The Final Edition?

 

I misspoke when I said I was retiring from NorthShore Art Scene a few weeks ago.

My vision is deteriorating to such an extent that it’s almost impossible for me to continue with this blog. Sadness all around.

I have loved putting ArtScene together every week for the last 12 years or so and have so appreciated your support. It’s been so much fun and such a privilege to serve the arts community. We have more than 1,100 subscribers now! I am working on a way to continue this blog into the future but for now, I’m very sorry to say, this is the last issue.

A million thank yous to Annie Possis, who has been an incredible proofreader for the blog. And also to Gary and Mary Ann for content and assistance assembling the last few issues.

Meanwhile, in Grand Marais we are busy with early summer activities. The Solstice is just around the corner and, for the first time in two years, we’re going to see a pageant.

Here’s some info about how to participate.

Summer Solstice Pageant Puppet-Making Workshops  After a two year hiatus, The Good Harbor Hill Players are returning this year with the Summer Solstice Pageant in Grand Marais! The Summer Solstice Pageant Puppet-Making Workshops are on! Families and kids from the community are invited to join in bringing the sunshine! Be a part of it! Bring the kiddos! Bring the love! All ages! All abilities! All welcome! June 9-15, 3-7 pm at North House Boat Barn.

On Saturday, the Cook County market will be held in the Senior Center parking lot from 10 AM to 2 PM.

More than 20 vendors are featured at this year’s market, including potters, woodcarvers, filters, woodworkers, glass artists, and more. Live music by local musicians is also featured. All welcome.

Exhibits:

Artists throughout the region have been working really hard this winter and we are the beneficiaries because new exhibits are opening everywhere

Kimberly Layer is a multi-medium artist exhibiting at the Johnson Heritage Post this month. She gets her inspiration from the northern forests and lakes of Minnesota. Inspired by the colors and textures of nature and the magic that happens within the northern woods, Layer uses found treasures from the woods to create her work. The exhibit continues through June.

A new exhibit opened at Tettegouche State Park this month.

Two new exhibits opened at the Duluth Art Institute.

Two new exhibitions opened June 8 at Duluth Art Institute and will run through September.

Dislocation, an installation by Steven Lemke and Kelsie Ward is in the Morrison Gallery until September 30 and Salvaged Memories, by Wynn Davis, is in the Corridor Gallery through mid-September.

Lemke and Ward build environments that question how we locate ourselves within natural and human-made landscapes. Materials sourced from the construction industry, including polystyrene, cast resin, and plywood, bring together the artists’ themes of place, perspective, and our increasingly constructed reality.

In Salvaged Memories, Davis chronicles his 5,400 annual miles by assembling layers of paint, graphite drawings, and salvaged materials on paper. Visceral details evoke familiarity for outdoor enthusiasts: song notes from a blackbird, panoramic fall views, swaying grasses. Each detail unveils part of a story, some of which viewers will recognize and some that help build a narrative for viewers to interpret.

 

Upcoming:

“Making the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial” is an exhibit featuring photographs, plans, artifacts and documents pertaining to the creation of the memorial as designed and created by artist Carla Stetson, with text by Anthony Peyton Porter and commissioned by the City of Duluth.

The exhibit opens with a gathering at the memorial on the corner of East First Street and Second Avenue East. Participants will then be invited to walk two blocks to the Nordic Center for a discussion with the artist and a gallery viewing from 5 to 7 p.m.

Making the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial is on display June 17 to July 9 at the Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Avenue, Duluth. Opening June 17 – 5 to 7 p.m.

The Northwoods Fiber Guild is excited to celebrate 34 years at their next art exhibition entitled “Through Our Hands VI” on Friday, June 24, at the Johnson Heritage Post Gallery located in Grand Marais.

Join NFG at their Opening Reception from 5-7 p.m. For more information about Northwoods Fiber Guild and upcoming events, please see their Facebook page, or email northwoodsfiber-guild@gmail.com

 

The 16th annual Hovland Arts Festival will be held July 2 and 3 from 10 am – 4 pm at the Hovland Town Hall.  Come on down, or up, to the Hovland Art Festival for a great time including music, food and art. With 40 artists there will be something for everyone.

