Off the SHT ( Superior Hiking Trail) by Paula Gustafson.
Greetings from the North Shore where we welcome the summer season with a few raised eyebrows because the beginning of the summer season isn’t quite what we expected. For example, on May 25, David Johnson reports that the bird bath in his backyard froze overnight.
This is what my bird bath looked like on the morning of May 25 by David Johnson.
Granted, not everybody in the county had frozen puddles last week (Thank you, Lake Superior.), but still…
The good news is that we do have marsh marigolds blooming all over in the woods:
Lots of gold on the Gunflint Trail by Nancy Seaton.
And there are kayakers on the Big Lake:
A Drive-By by Lin Salisbury.
And bears are out and about:
Bear Season by Dustin LaVigne.
And, the Summer Solstice is coming up in a few weeks, too, and puppet-making workshops have already started at the Community Center every day until June 14.
Puppet-making workshops will be held every day through June 14 at the Community Center from 10 am to noon and 4 pm to 7 pm. Everyone is welcome. Free. See below for more information.
That’s all good news, and we’re happy to report it.
Meanwhile, we begin the week with Jeff Hirst, an encaustic and solar plate artist who will be the featured Instagram Takeover Artist for the Grand Marais Art Colony.
A solar plate image by Jeff Hirst. He is the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Instagram Takeover Artist this week.
Hirst is a Chicago-based artist who has been teaching encaustic and printmaking classes since 1989. He has taught throughout North America and Ireland and has work in many private and public collections. He will be teaching a class at the Art Colony this summer. To see his posts on Instagram, click here.
Thursday is Art Night at Joy and Company and this week, participants will explore making mandala rocks.
Making mandala rocks is the topic for Art Night at Joy and Company this Thursday from 4-6 pm.
Participants can learn the tricks to making these little beauties. They are so pretty! Thursday night activities and art demonstrations are from 4-6 pm. (Free … with a suggested donation.) All invited.
Also on Thursday night, landscape painter Paula Gustafson will give an Artist Talk at Studio 21 starting at 5 pm. Her presentation is entitled: “Chasing the Light: Trusting What You See.”
Cascade off the Grade, oi, by Paula Gustafson She will give an Artist Talk at Studio 21 at 5 pm June 1.
Gustafson will talk about her career as a designer and painter and the influences that molded her artistic life. The event is free and open to the public.
Friday is National Donut Day, and the World’s Best Donuts will celebrate that fact by launching a fun book about the famous donut shop called “The Donut Lady & The World’s Best Pet Chicken.”
The World’s Best Donuts will hold a book launch at the shop starting at 11 am Friday. The book is a family project and is called: “The Donut Lady & The World’s Best Pet Chicken.” Pictured, from left, are Dee Brazzell and Kalli Hawkins. Everyone is invited.
The whole family will be available for book signings, including the 5th generation, who helped illustrate the donuts in the book. There will be fun donut coloring sheets for kids, prize giveaways, and much more, and, of course, lots of fresh donuts will be available. The event starts at 11 am. Open to all.
Also on Friday, three artists inspired by nature, connection, and life come together to present an exhibit entitled: “Beauty Is Everywhere” at the Johnson Heritage Post. Rosemary Hultman, Jennifer Scammahorn and Cynthia Starkweather-Nelson will show a variety of different techniques, perspectives, and passions in a variety of media in this exhibit.
“Beauty Is Everywhere” opens at the Johnson Heritage Post with the reception from 5 to 7 pm on Friday.
The opening reception is from 5-7 pm Friday. The exhibit continues through June 25.
Also on Friday, Lynette Reini-Grandell, author of “Wild Things: A Trans-Glam-Punk-Rock Love Story” will present an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books at 6 pm.
Author Lynette Reini-Grandell will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books at 6 pm Friday.
The talk is a Cook County Pride Month Special Event. All welcome.
North House Folk School’s Northern Landscapes Festival will be held June 2-4 featuring a wide range of workshops, presentations, and classes. Discovering the birds, wildflowers, insects, and more of this dynamic and rich northern landscape is the focus of this festival, with special emphasis on water.
The Northern Landscapes Festival, put on by North House Folk School, is June 2-4.
Public events will be held on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, June 2, at 7 pm in the Blue Building on campus, Talon Stammen will give a presentation entitled: “Beaver Crafted Wetlands: Amphibian and Invertebrate Communities in the Boreal Forest.” Talon will share his findings and his explorations of the Kabetogama Peninsula over a four-year period. The presentation is free.
