We Are Back!

Greetings from the North Shore, where summer has fallen upon us like a sweet mantle of warmth and promise.  We celebrate that, and the fact that NorthShore ArtScene is back again with new faces, new ideas, and a renewed commitment to the arts and cultural community on the North Shore.

Joining us are two collaborators who want NorthShore ArtScene to thrive: Matthew Baxley, a visionary artist who creates podcasts and videos, and Jeremy Lopez, a compassionate and dedicated fan of ArtScene who loves accuracy and periods and commas and spaces and making the blog look perfect every time. Welcome to you both!! And our loyal copyeditor, Annie Possis, will continue in that role. Thank you, Annie.

There will be changes. We are still short-staffed. We do need a collaborator who loves to gather art news, factoids, photographs, and quirky things this blog is well-known for. That’s been my job so far and I really love doing it, but it’s time to pass on the baton. Email me at joan.farnam@gmail.com if you’d like to try it out. 

Truth be told, I couldn’t stand not collecting stuff while the blog was halted last month, so expect to see a lot of photos this week that might bog down your phone. We probably won’t be publishing every week for a while, though, but we will come out at least once a month, So look for a happy surprise in your inbox on Thursday mornings.

So let’s get started.

First up is North House Folk School, which will hold craft demonstrations open to the public from 10 am to 4pm Thursdays through Sundays on campus through September.

A variety of crafts will be demonstrated throughout the season.   Each week a different instructor will be featured, and visitors will have the opportunity to observe their hands at work as well as ask questions about the craft. This week, Nate White will demonstrate turned & hand-carved wooden bowls through July 17.

North House has a wide variety of activities, workshops, and classes during the summer. It also offers sailing on the good ship Hjodis several times a day. To find out more, call 218-387-9762 or visit www.northhouse.org

There are lots of other activities and events going on this weekend, too, including a live music festival at Caribou Highlands and the North Shore winery.

The 1st annual Lutsong Music Festival will be held on Ski Hill Road in Lutsen, July 15-17. The festival features music, art, and food overlooking Lake Superior and just up Ski Hill Road from Lutsen.  The Caribou Highlands great lawn will host artisans, musicians, and music lovers all weekend with two stages along with a vendor village, food, and drinks. Head down the hill to the North Shore Winery main stage each night for the headliner act. After the headliner shows you can take the shuttle back to Caribou Highlands for the Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull. Find tickets at lutsongmusicfestival.com

The North Shore Water Festival will be held on the Grand Marais Harbor this weekend. Sponsored by Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply. The event features paddling demos in the harbor, SUP yoga classes and vendor displays. Open to all.

Bally Blacksmith & Metal Shop tours and demonstrations will be held on Fridays and Saturdays in downtown Grand Marais from 10 am to 4 pm. Open to the public. Click here for more information.

The Culture Crawl, a monthly event sponsored by the Cook County Historical Society will be held at the Cook County History Museum (8 S. Broadway Ave.) and the Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery (115 W. Wisconsin St.) from  5-7 pm.

Complete an event card by visiting both locations and receive a free beverage at The Gunflint Tavern in downtown Grand Marais. Open to all.

On Saturday, the Cook County Market, featuring arts and crafts by local artists and artisans, is held every Saturday from Memorial Day Weekend through Moose Madness Weekend in October, weather permitting. It is held in the Senior Center parking lot (The Hub). The Market is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays. Look for pottery, weaving, jewelry, woodworking, glass art, natural balms and soaps, Lake Superior stones, rock art, hand-dyed clothing, paintings, and more. Live music! All welcome.

Also on Saturday, Author Cary Griffith will be at Lake Superior Trading Post on Saturday, July 16 from 1-3 p.m. to sign his new book “Cougar Claw.”

In this Sam Rivers mystery, a cougar comes out of the Minnesota woods and kills a prominent businessman, USFW special agent and wildlife biologist Sam Rivers is asked to sign off on the kill. But Sam finds more questions than answers, and his investigation leads him down dark paths no one else is willing to enter.

Cary also wrote “Lost in the Wild,” “Gunflint Burning” and” “Wolf Kill”.

On Sunday, Printmaker and author Betsy Bowen will give a presentation at Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center from 2-3 p.m.  Bowen has lived on the North Shore since the early ‘60s. Glimpses of her family’s back-to-the-land life show up in her book Antler, Bear, Canoe, a Northwoods picture book.

