A Season of Change

by Joan Farnam on November 10, 2022

Artist Point sunset tonight by Debbie Benedict.

Greetings from the North Shore, where sunset skies have been spectacular. Fuschias, oranges, pinks, yellows, purples and blues have made us stop in our tracks.

“It’s a gift to see these,” said Dave Seaton, c0-owner of Hungry Jack Outfitters. “It’s amazing to think that these have been happening for millions and billions of years, and we just happen to be seeing them this one time.”

What’s also amazing is what we’ll be able to see and do for the next two weekends.

This weekend, not only will we be able to enjoy an exhibit of outstanding work by young North Shore Folk School artisans, but we’ll also be able to attend two different plays: A murder mystery dinner theatre and a musical.

Next weekend, it’s another one for the record books:

First, the Empty Bowls fundraiser, which is always a great community gathering that raises thousands of dollars every year to help feed the hungry in Cook County, will be held at St. John’s Catholic Church on Thursday, Nov. 17. That’s also the day that Winterer’s Gathering begins at North House Folk School bringing in people from all over the region, if not the country, to celebrate winter.

Here’s what we found:

Living with Craft, a group exhibition presented by North House Folk School and curated by Tib Shaw, opens at Johnson Heritage Post on Nov. 11.

Living with craft, and Xzibit featuring 9 artisans at North House folk school, opens with the reception at the Johnson Heritage Post from 5 to 7 PM on Friday, November 11.the North House folk school artisan development program

Living with Craft, an exhibition featuring work by nine North House Folk School artisans, opens at the Johnson Heritage Post with a reception from 5 to 7 pm on Friday, Nov. 11.

The exhibit features the work of nine fellows in North House Folk School’s Artisan Development Program, an intensive residency during which artists are literally ‘living with craft’ for two years.

Participants are provided with studio space, housing, and funding to seek mentorship, learn new techniques, develop teaching skills, and cultivate their craft practice—all in pursuit of creating a sustainable life and career as a maker.

The artisans in this exhibition include Laura Brown, Emily Derke, Marybeth Garmoe, Elise Kyllo, Mike Loeffler, Christine Novotny, Angela Robins, Josh Tolkan, and Nate White.

Along with displaying their bodies of work, each maker in the exhibition was offered a simple wooden IKEA chair and an open invitation to alter, improve, or transform it through their chosen craft.

The artisans’ work will also be exhibited at the American Association of Woodturners Gallery of Wood Art in St. Paul from Jan. 18 through Feb. 15.

The opening reception for the exhibit is from 5-7 on Friday, Nov. 11. Refreshments will be served. All welcome.

Also this weekend, live theatre comes to the Lutsen area with a Mystery Dinner Theater and a musical on Friday and Saturday.

The Mystery Café will perform a comedy who-dunnit dinner theatre on Friday at the Cliff Dweller on Lake Superior and at Papa Charlie’s on Saturday night.

The Mystery Café, a comedy who done it dinner theater, will be held this weekend. Not HELL will be at HELL will be

The Mystery Café, a comedy , will be held this weekend.

Mystery Café is the Twin Cities’ longest-running interactive comedy dinner theater, founded in 1989. Owner Brian Kelly and his staff write and craft their own original shows and employ some of the best interactive comedians in town. The shows are fast-paced comedies first and foremost, but there is also a mystery to solve as well. For performance times and tickets, click here.

Also on Friday and Saturday, the world premiere of “Glensheen– The ‘Cabaret!,” will be performed on-stage at Papa Charlie’s.

Glensheen– The Cabaret! will be performed Papa Charlie’s on Friday and Saturday.

“Glensheen – The Cabaret!” is an adaptation of the St. Paul History Theater musical “Glensheen – The Musical” a blockbuster hit about the 1977 Congdon family tragedy.

Four of the original “Glensheen – The Musical” leads Jen Maren, Dane Stauffer, Sandra Struthers and Randy Schmeling, along with music director George Maurer will enact an intimate concert presentation of the smash-hit musical by Jeffrey Hatcher and Chan Poling.

And an a la carte dinner will be available prior to the performance. For more information click here.