On Saturday at 7 pm in the Blue Building, Minnesota DNR’s Lake Superior Fisheries Supervisor Cory Goldsworthy will highlight the history of fish, fishing, and fisheries management in Lake Superior and how the Big Lake has been impacted through time by the absence of fishery regulations, changes to habitat, invasive species, and climate change. This presentation is also free.
To find out more about the festival, sign up for classes and more, click here.
The Cook County Market will be held in the parking lot of the Senior Center, The Hub, from 10 am to 2 pm Saturday.
The Cook County Market is held in the parking lot of the Senior Center (The Hub) from 10 am to 2 pm Saturdays, featuring all local artisans and artists.
The Market features all local artists and artisans offering everything from pottery, fiber art, hand-made balms, Lake Superior stones, homemade cookies, jewelry, rock art, paintings, and more. There is also live music. Open to all.
On Saturday night, Drury Lane Books will host a Full Moon Rainbow Reading Bonfire to help kick off Cook County Pride Month. It starts at 5:30 pm on Saturday and will be an LGBTQ Literary Slam.
Drury Lane Books will hold a Full Moon Rainbow Reading by the bonfire starting at 5:30 pm Saturday.
Participants are invited to bring a favorite book passage, literary monologue, or poem written by an LGBTQ writer or artist to read by the bonfire. You are also welcome to read a passage from an original song, poem, or story that you wrote. Bring homemade mead, cider, and cookies to share, or just a good story to tell. Very special musical guests TBA. Free! Tourists, travelers, community members, and friends are all welcome.
Exhibits:
The Grand Marais Art Colony’s summer exhibition, “Air Openness,” opened at Studio 21 and will be on view all summer.
Walter Early is one of the artists exhibiting at the summer exhibition for the Grand Marais Art Colony at Studio 21
“Now That Summer Has Ended” is a multifaceted exhibit on the second-floor balcony at the Grand Portage National Monument Heritage Center currently on view.
The exhibit offers the public information about the ways people spent their winter at the time of the fur trade – work, survival, and even some leisure activities, during the harsh, dark, northern season.
“Now That Summer Has Ended,” an exhibit of winter life in Grand Portage during the Fur Trade Days, is on view through October at the Heritage Center.
The exhibit is open during Heritage Center hours, 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Free and open to the public.
There are a number of exhibits at the Duluth Art Institute, including the 2023 Member Show in the Great Hall at the Depot. Keren Kroul is showing her work in the Morrison Gallery there.
Artist Keren Kroul is exhibiting in the Morrison Gallery of the Duluth Art Institute through Sept. 12.
Upcoming:
David Feinberg will give an Artist Talk at Studio 21 entitled “Presence in Visual Art.”
David Feinberg will give an Artist Talk at Studio 21 June 14.
He will talk about his career as an artist and his reflections on the concept of “Presence” as an important ingredient in a piece of artwork. The talk will be at 12:15 pm on June 14. The presentation is open to all. Free.
The North Shore Music Association will feature Sara Thomsen & Paula Pedersen in concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on June 24 as part of the Cook County Pride Month celebration.
Paula Pedersen left, and Sara Thomsen will be at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on June 24.
The concert starts at 7 pm on June 24, at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. Tickets are on sale now at northshoremusicassociation.com and will also be available at the door starting at 6 pm. The cost is $20 for general admission, and all ages are welcome. Stay tuned.
And, the first arts festival in the county this season: The Hovland Arts Festival.
The Hovland Arts Festival is July 1-2 at the Hovland Town Hall featuring a wide variety of art, music and more.
Opportunities:
The Summer Solstice Puppet-making workshops have begun.
Summer Solstice Pageant Puppet Workshops have started. Everyone is invited to stop by the Cook County Community Center Arena and make a puppet or two.
Help create life-sized puppets and a world of wonder during these workshops in preparation for the annual Summer Solstice Pageant that will take place at North House Folk School on June 17 at 8 pm.
Workshops are supervised and guided by experienced makers and artists. Drop in for two hours or come every day for two weeks. All ages, all abilities, all welcome!
The workshops are from 10 am to noon and from 4-7 pm daily through June 14. (Children 10 or younger must be accompanied by an adult.) Free and open to all.
Design a sidewalk mosaic for the Johnson Heritage Post
The Johnson Heritage Post has put out a call for artists to design a mosaic for the front plaza sidewalk.
