The beauty of winter by Julie McKenna/
Greetings from the North Shore, where, it’s true, we don’t have six feet of snow, but winter’s fingers are still on the land.
A perfect snow pillow cover by Sandra Updyke.
Hoarfrost magic by David Johnson.
Ice-covered shores of Lake Superior by George Ilstrup.
We are grateful for the beauty and our connection to the season. May we be graced by snow in the next two months!
Meanwhile, art continues.
On Thursday, Joy and Company will hold its weekly Art Night, welcoming the public to make art with a variety of art supplies, with a different focus each week. This week, participants will explore painting the night sky and the Milky Way with watercolor paints.
Painting the night sky is the topic for this week’s Art Night at Joy and Company.
Thursday activities and art demonstrations will be held from 3:30-5 pm at the shop. The event is free, with a suggested $5 donation.
Historic Cook County Trivia will be held at Up Yonder from 6-8 pm.
The Cook County Historical Society Trivia at Up Yonder is held from 6-8 pm on Thursday. Open to all. Free.
The game is open to all and includes questions about Cook County history as well as general trivia questions. Prizes. All invited.
Also, on Thursday night, the Old Time Appalachian Music Jam Session will be held at the Log Building at the Cook County Community Center from 7-9:30 pm.
An Old Time Appalachian Music Jam Session will be held in the Log Building on Thursday, Feb. 1.
The jam session is open to all. Bring your instrument and join in. Free. They will also be meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 6 from 7-9:30 pm.
On Friday, the opening reception for the exhibit “Hyyge: Winter Warmth” featuring works by members of the North Shore Artists League, will be held from 5-7 pm at the Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery.
Pine, fused glass, by Nancy Seaton, is one of the pieces that will be in the show.
Teapot set by Maggie Anderson, one of the pieces that will be in the show.
Three paintings by Kathy Fox Weinberg will be in the exhibit, including Transition, (left), Homecoming, and Shadowland.
The exciting exhibit features a wide variety of work and media. Look for paintings, pottery, glass, ceramics, photography and more. It continues through Feb. 25 Refreshments will be served. Open to all.
Also on Friday, the Grand Marais Public Library continues its Friday Night Reels program with the screening of the award-winning film, “Children of the Mist, “ (NR; 2021).
In a village hidden in the mist-shrouded Northwest Vietnamese mountains resides an indigenous Hmong community, home to 12-year-old Di, part of the first generation of her people with access to formal education. A free spirit, Di recounts her experiences to Vietnamese filmmaker Diễm Hà Lệ, who planted herself within Di’s family over the course of three years to document this unique coming of age as she faces the local custom of “bride kidnapping.”
Here’s the trailer:
The film is free and starts at 6 pm. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Refreshments will be available.
Also on Friday, Tettegouche State Park will hold an opening reception for its February show, paintings by Melinda Wolff.
Melinda Wolff opens an exhibit at Tettegouche State Park on Friday, Feb. 2.
Wolff will be featuring her “Oil Paintings on Wood” collection.
This collection is a creative approach of oil painting on wood, inspired by nature to bring out the art of nature. Each painting highlights and accentuates the unique features of the wood, including live edges, bark, wormholes, and wood grain, all of which guide the brushstrokes.
The opening reception is on Friday, Feb. 2, from 7 – 8:30 pm in the Tettegouche Visitor Center. Refreshments will be provided. Open to all.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, the first of several Winter Markets will be held at The Hub from 10 am to 4 pm.
The first Winter Market at The Hub will be held on Saturday, Feb. 2.
At the market, look for beadwork, paintings, weaving, glasswork, and more. The public is invited. Artists to be featured this month include Lily Wilson, Gina Adams, Kim Knutson, Katy Attleson, Jayne Richards, Robin Harris, and Cree Orth.
The Hygge Festival starts this weekend featuring a wide variety of events and opportunities, although there have been some changes due to the warm temps. The Cook County Fireplace Tour is on, though, and lots of other events. Click here for the latest updates.
There have been modifications to two events which depend on freezing weather and lots of snow. Or, as Leanne Avery, Community Center assistant, wrote in the newsletter this week:
“El Nino: /el ˈnēnyō/ Noun A distinct weather phenomenon with the ability to turn a Minnesota winter on its head, exchanging snow, skates, and parkas for skateboards, puddles, and sweatshirts.
“While many of us are grateful we can still see grass, the warm temperatures have made it extremely difficult to make and maintain ice at the rinks. The rinks will be closed until further notice.”
