Fireworks in the Clouds, 2023, by Dennis Chick.
Greetings from the North Shore, where rain waves continue to green up the gardens and forests. Add to that, glorious days of sun and puffy white clouds in our blue, blue skies, and you have a recipe for a pretty wonderful start of the summer.
This week is special: It’s the 4th of July on Thursday with the attendant family gatherings, barbecues, and fireworks, and then, on Saturday and Sunday, local artists join together to show their work at the Hovland Arts Festival. We hope the rain waves honor these events, but we’ll see.
Meanwhile, art-making continues.
First up on Thursday is the art of running through mud or The Tofte Trek, the annual ritual where runners and walkers run a circuit from Birch Grove Community School to the Superior Hiking Trail and back. Part of the trail goes through marshy areas, and it’s almost a badge of honor to come back covered in mud. One year Jan Horak, one of the founders of the race, organized a water dump on that part of the trail with four-wheelers because it had been a very dry spring. This year, no one has to worry about that.
This is the 43rd annual Tofte Trek Run/Walk.
Tofte Trek 2024 T-shirt design.
There are kids’ races and an adult run/walk, open to all. To find out more, click here.
July 4th Celebrations in Tofte begin at 11 am on Thursday with a fish fry fundraiser, a craft fair, food vendors, live music, and the best parade in the county, which starts at 1 pm.
The Lutsen Volunteer Fire Department will have a Fish Fry Fundraiser in Tofte on July 4. Service starts at 11 am.
The public is invited. Fireworks are set for Tofte, Grand Marais, and Grand Portage at dusk.
Some businesses will be open on the 4th, including Joy and Company, which will hold Art Night from 3-5 pm at the shop. It’s Create-A-Flag Day.
It’s Create-A-Flag Day at Joy and Company on Thursday.
Participants will be supplied with everything to be creative and make a collage flag. Free, with a $5 suggested donation. Open to all.
Also on Thursday, Cook County Trivia, hosted by Historic Cook County, will be held at Up Yonder starting at 6 pm.
Trivia games start at 6 pm at Up Yonder on Thursday.
This is bar-type Trivia, with some questions about Cook County history, plus lots of others. Free and open to all.
On Friday, the Tim Vahle Fine Art Gallery and Studio will hold an Opening Reception from 5-7 pm.
Fathering, oil on panel, by Tim Vahle.
The gallery will feature his landscapes and portraits, prints, and cards. It is located on Birch Alley, 11 1st Ave. W., Unit 2. Refreshments will be served. The public is invited.
On Friday night, the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino will hold an outdoor music festival, “Rock the Lake,” which continues on Saturday.
Rock the Lake, the Grand Portage Music Festival will be held July 5-6.
The free event features:
- Strutter (Kiss Tribute): 6 pm. Friday, July 5
- Xpedition (Journey-Stix-Kansas-Foreigner): 8:30 pm. Friday, July 5
- Southern Express (Lynerd Skynerd-Allman Brothers-Charlie Daniels-ZZ Top); 6 pm Saturday, July 6
- Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty Tribute): 8:30 pm. Saturday, July 6
Free. Bring a chair.
Saturday is a busy day in the county.
First up is the Cook County Market, which is held in the parking lot of The Hub from 10 am to 2 pm.
The Cook County Market is held in the parking lot of The Hub from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays, featuring a wide variety of arts and crafts and live music.
Look for everything from Lake Superior rocks, handmade balms, knitwear, paintings, and more. The public is invited.
This is the weekend for the Hovland Arts Festival, an iconic arts festival featuring work by more than 45 local artists and artisans.
The Hovland Arts Festival is this weekend.
The Arts Festival is held at the Hovland Town Hall and features pottery, paintings, weaving, birchbark work, turned bowls, candles, handmade fishing lures, felting, glass, and much more. There is live music, too, throughout the weekend.
There’s lots of live music at the Hovland Arts Festival all weekend.
Other perks include food options and a Writer’s Salon hosted by Lin Salisbury, which will be held from 4-6 pm on Saturday.
The festival is open from 10 am to 4 pm both days. Free. The public is invited.
Also on Saturday, there will be an Opening Reception for the exhibit, Grace in My Garden: Photographs by Mary Stafford, at the Grand Marais Art Colony’s Gallery Store from 1-2 pm.
Mary Stafford opens a photography exhibit at the Grand Marais Art Colony Gallery Store on Saturday.
