Beauty at Seagull Lake by Cathy Quinn.
Greetings from the North Shore, where we’re really enjoying the sun but are inundated by mosquitoes and black flies. They are really overwhelming this year, and some are speculating that the lack of rain might be the reason for their population explosion. Whatever the reason, be prepared when you go outside, because summer has arrived in all its Northern Minnesota glory. For more info on outdoor adventures planned this summer, click here. Enjoy!
There’s a busy weekend ahead, too. Look for art exhibits, lots of live music, the Boundary Waters Expo, the Cook County Market, Cook County Pride events, and celebrations, and the opening of the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center, plus the International Brick Collectors Association’s Summer Swap in Grand Marais.
And, of course, there are opportunities to make your own art. Joy and Company will hold its weekly Art Night at the shop from 4-6 pm Thursday.
Joy & Co will hold Art Night from 4-6 pm on Thursday.
Each week, Art Night focuses on different media with demonstrations and encouragement to participants to try their hand at the techniques. The event is free, with a suggested donation. All invited.
Also on Thursday night, Northern Gardening, WTIP Community Radio’s monthly show about gardening in Cook County, will feature in-depth conversations about how to raise chickens here.
The Chicken Show, or how to raise chickens in Cook County, is the topic of the Northern Gardening show this week. It will be aired on WTIP radio at 7 pm Thrusday, June 8 Photo by Olya Wright.
The Chicken Show will air from 7-8 pm. Listen to it here:
And every day through June 14, there are Puppet-Making Workshops in the Cook County Community Center Arena in preparation for the Summer Solstice Pageant on June 17 at North House Folk School.
Daily puppet-making workshops continue at the Community Center through June 14. The Summer Solstice Pageant is June 17.
One of the many masks that are being made for the Summer Solstice Pageant. What will the story be this year?
The workshops are open to all ages and are free. They are held from 10 am to noon and from 4-7 pm daily.
This is Pride Month throughout the country and the Cook County Pride Committee has organized a number of events for June. On Friday, June 9, the premiere of “Rainbows in the Wilderness,” a 30-minute documentary about LGBTQ+ youth experiencing the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness for the first time will be screened at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
A short documentary, “Rainbows in the Wilderness,” will be screened for the first time at the ACA at 6 pm Friday.
The film was produced by Matthew Baxley of Bear Witness Media. Here is their statement about the film:
“Rural America has long been a space where Queer folks can anticipate danger and discrimination. Our nation’s wilderness areas involve the same hazards. That’s why Ely Outfitting Company’s Jason Zabokrtsky decided to guide a paddle trip exclusively for Queer identifying participants.
“This short documentary follows a group of nine LGBTQ+ strangers into the far northern wilderness in search of adventure, safety, and belonging. Through painful confrontations with the landscape and self-doubt, each individual on this journey encounters beauty and belonging in the Boundary Waters.”
The film will be screened at the ACAat 6 pm. Free.
Also that night, a Time Capsule film by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History entitled “Beyond Stonewall, will be screened.
Beyond Stonewall, a Smithsonian Time Capsule film will be screened at the ACA on Friday.
Produced by Highland Pictures, the film moves beyond the Stonewall riots of 1969, often celebrated as the birth of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, to trace the struggles and triumphs of modern gay life.
The screenings are open to all. Free.
On Saturday, the Cook County Market will be held in the parking lot of the Senior Center (The Hub) from 10 am to 2 pm.
The Cook County Market is held in the parking lot of the Senior Center (The Hub) from 10 am to 2 pm on Saturdays.
The Market features work by local artists and artisans and includes everything from pottery, paintings, jewelry, semi-precious Lake Superior stones, weaving, woodwork, and more. There is also live music and homemade cookies. Open to all.
The Grand Marais Art Colony is hosting an Open Studio and conversation with 2023 juried artists-in-residence Elizabeth Claire Rose and Kimberly Wetzel from 10:30 am until noon at Studio 21.
Artists Elizabeth Rose and Kimberly Wetzel, who are exhibiting in the Air-Openness show at Studio 21, will hold an open studio and talk about their work on Saturday.
The 2023 Juried Residency at the Grand Marais Art Colony runs May 29 – June 10, culminating with this open studio, featuring printmaking works by Elizabeth and multimedia works on paper by Kimberly. The public is invited.
Saturday is also Cook County Pride Day with a variety of family-friendly activities planned throughout the day, all in support of the LGBTQ+ community in Cook County and Grand Portage.
