There were lots of plein air painters in Grand Marais this week—photo by Carl Anderson.
Greetings from the North Shore, where we are revelling in summer temperatures and blue skies — thankful, but if we’re working outdoors in our gardens, it’s been hot.
On the other hand, it’s been a perfect week for plein air painters, who scattered around the county to paint its beauty during the Grand Marais Plein Air Competition. We saw the results at a grand opening at the Johnson Heritage Post last Friday. Kudos to all.
Fall has also brought outrageous colors to the forest in the past week. Here are a few examples:
The understory in fall by Nancy Lindberg.
Fall transitions by Hayes Scriven.
Rocky Johnson doing his thing by David Johnson.
There’s plenty to do this weekend and next on the North Shore, including Unplugged 2025 at North House Folk School this weekend and two art studio tours along the North Shore next weekend — The Superior 20/20 and the Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour.
And, of course, art-making continues.
Art Night at Joy and Company is held every Thursday from 3:30-5 pm, offering the public an opportunity to make an art project with supplies from the shop. Topics and projects change each week.
Art Night will be held at Joy & Co from 3:30-5 pm on Thursday.
Art Night is free, with a suggested donation of $5.
The Grand Marais Farmer’s Market, featuring a great selection of locally grown produce, baked goods, artisan breads, fresh flowers, and more, is held in the parking lot of the Community Center in the summer.
Tomatoes are featured at the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market this time of year.
The market is open from 4:30 pm to 6 pm and is open to all. Snap is accepted. The Cook County Master Gardeners have a booth at the market, too, to answer questions. Free.
The North Shore Swing Band will play for Jazz Night at Up Yonder on Thursday night from 7-9 pm.
The North Shore Swing Band plays at Up Yonder on Thursday at 7 pm. Photograph by Carah Thomas.
The band recently celebrated its 25th Anniversary with a concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts, a fundraiser for the Grand Marais Playhouse. Here’s a short video of that concert, produced by Chuck Olsen of WTIP Radio.
Carah Thomas sings I Wanna Be Loved by You at the Swing Band’s 25th anniversary concert. Click here to listen.
The North Shore Swing Band features a 15-to 20-piece big band with exceptional players and vocalists, and plays a great selection of jazz favorites, making each performance perfect for listeners and dancers alike. Open to all. Free.
This is Unplugged 2025 weekend at North House Folk School, with a new format this year. Learn more about it here:
Unplugged 2025 kicks off with a community night on the harbor on Friday at 5 pm for food, craft, and free pie. At 7 pm, enjoy a free concert with Jeffrey Foucault and Kris Delmhorst.
On Saturday the 20th, the morning begins with a free family concert featuring Fire in the Village, along with hands-on family craft opportunities. As has become tradition, there will also be free early morning ice cream from Superior Creamery.
The Folk Artisan Marketplace will be open all weekend.
On Saturday evening, North House will host a reimagined version of its iconic Birch Bark Bash. Each ticket includes food from regional food trucks, beverages, and unique opportunities to engage with craft, including a session with the guest international instructors. The event will culminate with a live auction and fund-a-need with the crowd favorite auctioneer, Christian Kolberg, followed by dessert and music into the evening. To find out more about the entire weekend and get tickets, click here.
There are also a variety of interesting events in the county this weekend.
On Friday and Saturday, Caribou Cream will hold its annual Maple Festival at its location in Lutsen.
The annual Maple Festival will be held at Caribou Cream this weekend. Photo furnished.
The Maple Festival is all about maple: maple sugar, maple syrup, and the spectacular colors of maple trees in the fall.
Activities include rock painting, wood carving demonstrations, maple cotton candy, maple baked goodies, and so much more. Caribou Cream is located 2 miles up the Caribou Trail. The public is invited.
On Saturday, the Cook County Market opens at 10 am in the parking lot of The Hub.
Basketmaker Paula Sundet has a booth at the market with her sweetgrass agate baskets. She also teaches at North House Folk School.
The market features a variety of work by local artists and artisans, including painters, glass artists, potters, fiber artists, and more. The market is open from 10 am to 2 pm. Live music this week will be provided by Frozen Britches (Tom VanCleve & Erik Hahn). The public is invited.
