Summer time in the Northwoods by David Johnson.
Treats are in store for you this weekend. The weather is predicted to be perfect for hiking, biking, paddling, fishing, swimming, AND an art festival. The Grand Marais Arts Festival is this Saturday and Sunday, and it is shaping up to be a great event with 60 local and regional artists on tap this year to exhibit their work.
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is this weekend in a new location featuring work from more than 60 local and regional artists. Scroll down for more details.
Meanwhile, there are other fun things to do and see this week.
First up are live craft demonstrations on campus at North House Folk School Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This week, basketmaker Tina Fung Holder will be making baskets and talking about her process. The demos are open to all and free.
Basketmaker Tina Fund Holder will be doing basket demonstrations on campus at North House Folk School on Thursday through Sunday. Open to all. Free.
Online, sculptor Wayne Potratz is the Grand Marais Art Colony’s Instagram Takeover Artist of the week on Thursday and Friday.
Wayne Potratz will be the Art Colony’s Instagram Takeover Artist on Thursday and Friday. To follow along, click here.
Upstream, sculpture by Wayne Potratz.
Potratz is professor emeritus in sculpture at University of Minnesota. Wayne has done extensive creative research in historical and cultural methods of casting metals through travels to India, Japan, Korea, China, Turkey, and Europe. His work in cast bronze, iron and aluminum has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He will be teaching a class at the Art Colony in August. To find out more about the class, click here. To follow him on Instagram, click here.
On Saturday, the Grand Marais Arts Festival opens at 9 a.m. in a new location due to construction on Hwy. 61.
Nevertheless, more than 60 local and regional artists will set up their white tents and display their work at ISD 166 at 101 W. 5th Street in Grand Marais for two days: from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Look for ceramics, leatherwork, paintings, prints, photography, fiber art, metalwork, woodwork, jewelry, glass, sculpture and more at the 2-day festival. Click here to see who will be there.
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is always popular. This year, it is in a new location due to construction on Hwy. 61, but it is shaping up to be a stellar event. Join the artists at ISD 166, 101 W. 5th St., from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Here are just a few examples of what you will find at the festival this year:
Agamok Falls, Kekekab\ic Trail. Photograph by Dan Olson. Olson is from the Twin Cities.
Raku pottery by Maggie Anderson. Anderson’s studio is in Lutsen.
Spirit Bear, solar plate etching by Neil Sherman. Sherman won Best of Show for his booth in 2019. The booth also features his oil paintings.
Also this weekend, the Cook County Market, featuring arts and crafts from Cook County residents, will be held in the parking lot of the Hub in downtown Grand Marais.
The Cook County Market, which is held in the parking lot of The Hub, is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays through Oct. 17.
The market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. Live music is also featured.
Exhibits:
The Johnson Heritage Post opened a new exhibit July 2 –John A. Spelman III, Artist and Printmaker: From Appalachia to Minnesota’s North Shore, featuring the spectacular prints, drawings and watercolors by this accomplished artist.
Erickson’s Fishhouse, print, by John A. Spellman III, is one of the pieces on view at the Johnson Heritage Post through Sept. 5.
And on Wednesday, July 14, exhibition curators and authors of a new book of the same title, “John A. Spelman III, Artist and Printmaker: From Appalachia to Minnesota’s North Shore,” Scott Husby and Tracey Cullen will host an author talk at the gallery at 5 p.m. Spelman is one of Minnesota’s most notable artists, whose preferred medium was woodblock and linoleum-block prints, but who also produced pencil drawings, watercolors and poetry.
There’s another art exhibit that is running concurrently with the Spellman show at the Heritage Center: Take Me North, Fiber Art by Anna Winette.
This fber landscape by Anna Winette is one of the pieces on exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post this month.
The Art of Reciprocity: Site Specific Art Installation at Sugarloaf Cove continues. The installation by Sean Connaughty was created during his artist residency at Sugarloaf, courtesy of the Grand Marais Art Colony. WDSE’s The Slice, created a video of him during his residency. Check it out below. (Note: The work can be seen throughout the summer and fall.)
Also, the summer exhibition of the Grand Marais Art Colony,“But It Was Still There” will be on view st Studio 21, the Art Colony’s new building located at 21 W. Hwy, 61, Studio 21 will be open on Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Grand Marais Art Colony‘s summer exhibit, But It Was Still There, features work by four artists in a variety of mediums: Moira Bateman, Annie Hejny, Moheb Soliman, and Nick Wroblewski .The exhibit is at Studio 21, which is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is closed to the public at this time, but the gallery has installed one of its paintings outdoors for people to enjoy.
