Spring! Gooseberry Falls by Gary Schmies.
We get two things this week: that special silence you only hear when it snows and the roar of waterfalls signaling spring has arrived. Happiness.
But Covid continues. Here in Cook County, we had a surge last week, but no new cases over the last few days, and more than 50 percent of our residents have been vaccinated at least once. Ever hopeful. For more information about rules, recommendations, vaccinations and what is open when, click here.
And our online lives continue.
North Carolina potter, Kyle Carpenter, is the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Instagram Takeover Artist this week. He will be posting on the Art Colony’s Instagram page on Thursday and Friday. Look for photos, discussions and perhaps a video or two over this period.
North Carolina potter, Kyle Carpenter, is the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Instagram Takeover Artist this week.
Kyle Carpenter will teach a class at the Grand Marais Art Colony in July entitled “Working Small with Big Results.”
For the last 18 years, Carpenter has focused on salt-glazed pottery and has recently started working with earthenware. He exhibits his work in galleries and museums across the United States and is a juried member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. He will also be part of this year’s online St Croix Valley Pottery Tour in May. Kyle will be teaching a ceramics class at the Art Colony July 19 – 23.
Also on Thursday, North House Folk School will host a free online film screening and discussion of the documentary: A Spoon Carver from Outou Village Mr. Kaoru Atarashi with Jarrod Dahl.
North House will host a film screening of a documentary about a Japanese spoon carver followed by a discussion on Thursday at 7 p.m. To register, click here.
After the the 20-minute film, Dahl will lead a short online discussion about the film and share photos of spoon carving tools and a few spoons he brought back from his travels to Japan in 2018 and 2019. To register, click here.
On Friday, North House will host an online Lunch & Learn with Daniel Lundberg. He is a Swedish woodworker who likes to turn on the pole lathe and make shrink pots and other things.
A shrink box by Daniel Lindberg. He will be featured on an free online Lunch & Learn through North House on Friday at noon. To register, click here.
Lindberg worked a fair deal with building preservation on old log homes in the north of Sweden and carries that over into his process and objects. He likes to work with big sharp axes, bold hewn surfaces and takes every chance he gets to use his precious chainsaw. He’ll share his recent work and discuss his current project to shine a light on what a slöjdare or craftsman actually is and does in this day and age. To register for the free online event, click here.
Also on Friday, Joy & Co will host an opening for an exhibit of work by painter Rae Klesser entitled “Feathers, Furs and Foliage.”
Painter Rae Klesser is exhibiting her work at Joy & Co. The opening reception is at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 26.
The opening reception at Joy & Co. at 4 p.m. on Friday and will feature refreshments by Rebel Girls and light music. All welcome.
Also on Friday, WTIP Community Radio’s ‘Tip Jar’ Minifest, continues. The ‘Tip Jar is a virtual online concert series set up this year to support musicians during the pandemic, thanks to generous donors. This month, musicians include Son of Mel, Kevin Buck and Sam Miltich. Here’s a great video about Sam.
The ‘Tip Jar airs from 4-7 p.m. on WTIP, 90.7 FM. To donate to the ‘Tip Jar Fund, click here.
Exhibits:
This is the final week to see Reflecting Light Into Darkness: An Exhibit by the Spirit of the Wilderness and ISD 166 at the Johnson Heritage Post. The show features a wide variety of artwork by local artists and community members, including art students at ISD 166. Many of the works speak to reflecting light into darkness in this difficult time. It’s a good show. Here are a few examples:
New Worlds, oil, by Michele Flynn.
“Astonishing Lights of Your Own,” felt, by Elise Kyllo.
Detail: Ocean Wonders by ISD 166 art students.
“The sun will come out,” needle felting, by Bonnie Gay Hedstrom.
The Heritage Post is open on Thursdays 1 – 4 p.m.; Fridays & Saturdays 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Sundays 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Covid Protocols in place. All welcome. Free.
Also of interest, Lutsen sculptor Greg Mueller is exhibiting work in the windows of Studio 17, the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s new building on Hwy. 61. The exhibit is entitled No Vacancy. It will be up through the end of the month and can be viewed from the sidewalk.