Also on Saturday, Ben Seaton, Britt Malec, and M Baxley will host Grand Marais Takes Action for the Boundary Waters at the Cook County YMCA from 10 am to noon.
Grand Marais Takes Action for the Boundary Waters will be held at the Y on Saturday. Open to all.
The public is invited to this community event designed for Minnesotans who care about the wilderness and our outdoor recreation heritage.
Participants will hear from Save the Boundary Waters and community leaders, learn how to get engaged in protecting the wilderness, and enjoy refreshments and community. Open to all.
The Lutsen Flea Market will be held on Saturday, too, from noon to 4 pm, in the Lutsen ball field.
The Lutsen Flea Market will be held on Saturday.
This is a popular community event. Expect lots of treasures and finds at this event. Set-up for participants is at 10:30 am. Open to all.
Also on Saturday, the Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will host a presentation by historian and author David Hakensen on nature writer Helen Hoover.
A presentation about nature-lover Helen Hoover will be held at Chik-Wauk on Saturday at 2 pm.
Hakensen is a communications consultant and the immediate past president of the Minnesota Historical Society. He is the author of “Her Place in the Woods: The Life of Helen Hoover,” the biography of one of Minnesota’s most beloved nature writers, from her career in the city to her rustic cabin on Gunflint Lake.
Hoover was a best-selling nature writer from the 1960s and 1970s who lived on Gunflint Lake with her artist husband Adrian. David will explore Helen’s career in Chicago before moving to the Gunflint Lake area in 1954, and her success writing books for adults and children. The event is free and open to the public.
For fans of Al Oikari: He and Nashville fiddler Caitlin Nicol-Thomas will play at the Raven Rock Grill at Skyport Lodge, 4:30-6:30 pm on Saturday.
Caitlin Nicol-Thomas will play at the Raven Rock Grill on Saturday.
The event is free. Food will be available.
Drury Lane Books will host an Author Talk with Emma Törzs on Saturday from 6-7:30 pm at the bookstore.
Emma Törzs will give an Author Talk on Saturday.
Törzs will read segments from her 2024 Minnesota Book Award-winning fiction, Ink Blood Sister Scribe.
Törzs’s fiction has been honored with an NEA fellowship in prose, a World Fantasy Award for Short Fiction, and an O. Henry Prize. Ink Blood Sister Scibe, her debut novel, was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller, a National Indie bestseller, a Good Morning America Book Club pick, an Indie Next pick, one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2023, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2023, and acclaimed by reviewers from the New York Times, NPR, the Washington Post, Locus Magazine, the Guardian, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, and more. Doors to her presentation open at 5:45 pm. Questions and a book signing will follow. The public is invited.
On Tuesday, the Cook County Historical Society will hold its Centennial Celebration and Fundraiser at North House Folk School.
The Cook County Historical Society’s 100th anniversary celebration is Sept 23 at North House Folk School.
The event, which is open to the public, kicks off with the annual meeting at 4:30 pm with discussions of what the Historical Society has been doing this past year to celebrate 100 years of telling Cook County stories. Dinner, including a planked trout option, follows. For tickets, click here.
Exhibits:
Plein Air Grand Marais opened at the Johnson Heritage Post on Friday to accolades. More than 300 plein air paintings are in the show, which continues through Oct. 5. Grand Marais plein air painter, Neil Sherman, was the juror this year.
The opening reception also included an award ceremony, which gave the nod to the artists in a variety of areas.
Plein air painter Logan Hudson won the award for the Best Body of Work.
A love that will last forever, oil, by Logan Hudson. He was awarded the Best Body of Work at the Grand Marais Plein Air Competition. To find out more, click here.
James Turner and Brock Larson shared the Artist’s Choice– Best Body of Work award.
By the Gunflint, watercolor, by James Turner.
September Field, oil, by Brock Larson.
Lisa Stauffer won the Evergreen Award for the Best Tree.
Reaching Pine, pastel, by Lisa Stauffer.
For more information about the competition and photos, click here.
At Studio 21, Hazel Belvo‘s outstanding exhibit, Walking the Croftville Road, continues.
October, acrylic diptych, by Hazel Belvo, is one of the pieces in her exhibit, Walking the Croftville Road, currently on view at Studio 21.