“Kwewog Giiwednog — Women of the North” by Sharon Hunter is on display outside the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. A Zoom talk with one of the women in the painting is set. for July 8 at 7 p.m. Sign up here.
Opportunities:
Cook County Higher Education will hold a Google Photos Workshop via Zoom on July 20 with Ben Sondgeroth, regional educational technology coordinator. Scholarships are available. To register, click here. For scholarship info and more, call 218-387-3411.
Summer Tech Camps for Kids: Boreal Community Media, Cook County Higher Education, and North Point Foundation are joining together to bring several youth technology camps to Cook County students this summer. Three separate youth camps are being offered in July. All three of the camps will be based out of North Point (the former Grandma Ray’s building) in downtown Grand Marais. Masks and social distancing will be required for all students attending the camps. For more info, click here. To register, click here.
A Potpourri of Interesting Stuff
Here’s a great article recently published on Boreal.org about Dewey Pihlman, who lives on a remote cabin on the Gunflint Trail.
Dewey Pihlman with one of his catches.
Pihlman has been all over the world and has settled in on the Gunflint Trail where he relishes his isolation. The story includes stories of his life as well as a collection of his photographs, including feeding his neighborly foxes. Read it here.
Artist Christi Belcourt has written a great piece entitled “Before There Was Light” that was published on the online journal Humans and Nature.org. Read it here.
What whispers of wisdom does grandmother spider impart to her greandbabies while they are carried on their mother’s back? Photo by Alyssa Bardy, Chicory Wild Creative. Read Christi Belcourt’s Pice, Before There Was Light, here.
Artists at Work:
Bryan Hansel‘s latest newsletter is about photographing waterfalls. Read it here.
Paula Gustafson has new paintings at Karlyn’s Yellowbird Gallery in Washburn, Wis.
“Swirl” by Paula Gustafson is at Karlyn’s Yellowbird Gallery in Washburn, Wis.
Mary Beams also puts up interesting photos. Here’s one:
Photo by Mary Beams.
Online Music:
The first is a Tiny Desk Concert from Easter Island.
Music Treat for this week: Pete Kavanaugh on the Roadhouse. It’s the first time a musician has been in the studio since the pandemic began. Good times!
To listen, click here.
Pete Kavaugh plays live on The Roadhouse. To listen, click here.
Live Music:
Thursday, July 8:
- Kenna Rose, Cascade Lodge & Pub, 6 p.m.
- Gordon Thorne, Date Night at the Winery, North Shore Winery, 7 p.m. Make reservations to sit indoors here or call (218) 481-9280.
Friday, July 9:
- Gordon Thorne, WTIP Radio, 4 p.m.
- Kevin Buck, Birch Terrace Deck, 5 p.m.
- Josh Cleveland Band, WTIP C Community Radio, 6 p.m.
- Josh Cleveland, Gunflint Tavern, Raven’s Nest, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, July 10:
- Joe Paulik Band, WTIP Community Radio, noon
- Ginger Bones and the Spicy Roots, WTIP Community Radio, 1 p.m
- Mysterious Ways, Birch Terrace Deck, 4 p.m .
- Jim McGowan, Cascade Lodge &Pub, 6 p.m.
- Josh Cleveland, Gunflint Tavern, Raven’s Nest, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, July 11:.
- Black River Revue, North Shore Winery, 3 p.m.
- TBD, Skyport Lodge, 4 p.m.
Wednesday, July 14:
- Jim McGowan, Lutsen Resort, Music by the Campfire, 6:30 p.m.
Photographs:
Truth be told, it’s been a rushed week, but here’s what we found:
First, wildlife:
Loon baby by Dennis Chick.
“There is a love of wild nature in all of us.” John Muir. Photo by Roxanne Distad.
Monarch butterfly caterpillar party by Sally Berg.
Bald Eagle fledgling learning where the fish are. Photo by Thomas Demma.
A hummingbird nest by Paul Sundberg.
Barred owl youngsters in my garden by Tracey Cullen.
A mama’s protection by Dennis Chick.
Blue winged teal with her brood by Michael Furtman.
Flowers and Trees:
Wild Wood Lily by Maryl Skinner.
The Majesty Oak, also known as the Fredville Oak, is the largest maiden (i.e. non-pollarded) oak in Britain, if not Europe. It is located in Fredville Park, Kent, in Nonington, UK. Photographer unknown.
Landscapes, Skyscapes and Waterscapes:
Vibrant and filter-free by Kristofer Bowman.
Superior sunrise in Ashland, Wis. by John Welland.
Time for a Cool Down… photo taken last winter and published by David Johnson this week after our 95F+ temps.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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