However, the Pond Hockey Tournament players have punted, and the tournament is on at the hockey rink, but it is now going to be a Boot Hockey Tournament.
“We’re going to be prepared to get wet,” said Patrick O’Neil, a spokesman for the Cook County Hockey Association. The action starts at 9 am. It sounds like it should be a great time. Umbrellas not required.
The skating rinks have been temporarily closed to skating at the Community Center due to high temps and poor ice conditions. The Pond Hockey Tournament, set for Saturday is on, but it’s now the Boot Hockey Tournament.
The 15th Annual Ridge Riders Fun Run has been modified, too. Here’s what they say:
“As usual – you can snowmobile, fly, or drive the Fun Run to navigate from checkpoint to checkpoint, but we regret having to recommend doing this year’s fun run by vehicle.
“IF you have the urge to get the sleds out and travel by snowmobile… the conditions on the trails at this time vary in locations – and they are not groomed – so please ride at your own risk.
But not all is lost. “Hungry Jack Lodge checkpoint will be having a Luau Party all day.
Hungry Jack Lodge checkpoint will be the site for a Luau Party this year during the Ridge Riders Fun Run.
“Wear your best luau attire/tropical shirt for a chance to win prizes. Take a photo at our vintage snowmobile beach photo shoot. Enjoy a tropical beverage. Embrace the weekend as we work with what we’ve got this winter.” For more information about the Fun Run and how it works, click here.
Also on Saturday, the weekly Fiber Circle at Dappled Fern Fibers continues.
From left, Kathy, Mari, and Kaitlin work on their projects at the Fiber Circle at Dappled Fern Fibers.
Crafters are invited to the shop from 10 am to noon to work on their projects. Open to all.
And, on Saturday night, the Grand Marais Film Society will be screening its latest film, a romantic drama, at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 pm.
The Grand Marais Film Society will screen a romantic drama on Saturday at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. Show time is at 7 pm.
The movie explores love and destiny and has been nominated for several Academy Awards this year. Set in both the United States and South Korea, it’s a story that will be the perfect compliment to a Hygge weekend. Tickets are $6. To purchase tickets online and find out more about the film, click here. Tickets can be purchased at the door.
On Sunday, the International Fly Fishing Film Festival will be held at the Clyde Iron Works, 2920 W. Michigan St. in Duluth.
The International Fly Fishing Film Festival will be in Duluth Feb. 4.
The event is hosted by the Gitche Gumee Chapter of Minnesota Trout Unlimited & Arrowhead Fly Fishers and features a wide variety of films.
The film festival is the world’s leading fly-fishing film event, consisting of films produced by professional filmmakers from all corners of the globe showcasing the passion, lifestyle, and culture of fly fishing. It is the gathering place of the fly-fishing community and a celebration of friendship, fly-fishing stories, and stoke.
For more info and to get tickets, click here. For a link to the film selection and trailers, click here.
Exhibits:
Several new exhibits are on view at the Duluth Art Institute, including Tender Vignettes: A Class Narrative by Alison Baker.
Slow Roll, Coloraid paper and oil pastels on cold press by Alison Baker is currently on view at the Duluth Art Institute.
The Art Institute writes: “Baker’s collages document moments of lower-class living. In scenes of everyday life, viewers will find evidence of Baker’s upbringing: tattoos at dining room tables, dilapidated houses, and maybe a little too much beer. Baker notes that these details humanize the working class and explore the complexity of poverty. Approaching each collage with raw tenderness, she portrays living with scarcity, recognizing how poverty impacts choices, habits, and actions. Baker offers an example: “Playing the lottery is often seen as the only route to class transcendence. It signifies hope,” she says. The exhibit continues through March 12.
In Minneapolis, the American Swedish Institute will host a special traveling exhibition featuring the artwork and duodji handcrafts of 12 Indigenous artists from Sámi and North America. Arctic Highways shares stories of Indigenous People who live on different continents yet regard themselves as kindred spirits.
The Evening Covers Everything, photograph, by Marja Helander, is one of the pieces in the exhibit.
Each artist tells their own stories, through their own forms of expression, inviting opportunities to explore what it means to be unbounded—not just for Indigenous People, but for all of us.
Curated by Indigenous artists Tomas Colbengtson, Gunvor Guttorm, Dan Jåma, and Britta Marakatt-Labba, Arctic Highways includes their works alongside those of artists Matti Aikio, Marja Helander, Laila Susanna Kuhmunen, Olof Marsja, Máret Ánne Sara, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Maureen Gruben, and Meryl McMaster. To see more, click here.