Next week, the Empty Bowls fundraiser will be held at St. John’s Catholic Church on Thursday, Nov. 17. This is always a fun soup and bread dinner to raise money to support organizations that feed the hungry in Cook County.

There are two seatings: Lunch from 11 am to 1 pm and Dinner from 5-7 p pm.

The Empty Bowls fundraiser is on Thursday, Nov. 17, at St. John’s Catholic Church.

Look for special bowls crafted by potters at the Grand Marais Art Colony, a baked goods table, and more at this event.

Funds from last year’s Empty Bowls event were distributed to Birch Grove Community School, Cook County Food Shelf, Cook County Public Health and Human Services, Cook County Ruby’s Pantry, Cook County Schools, Cook County Youth Agency Coalition, Cooperation Station Daycare, Great Expectations School Lunch Program, Oshki Ogimaag Charter School, and the Violence Prevention Center.

To donate, visit www.emptybowlscookcounty.org. Alternatively, send checks payable to “Empty Bowls Cook County” to Empty Bowls, P.O. Box 294, Grand Marais, MN 55604.

Winterer’s Gathering, one of the outstanding events put on by North House Folk School each year will be held from Nov. 17-20.

Celebrate the crafts, customs, landscape, history and stories of winter travel and traditional lifeways in the North. Featuring winter-centric coursework, a winter tent camp, a gear swap, film festival, and speakers, this is a classic event to welcome the season of white.

Winterer’s Gathering at North House Folk School will be held Nov. 17-20 this year.

Among the favorites:

Arctic Film Festival
On-campus courses
Chili Feed
Winter gear & ski sale
Presentations and how–to-dos.

Every year, Winterer’s Gathering features a special guest speaker, and this year, Anton Treuer, a Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University and author of 18 books, will be here. His books include “Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask, ” Warrior Nation,” and his latest, “The Cultural Toolbox: Traditional Ojibwe Living in the Modern World.”

Anton Treurer is the featured speaker at Winterer's Gathering this year. He will also be speaking at Cook :coujty Higher :education and at Grand Portage while he is here.

Anton Treuer is the featured speaker at Winterer’s Gathering this year. He will also be speaking at Cook County Higher Education and at Grand Portage while he is here.

Treuer will be giving a number of different presentations while he is in Cook County.

Treuer’s presentations on Saturday, Nov. 19, include:

Cook County Higher Education, “Healing Our Communities: An Indigenous Perspective,” 9 am – 10 am.
Grand Portage National Monument, “Environmental Stewardship and the Power of Giving,” noon to 1 pm
North House Folk School, “Ojibwe Winter Stories,” 7:30pm.

All the presentations are free and open to the public.

And last, but not least, the band, Eira, will be performing at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7:30 pm on Saturday, Nov. 19.

EIRE performs at the Arrowhead Center for the arts on Saturday, Nov.17.

EIRE performs at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Saturday, Nov.19

Exhibits:

The Thunder Bay Art Gallery has a number of ongoing exhibits, including a series of photographs of young Native artists posing with a red chair.

The Red Chair Sessions, Nadya Kwandibens, Thunder Bay Art Gallery

Artists at Work:

Textures by Mary Beams.

Magical creations, Clay, by Terry Lord Lewis. She is one of the artists that will be exhibiting at the Hovland holiday Sale Nov. 26.

Magical creations, clay, by Terry Lord Lewis. She is one of the artists that will be exhibiting at the Hovland holiday sale on Nov. 26.

Adam Swanson and his Horned Grebe painting.

Santa Fe Fruit by Betsy Bowen.

Only one grove of mid ground saplings and a couple of tweaks to go by Laura Fryckman

Only one grove of mid-ground saplings and a couple of tweaks to go by Laura Frykman.

Online Findings:

Here is the video of the Radio Waves Music Festival 2022.

Radio Waves 2022.mp4 from WTIP North Shore Community Radio on Vimeo.\\

And here’s another longer video. It’s about the desert blues band, Tinariwen and tells the story of this Emmy award-winning band and documents its connection to the land, the Sahara Desert. It concludes with two great songs. The title of the video is “Aman Iman, Water is Life.”