North Shore Dreaming by Mark Birkholz.
Greetings from Grand Marais, where Covid continues to stalk our little community. Our advice? Mask up indoors and stay 6-feet apart, if at all possible. We’ve done it before … unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to have to do it again. Personally, I’ve lost the knack of talking intelligently through a mask, but assume that skill will soon return.
Cooler temps and showers have given firefighters the opportunity to control wildfires in the area.
The Midewan Hotshot Crew works on a burnout on Hwy 1 in the Greenwood Fire area to reduce fuel sFor the Sept. 8 update, click here.
The Greenwood Fire is 49 percent contained as of Sept. 8. In the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness, little fire growth has occurred on the John Ek Fire or the Whelp fire over the the last few days. For more info, click here.
The BWCA was opened to the public in select areas over the Labor Day weekend, but some entry points and trails remain closed. The Gunflint Trail is open. For more info, click here.
Here is what is happening in Cook County over the weekend.
First up is the Local Food Market, which is held weekly from 4:30-6 p.m. in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center featuring foods from local producers. This week, look for everything from tomatoes and peppers and other garden produce to wood-fire artisan breads, newly harvested wild rice, fresh eggs and more.
The Local Food Market is held at the Cook County Community Center from 4:30-6 p.m. every Thursday through the summer.
This is the weekend to listen to lots of live music as WTIP’s annual Radio Waves Music Festival will be held live, on-air, on Friday and Saturday, including select video performances via Facebook Live.
WTIP’s Radio Waves Music Festival is Friday and Saturday. It is a virtual event this year, with live music performances on Friday and Saturday on the radio station, as well as select performances on Facebook Live.
Because there are still unknowns related to big crowds and Covid-19, the festival this fall will be shared on the air at 90.7 FM North Shore, 90.1 FM Grand Portage and 89.1 FM Gunflint Trail. This much anticipated community music event can also be heard in its entirety online at www.wtip.org.
Look for performances by Caitlin Thomas and Al Oikari, Michael Monroe, Joe Paulik, Adam Moe, Clearwater Hot Club and Briand Morrison, Cryote, Splints, Bump and Jim Elverhoy, Cherry Dirt, Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund, Sapsuckers, Red Lips, Jim and Michele Miller, Timmy Haus, Rich Mattson & the Northstars, Cook County’s Most Wanted, DJ Beavstar and Wunderdogs. See the music schedule below for performance times.
This is also the week that plein air painters from throughout the region will be in the county for the Plein Air Grand Marais Competition. Look for the painters everywhere in Cook County as they paint its beauty. The work will be on exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post with an opening reception on Friday, Sept. 17.
More than 60 plein artists will be on Artist’s Point for the Quick Paint on Thursday from 3;30-5 p.m. The public is invited to come watch. The event is part of Grand Marais Plein Air Competition, which starts on Friday, Sept. 9. (File photo)
The Grand Marais Plein Air Competition is hosted by the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and Cook County Historical Society’s Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery. The competition class has 66 invitational and juried painters.
One of the favorite features of the competition is the Quick Paint held on Artist’s Point. The painters have 90 minutes to start and complete a painting. It begins at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 16 and the public is invited to watch the artists work. Stay tuned for details next week.
On Saturday, Cook County artists and artisans gather in the parking lot of The Hub (formerly the Senior Center) to hold the Cook County Market, featuring handmade arts and crafts as well as books, local rocks and stones as well as handcrafted balms and more.
The Cook County Market is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Senior Center parking lot, The Hub, and features a variety of work by local artists and artisans, including woodwork by Papa’s Hands, live music and more.
There’s also live music. This week, Tom Knutson will play.
Also on Saturday, Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center will host researcher/naturalist Katy Dahl as she explores the common loon and dives into discussing the research being done with the National Loon Center and the Loon Project. All about Loons will be begin at 111 a.m. Free for members; all other parking fee of $5 per car.
Also on Saturday, the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center on the Gunflint Trail, will host Keith Wendt, who will talk about how climate change interacts with and amplifies current threat to conserving our lands and waters in the Northwoods. The presentation is free and will be held from 2-3 p.m. Masks must be worn by everyone in the buildings.
Drury Lane Books will host an Author Meet-up with Theodore Catton, author of the “Rainy Lake House: Twilight of the Empire on the Northern Frontier,” outside the bookstore at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Dury Lane Books will host an Author Meet-up withTheodore Catton at 7:30 p.m. Saturday/
Catton is an associate professor of history at the University of Montana and the author of a few other beloved wilderness history books. He will be bringing hard copies of some of the maps and portraits featured in the book. The event is outdoors. so please plan for the weather. All invited. Free.
Exhibits:
This is the last weekend to see “Reflections from the North,” Reid Thorpe’s contemporary landscapes currently on exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post. The exhibit closes Sept. 12.
Reid Thorpe’s exhibition, “Reflections from the North” continues at the Johnson Heritage Post through Sept. 12.
The Heritage Post is closed on Tuesdays. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and Monday and from 1-4 p.m. Sunday. Free.
The Duluth Art Institute announced that the opening reception for the Member Show will be held Sept. 21.
The opening reception for the Duluth Art Institute‘s Member Show will be held Tuesday, Sept. 21.
Upcoming:
North House Folk School’s Unplugged XX will be held next weekend. It is a combo event–virtual and in-person. The featured speaker and featured musician will perform virtually on Sept. 18.
Musician Amythyst Kiah is the featured artist this year.
For tickets and more information about the event, click here.
Artists at Work:
Paula Sundet has been working on new sweetgrass and pine needle baskets. Her studio, Wolkf Meadow Studio, is located at 503 Caribou Trail in Lutsen.
