Connections by Adam Malmanger.
Greetings from the North Shore, where some of us are furtively whispering “Spring?” as we wait for a decent snowstorm and/or search for little green shoots popping up in our perennial gardens. We know it’s the middle of February, but temps hovering just above freezing every day for weeks might convince the natural world that spring is on the way. And it might be. Yikes!
Meanwhile, it’s easy to get around and meet with friends and family, attend public events, and work on our art without worrying too much about the woodpile getting depleted before the end of the season. We’re happy for that and for all the opportunities we have to make connections.
To take that analogy way too far, Art Night at Joy and Company this week will teach participants how to make a good connection between colorful designs and fabric.
Printing on fabric is the topic of this week’s Art Night at Joy and Company.
Art Night participants will be stamping on fabric with Speedball and DecoArt fabric paint. Supplies will be provided as well as instructions. Open to all. The event is from 3:30-5 pm at the shop. Free, with a suggested $5 donation.
This week is Fiber Week at North House Folk School and features a variety of workshops, demonstrations, and speakers as well as special events open to the public on Fiber Friday.
It’s Fiber Week at North House Folk School. The Northwoods Fiber Guild “Yarn-bombed” campus for the event. Photo by Bryan Hansel.
On Thursday night, Christine Novotny will give a presentation on Rölakan Rug Weaving at 7 pm at North House as part of Fiber Week
Christine Novotny will give a presentation on Rolakan Rug Weaving at 7 pm Thursday at North House.
In 2023, Christine Novotny traveled to the Stockholm archipelago to learn rölakan rug weaving with Ulla Parkdal, the renowned Swedish weaver and designer. Learn more about the rölakan technique and tradition, the unique loom used for weaving these dense carpets, and the life and career of Ulla. The event will be held in the Red Building at 7 pm. Free and open to the public.
Fiber Friday at North House features demonstrations, mini-workshops and speakers during the day, followed by a presentation by a featured Guest Instructor Mette Østman from Denmark.
Danish felter Mette Østman is the featured speaker at North House Fiber Week this year. She will give a presentation at 7 pm on Friday.
Felted Fruit by Mette Østman..
The presentation is free and open to the public.
On Saturday, the Northwoods Fiber Guild will hold a Show and share featuring fiber work created by members. The event is at 7 pm and is open to the public.
On Sunday at 7 pm, Laura Brown, who visited Scandinavia as part of North House’s Artisan Development Program, will give a presentation entitled Old Swedish Quilts Up Close and Other Treasures. The presentation is free and open to the public.
For details about all these events, click here.
In other fiber news, Dappled Fern Fibers will hold a Thursday Hygge Party at the shop from 6-7 pm this week.
A Hygge Party is held at Dappled Fern Fibers from 6-7 pm on Thursdays this month. The Fiber Circle is held on Saturdays from 10 am to noon at the shop.
The shop is also open to crafters on Saturdays from 10 am to noon for the Fiber Circle. Participants are invited to bring a project to work on as they connect with friends. Free.
And it’s Third Thursday Jazz night at Up Yonder this week featuring the North Shore Swing Band.
Third Thursday Jazz with the North Shore Swing Band is at Up Yonder from 7-9 pm this week.
The band plays a great variety of jazz standards and danceable music. Open to all. Free. They will be performing from 7-9 pm.
In Duluth, the Minnesota Ballet presents, “Rise,” original, contemporary works by Minnesota Ballet faculty and guest choreographer Jayson Douglas.
The Minnesota Ballet will perform Rise: Contemporary Dance in several performances Feb 15-18.
“Rise” will be presented in Studio Four, 506 W. Michigan St., an intimate theater that allows audiences to experience dance at close range. Performances are at 7 pm Thursday through Saturday and 3 pm Sunday. For more information and tickets, click here,
Caribou Highlands will hold 218 days, A celebration of the Bold North, a community celebration of winter and those who live and play in the area code 218. The event will be held from Friday, Feb. 16 through Sunday, Feb. 18.
218 Days, a celebration of the North, will be held at Caribou Highlands Feb. 16-18.
218 Days features a wide variety of winter activities, live music, and more. The public is invited. Click here to learn more.
On Friday, Drury Lane Books will hold an Author Talk with Cary J. Griffith, about his book, “Gunflint Falling” from 6-7:30 pm.
Cary Griffith will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books from 6-7:30 pm Feb. 16.
Do you remember the 4th of July BWCAW blowdown of ’99? One of the worst natural disasters Cook County has experienced, Griffiths details the harrowing stories of survivors in these events that would culminate to fuel the Ham Lake Fire nearly a decade later.
Griffith will read from his book, followed by a Q&A and a discussion. The public is invited.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, the Grand Marais Public Library will host a presentation by Bryan Hansel on his bikepacking tour from 7-8 pm.