Artists at Work:

“The Flayed Man” by Jay Andersen is a gritty, fast paced procedural crime novel set on the North Shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota.

Riverplace Press is releasing the book in time to meet the wishes of readers looking for an exciting summer read. Jay Andersen is a past editor of The Mille Lacs Messenger, in Isle, Minn. and the Cook County News Herald, Grand Marais. He is also a former news director/producer for North Shore Community Radio, WTIP-FM, in Grand Marais.

In the summer of 2001, Cache Harbor Police Chief Paul Tharp’s usual routine is jarringly interrupted by the discovery of a dead body on an abandoned farm. The victim’s skin had been removed and his heart cut out and burned.

After many twists and turns, Tharp comes close to solving the case, but matters take a dramatic turn which plunges him and his friends and lovers into a fiery, heart-pounding and violent conclusion to the mystery of the flayed man.

“The Flayed Man” will be available this month from select booksellers and Amazon.com in print and e-book form.

 

WTIP’s Staci Lola Drouillard has recently published her second book, “Seven Aunts,” from the University of Minnesota Press. They call the book “…an inspired patchwork of memoir and reminiscence, poetry, testimony, love letters, and family lore.” 

Here are some additional ways to learn more about the book:

• Cook County Higher Education virtual sneak peek of “Seven Aunts” Thurs., June 9 from 6 – 7:30 pm via Zoom.  More information at 218-387-3411
• Book launch and signing at Drury Lane Books in Grand Marais, June 24, 6 pm, on the lawn if it’s decent outside
• Lin Salisbury’s Superior Reads interview with Staci, airing on WTIP July 23 at 7 pm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Online Music:

Cyndi Lauper “True Colors”, 1986

June is Pride Month, when the world’s LGBT communities come together and celebrate the freedom to be themselves.

Inspired by her lesbian sister, Cyndi Lauper has been an advocate throughout her career. Years after the uplifting ballad hit No. 1 on the Hot 100, Lauper co-founded the True Colors Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to ending homelessness for LGBTQ+ youth.

Jim Seals (right) and Dash Crofts performing in May 1974.

This week saw the passing of Jim Seals at the age of 80. Seals was a founder and one-half of the duo Seals and Crofts. The pair enjoyed considerable success and popularity through the 1970s with their blend of country and soft rock which included the songs Summer Breeze, Diamond Girl and Hummingbird. Jim Seals was also the elder brother of Dan Seals (aka “England Dan”) of England Dan & John Ford Coley, another rock duo popular 1975-1980.

An amazing cover of the Eagles’ “Hotel California” performed by a group of young Sri Lankans – four acoustic guitars, no equipment, no amplification and no electricity.

 

 Live Music:

 Thursday, June 9:

• Southpaws Duo – Al Oikari and Steve Johnson, Cascade Restaurant & Pub, 6 – 8 pm
• Gordon Thorne, “Date Night at the Winery”, North Shore Winery, 6 – 8 pm

Friday, June 10:

• Kevin Buck, Bluefin Grille – Bluefin Bay Resort, 7 – 9 pm

Saturday, June 11:

• Andrew D. Huber, Cascade Restaurant & Pub, 6 – 8 pm
• Jim McGowan, Lutsen Resort  on Lake Superior, 6:30 – 9 pm
• Lake Superior Bonfire Music, Bluefin Grille – Bluefin Bay Resort, 5 – 8 pm

Sunday, June 12:

• Gordon Thorne, “Weekend Wine Down,” North Shore Winery, 6 – 8 pm

Monday, June 13:

• Briand Morrison, Bluefin Grille – Bluefin Bay Resort, 7 – 9 pm

Tuesday, June 14:

• Eric Frost, “Locals Night at the Winery,” North Shore Winery, 5 – 7 pm
• Lake Superior Bonfire Music, Bluefin Grille – Bluefin Bay Resort, 5 – 8 pm

Wednesday, June 15:

• John Gruber, Bluefin Grille – Bluefin Bay Resort, 7 – 9 pm

Photographs

 

Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:

Wildlife:

That’s a big boy. Photo by Thomas Spence.

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The Greens, Flowers of Spring:

Landscapes, Cloudscapes & Waterscapes: 

 

 

 

 

 

And last, but not least, this beauty.

Have a good weekend, everyone! And thank you!