The exhibit features 12 diptychs (2-part paintings), representing each month of the year, and it is very powerful. Personally, I’ve been thinking about it as stark and lush — it is that engaging and thought-provoking. Granted, we all come to an art exhibit with our own focus. Enjoy this one.
Studio 21 is also exhibiting work by Cecilia Rolando, the Arrowhead Artist for September.
Fruit on the Table, acrylic on paper, by Cecilia Rolando, is one of the pieces on view at Studio 21 this month.
To see more work by this Ely artist, visit Studio 21 from 10 am to 5 pm Thursday through Saturday, and/or visit her website here.
Watercolor painter Chris Dillon is exhibiting work at Tettegouche State Park through September.
The Breakwall, watercolor, by Chris Dillon, is one of the pieces on view at Tettegouche.
The galleries at the Duluth Art Institute are currently closed and will re-open Oct. 6 for the 65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial.
The 65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial opens at the Duluth Art Institute Oct. 6.
As one of the longest-running biennials in the country, this exhibition features a wide range of artwork produced within the last five years from artists residing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada. The exhibit is open to all 2D & 3D work, except AI-generated.
To find out who has been selected to be in the show, click here. The juror was Wendy Savage.
Grand Marais artist Mary Sannerud will be exhibiting work at Emily Donovan Studio in Minneapolis as part of a group show entitled: FOUNDATIONS: Materials and Methods.
Detail of a felted piece by Mary Sannerud. She is showing her work at a gallery in Minneapolis.
The show opens Sept. 18 and continues through Nov. 29.
Upcoming:
Artists, art studios, and galleries in Cook and Lake counties are in the final preparations for one of the most important art events of the season: The Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour in Cook County and the Lake Superior 20/20 Art Studio Tour in Lake County. Both feature a wide selection of artwork by local artists and are self-guided.
The Lake Superior 20/20 Studio & Art Tour is one weekend only, Sept. 26-28. All the studios are (technically) within a 20-mile radius of Two Harbors and include painter David Gilsvik and potter Paul Zohldan, just to mention two.
The Lake Superior 20/20 Studio & Art Tour is Sept. 26-28 this year.
To find out more about the 20/20 tour and which artists are where, click here.
The Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour has directly descended from the Crossing Borders Tour, which was started 28 years ago and included artists and studios in Thunder Bay as well as along the North Shore to Duluth.
This year, the Fall Studio Tour features 32 artists and art studios as well as 5 galleries in Cook County, from Tofte to Grand Portage to the Gunflint Trail.
The Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour opens Sept. 16. Brochures are available at Visit Cook County and participating galleries and studios.
The tour is held for 10 days, Sept. 26 – Oct. 5, offering the public plenty of time to visit the studios, talk to the artists, and see their latest work. The studios and galleries are open from 10 am to 5 pm daily.
For the next few weeks, we will feature a selection of work by the artists participating in this wonderful event. For details and a preview of the tour, click here.
Adrea Beres is one of the hosts for Art Along the Lake.
Hummingbirds, woodcut, by Betsy Bowen.
Woodturner Cooper Ternes will participate in the tour this year.
Felter Elise Kyllo felts clothing and critters.
Sharon Frykman creates in fused glass.
Fall light, oil, by Tim Vahle. He is one of the hosts for the Fall Studio Tour.
Sculptors Lee and Dan Ross are exhibiting new work at Art Along the Lake as well as their monoprints.
Stay tuned for more images next week. Meanwhile, check out the Art Along the Lake website here.
Artists at Work:
Oil paintings and drawings in process, 2023- 2024 by Elizabeth Kuth.
Untitled, oil, by James Ellis.
Packing up for the trip south by Nancy Carlson.
And now I can say goodbye to summer by Kathy Fox Weinberg.
Serving bowl, stoneware, by Bob DeArmand.
Dialogues in Reds and Blues by Kathy Fox Weinberg.
Trees breathing light by Rachel Leaa.
