waves by Paul Sundberg.
A green and purple sky by Hayes Scriven.
Quiet on the set by Christian Dalbec.
My first try at the Orion Nebula by Bryan Hansel.
Ice fall and a jazzy sunrise by Ken Harmon.
Walk the path by Jay Arrowsmith.
And finally, this great photograph:
Downtown Hovland by Shawn Perich.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone! And stay safe!
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While Michelson’s 1971 essay positioned Snow in the lineage of abstract expressionists, who themselves were influenced by European expressionism and psychoanalysis, a later essay, “Toward Snow” (1978), pushes her analysis further. She asks whether Snow broke with the idea of a “transcendental viewer,” which has haunted art since the Renaissance. Michelson concludes that while a number of experimental filmmakers, such as Stan Brakhage, questioned the primacy of Renaissance perspective, Snow, who began his career as a painter, reaffirmed it. For Snow’s