Detail from Greg Mueller’s sculptural assemblage, No Vacancy, now on view in the windows of Studio 17, the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s new building on Hwy. 61.
The Duluth Art Institute in Duluth is currently closed, but their exhibits can be viewed online, including videos of the work. Here’s a virtual tour of “Harrison Halker Heinks – Visual Voice of Autism.”
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery in Thunder Bay, Ontario is also closed due to Covid-19, but it, too, has posted photos of works on exhibit online. One exhibit, Dakobinaawaswaan (Baby in a Cradleboard) gathers more than 100 cradleboards representing Indigenous communities from across North America.
Cradleboard by Francys Sherman (Norma Sherman), Western Mono Lake, Paiute, California, 1992.
In the language of Aninishaabeg peoples, “dakobinaawaswaan” describes a baby being wrapped and placed in a cradleboard, or tikinagaan. This exhibition showcases the strong legacy and beauty of traditional baby carriers —including miniatures, toy cradles and baskets— of the many Indigenous communities across Turtle Island. To see more of the exhibits, click here.
Opportunities:
Applications for the Grand Marais Arts Festival are open through April 12.
Applications for the Grand Marais Arts Festival are open through April 12. To apply, click here.
Also, the Art Colony is offering a great selection of virtual online adult classes including drawing, painting in pastel, and two pottery classes. To view, click here.
The Art Colony has also develop an online winter watercolor lessons for kids featuring artist Nan Onkka. She leads the students through three lessons painting a variety of watercolors.
Nan Onkka teaches three virtual lessons on watercolors for kids through the Grand Marais Art Colony. To see the videos, click here.
Online Art:
A view of Izumi Kato’s exhibit, “Surounded by Spirits.”
“Surrounded by Spirits,” an exhibit by Izumi Kato ate Perrotin in New York City, dispatches us to long-forgotten realms of childhood, when the world was full of benign, sinister, weird, and mysterious beings. To view more of this work and read about it, click here.
Artists At Work:
Corrie Steckelberg/Wulfhelm has been working on a new exhibit this winter entitled “Once and Future.” “Once and Future” is a non permanent public art piece funded with a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. It consists of three life-sized Caribou sculptures that have a rebar frame and are fleshed out using dirt and seeds quilted between layers of upcycled burlap (from local coffee roasters Fika Coffee).
A partially finished Caribou sculpture by Corrie Steckelberg/Wulfhelm, one of a series of three in her project, “Once and Future.” The sculpture will have dirt and seeds inserted within the burlap, which will sprout and grow when the sculpture is placed outside.
The sculptures will be placed in green spaces (Harbor Park, the Library lawn, and the Rec Park) around Grand Marais. As the weather gets warmer and things start to grow the plants will burst through the burlap skin of the Caribou and make them into growing changing sculptures. They will be installed late May to June and will be up for one year.
Corrie Steckelberg/Wulfhelm works on one of her caribou sculptures.
Another local artist, Elise Kyllo, has been felting vests this winter.
Elise Kyllo posted this photo a few weeks ago. “Hard to believe this will become a vest once it’s felted.“
Here’s the finished vest a few weeks later.
The vest is 3 times smaller and it fits! Photos courtesy of Elise Kyllo.
A number of local artists have been participating in the 100-day Project, creating every day for 100 days. Here are a few examples of what they’ve been doing.
Ruth Pzwaro:
Rearranging Boundaries III, collage, by Ruth Pzwaro.
Here are a few pages from Maxene Linehan’s 100-day Project notebook:
Max Linehan’s workbook from the 100-day Project.
Martin DeWitt:
From Martin DeWitt’s series, Celebrating our common origins to persevere, contemplate, enjoy.
Susan Gecas:
Lake Superior Trees by Susan Gecas.
Musa Abdel-rahman:
New work by Musa Abdel-rahman.
A photographer in any circumstance … Layne Kennedy took this at 3 a.m. from a hospital bed in the Twin Cities. He’s fine and at home now.
A Story to Read:
“Crows,” linocut by Jonathan Gibbs for Harper’s Magazine for the story, “The Crow Whisperer.” Read it here.