Online Music:
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Live Music:
Thursday, September 18:
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-5 pm
- John Gruber or SonofMel, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
- North Shore Swing Band, Up Yonder, 7-9 pm
- Silent Disco Dance Party, Caribou Highlands Courtyard, 7-10 pm
Friday, September 19:
- Adam Kirsch, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Steve Blexrud, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Southpaws with Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Birch Terrace Supper Club & Lounge, 3:30-7 pm
- Billy Johnson, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Jeffrey Foucault and Kris Delmhorst, North House Folk School, 7 pm
- Emma Tweten, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
- Brother’s Burn Mountain, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 8-11 pm
Saturday, September 20:
- Frozen Britches (Tom VanCleve & Erik Hahn), Cook County Market at the Hub, 10-2 pm
- Steve Blexrud, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 3-6 pm
- Al Oikari with Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Raven Rock Grill at Skyport Lodge, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Jim Miller, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Pete Kavanaugh, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Billy Johnson, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-10 pm
- Karaoke, Up Yonder, 9-11:55 pm
Sunday, September 21:
- Billy Johnson, North Shore Winery, 3:30-6 pm
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Scott Schuler (Campfire Guitar Pull), Caribou Highlands Lodge Courtyard, 7 pm
Monday, September 22:
- Emma Tweten, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Pete Kavanaugh, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Tuesday, September 23:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 5-7 pm
- Briand Morrison, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Open Stage hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 6-8 pm
- Community Singing, Log Cabin at the Grand Marais Community Center, 7 pm
- Joe Paulik, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-8 pm
- Billy Mandziuk, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Thursday, September 25:
- Bump Blomberg, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5:30-8 pm
- Nick Howl, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6:30-8:30 pm
- Silent Disco Dance Party!, Caribou Highlands Courtyard, 7-10 pm
Friday, September 26:
- Barbara Jean and Mike Lewis, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Pure Honey, Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 5-7 pm
- Pat Eliasen, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 7-9 pm
- Barbara Jean & Mike Lewis, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
- The Wrong Omar (Joe Shaheen and Bob Groethe), Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-10 pm
- Karaoke, Up Yonder, 9-11:55 pm
Saturday, September 27:
- Bump Blomberg, Cook County Market at the Hub, 10-2 pm
- Mike & Babs, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- The Wrong Omar (Joe Shaheen and Bob Groethe), Gunflint Tavern Rooftop, 7-10 pm
- Inga Entheos, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm
Sunday, September 28:
- Sarah Morris, North Shore Winery, 3:30-5:30 pm
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille and Tap Room, 5-7 pm
- Scott Schuler (Campfire Guitar Pull), Caribou Highlands Lodge Courtyard, 7 pm
Photographs:
Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
Summmer 2025 by Thomas Spence.
A white-tailed deer mom and her fawn by Bill Marchel.
Being Clever by Nancy Lindberg.
Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday — the last of our eight hand-reared monarchs by Maryl Skinner.
Spider Web by Don Davison.
Potpourri:
Leotia Viscosa: green-capped jelly babies by M Baxley.
A pathway by Sarah Allen.
A mushroom discovery by Travis Novitsky.
Say Hi to Gary by Rachel Rae Rae.
Weighing in at almost 2 pounds each by John Jacobson.
A mushroom potpourri by Gary Arands.
Hibbing Gas Station window in Minnesota’s Iron Range by Layne Kennedy.
Up Above at Oberg Mountain, illustration by Adam Malmanger.
Landscapes, Skyscapes, Leafscapes, Otherscapes:
Northern lights, a canoe, and wilderness, perfect!! by Bryan Hansel.
Color on a rainy day by Sandra Updyke.
The Hjordis and the Full Moon by Paul Sundberg.
Honor the silence by Sandra Updyke.
Northern Lights by Ken Harmon.
Morning Birch by Don Davison.
The lady put up a nice show by David Johnson.
A foggy evening cruise by Carl Anderson.
A view in Iceland by Layne Kennedy.
Wonders of the Moonlit Sky by Travis Novitsky.
Early fall color by Ken Harmon.
Fall by Gary Arands.
A luscious fall by Sandra Updyke.
For peace. Photo by Staci Drouillard.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
PS: Here’s a big thank you to all the people who are and have been contributing to NorthShore Artscene with their generous donations. Thank you so much! It really helps us keep bringing you this information every week.
If you’d like to join this group, just click on the icon below. And thank you!!
And here’s a big shout-out to Jeremy Lopez (Live Music schedule, technical advice) and Yvonne Mills (proofreading) for their strong support. Thank you. And Thank You, Visit Cook County, for a great Events Calendar, from which we borrow extensively.
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