The exhibit, Dreaming Our Futures: Ojibwe and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ Artists and Knowledge Keepers has opened at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery on the University of Minnesota campus. The exhibit includes 29 artists, including Jonathan Thunder.
Suspension of Disbelief, acrylic on canvas, by Jonathan Thunder, is one of the works on view at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery through March 16.
The opening reception is Saturday, Feb. 3 from 4-8 pm. The public is invited.
Opportunities:
The Grand Marais Playhouse will hold a Summer Camp June 10-21 for youth ages 8-18. The students will create and perform Finding Nemo KIDS. The camp will be held at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts with instructor Sue Hennessy. The cost is $400 with scholarships available. Performance dates are June 22 and 23. Register here. To sponsor a youth, click here.
Upcoming:
Lehto & Wright will be in concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Feb. 10 at 7 pm.
Lehto & Wright will be at the ACA Feb. 10.
From Feb. 12-19, wool, woodstoves, and winter weave together for Fiber Week at North House Folk School.
Fiber Week, Feb. 12-19, at North House Folk School offers classes, speakers, and fiber gatherings.
This special week-long gathering celebrates all manner of fiber arts, featuring speakers, demonstrations, community gatherings, and coursework from long-time North House instructors as well as new guest artisans. This year’s Featured Speaker is Mette Østman, an extraordinarily talented felter and educator from Odense, Denmark. To find out more and sign up for classes, click here.
Four musicians from the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra will perform for an evening of music at the Grand Marais Public Library on Valentine’s Day.
Musicians from the Duluth Superior Orchestra will give an evening concert at the library from 6-7:30 pm on Feb. 14. Pictured, clockwise from top left: Deborah Rausch, Melanie Sever, Jean Leibfried, and Charlie Leibfried.
The concert, entitled “Love through Music,” will feature a variety of classical music composed as early as the Baroque to as late as the Modern era, with composers ranging from Handel to Piazzolla. Since these musicians will be performing on Valentine’s Day, they will prepare one set of music specific to the holiday of love.
The musicians will also explain how their instruments work and what their roles are in both classical and modern music. Additionally, they will familiarize the audience with the composers and introduce some tidbits of music history. They also plan to explain how their instruments function as well as bring and play examples of instruments similar to their own.
This event is free and for all ages, but is best suited for ages 10 and up. Seating will begin at 5:30, so come early to find the closest seats. Non-alcoholic drinks with lids are welcome, as always. This event takes place during library operating hours, so our clerks will be on hand to check books out to patrons during and after the performance. In short, a great way to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
The Minnesota Ballet will present “Rise,” an original, contemporary work by Minnesota Ballet faculty and guest choreographer Jayson Douglas on Feb. 15-18 at Studio Four, 504 W. Michigan St. in Duluth.
The Minnesota Ballet will perform Rise: Contemporary Dance in a number of performances this month.
Performances are in Studio Four, an intimate theater that allows audiences to experience dance at close range. To find out more and get tickets, click here.
Artists at Work:
Hazel Belvo with her granddaughter, Rachel, standing in front of Belvo’s painting of the two of them, “Hazel and Rachel with Magical Objects,” painted in 1994. The painting is part of Belvo’s exhibit “For Love,” at the Minnesota Museum of American Art.
Kitchibitobig Ma’iingan, Grand Marais Wolf, acrylic, by Sam Zimmerman.
Here’s what the painter, Sam Zimmerman, says about this painting:
“So after our Dark Skies exhibition reception at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery, Adam Swanson and I got in the car to head south and were no more than five miles out of Grand Marais when we saw a large ma’iingan standing on the left shoulder of the road. Adam got to witness my U-turn skills on Hwy. 61 to turn around to watch her. She had walked across the highway heading up the shoulder away from Superior. The moon was full and she stood with such grace and strength under it…. I got home from the drive and fell into bed. She’s been waiting for me to finish her.”
Grocery Store Cashier and Bagger – Worker # 1 by Carolyn Sue Olson.
A David Gilsvik jigsaw puzzle from one of his paintings put together by Sue Weber and Mike Carlson. Sivertson Gallery has three jigsaw puzzles of David Gilsvik’s paintings. For more information, call 219-387-2491.
Birches: My favorite pair, acrylic, by Betsy Bowen.
Fish in trees by Tim Young.
Two Harbors potter Dick Cooter loading his wood-fired kiln. The Angry Trout uses Cooter’s dinnerware. Photo by Olivia Jenson.