Bryan Hansel will give a presentation about his Border-to-Border tour at the Grand Marais Public Library on Feb. 21.
Hansel will take the audience on a visual journey along his October 2023 bikepacking adventure across the proposed Minnesota Border-to-Border Touring Route. Hansel embarked on a 10-day, 625-mile odyssey from Pembina, ND to Silver Bay on Lake Superior. Through a compelling blend of photos, stories, and personal impressions, Hansel will share the highlights and challenges of his ride. Stick around for a Q&A session at the end to dive deeper into the details of this off-the-beaten-path expedition. Free.
Ongoing: The Winter Fireplace Tour in Cook County
The annual Fireplace Tour in Cook County begins Feb. 1 and runs through Feb. 29. Pictured, above, is the fireplace at White Pine Lodge. For more info, click here.
Exhibits:
The exhibit, Hygge: The Warmth of Winter continues at the Johnson Heritage Post featuring a variety of work by members of the North Shore Artists League.
Hygge: The Warmth of Winter is currently on view at the Johnson Heritage Post.
Look for paintings, pottery, glass, fiber, and ceramics in this show crafted by local and regional artists. The exhibit continues through Feb. 25.
The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday through Saturday and from 1- 4 pm on Sunday. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Melinda Wolff is exhibiting her work at Tettegouche State Park.
Melinda Wolff opened an exhibit of her paintings at Tettegouche State Park.
The exhibit in the Great Hall continues through the end of February.
There are several exhibits currently on view at the Duluth Art Institute, including Allison Baker’s “Tender Vignettes: A Class Narrative.” The collages in her exhibit document moments of lower-class living.
Allison Baker’s exhibit, Tender Vignettes: A Class Narrative, continues at the Duluth Art Institute.
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.”
Known for large-scale sculpture, Baker chose a different material for Tender Vignettes: collage. The tedious paper cutting and pasting introduces a slower pace that becomes meditative. Ultimately, layered bits of opaque paper create skewed sight lines and exaggerated angles that build imperfect perspectives.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is featuring the exhibit, Wall Pocket, beaded wall pockets from its permanent collection.
The exhibit, Wall Pocket, featuring beaded pockets from the Thunder Bay Art Gallery will be exhibited through March 3.
Some of these beaded wall pockets are more than one hundred years old. Dating to the 1920-40s they are some of the oldest works in our Permanent Collection. Beaded wall pockets are decorative objects dating to the Victorian era that were made to store household items and keepsakes. Today, various styles of new and vintage wall pockets hang in kitchens and living rooms to store everyday objects (in fact, they are a perfect size for an iPhone).
Research into this collection of handcrafted wall pockets suggests that the material and design are typical of northern Cree as well as Swampy Cree. Each pocket is beautifully detailed with floral motifs and other designs prominent in Cree and Ojibwe beadwork such as circles, potentially representing berries or buds, flowing white line work, or vines, and colorful ribbons. Each holds the creative voice, stitches, and style of its maker. The gallery doesn’t yet have the names of the artists who beaded these pieces and/or cannot trace their exact provenance, but it is believed these wall pockets came from bead artists who lived near York Factory, an isolated Hudson’s Bay trading post in northern Manitoba/Treaty 5, or Moose Factory, Ontario/Treaty 9.
In Minneapolis on the University of Minnesota campus the Katherine E. Nash Gallery is hosting a group exhibition of 29 Indigenous painters, the inaugural program of the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts. The title of the exhibit is “Dreaming Our Futures.”
Medicine Bear, oil on canvas, by Jim Denomie, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe, is one of the paintings in the exhibtit. To see more click here.
The exhibit features a wide variety of painting media and esthetic approaches by the artists, who include Frank Big Bear, David Bradley, Awanigiizhik Bruce, Andrea Carlson, Avis Charley, Fern Cloud, Michelle Defoe, Jim Denomie, Patrick DesJarlait, Sam English, Carl Gawboy, Joe Geshick, Sylvia Houle, Oscar Howe, Waŋblí Mayášleča (Francis J. Yellow, Jr.), George Morrison, Steven Premo, Rabbett Before Horses Strickland, Cole Redhorse Taylor, Roy Thomas, Jonathan Thunder, Thomasina TopBear, Moira Villiard, Kathleen Wall, Star WallowingBull, Dyani White Hawk, Bobby Dues Wilson, Leah H. Yellowbird, and Holly Young.
An opening reception for the George Morrison Center for Indigenous Arts was held Feb. 2-3. The center is a collaborative space and collective that brings together Native artists from across the creative arts spectrum—from visual arts to music and literature.
Untitled, water-based media on paper by George Morrison, Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, is exhibited in the show.