Many other books that she has illustrated have followed, celebrating our connection to the natural world. Bowen will show her process of illustrating picture books, and talk about what it’s like to make a story appear on a page visually “pictures make the words better, and words make the pictures better,” she says. All presentations are family-friendly and free to the public. Donations are always appreciated.

On Wednesday, July 20, head up the Gunflint Trail for the annual Gunflint Tail Canoe Races, which will begin at Gunflint Lodge at 4 pm on Wednesday, July 20. The event features a wide variety of canoe races for every age,, arts and crafts, and food vendors.   Free.  All invited. Click here for more information.

Here’s a video of some of what you’ll see and do at the canoe races.

Exhibits:

“Through Our Hands VI,”a gallery exhibition featuring works by members of the Northwoods Fiber Guild is currently on view at the Johnson Heritage Post. The show runs through July 17. Look for everything from quilting to felting, weaving and more–this collection features more than 20 fiber artists working in a variety of mediums and styles. The exhibition runs alongside the gallery’s Permanent Collection and abundant gift shop.

Here are a few of the pieces you will see in the show.

Also, The Grand Marais Art Colony celebrates its 75th anniversary this year featuring a number of activities and events. It has also organized a multi-media exhibit at Studio 21. The exhibition is a celebration of the Grand Marais Art Colony’s place within the Great Lakes region and highlights our various program areas. Seven artists from around the region have been invited to submit five pieces for this summer-long exhibition. The exhibition will be open at Studio 21 Thursdays – Saturdays, 10 am – 4 pm. Studio 21 is located at 21 West Highway 61 in Grand Marais.

Invited Artists include: Mary Brodbeck, Printmaking, Keweenaw Peninsula and Kalamazoo, Michigan; Magdolene Dykstra, Mark Making, St. Catharines, Ontario; Jonathan Herrera Soto, Residencies (Print) | Minneapolis and Chicago; Anthony Ingrisano, Painting, Cleveland, Ohio; Mika Laidlaw, Ceramics, Mankato; Danny Saathoff, Sculpture, Bayfield, Wis., and Edina; Leslie Smith, Mixed Media, Madison, Wis.

Grand Portage National Monument’s Heritage Center presents the George Morrison Exhibit “Connections.”

For this exhibit, the National Park Service has gathered works by the artist in their collection, along with works and artifacts from private collections, to curate the exhibition. The show will run through September 2022.

Tettegouche State Park is again exhibiting art in the Great Hall. This month’s exhibit features work by Vincent DeZutti. The exhibit continues through the end of July.

Also, Split Rock Lighthouse is exhibiting work by local and regional photographers this summer to highlight the outstanding images they have been capturing of this iconic place as well as other lighthouses in the region. This month, photographer Jim Schnortz is exhibiting his work. His exhibit continues through the end of July.

In Duluth, Duluth Art Institute has a number of new exhibits for the summer season, including Christopher E. Harrison’s “Contemporary Visions.”  This exhibit of contemporary paintings continues through September in the Steffel Gallery. 

In Thunder Bay, The Thunder Bay Art Gallery has a number of new exhibits this summer too, including a photographic exhibit entitled: “I, Voyageur: In Search of Frances Anne Hopkins.”

In the summer of 2018, Toronto photographer Naomi Harris embarked on a 70-day canoe trip, accompanied by a guide, and dressed in 19th century period costume.  Harris was inspired to retrace the fur trade route taken by British painter Frances Anne Hopkins (1838 – 1919), that she traveled with her husband, a high-ranking official with the Hudson’s Bay Company, by voyageur canoe.  Hopkins travelled on three excursions during the 1860s and documented her experiences in sketches and paintings. Her works have become an iconic record of the voyageur era.

 The exhibit continues through September.

Upcoming:

The North Shore Music Association will present From Buenos Aires to the Andes: A Musical Journey Through Argentina, featuring multilingual vocalist/songwriter Eleanor Dubinsky and Argentine guitarist/composer Dario Acosta Teich on Saturday, July 23rd at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.

They will also hold an outreach event at the Grand Marais Art Colony on July 23rd. Stay tuned for details.

Minnesota Pottery Festival in Hutchinson July 30-31 is the 20th anniversary of this pottery festival which brings together potters from around the state and beyond. The festival features lots of pottery, demonstrations, kids activities and more. Click here for more details.

