Art Shows, Murder Mysteries and More This Week

A late fall sunrise in Grand Marais by Jay DeCoux.

Greetings from the North Shore, where we are living in two worlds this week.  Over the hill there’s lots of snow and it’s a winter wonderland. Here by Lake Superior, it’s rainy and foggy, and it feels like late fall where snow tires are not useful. Beauty abounds on both sides of the divide.

First snows, courtesy of the Gunflint Trail Association.

And art-making continues.

First up is an opportunity to learn about charcoal and pencil drawings at Joy and Company during this week’s Art Night.

Drawing with charcoal and pencil is the theme for Art Night this week. Illustration by Rae Klesser,

Some instruction and demos will be featured with an opportunity for participants to experiment, too. The event is held from 4- 6 pm at the shop and is free, with a suggested donation. Open to all.

In Duluth, the Duluth Art Institute will celebrate Art Night Out at the Depot on Thursday.

The Duluth Art Institute will have an Art Night Out on Thursday at the Depot.

Back in Cook County, this is Murder Mystery on the North Shore weekend with lots of opportunities to see performances and dinner theatre events in a number of venues in the county.

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

Members of the original “Glensheen – The Musical” cast will enact an intimate concert presentation of the smash-hit musical by Jeffery Hatcher and Chan Poling at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.

 There will be two opportunities to watch the show:

• Friday, Nov. 10:  7 pm | Buy Tickets
• Saturday, Nov. 11: Noon | Buy Tickets

There are two more opportunities to immerse yourself in a murder mystery story over the weekend with interactive comedy who-dun-it dinner theater performances.

Murder Mystery on the North Shore offers a variety of options for viewers Nov. 10-11, including two who-dun-it dinner theater performances. 

The dinner theater options are offered by two venues: Caribou Highlands and Bluefin Grille.

• Friday, Nov. 10, 5:30 pm at Moguls Grille & Tap Room at Caribou Highlands Lodge
• Saturday, Nov. 11, 5:30 pm at Bluefin Grille at Bluefin Bay

For more details on murder mystery dinners and to get your tickets, see here.

Also on Friday, a ceremony commemorating the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald will be held at Split Rock Lighthouse.

Split Rock Lighthouse will hold special events commemorating the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Nov. 10. (File photo by Nathan Klok.)

A number of events will be held on Friday, including a presentation, live music, and more. The public is invited. The event will also be streamed on the Minnesota Historical Society’s YouTube page here.

The entertainment and fun continues.

On Saturday, local artists and artisans will gather at The Hub for an all-day Holiday Art & Gift Sale.

There will be a holiday art and gift sale at The Hub on Nov. 11 from 10 am to 4 pm.

This is a great opportunity to see what local artists have been doing this year and find some special holiday gifts for others, or yourself.

Artists include Kari Carter Pottery, Wilder Woodshop, TF Goodness, Rachel Rae Fine Art, Dee Clossen Leather, Terry Lord Lewis Ceramics, Linda Newman Candles, Cree Orth Digital Art, Gina Adams Birds on a Cup, Lyssa Iberra (Jewelry), Becky Heller Wool Art, Jeri Person Glass, Lily Wilson Balms and Meadow Adams Photography. The event will be held from 10 am to 4 pm. The public is invited.

On Saturday night, the acclaimed Tesla Quartet will perform at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 pm.

The Tesla Quartet is known the world over for its “superb capacity to find the inner heart of everything they play, regardless of era, style, or technical demand” (The International Review of Music). From cutting-edge contemporary works to established masterpieces, the Tesla Quartet’s emotive and thoughtful interpretations reveal the ensemble’s deep commitment to the craft and to their ever-expanding repertoire. The quartet recognizes the power of their platform to amplify underrepresented voices and to encourage the proliferation of an equitable and just future for society as well as a hospitable climate for posterity.

The concert starts at 7 pm. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for youth 18 and under. Tickets can be purchased at the door or online here.

On Sunday, join the Grand Marais Film Society for its November family-friendly film screening, at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 3 pm.

The Grand Marais Film Society presents a classic family-friendly film at the ACA at 3 pm on Sunday.

This beloved classic features a beautiful princess, a giant, and a dread pirate. Costumes are encouraged. Doors open 30 minutes before the screening, tickets are available at the door or online here. The Grand Marais Film Society is a volunteer film club that screens movies monthly in Grand Marais, MN at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. Tickets are $6 per person, and $20 per family. All invited.