Greg Mueller ecently installed this Bike Rack Sculpture at the Grand Rapids Minnesota Library River Walk. The sculpture is inspired by the hulls / ribs of birchbark canoes and branches of native Birch trees.
Betsy Bowen has been working on a new art project. This one is entitled: Little Square Idea about Fall Flowers.
Nancy Seaton’s fused glass piece, White Pines, is one of the works she will be exhibiting during the Art Along the Lake, Fall Studio Tour, which is Sept.24-Oct. 3 this year. Seaton’s work will be exhibited at Hungry Jack Outfitters on the Gunflint Trail. For more info and to see the participating artists, click here.
Artists from Afar:
On the Strangest Sea by Adam Swanson.
Pottery by Guilermo Cuellar dries in the sun, as he prepares work for the Valley Potters Fall Studio Sale. Click here to learn more.
Andres Gallardo Albajar’s series, Light and Its Form of Absence: Architecture Photography. To read about him and see his photographs, click here.
It’s coming down the pike, but not at -58F. Check this out:
Photographer Alexey Vasilyev captures the lives of people In Yakutia, where it gets as cold as -58F. To see his photographs, click here.
Local News:
For a laugh:
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, Sept, 9:
- Martine and John Redshaw, WTIP, 3:30 p.m.
- Kenna Rose, Gunflint Tavern, 5 p.m.
- Caitlin Nicol-Thomas & Al Oikari, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6 p.m.
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6 p.m.
- Barbara Jean and Mike Lewis, WTIP, 8 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 10
Virtual Radio Waves Music Festival, aired on WTIP Community Radio:
- 2 p.m. North Shore Community Swing Band
- 3 p.m. – Caitlin Thomas and Al Oikari
- 4 p.m. – Michael Monroe (live from Minneapolis)
- 5 p.m. – Joe Paulik Band
- 6 p.m. - Adam Moe (live from Duluth)
- 7 p.m. – Clearwater Hot Club with Briand Morrison
- 8 p.m. – Cryote (live from Minneapolis)
- 9 p.m. – The Splints
Other venues:
- Caitlyn Thomas and Al Oilari, Birch Terrace Deck, 5:30 p.m.
- Big Wu Duo, Gunflint Tavern, 7 p.m.
- Sarah Burton, Silver Bay City Center Park, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 11
Virtual Radio Waves Music Festival aired on WTIP Community Radio:
- 11 p.m. – Bump Blomberg and Jim Elverhoy
- 12 p.m.- Rich Mattson and the Northstars (live from Squash Fest in Wis.)
- 1 p.m. - Briand Morrison and Roxann Berglund
- 2 p.m. - Cherry Dirt (live from NW Minnesota)
- 3 p.m. - Red Lips Duo - Kenna Rose and Maja
- 4 p.m. – Jim and Michele Miller (live from Hovland)
- 5 p.m. - Timmy Haus
- 6 p.m. - Ginger Bones
- 7 p.m. - The Evening Stars
- 8 p.m. – DJ Beavstar
- 9 p.m. - Wunderdogs
Other venues:
- South Paws with Caitlin Thomas, Birch Terrace Deck, 3 p.m.
- Red Lips, Gunflint Tavern, 5 p.m.
- Chris Gillis & Thomas Stamps, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6 p.m.
- Big Wu Duo, Gunflint Tavern, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 12
- Brilliant Colors Trio, Weekend Wine Down, North Shore Winery, 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept., 15
- Jim McGowan, Lutsen Resort, Music on the Beach, 6:30 p.m.
Photographs:
We found some interesting work this week. Let’s start with wildlife:
Gray Tree Frog rests on the petals of a flower. Photograph by Paul Sundberg. To see more photographs of these wonderful frogs, click here
Kinglet. Photographer unknown.
Tom Fiero discovered this perfect squirrel’s winter nest under the roof of his woodshed.
Broadwinged Hawk. Photo by Michael Furtman, taken at Hawk Ridge in Duluth. The bird migrations have started.
A not-so-wild:
Homeschooling the kids by Les Coughran.
The beginning of fall:
September Medicine I by Kristofer Bowman.
September Medicine II by Kristofer Bowman.
The first leaf by Kjersti Vick.
Fall colors are showing up around here. Courtesy of Creaking Tree Farm. Ian Andrus is one of the producers at the weekly Local Farm Market at the Community Center on Thursdays at 4:30 p.m.
People
Possibly the coolest piece of glass I’ve ever found by Annie Possis.
Wild ricing with Molly Mayer Photograph by Eric Edgin. They sell their wild rice at the Thursday Local Food Market at the Cook County Community Center in GRAND MARAIS.
Photo or painting? Here’s the quote that goes with it:
“God created countries full of water to live there and the desert for man to find his soul there.” Touareg proverb
Landscapes, Skyscapes & Waterscapes
Sacred Geometry by Michael Robinson. This photograph was taken on the Peruvian coast. It’s a Chicama wave in the world protected by law. Nothing can be build with a radius of 2 km of this place, so this wave formation will not be disturbed.,
Beautiful night at Gunflint Pines by David Johnson.
Sweet little waterfall. Fall River. By Ilena Berg.
Right hook by Christian Dalbec.
Whoa. By Jamie Rex.
Bones of the river by Lee Ross.
When there was water by Daniel Olson.
Sunrise by Bryan Hansel.
Good evening from here by Kristofer Bowman.
Sunset over Devil Track by Brianna Schueler.
And finally, this:
Beauteous! The good ship Hjordis is sailing out of the docks at North House Folk School daily through Oct. 3. For more info and to make a reservation, click here. Photo courtesy of North House.
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