The Feathered Glory of the Snowy Owl by Paul Sundberg.
Greetings friends. While Grand Marais might not have snow, we have been hosting a beautiful winter visitor this week. A Snowy Owl has been hanging out around town, feasting on voles and mice in grassy spots near the Coast Guard Station and checking out the rocks on the shore, putting on a show for everyone, including photographer Paul Sundberg.
City Slacker by Paul Sundberg.
Rock Hound by Paul Sundberg.
Sundberg spent a lot of time photographing the owl, and reports she even flew down and settled next to him at one point. He writes:
“As the lighthouse turned on, she flew to the top of the rocks. Then, to my surprise, she flew right over and landed next to me. It was too dark to get any photos but what a cool experience. I just put my camera down and started to talk to her. What a way to end the day. Talking to a Snowy Owl.”
Yes, for sure.
This weekend also offers a special selection of events to surprise, delight, and teach. It’s the Winterer’s Gathering weekend at North House Folk School, offering classes, events, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and the Arctic Film Festival, and more.
North House Folk School.
The Snowshoe Shuffle Contra Dance is on Friday night.
Making the perfect snowshoe.
Here are a few highlights for the weekend.
Friday:
- Open Fire Dinner on a Stick & Outdoor Film Shorts
- Snowshoe Shuffle Traditional Community Contra Dance
- Cold Snap Poetry Celebration
Saturday:
- The Great Gear & Ski Sale
- Artisan Development Open Studio
- The Deep Freeze Chili Feed
- Featured Speaker: Dr. Paul Bierman: “Greenland’s Value Is Its Ice”
Sunday:
- Family Fun and Meet the Plow Truck.
The Arctic Film Festival runs throughout the weekend, offering a great selection of films from around the world, as well as opportunities to talk to directors of some of the films. To see the complete schedule, click here. Here’s the trailer to “Where the Wind Takes You.” The director, Ryan Rumpca, will be on campus for the screening and a Q&A.
The public is invited to campus for this iconic winter festival. To see the schedule of events for the weekend, click here.
There are other fun events happening this weekend, too.
The North Shore Swing Band will perform for Jazz Night at Up Yonder on Thursday, Nov. 20.
Jazz Night with the North Shore Swing Band is at Up Yonder from 6:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursday.
Talented local musicians perform a great variety of jazz tunes, good for dancing and listening. They will play from 6:30-8:30 pm. Free and open to all.
The Grand Marais Art Colony will hold two sessions of a special workshop on exploring how to mix color pigments and create a small piece with the colors, Pigment to Paint.
Pigment to Paint workshops to be held at Studio 17 on Friday and Saturday.
The first workshop is on Friday at 5 pm and is for adults, couples, and/or friends. The second workshop is for youth and families at 9:30 pm on Saturday.
At the workshop, Art Colony instructor Allison Healy will teach the basics of creating watercolor paints from scratch. Students will mix pre-ground pigments with a binder and formulate a color palette while examining the pigments’ properties and how they react to various watercolor papers. Everyone will create a color swatch sheet for future reference.
The class will be held in Studio 17. The cost is $10.
Also on Saturday, the annual Up on the Yonder Holiday Market will be held at Up Yonder from 11 am to 5 pm.
The Up Yonder holiday sale is on Saturday from 11 am to 5 pm.
This is a great chance to meet local artists and see their work, as well as enjoy refreshments. More than 15 local and regional vendors will be at the sale on Saturday. There are perks, too. Free pint glasses will be given to the first 50 guests who purchase a beverage. Want to shop early? With a $10 donation to the Cook County School’s Spanish trip to Spain (trip will be in the spring of 2026), shoppers can start shopping at 10:30 am and receive a free 2025 Up on the Yonder Tote bag. This is always a busy sale. The public is invited.
Jeri Person will hold a class in making glass Christmas ornaments at Joy and Company on Saturday, Nov. 22, and Saturday, Dec. 6.
Make glass Christmas tree ornaments at Joy and Company.
- The class takes about 15 minutes – one hour. All ages welcome.
- Drop-ins welcome anytime between 1 – 4 pm
- For reservations or groups, email jperson2@boreal.org
- (Pick up your ornament the next day after 12 pm). Shipping available for $10.