What happens when we talk to animals? Lauren Markham wrote about this for Harper’s Magazine. The story is called “The Crow Whisperer.” Fascinating. Read it here.
Videos:
For Judy Dench fans:
The blockbuster movie, “Lawrence of Arabia,” originally released in 1962, was recently featured on Netflix. Here’s the trailer. So fun to watch.
Online Music:
&
Live Music:
Thursday, March 25:
- Gordon Thorne, Date Night at the Winery, North Shore Winery, 6-8 p.m. Reservations at https://www.exploretock.com/northshorewinery or call 218) 481-9280.
Friday, March 26:
- Son of Mel, Kevin Buck and Sam Miltich, Virtual, WTIP Community Radio, 90.7 FM, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 31
- Singer/songwriter Series, Dave Simonett, Papa Charlie’s, 8 p.m. Sold Out.
Photographs:
We found a great variety of photographs this week.
Let’s start with wildlife and a series of photographs that Paul Sundberg took of his favorite marten, Chaser, who appeared on his roof one day after being absent for a while.
When up on the rooftop, there arose such a clatter. I stepped outside to see what was the matter. It was Chaser who we hadn’t seen for a while.(All photos by Paul Sundberg.)
Chaser… what a cutie.
Chaser looked pretty graceful bounding from tree to tree. Like squirrels, marten can pivot at the hips reversing their hind feet so they can run down a tree as fast as they can run up it.
Seconds later I see a goshawk zipping through the trees. The hunter now becomes the hunted. Faster than I could get my camera up the goshawk drops in for the kil, missing Chaser by a few inches. Chaser gets behind a tree and the goshawk drops to the ground to access the situation.
Chaser lures the goshawk and then disappears in seconds. The disappointed goshawk flies away empty handed and gets hassled by a “murder” of crows. The marten was hunting the squirrels, the goshawk was hunting the marten, the crows were hassling the goshawk and I was thoroughly enjoying another outdoor adventure on the North Shore.
A potpourri of wildlife:
A Platypus baby by Ernesto Murguía.
He’s keeping me company while I grill a couple of hamburgers by Nancy Seaton.
Prancer– Checking out some pine boughs in Thunder Bay by Ellie-Klaũs-Hogän-Prancer.
Brook trout beauties, caught somewhere in Cook County. Photo by Chad Kieper.
Debbie Benedict with a beautiful Brookie. Photo by Chad Kieper.
Here’s one…apparently horses like tea.
Good morning. Photographer unknown.
And this popped up in my feed the other day.
The Moose Whisperer. Dave Seaton of Hungry Jax Outfitters helped rescue a moose from falling through the ice a few years ago. Is he lecturing the moose on how to be safe at this point? The moose doesn’t appear to like what he/she is hearing.
Comboscapes:
She loves rocks… all of them by Kelsey Kennedy.
JD Johnson sizing up Lake Superior by Christian Dalbec.
A calmer Lake Superior.
The ASC’s Burns Harbor is on the move in Duluth. The Son Locks are open.Photo by -David-Schauer.
Going back to the earth by Don Malcolm.
Cascade Bridge at Lake Superior. Photo courtesy of Northshore Explorer.
Landscapes, Skyscapes and Waterscapes:
Happy Spring Equinox by Amy Freeman.
Always better below by Christian Dalbec.
Caught a nice sunset in Duluth by Jesse Nord.
The Milky Way and Lake Island by John Keefover.
A wave from Marquette, Mich., by Shannon Kivi.
Many shapes and textures on Park Point by Jae Cornwell.
Simple is nice by Ken Brown.
Northern Lights were spectacular again this week;
Not a night to miss by Justin Vrba.
Camped out on Superior last night by Seth Waters.
Outside Duluth on March 19 by Cody Lau.
What a night! by Larry Svoboda, North on 53 Photography.
And finally, this beauty.
Lines. Lines. Everywhere a line by Bryan Hansel.
Have a great weekend, everyone, and stay safe!
{ 2 comments… add one }
Hi Joan,
Wanna change your cabbage photo on WTIP web site??
Russ
Hi Russ;
Just noticed your post.
We should probably change it… email me and I’ll send you something else:
Joan.farnam@gmail.com