WTIP Community Radio was there, and spoke to four generations of the Morrison and Belvo family, about the legacy of George Morrison and the significance of this historic moment. Listen to it here.
Four generations of the Morrison-Belvo family attended the center’s inaugural opening. Pictured, from left, are Roxann Berglund, Briand Morrison, Brandon Deschampe-Morrison, Myenna Deschampe-Morrison, Elizabeth Deschampe-Morrison, Maya Deschampe-Morrison, Hazel Belvo, and Marcia Cushmore.
Year of the Dragon: Mystical Creatures of the Sky, is an exhibit at the Minneapolis Inostitute of Art that celebrates the Year of the Dragon in the lunar calendar. The exhibition features objects from MIA’s’s own Chinese art collection that represent the evolution of dragon imagery and symbolism, from the ancient world to today.
China Tang Dynasty. A pair of flying dragons, 8th century gilt bronze is on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
From the dragon’s first appearance in art some eight to nine thousand years ago, during the early Neolithic period, these ferocious beasts have occupied an honored place in Chinese culture. Their majestic power has inspired art in nearly every medium—jade to bronze, ceramics to paintings. Originating in mythology as scaly water beasts who controlled the rain and wind, they have evolved in form and symbolism, taking to the skies to become the auspicious creatures we know today: four-legged, horned, snakelike beings who breathe clouds (not fire) and represent not only heavenly power and prosperity but Chinese culture itself. The exhibit continues through May 5. Open to the public. Free.
Upcoming:
Second Chance Art, a fundraiser for Care Partners, will be held at The Hub on Saturday, March 9 from 10 am to 2 pm. The sale, which is by donation only, will include work by local potters and other art. Stay tuned for details.
Artists at Work:
Talulla at the Beach, oil, by Scott Murphy.
Do Trees Hygge?, oil, by Kathy Fox Weinberg.
Birches in February, acrylic on handmade paper, by Betsy Bowen.
Serenity by Jon Foreman, an artist in the UK.
Watercolor image of Lutsen Resort I did last year by Bryan Hansel.
Online Findings:
Wild Ice Stories
A Wild Ice video by Bear Witness Media. See the video here.
The Other Side of Wild Ice, a podcast from Paddle & Portage. Click here to listen.
Canoeist and Tree at Sunset by Bryan Hansel from his newsletter, “Originality in Landscape Photography.” To read, click here.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, Feb 15:
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- North Shore Swing Band, Up Yonder, 7-9 pm
- Open Old Time Appalachian Music Jam, Log Cabin, 7-9:30 pm
Friday, Feb 16:
- Bump Blomberg, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Cherry Dirt, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
Saturday, Feb 17:
- Mysterious Ways, Up Yonder, 7-10 pm
Sunday, Feb 18:
- Fred Anderson, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
- Joe Pauluk, Up Yonder, 7-10 pm
Tuesday, Feb 20:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Open Stage, Up Yonder, 6-9 pm
Thursday, Feb 22:
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
Friday, Feb 23:
- John Gruber, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Jim Miller, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
Saturday, Feb 24:
- Unity DJ, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm
Sunday, Feb 25:
- Briand Morrison, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
Photographs:
Here’s a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
A Redpoll Sweetie by Chuck Olsen.
It’s mating season for the ravens and they are singing love songs outside my window by David Grinstead.
The Great Gray by Chuck Olsen.
A Great Horned Owl family, courtesy of Birdsonearth.
Pumas in Patagonia by Marlon DuToit.
Long-eared owl @ Helenahandbskt.
Potpourri
Kristofer’s amaryllis by Mary Beams.
If only we could grow gills so we didn’t have to come up for air by Dave and Amy Freeman.
Landscapes, Skyscapes, Waterscapes & Riverscapes:
Late Afternoon Light on an Afternoon Walk by Kim Nelson.
The Big Lake by Ron Benson.
From the other side by Sierra Parsons.
Moonset at 5:30 pm by Teresa Chmelik.
A soft, gentle covering for the sunrise by David Johnson.
Through The Pines this week by David Grinstead.
Fiery Sunrise by David Johnson.
Lake Superior Sunrise a few years ago by Bryan Hansel.
Pincushion Mountain Sunset by Paul Sundberg.
Calming Sunrise by Stephanie Irwin.
Happy New Year from Shenzhen, China. To see this dragon in motion, click here.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
If you enjoyed NorthShore ArtScene this week, please consider contributing to the blog to help support us and the arts community on the North Shore. You can donate by clicking on the icon below or send your donation to Joan Farnam/NorthShore ArtScene, PO Box 1232, Grand Marais, MN 55604. Thank you!
We are so grateful to those who help make this weekly 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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