Saturday is Cook County Pride Day.
Here is the schedule of Pride events on Saturday. The public is invited.
- 9 am: Free yoga with Carly Puch at Harbor Park
- 10 am-12 pm: Arts, Crafts, and Sign-Making at the HUB
- 12-1 pm: Drag Queen Story Hour at the HUB
- 1:30-2:30 pm: Out Front MN Presentation at the HUB
- 3-5 pm: Event Set-Up Harbor Park – Volunteers Welcome
- 5-6:30 pm: Rally and March Harbor Park
- 6:30-7:30 pm: Free Dinner and Social Hour at Harbor Park
- 8:30-11 pm: DJ Dance After-Party at Up Yonder
In case of poor weather, the Harbor Park activities will be held at the Cook County YMCA.
For a list of all the Pride events this month, click here.
The list of interesting and fun things to do this weekend continues:
The Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center opens for the season at 10 am on Saturday.
The Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center opens on Saturday.
Chik-Wauk features a variety of exhibits as well as nature trails for visitors to explore. It is open daily during the summer. To find out more, click here.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Boundary Waters Expo will be held at Bearskin Lodge. The Expo is a celebration of canoeing, camping, and wilderness travel.
The Boundary Waters Expo will be held at Bearskin Lodge. The event is June 10-11.
These Loon Paddles painted by Nancy Seaton will be at the Boundary Waters Expo this weekend.
The event is a family-friendly two-day event featuring speakers, vendors, and activities for everyone. The event features demos of equipment and gear, presentations by experts, food and more. Open to all. Free.
Also on Saturday, the International Brick Collectors Association will have a Brick Swap at the Cook County Rec Park Pavilion.
The International Brick Collectors Association will have its Summer Brick Swap starting at 9 am Saturday in the Rec Park.
The public is invited to watch this event. The Swap starts at 9 am.
Tettegouche State Park will hold its first Summer concert this Saturday, June 10, featuring Jason Schooler Band. They will perform from 7 to 8:30 pm in the outdoor amphitheater or inside the visitor center if it rains. The concert is free and they will also serve free s’mores at the outdoor fireplace, starting at 6:30 pm.
Here’s an example of the music they play:
Exhibits:
The Johnson Heritage Post exhibit, “Beauty is Everywhere” continues through June 25.
Beauty Is Everywhere opened at the Johnson Heritage Post. It continues through June 25.
Rosemary Hultman, Jennifer Scammahorn and Cynthia Starkweather-Nelson show a variety of different techniques, perspectives, and passions in a variety of media in this exhibit. The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday through Sunday. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The Grand Marais Art Colony‘s summer exhibition, Air – Openness is at Studio 21.
The Grand Marais Art Colony’s Summer Exhibition, Air – Openness, is currently on view at Studio 21.
The public is invited to stop in to see how AIR and OPENNESS can be expressed through art. Free. Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 3 pm Wednesday through Saturday.
The Duluth Art Institute‘s Annual Member Show continues in the Great Hall at the Depot featuring work by more than 100 member artists from the region.
Nicholas Needs A Moment, charcoal and acrylic, by Shawna Gilmore is one of the pieces in the Annual Member Show at the Duluth Art Institute. She won the People’s Choice Award.
The exhibit continues through June 18. Free and open to the public.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is exhibiting 17 works from its Permanent Collection by artist Blake Debassige. Debassige was an influential second-generation Woodland artist from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island.
The Wind Spirit, 1976, acrylic on canvas by Blake Debassige
Debassige said that “art was part of what I was … and I set about to learn and use it as another form of speech and communication.” He is known for his muted tones, sinuous lines, and arresting figures that transmit a sense of cosmic order, interdependence, and purpose. The exhibit continues through June 18
Upcoming:
North House Folk School’s Wooden Boat Show will be June 16-18.
North House Folk School’s Wooden Boat Show is June 16-18.
This year’s event features craft demonstrations, community food events, speakers, kids activities and of course, wooden boats as North House celebrates the Summer Solstice. In 2023, the event includes an extra special birthday celebration with friends from Sätergläntan Institute for Slöjd and Handcraft Community as they celebrate 100 years of handcraft education. A delegation of Swedish craft teachers from the school will join us for coursework, demonstrations and naturally, cake.
To find out more about the classes, demos and speakers, click here,
PS: The good ship Hjordis is going electric this year with a brand new electric motor.
The Hjordis is electric this season with a new motor. Reservations for a sail on her can be found here.