The Johnson Heritage Post seeks an artist or collaborative team to thoughtfully design and install a sidewalk mosaic for the main plaza entrance of the JHP Art Gallery. The deadline to submit an application is June 30. For more information and an application form, click here.
The funding for this project was provided by the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation.
Artists At Work:
New artwork by Rachel Rae Klesser.
Superior Sunrise by Charlotte Durie is currently at Betsy Bowen’s Studio.
Bead art by Jo Wood. She will be at the Hovland Arts Festival July 1-2.
A forest bath by Mary Beams.
“Melting,” oil, by Kathy Fox Weinberg, is from the series “Extinction: You Can Go There, But You Can’t Come Back.” It is currently on view at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wis. It is part of the North Shore Artist League’s exhibit there.
A wood-fire potter’s dream. Photo by Sungho Lee, taken in South Korea.
Jack’s Balls, acrylic, by Jan Attridge.
Pushing Through, oil, by Neil Sherman.
Betsy Bowen has a new 2024 calendar.
Online Findings:
Nibi Chronicles: Restoring what was lost in translation, one place name at a time
Staci Drouillard discusses place names in Nibi Chronicles, her column for Great Lakes Now.
“Nibi Chronicles,” a monthly Great Lakes Now feature, is written by Staci Lola Drouillard. “Nibi” is a word for water in Ojibwe, and these features explore the intersection of indigenous history and culture in the modern-day Great Lakes region. Read it here.
Research shows that seagulls eat what they see us eat
Here’s the story from the Miami Herald about gulls’ food preferences. Photo of an adult Herring Gull, courtesy of the Door County Pulse.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, June 1:
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- Jim Miller, Cascade Restaurant and Pub, 6-8 pm
Friday, June 2:
- The Thirsty River, Up Yonder, 8:30-11:59 pm
Saturday, June 3:
- Tom Knutson, Senior Center Parking Lot, 10 am
- The Thirsty River, Up Yonder, 8:30-11:59 pm
Sunday, June 4:
- Billy Johnson, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Open Mic Hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 5-8 pm
Tuesday, June 6:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
Thursday, June 8:
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- MorningBird, Cascade Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
Friday, June 9:
- Michele Miller, Harbor Park, 3:30-6:30 pm
Saturday, June 10:
- Zahir Orest, Senior Center Parking Lot, 10am
- Pride DJ Dance After-Party, Up Yonder, 8:30-11 pm
Sunday, June 11:
- Briand Morrison, Mogul’s Grille & Tap Room, 10-12 pm
- MorningBird, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Jim McGowan, Mogul’s Grille & Tap Room, 4-6 pm
- Open Mic Hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 5-8 pm
Photographs:
Here’s the selection of photos we found this week.
Wildlife:
A Red-Tail Hawk Visits the Northwoods by Chuck Olsen.
Indigo Buntings make a quick stop in Thomas Spence’s yard every year.
My first moose sighting of the year by Chuck Olsen.
Wood Ducks by Paul Sundberg.
Good morning from here! Photo by Danielle Fortin.
Potpourri:
A Feast of Northern Lights by Michael Jones, an instructor at North House Folk School.
Rendezvous with the Viking Octantis, May 30 by Jeffrey Doty.
Light Traffic by Cathy Quinn.
A new exhibit at Split Rock Lighthouse by Christian Dalbec.
Duluth History – Incline Pavilion 1891-1901 was a gathering place as well as a station to catch a ride up the hill. It burned in 1901. Incline service continued until 1939.
Landscapes, Skyscapes, Flowerscapes and Waterscapes:
Serene Days on Hungry Jack Lake by Nancy Seaton.
The Milky Way over Lake Superior by Christian Dalbec.
Tulips to Share by Tom Kasper.
Ready for Summer by Marie Zhuikov.
Magenta tulips blooming by Sue Weber.
Wood Duck Pond by Paul Sundberg.
Sunset from the Dock by Michael Furtman.
Ferns celebrate by Staci Lola Drouillard.
Stoney Point Sunrise by John Gregor.
And last, but not least, an image for Early Summer.
Ready for the first harvest, Hungry Jack Outfitters.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
North Shore Art Scene is a proud service brought to you by community volunteers invested in the success of the arts. The volunteers include Joan Farnam, content acquisition and placement; Jeremy Lopez, live music schedules, proofreading, and tech support; Yvonne Mills, fact-checking and proofreading; Kari Carter, caption set-up and M Baxley, videos & art tips.
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