Online Findings:
The Good Harbor Hill Players in association with GAMEPALAJ (Gospel and Mother Earth Peace and Love and Justice) musicians presented the Chick-a-dee-Show Show Show shadow puppet play on the Winter Solstice outdoors at North House Folk School. Here’s the video:
Bryan Hansel‘s newsletter: Photos that Echo Photos that Others Took
The Island and the Milky Way by Bryan Hansel.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, Feb 1:
- Pete Kavanaugh, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- Open Old Time Appalachian Music Jam, Log Cabin, 7-9:30 pm
Friday, Feb 2:
- Bump Blomberg, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Emma Tweten, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
Saturday, Feb 3:
- Sky Blue Jazz, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- The Honest Heart Collective, Up Yonder, 8-11:55 pm
Sunday, Feb 4:
- Fred Anderson, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
Monday, Feb 5:
- Southpaws Duo (Al Oikari and Steve Johnson), Bluefin Grille 8-10 pm
Tuesday, Feb 6:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Open Stage, Up Yonder, 6-9 pm
- Open Old Time Appalachian Music Jam, Log Cabin, 7-9:30 pm
Thursday, Feb 8:
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
Friday, Feb 9:
- Jim Miller, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Many Tiny Lights Community Sing-along, Drury Lane Books, 5:30-8 pm
- Gene LaFond & Amy Grillo, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Timmy Haus, Up Yonder, 7-10 pm
Saturday, Feb 10:
- Lehto & Wright, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, 7 pm
- Chippewa Trail Band, Up Yonder, 7 – 11 pm
Sunday, Feb 11:
- Briand Morrison, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
Photographs:
Here’s a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
Great Gray Owl by Michael Furtman.
Male Black-backed woodpecker looking for lunch by David Johnson.
A wolf sighting by our cabin by Roxanne Distad.
Red Cardinal by Mona Abdel-Rahmen.
One of our local wild turkeys by Chuck Olsen.
Scrub Jay by Joe Fisher.
Peoplescapes:
The Returning Traveler by Kristopher Bowman.
Freediving the shipwreck Ely in Two Harbors by Christian Dalbec.
Winter! by Julie Deters.
0 degrees F, 30 mph winds with Melissa Genevese Helman, left, and Ann Rosenquist.
In the old days: Crossing Devil Track Lake, 2014 Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon by Paul Sundberg
Potpourri:
What does this remind you of? by Travis Novitsky, taken on the shores of Lake Superior.
Shooting pool @antlerswisdom by Tom Healy.
Paris by Kristofer Bowman.
Career goals by Therese Misgen.
I’ve been burning all my old journals … the me I was no longer is by Lin Salisbury.
Shipscapes:
A tight squeeze. The Paul R. Tregurtha eases under the Blatnik Bridge’s Wisconsin approach headed to Fraser Shipyards for winter work. Photo by David Schauer.
Ship and Sea Fog by Amy Sylvester.
Tug accompanies the John J. Boland, the last ship into the Duluth Harbor for the season by Stephanie Irwin.
A Series:
Pilings in Lake Superior over time 1 by Bryan Hansel.
Pilings in Lake Superior over time 2 by Bryan Hansel.
Pilings in Lake Superior over time 3 by Bryan Hansel.
Pilings in Lake Superior over time 4 by Bryan Hansel.
Pilings in Lake Superior over time 5 by Bryan Hansel.
Landscapes, Waterscapes, Icescapes & Cloudscapes:
Rime ice-frosted trees on a ridge in Superior National Forest this evening by Chuck Olsen.
Untitled 2 by Mark Tessier.
My favorite from today by Sandra Updyke.
A winter sunset ny Sierra Parsons.
Day and Night by Christian Dalbec taken a few years ago.
Untitled 3 by Mark Tessier.
Magnetic Rock by Mark Tessier.
The hoar frost was so thick on the tamaracks that they looked like they were full of white needles, by David Johnson.
How many eagles do you see? Photo by Edward Lee.
Peace and Quiet by Christian Dalbec.
Winter in the UP by Alex Carpenter.
Bigger than life by Christian Dalbec.
A winter sunset on Lake Superior by Chuck Olsen.
Layers of Orange in Grand Marais by Tyler Godes.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
If you enjoyed NorthShore ArtScene today, please consider making a donation to keep us a strong and vital part of the arts community. Thank you!
We are so grateful to those who helped make this blog possible: Jeremy Lopez, Live Music Schedule, proofreading and technical advice; Yvonne Mills, proofreading and Kari Carter, photo captions and research. Thank you!
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