Artists At Work:
Morning coffee, watercolor and ink, by Bryan Hansel.
Two Spirit, early self-portrait by Sam Zimmerman.
What’s a good title? By Laura Frykman.
Where will you go? Acrylic, by Rae Klesser.
Studio Action. A recently completed bench by Greg Mueller.
Lom Stave Church, Norway, by Duluth artist Arna Rennan.
Online Findings:
Timber framer, Peter Henrikson, who is currently in France working on the project to restore Notre Dame Cathedral after the devastating fire a few years ago, got a lot of press attention this week.
Peter Henrikson works on a timber for the Notre Dame restoration project in France. Photo by Jeffrey Schaeffer, Associated Press.
Read the story by the Associated Press here.
Here’s the CBS report:
And then click here to read/listen to this outstanding interview by WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins.
Ann Rosenquist, a native of Grand Marais who now lives on a farm near Bayfield, Wis., is one of the competitors on the History Channel’s latest “Alone” series. The first segment airs at 8 pm Thursday. To find out more about Ann, click here.
Ann Rosenquist is one of the contestants in the History Channel’s “Alone” program. The first segment of the show airs at 8 pm Thursday. To find out a little more about Ann and how she has prepared for the competition, click here.
In other news, apparently Minnesota wolves fish, especially in the spring.
Researchers say wolves fish, especially in the spring. Photo courtesy of the Voyageurs Wolf Project. Find out more here.
Online Music:
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Live Music:
Thursday, June 8:
- MorningBird, Cascade Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 7-9 pm
Friday, June 9:
- Michele Miller, Harbor Park, 3:30-6:30 pm
Saturday, June 10:
- Zahir Orest, Senior Center Parking Lot, 10 am
- Jason Schooler Band, Tettegouche State Park, 7 pm
- Pride DJ Dance After-Party, Up Yonder, 8:30-11 pm
- The Southern Express Band, Grand Portage Lodge, 8:30-11:59pm
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
Tuesday, June 13:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 5:30-7:30 pm
Wednesday, June 14:
- Jim Miller, Mogul’s Grille & Tap Room, 10-12 pm
Thursday, June 15:
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- Jim Miller, Cascade Restaurant and Pub, 6-8 pm
Friday, June 16:
- Lutsen Block Party, Live Music in Lutsen, 5-7 pm
- Lost Island Society, Up Yonder, 8:30-11:59 pm
Saturday, June 17:
- Tom Knutson, Senior Center Parking Lot, 10 am
- Lost Island Society, Up Yonder, 8:30-11:59 pm
Sunday, June 18:
- Briand Morrison, Mogul’s Grille & Tap Room, 10-12 pm
- Molly Maher, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- John Gruber, Mogul’s Grille & Tap Room, 4-6 pm
- Open Mic Hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 5-8 pm
Photographs:
Here is a selection from the photographs we found last week:
Wildlife:
Indigo Bunting male (Passerina Cyanea) by Michael Furman.
A Fox Snake in the St Croix River by Tami Meister Ryther.
Snowshoe Hare arrives with white boots by Maryl Skinner.
Time for a little wrestling match by David Johnson.
Flowers:
On today’s hike by Siffy Torkildson.
Waboo’s Crab Apple Tree by Staci Drouillard.
Moonscapes:
Strawberry Moon Rising above the Fog by Chuck Olsen.
Full Strawberry Moon by Maryl Skinner.
Strawberry Moon by Betsy Warren.
Strawberry Full Moon with the Hjordis by Paul Sundberg.
Historyscapes:
Bryan Hansel reports that one of his favorite boulders in Lake Superior has disappeared.
Here are three photos he shot of the spot:
The first, in September 2014:
Boulder in 2014 by Bryan Hansel.
The second, on Valentine’s Day this year:
Boulder on Valentine’s Day 2023 by Bryan Hansel.
The third, taken in June of this year:
Boulder gone, June 4 2023.
A testament to the power of Lake Superior, for sure.
A Peoplescape, Landscapes & Waterscapes:
Springing it on by Andy Keith.
Yosemite National Park: John Muir built a cabin at this spot and lived here for two years, by Anda Mik.
Fog rolling in, Grand Marais by Bill Hansen.
Red Dawn on the Lake Superior shoreline by Katie Mumm.
Out for adventure by Hayes Scriven.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Oh, and by the way, if you enjoyed this week’s issue and learned a few things, please consider donating today to help support NorthShore ArtScene. We appreciate and need your support. Thank You!
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