On Wednesday next week, there are two events: Dessert to the Max and Poets against the Blank Page.

Boreal Community Media will host  Dessert to the Max at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts from 4-6 pm. The event is to celebrate Give to the Max Day (which is Nov. 16) and bring awareness to the work Cook County nonprofit organizations do for the community. The guest speaker for this event will be Erik Torch, executive director of the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation. He will speak on the importance of non-profit organizations in Cook County.

Dessert to the Max, a fundraiser for Cook County nonprofits will be held Nov. 15. (File photo.)

Community members can learn more about local nonprofits and make donations at the same time (all while enjoying sweet treats). The public is invited.

Also on Wednesday, Grand Marais Public Library librarian and poet Ryan Leng will lead a workshop on writing poetry entitled Poets Against the Blank Page.

A poetry workshop will be held at the library on Wednesday from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.

In addition to group reading and reaction to other participants’ poetry, the workshop will include the analysis of published poetry, teaching of poetic techniques, and group exercises to develop ideas. Attendees will discuss open-ended questions about poetry, including how to start, how to finish, and how to know whether a poem is good. To get the most out of this workshop, participants should bring drafts of poems, however short or fragmentary, as well as ideas for new poems.

Leng taught English for 10 years to secondary students, including students in both AP English Literature and AP English Language, with success in helping students find their voices not only for writing essays about poetry but also for writing poetry of their own.

The public is invited. Free.

On Thursday, Nov. 16, the fundraiser to help the hungry in Cook County, Empty Bowls, will be held at Up Yonder.

The Empty Bowls fundraiser will be at Up Yonder on Nov. 16.

The event will raise critical funds for the community’s hunger needs. The simple soup and bread get-together will be held from 11 am– 1 pm and from 5-7 pm. All funds raised support the Cook County Food Shelf and other community organizations working to alleviate hunger in Cook County. A Bake Goods Sale will be available as well as Soup-to-go @ $15.00/qt.

Every year the Grand Marais Art Colony works with the local Empty Bowls organization and area potters to produce handmade ceramic bowls for this event, which helps local organizations feed the 12  percent of Cook County residents who go hungry every month.

Donations can be made at www.emptybowlscookcounty.org. Alternatively, send checks payable to “Empty Bowls Cook County” to Empty Bowls, P.O. Box 294, Grand Marais, MN 55604. Empty Bowls Cook County is a 501c3 non-profit and donations to Empty Bowls Cook County are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

This is always a great community event, and everyone is invited. Tickets are $8.

Exhibits:

This is the last weekend to see “Cascade,” a multi-media exhibit by artist Cam Zebrun, which is currently on view at the Johnson Heritage Post.

Aoi Taki, acrylic on wood, by Cam Zebrun, is one of the works at the Johnson Heritage Post.

In this exhibit, Zebrun explores the many facets of The Cascades, including the waterfalls, canyons, rocks, colors, and textures in the water in a series of sculptures. The exhibit continues through Nov.12. The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday through Sunday. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. Free.

Hazel Belvo’s exhibit, “For Love,” opened at the Minnesota Museum of American Art last week.

Hazel Belvo’s Honey Locust Series is currently on view at the Minnesota Museum of American Art.

Radical Stitch, an exhibit of works by contemporary beaders, continues at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Radical Stitch, an exhibit of contemporary beadings, is currently on view at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Beading is one of the defining mediums of contemporary Indigenous art on this continent, and this landmark exhibition brings much-needed critical attention to the breadth and impact of this practice.

One of the pieces in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery‘s exhibition, Radical Stitch.

Radical Stitch looks at the contemporary and transformative context of beading through the aesthetic innovations of artists and the tactile beauty of beads. Beading materials and techniques are rooted in both culturally informed traditions and cultural adaptation, and function as a place of encounter, knowledge transfer, and acts of resistance. Connecting to a tradition of making, exercised over thousands of years, this skill-based practice ties one artist to another, past to present and beyond.

Upcoming:

North House Folk School‘s Winterer’s Gathering & Arctic Film Festival is next weekend, featuring a wide variety of events, presentations, workshops, demonstrations, a dance and, of course, lots of films. Here’s the schedule of events.