On Saturday evening, the 2025 winter edition of Chamber Music Up North, entitled Notes From The Road, will present an exciting repertoire from every corner of the world, featuring music influenced by diverse cultures and traditions at 7 pm at Bethlehem Lutheran Chuch.
Chamber Music Up North will be in performance at Bethlehem Lutheran Church at 7 pm Saturday.
The concert will feature works by Antonín Dvořák and Astor Piazzolla, and will be performed alongside pieces by contemporary Polish and American composers and music drawing inspiration from Hungarian folk and Indian classical music.
The event is free and open to all. To learn more, click here.
Transitions: Navigating Change, a community art exhibit organized by the Spirit of the Wilderness Episcopal Church, opened at the Johnson Heritage Post last week to accolades. The exhibit showcases the creativity and talent in the Cook County community. Artists of every age contributed work to this show, and it features a wide variety of media and styles.
Late summer grasses, oil, by Marcia Roepke, is on view at the Heritage Post.
This exhibition highlights how art serves as a necessary tool during times of instability. The exhibit continues through Nov. 30. The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday and from 1-4 pm on Sunday. Free.
Sandra Maxwell is exhibiting her watercolor paintings in the Great Hall at Tettegouche State Park through the end of November.
A selection of watercolor paintings by Sandra Maxwell is on view at Tettegouche.
The artist is inspired by the beauty of nature and landscape on the North Shore.
David Gilsvik is exhibiting work at the Cedar Coffee Company in Two Harbors.
David Gilsvik is exhibiting at the Cedar Coffee Company in Two Harbors.
The exhibit will continue through November.
Opportunities:
This is the last weekend to bid on the online auction fundraiser for WISE (Women’s Initiative for Service and Education). The online auction closes on Nov. 23.
The WISE Online Auction closes on Nov. 23.
Over 100 items, ranging from $20 to $1200, including over 50 gift certificates, are in the auction.
Funds will be used for classroom grants, donations to local nonprofits that serve families and children, and scholarships for two high school seniors, as well as adults.
To view the auction and make your bids, click here.
Members of the community are invited to create and donate a handcrafted ornament to be featured in the competition at the Johnson Heritage Post. The ornaments will be sold to raise money for the Cook County Historical Society’s 2026 community programming. Youth, ages 5-13, and adults are encouraged to participate.
The Ornament Contest and Fundraiser begins at the Heritage Post on Thursday and continues through Dec. 4.
Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place in the adult category, and for first place in the youth category.
All proceeds generated from the sale of the ornaments will directly support the Cook County Historical Society’s community programming scheduled for 2026. Ornaments that remain unsold after Dec. 31 may be returned to the artist if they choose.
Upcoming:
The North Shore Winery will hold a Holiday Market on Nov. 28.
The North Shore Winery’s Holiday Market is on Nov. 28.
The market will be held from 12:30-5 pm, featuring several local vendors. Bump Blomberg, Gordon Thorne, and Steve Sutherland will play music. Refreshments and beverages will be available.
Also on Nov. 28, the Oh Ole Night Christmas Parade and Fireworks will be held in Grand Marais.
Murray the Moose will be in the parade.
This is always a fun parade that goes around the block twice. To find out more and participate, click here.
The Hovland Holiday Arts Festival will be at the Hovland Town Hall on Saturday, November 29.
The Hovland Holiday Arts Festival is Nov. 29.
This is always an eclectic festival offering everything from paintings to wreaths, pottery to Christmas decorations, to mention a few. The market will be held from 10 am to 4 pm in the Hovland Town Hall. To find out more, click here.
The Northwoods Fiber Guild’s Open House and Holiday Sale will be at Studio 21 on Dec. 6. This is the iconic holiday sale in Cook County featuring a great selection of handmade goods by Fiber guild members.
The Northwoods Fiber Guild Open House and Holiday Sale is Dec. 6.
The Grand Marais Art Colony will hold a Holiday Market at Studio 17 on Dec. 6 as well.
The Art Colony will hold a Holiday Market in Studio 17 on Dec. 6.
Artists at Work:
Finishing touches on the painting I have been working on for over a year by Christi Belcourt.