Four Arrowhead regional artists were selected to show work in the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s downtown gallery store each month from June through September.
Stafford’s artwork consists of photographic images from the natural world, specifically in Northern Minnesota. Her artistic inspiration includes creating a sense of hope and healing in the viewer. She is a Master Gardener living in Carlton County.
The exhibit continues through July. The Gallery Store and Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday. Free.
And, an Artists’ Reception will be held for pastel artists Michelle Wegler and Cheryl LeClair-Sommer who have opened an exhibit in the Great Hall at Tettegouche State Park.
Northern Meander, pastel, by LeClair-Sommer.
Where Trout Run, pastel, by Michelle Wegler.
The reception will be held at Tettegouche from 5-7 pm July 5. The exhibit continues through July. Free.
Ongoing summer events in Grand Marais include the Chippewa City Church Tour, which is held on Friday through Sunday from noon to 2 pm, and the Harbor History Tour, which starts at 1 pm at the Cook County Historical Society Museum on Broadway on Saturday. Free.
On Sunday, the popular summer series Music by the Lake begins.
Music by the Lake, the summer music series at Skyport Lodge, begins on Sunday at 4 pm.
Set against the picturesque backdrop of the lake, Music by The Lake at Skyport Lodge offers sweet summer Sunday afternoons filled with live music, laughter, and fun activities for all ages. Food is also available. The music this week features The Southpaws. It starts at 4 pm. Open to all.
Exhibits:
Found Horizons: Imagined Topographies, with paintings by Karen Owsley Nease, is on exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post.
An exhibit of paintings by Karen Nease is featured at the Johnson Heritage Post.
The artist explores fantasy landscapes and topographical maps in this fascinating exhibit. It continues through July 14.
The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Wednesday through Saturday and from 1-4 pm Sunday. Free.
The Grand Marais Art Colony‘s summer exhibition, Embodying the North Shore, continues at Studio 21.
The Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Summer Exhibition features a collection of works by the region’s favorite artists.
Look for work by Howard Sivertson, Lee and Dan Ross, Betsy Bowen, Liz Sivertson, David Gilsvik, Jan Sivertson, and more. Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday.
The annual Member Show hosted by the Duluth Art Institute opened last week featuring the work of more than 130 artists in a wide variety of mediums.
The Duluth Art Institute‘s Member Show continues in its new gallery space on the 4th floor of the US Bank Building in downtown Duluth.
Duluth painter, Scott Murphy, won the People’s Choice Award at the Member Show for his painting, Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat.
The Member Show continues through August on the 4th floor of the US Bank Building, the Art Institute’s new gallery space. It is open from 10 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. Free.
The Company of Trees: Arboreal Selections from the Tweed’s Permanent Collection, is currently on view at the Tweed Museum of Art.
Witch Tree Variation, cropped, colored pencil, ink on paper, by George Morrison is on view at the Tweed Museum of Art.
Guest curator Anne Dugan writes:
“It is not hyperbole to say that trees are one of the most vital entities of our world. Their very breath makes life on Earth possible, turning carbon dioxide into oxygen. They moderate our climate, conserve water, filter the air, and prevent soil erosion. We use them for building, fuel, nutrition, and play. Trees are natural sanctuaries, providing critical habitats for wildlife, housing complex ecosystems, enhancing biodiversity, and offering shade and solace to all who wander near.
“Humans cannot make trees, but we can use them as muse and material. Arboreal life began three hundred million years ago and humans came around about two hundred and ninety four million years later. We have been trying to figure them out ever since. We use the same language to describe trees as we do the human body – trunk, limbs, and sinew. We use similar language when talking about human community and connection as well – roots, branches and family trees. This exhibition draws from the Tweed’s permanent collection of artists with its deep regional connections and looks at the ways artists have observed, celebrated, desecrated, and employed the tree. From reflecting on their sacred role to luxuriating in their beauty, to studying their biology and using their bark and branches for making art, the artists in this gallery, like all humanity, owe a creative debt to trees.”
This exhibition features local and regional artists as well as artists connected through the global community of arboreal life.
The Walker Center in Minneapolis is featuring the exhibit, “Tetsuya Yamada: Listening.”
This exhibition surveys the work of Minneapolis–based artist Tetsuya Yamada (Japan, b. 1968), whose interdisciplinary practice amplifies the poetry found in the everyday. From exquisitely crafted ceramic sculptures to delicate drawings to documentation of the artist’s self-organized installations in surprising sites around the Twin Cities, the featured works highlight Yamada’s engagement with the connections between life and art.