The featured speaker this year is Tim Cahill.

Tim Cahill is the featured speaker at Winterer’s Gathering this year.

On the eve of his 80th birthday, outdoor writer Tim Cahill will chronicle his life as the least competent adventurer of his generation. “I’ve exhibited legendary incompetence,” he insists. From his seminal role in founding Outside Magazine to his recently reported “death” in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, Cahill delights in telling odd and offbeat stories. He will give his presentation at 7 pm on Saturday.

There is a great selection of Arctic films and videos that will be screened through the weekend, including a film by local adventurer Lonnie Dupre.

Lonnie Dupree’s film, AMIKA, will be one of the films screened during Winterer’s Gathering at North House Folk School. His film will be screened on Friday and Saturday. See the schedule here. 

Stay tuned for more details next week.

Opportunities:

Juried residency applications at the Grand Marais Art Colony are now open. Click here for more details.

Artists at Work:

Two Roses, oil pastel, by Ilena Hansel.

Handturned bowl by Mary Tripoli, one the resident artisans at North House this year. 

A few of my new Nikon Zf shots from today by Bryan Hansel.

Royal icing cookies, a special order, by Hana Crosby, Crosby Bakery.

The light where I can be found by Mary Beams.

Manidoo niibaashkaa,  Spirit Travels at Night by Sam Zimmerman.

Untitled by Mike Lynch. The celebrated Minnesota painter died last week at the age of 85. To read his obituary, click here. To see more of his works, click here. 

Conversation by Adam Swanson.

Young Corbin Adams’ work. Photo by Tor Torkildson.

Online Findings:

Contemporary artists discuss the Enlightenment’s influence on their work in a new podcast, The Edge of Reason. Click here for more.,

Online Music:

The new Beatles song, if you haven’t heard it yet.

Live Music:

Thursday, Nov 9:

• Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm

Friday, Nov 10:

• Glensheen – The Musical, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, 7 pm

Saturday, Nov 11:

• Glensheen – The Musical, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, Noon
• Tesla Quartet, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, 7 pm
• The Honest Heart Collective, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm

Tuesday, Nov 14:

• Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
• Open Mic Hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 6-9 pm

Thursday, Nov 16:

• Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm

Friday, Nov 17:

• Over the Waterfall, North House Folk School Contra Dance, 7-9 pm

Photographs:

Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:

Wildlife:

Kings of the Boreal Forest by David Johnson.

Grackle in Red Pine by Chuck Olsen.

Gray Jay by Paul Sundberg.

An award-winning tail Red Fox by Paul Sundberg.

Mr. Fuzzy Antlers by Chuck Olsen.

Old yellow eyes by David Johnson.

Mama Moose Portrait by Thomas Spence.

A crowded day at the falls. Photographer unknown.

Bullfinch by N. Allans, birdsonearth.

A bull moose in Alaska by Mike Ashbee.

Drinking Partners. Photographer unknown.

Potpourri:

All Hollows Eve by Staci Lola.

Four chairs by Bryan Hansel.

The reflection as I walked into work this morning by Hayes Scriven.

Zapotec Festival Dancer, Oaxaca Mexico, All Souls Day by John Gregor.

Landscapes. Waterscapes & Cloudscapes:

Sawbill Lake is frozen as far as the eye can see this morning by Bill Hansen.

Golden Leaf Floating Underwater by Roxanne Distad.

Skim ice sunrise by David Johnson.

The subtle colors of November by Siffy Torkildson.

Quiet sunset by Sierra Parsons.

Golden Days by Gail Murton.

Our view this morning by Mary Lou Sorensen.

Night Sky Reflections by Travis Novitsky.

Ice field in Alaska, 1978 by Layne Kennedy. Photograph in his new book, Beyond the Light.

The pot of gold is downtown by David Johnson.

First snow at the farm by Betsy Bowen.

Rays of hope by Chuck Olsen.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

BTW: Do you know that your donation will help make NorthShore ArtScene more viable than ever? It’s really easy to donate. You can either donate a fixed amount or become a sustainer and have the amount of your choice paid each month. Any gift is so welcome. And thank you!

Here are the people who helped make this blog possible: Jeremy Lopez, Live Music Schedule, proofreading and technical advice; Yvonne Mills, proofreading expert and Kari Carter, photo captions and research.