Library Friends of Cook County Will hold a Pop Up Used Book Sale on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 5-6, from 10 am to 4 pm at Oddz & Endz, 2066 West Highway 61. All proceeds from the sale will go to benefit area libraries and reading programs. Library Friends of Cook County has partnered with Oddz & Endz to create a used book room at the store with titles in every genre—from popular novels and local lore to cookbooks, children’s titles and more.

If you would like to donate books for the sale, bring your items to the Oddz & Endz donation door during open hours: Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 am to 4 pm. Hardcover and paperback books in good to excellent condition will be accepted in all genres. But please, no encyclopedias or textbooks For more information about book collection days or the “Pop Up” sale, contact Jan at Library.Friends.CC.MN@gmail.com!

Online Findings:

A Pueblo man holds one of the pots that is featured in an online exhibit. This exhibit of Pueblo pottery includes a video of the artists talking about their work. Click here to see the video and learn more.

Artists at Work:

And this: The Art of the Interview –A Boundary Waters Podcast by Matthew Baxley is about using cell phones and other devices in the Boundary Waters. Listen here.

Online Music:

LIVE AT WTIP – Ginger Bones – “Bay Leaves” from WTIP North Shore Radio on Vimeo.

Live Music:

Friday, July 15;

• The Evening Stars, Birch Terrace, 5-8 pm
• Pete Kavanaugh, Bluefin Grille, 7-9 pm
• Lutsong Music Festival, various stages, Lutsen
  • Robin Hood Was Right, Moguls Stage, 4-4:45 pm
  • Bump Blomberg, Moguls Stage, 5-5:45 pm
  • Turn Turn Turn, Caribou Tent Stage, 6-6:45 pm
  • Chris Castino & Chicken Wire Empire, North Shore Winery Stage, 7:30-8:45 pm
  • Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull, 9-11 pm

Saturday, July 16:

• Brothers in Arms, Birch Terrace, 4-7 pm
• Bonfire Music, Bluefin Grille, 5-8 pm
• Roxann Berglund, Cascade Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
• Lutsong Music Festival, various stages, Lutsen
  • Gordon Thorne, guitar talk and demo, 11-12pm
  • Eli Bentley, Caribou Tent Stage, 1-1:45 pm
  • Mary Bue, Caribou Tent Stage, 2-2:45 pm
  • Gordon Thorne, Moguls Stage, 3-3:45 pm
  • Dusty Heart, Caribou Tent Stage, 4-4:45 pm
  • Fire Good, Caribou Tent Stage, 5-5:45 pm
  • Sarah Morris, Caribou Tent Stage, 6-6:45 pm
  • Erik Koskinen Band, North Shore Winery Stage, 7:30-8:45
  • Caribou Campfire Guitar Pull, 9-11 pm

Sunday, July 17:

• Don Bauer, Music in the Park, 12 to 1:30 pm
• Lutsong Music Festival, various stages
  • Teague Alexy, Caribou Stage, 10-11 am
  • Black River Revue, Caribou Stage, 1:30-1 pm
  • North Shore Winery Weekend Wine Down, 3-6 pm
• Bug Lite, Music by the Lake, Skyport Lodge, 4 pm

Monday, July 18:

• Michelle Miller, Music in the Park, 12- 1:30 pm
• Timmy Haus, Bluefin Grille, 7-9 pm

Tuesday, July 19:

• Eric Frost, Locals Night at the Winery, North Shore Winery, 5-7 pm
• Lake Superior Bonfire Music, Bluefin Bay,  5-8 pm

Wednesday, July 20:

• Pat Eliasen, Skyport Lodge, 5-8 pm
• Kevin Buck, Bluefin Grille, 7 pm

Photographs: 

 We found many great photographs this week. Here is a selection:

WILDLIFE

Sometimes it’s best to avoid the mirror when you first wake up

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOT SO WILD

 WANTS TO BE WILD

PEOPLESCAPES

PLANTSCAPES

 

 

 

 

LANDSCAPES & CLOUDSCAPES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NORTHERN LIGHTS

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!!

Note: Additional Support and Contributors: Bill Youmans is supporting the blog team in a variety of ways including seeking financial support.  Painter Paula Gustafson, will be assisting in gathering art content in the future.

Thank you to everyone who has donated to NorthShore ArtScene! If you’d like to make a donation, click on the icon below. You can also choose to be a sustainer with a small donation each month. Thank you!