Hear more about the work from the artist, below.
Upcoming:
The Grand Marais Arts Festival will be in downtown Grand Marais by the harbor again this year.
The Grand Marais Arts Festival is downtown on the harbor on July 13-14.
With 60 artists exhibiting in a wide variety of media, it should be a great art festival. Look for pottery and paintings, fiber art, photographs, metalwork, jewelry, and more. Click here for a link to participating artists this year.
There is lots more happening during the festival this year as well, including live music, storytelling, and more.
Here is what you can look forward to during the Grand Marais Arts Festival July 13-14.
The festival is open from 9 am to 5 pm Saturday, July 13, and 10 am to 4 pm Sunday, July 14.
And on Saturday night, singer/songwriter Ray Bonneville will be in concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7 pm.
For more info and tickets, click here.
Also that weekend, fused glass artist Nancy Seaton will be at the “Wine meets Art” event July 13 -14 at the St. Croix Vineyards in Stillwater.
Fused glass, by Nancy Seaton.
On Sunday, July 14, there will be an Open House in the upstairs studios at Betsy Bowen’s Studio Gallery, 301 1st Ave. W.
North House Folk School artisans and the Northern Lights Pottery Group will hold a joint Open House at Betsy Bowen’s Studio Gallery on July 14.
Artisans with North House Folk School’s Artisan Development program and potters with the Northern Lights Pottery Group, both located on the second floor of Betsy’s Studio Gallery, will open their doors to the public from 1-4 pm on Sunday, July 14. Stay tuned.
Kudos:
Lutsen sculptor Greg Mueller gets two this week.
First, for the installation of his sculpture, Community Column, in front of the Grand Marais Public Library recently.
Community Column, a series of bronze plaques made by students in ISD 166 and Great Expectations School has been installed near the library.
Students from ISD 166 and Great Expectations School made bronze plaques with Mueller to answer the question: What do you love about Grand Marais?
One of the bronze plaques in the sculpture.
Also, Mueller just delivered a sculpture to Napa, Calif., to mark the division between Northern and Southern California.
Portal Paraboloid, sculpture by Greg Mueller. It will mark the transition between Northern and Southern California on Highway 1.
Example: Northern Minnesota Gravel Ride Guide Route created by AI. Posted by Bryan Hansel on his FB page.
Sam Zimmerman painted this electrical switch box at 57th and Grand St. in West Duluth. It is part of a citywide project by the Duluth Arts Commission.
Today I love almost everyone. Almost. Ink and watercolor, by Marty Harris.
Headwind, by Jenny Bloomfield.
“Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” -Walt Whitman. Photograph by Layne Kennedy.
On the Move, ink on marker paper by Robert Keating.
Dreams of Summer, oil and cold wax, part of a quadratic series, by Kathy Fox Weinberg.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, July 4:
- Tommy Wotruba, Raven Rock Grill at Skyport Lodge, 6-8 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern’s Rooftop Bar, 6-9 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
Friday, July 5:
- Pete K. Band, Birch Terrace Supper Club, 5-8 pm
- Strutter (Kiss Tribute), Outside by Lake Superior at Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 6-8 pm
- John Gruber, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Frequency Rising, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 7-11 pm
- Joe Paulik, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
- Xpedition, Outside by Lake Superior at Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 8:30-10 pm
Saturday, July 6:
- Fred Anderson & Bill Obinger, Cook County Saturday Market (Senior Center Parking Lot), 10 am
- Jim McGowan, Hovland Arts Festival, 10:30-12 pm
- Jim Miller, Hovland Arts Festival, 12:30-2 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Hovland Arts Festival, 2:30-4 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Bay behind Bluefin Grille campfire on the beach, 6-9 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Southern Express, Outside by Lake Superior at Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 6-8 pm
- Al Oikari, and friends, Gunflint Tavern’s Rooftop Bar, 8-11 pm
- Free Fallin’ (Tom Petty Tribute), Outside by Lake Superior at Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 8:30-10 pm