Drink the landscape, native clay, by Jonathan Walburg.
They were pretty excited by these guys, too, print by Nancy Carlson.
A summer garden, oil, by Susan Voorhees.
Give Us Wings—by Birney Quick, 1981. Posted by Terry Backlund.
A visitor to tea, reduction linocut, by Alison Hadley.
Work in progress, oil, by Scott Murphy.
Bob, graphite and chalk on paper by Tim Vahle.
Untitled, oil, 1946, by Ade Toftey, posted by Terry Backlund.
Still Life on a Table, oil on paper, 1938, by Lee Krasner.
Colorful Song, acrylic, by Aaron Kloss.
Two sides of a racoon by Eric Klepinger.
Online findings:
Music and human evolution: Can music heal the brain?
Click to hear the conversation. (FB post.)
Online Music:
This week’s music selections are from Denise Jacobson.
If you’d like to be a DJ for a week, send artists’ names, song titles, and a video link, if you have one, to Joan.farnam@gmail.com
Live Music:
Thursday, November 20:
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- North Shore Swing Band, Up Yonder, 6:30-8:30 pm
Friday, November 21:
- Over the Waterfall, North House Folk School, 6:30-9:30 pm
Saturday, November 22:
- Chamber Music Up North with Karolina Mikolajczyk & Iwo Jedynecki, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 7-8:30 pm
Monday, November 24:
- Gordon Thorne, Charlie’s Alpine Bistro, 6:30-9 pm
Tuesday, November 25:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Open Stage hosted by Pete K, Up Yonder, 6-8 pm
- Community Singing, Log Cabin at the Grand Marais Community Center, 7 pm
- Bump Blomberg, Charlie’s Alpine Bistro, 6:30-9 pm
Friday, November 28:
- Bump Blomberg, Gordon Thorne, and Steve Sutherland, North Shore Winery, 1:30-3:30 pm
Saturday, November 29:
- EricKaoke, Karaoke hosted by Erick Steey, Up Yonder, 9-1 am
Photographs:
Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
A bird rack. Photo taken on an Alaskan highway. Photographer unknown..
You rang? by Michael Furtman.
Snowy Owl blessed us in Grand Marais by Katie Slanga.
Bear snow prints by Paul Ostrum.
A white tail deer has antlers like a mule deer by Bill Marchel.
Cedar Waxwing and crab apples by Bill Marchel.
White-tailed in snow and frost by Bill Marchel.
Crab apples are a popular fruit in late fall, especiallly when the Robins got all the mountain ash berries by Jill Beim.
The Rad Fox by Thomas Spence.
Lynx kittens by Michael Furtman. File photo.
Evening Grosbeak by Chuck Olsen.
Long-tailed Duck by Michael Furtman.
Potpourri:
Gifts from Lake Superior by Elizabeth Anderson.
My inner circle on another new path by Gordon Salisbury.
Jack’s back! by Roxanne Distad.
Look at it! In the UP the other day, by Sandra Updyke.
A close encounter by Eric Humphrey.
Skyscapes, Cloudscapes & Waterscapes:
Split Rock Arora by Hayes Scriven.
Aurora over the High Falls by Chuck Olson.
Fog on the Temperance by Cherrylann Virnig.
The colors were rocking in Two Habors by Matthew Pastick.
Sunrise over Lutsen by Bryan Hansel.
At Langley River by Jan Swart.
Clouds of November by Jana Kokemiller-Berka.
With the clouds comes beauty by Matthew Pastick.
Otter tracks and Northern Lights by David Johnson.
Snow clouds on the horizon of Whitefish Bay by Seamus McCat.
Frozen Times on the Gunflint Trail! by Nicholas Narog.
Progression of flames by AmyLeo Barankovich.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Today, Thursday, Nov. 20, is Give to the Max Day in Minnesota, and I encourage you to give generously to your favorite nonprofits. If you’d like to contribute to NorthShore ArtScene too, that would be great. And Thank You!
Your contribution is another way to say Thank You! to Jeremy Lopez (tech guru, Live Music Schedule) and Yvonne Mills (proofreading) for their dedication and support. Thank you to Visit Cook County for their outstanding Events Calendar, too.
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