- Rush River Delta, Up Yonder, 9-11:59 pm
Sunday, July 7:
- Emma Tweten, Hovland Arts Festival, 10:30-12 pm
- Michele Miller, Hovland Arts Festival, 12:30-2 pm
- Pete Kavanaugh, Hovland Arts Festival, 2:30-4 pm
- Medicine River, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 3-6 pm
- Black River Revue (BRR), North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Jim McGowan, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Southpaws, Raven Rock Grill at Skyport Lodge, 6-8 pm
- Joe Paulik, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 6-8 pm
- Rush River Delta, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 8-11 pm
Tuesday, July 9:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 5-7 pm
- Joe Paulik, Bluefin Bay behind Bluefin Grille campfire on the beach, 6-9 pm
- Open Stage, Up Yonder, 6-9 pm
Wednesday, July 10:
- Joe Paulik, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 6-9 pm
Thursday, July 11:
- Pat Eliasen, Raven Rock Grill at Skyport Lodge, 6-8 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern’s Rooftop Bar, 6-9 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
Friday, July 12:
- Pat Eliasen, Birch Terrace Supper Club, 6-8 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- The Thirsty River, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 8:30-11:30 pm
- Josh Cleveland Band, Up Yonder, 8:30-11:30 pm
Saturday, July 13:
- Fred Anderson, Will Moore, & Bill Obinger, Cook County Saturday Market (Senior Center Parking Lot), 10 am
- Shore Thing, Tettegouche State Park Amphitheater, 6:30-8:30 pm
- Kenna Rose, Birch Terrace Supper Club, 5-8 pm
- Adam Moe, Bluefin Bay behind Bluefin Grille campfire on the beach, 6-9 pm
- Ray Bonneville, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, 7-9 pm
- Pete Kavanaugh, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Josh Cleveland Band, Gunflint Tavern’s Rooftop Bar, 8:30-11:30 pm
- The Thirsty River, Up Yonder, 9-11:55 pm
Sunday, July 14:
- Bump Blomberg, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Medicine River, Gunflint Tavern Raven’s Nest, 3-6 pm
Photographs:
Here’s a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
Morning Visitor by Roxanne Distad.
This moose got tired of me taking his picture, so he stuck out his tongue and left by David Johnson.
Lutsen 99ers – First Wave by Beth Blank.
Dubbed Picasso moth (Baorisa hieroglyphica) found in India and Asia. Photo by Misone.
Common Loon by Paul Sundberg.
In high clover by Michael Furtman.
The only true king by Chuck Olsen.
Bee on chive by Roxanne Distad.
Flowerscapes:
Pitcher plant bloom and Dragon’s Breath orchid. Photo by Sandra Updyke.
Bunchberry by Bryan Hansel.
What sun and a whole lot of rain can do by Trish Francis.
Have a good day! by Ryan Tischer.
The peonies are blooming! Photo by Maryl Skinner.
When rain knocks your flowers down, bring them inside by Karen Sunderman.
Showy Lady Slippers by Karen Sunderman.
Rainbow Lupines by Roxanne Distad.
Showy Lady Slippers by Roxanne Distad.
Peonies by Kristofer Bowman.
Potpourri:
A Beautiful Doorway, Orvieto, Italy by Layne Kennedy.
Berrylicious & proud of my first pickings, 2024 by Tamara Malcolm.
Boatscapes, Landscapes, Cloudscapes &Waterscapes:
In the Grand Marais Harbor this weekend by Bryan Hansel.
Huge flows in the St. Louis River at Jay Cooke State Park by Dennis Chick
Moonshine by Lin Salisbury.
Raging river, rising mist at Thomson Dam, sundown 6/26 by Judy Gray.
High Falls at Grand Portage by John Jacobson.
Waiting to go out at dawn to check the nets. Photo by Bryan Hansel.
Yesterday’s bliss by Trish Francis.
Feather clouds by Mary Lou Williams.
A long sunrise on the Summer Solstice.
The Pearl Mist cruise ship on its way from Duluth to Thunder Bay by Greg Fangel.
Under the stars by Hayes Scriven.
Island Lake in summer by Paul Sundberg.
Fireworks by David Johnson.(File photo)
Happy 4th, everyone!
Thank you so much for reading NorthShore ArtScene this week. Hope you enjoyed it. If you would like to show your support, please click on the icon below, and thank you!
This week, I want to thank Jeremy Lopez (Live Music schedule, tech support, and troubleshooting), Yvonne Mills (proofreading), and Kari Carter (captions and research). Some of the music selections were by Adam Hirsch this week. I will take responsibility for the others. Enjoy!
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