One week to go

It is pretty quiet in Cook County as the Holiday Season continues with celebration and anticipation. Highlights in Cook County include a Christmas Show with the North Shore Swing Band, a Christmas film screening, a “Last” Christmas Sale, and the Winter Solstice Shadow Puppet Show. And, of course, there is a lot to discover at galleries around the county, as well as live music options.

Here are some details:

The North Shore Swing Band will perform its annual Christmas Show at Up Yonder from 6:30-8:30 pm on Thursday.

The band is a 15 – 20-piece big band featuring local players and vocalists and is well-known for its great music and danceability. Open to all. Free.

This is the last weekend to participate in the Drop-in Practice event at the Covill Town Hall this season.

This is an open class, inviting dancers of every age and experience. There is a suggested donation of $15. The class will be held from 6-7:30 pm.

On Friday, plein air painter Tim Vahle will hold a Holiday Happy Hour and Sale at his gallery from 5-9 pm.

The gallery features prints, cards, greeting card sets, stickers, and tote bags, as well as plein air paintings. Refreshments will be served. The gallery is located at 9 1st Ave. W. in the Birch Alley building directly behind the Gunflint Tavern.

The Grand Marais Film Society will screen a family holiday film at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 6 pm on Friday.

The Grand Marais Film Society is a volunteer film club that screens movies monthly (October-April)  at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts. For more details, including the name of the film, the film trailer, and to purchase tickets, click here.  Tickets can be purchased online and at the ACA. Open to all.

On Saturday, the Cornerstone Community Church will hold a “Late” Christmas Sale from 1-4:30 pm.

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The sale will feature crafts, gifts, jewelry, collectible rocks, a cookie Sale, and more. Holiday refreshments will be available. All proceeds go to Arrowhead Animal Rescue and the Fountain of Christ School in Haiti. The public is invited.

Sunday is the Winter Solstice, and to mark the shortest day of the year, the Good Harbor Hill Players will present its iconic Winter Solstice Shadow Puppet Show outdoors at North House Folk School at 6 pm.

This is always a wonderful event featuring handmade and, often, quirky shadow puppets, great live music, and a plot about local animals challenged by the season. This year, the play is all about Bear getting ready to hibernate and encountering unexpected guests in her lair.

The event always features a bonfire, where participants can toss their gloomies into the fire. Gloomies are written expressions of worries or thoughts that the individual wishes to go up in smoke.

According to Laura Durenberger-Grunow, Boreal Community Media:

“The first documented tradition of writing down and burning ‘gloomies’ began as an idea from artist Will Shuster in Santa Fe in 1923 on Christmas Eve. By 1924, he decided to combine the Mexican Yaqui tradition of burning a Judas effigy with burning gloomies to create the first Zozobra effigy in Shuster’s backyard (Zozobra is a Spanish word for a strong feeling of anxiety or distress). The annual burning of this figure, nicknamed “Old Man Gloom,” has since become a major event in New Mexico, drawing over 60,000 attendees.”

There won’t be that many at North House on Sunday, but we will have our own unique twist: the sound of mittened hands clapping.

There’s a potluck at North House afterwards, and everyone is invited to bring a dish to share.

The Good Harbor Hill Players is a community-based, nonprofit puppet theatre company. It has been performing and celebrating with the Grand Marais community since 1999 and produces the Summer Solstice Puppet Pageant and the Winter Solstice Shadow Puppet Show. All performances are accompanied by the GAMAPALAG band.

 Exhibits: 

Wonders of the North Shore, an exhibit of photographs by David Johnson, continues at the Johnson Heritage Post.

This is a fascinating exhibit of a Grand Marais photographer who has been shooting the beauties of the North Shore for years. Northern Lights, wildlife, including moose, as well as the northern landscape, have captured his interest. The exhibit continues through Dec. 28.

The Heritage Post is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thursday through Saturday and from 1-4 pm Sunday. Free.

This month’s art show at Tettegouche State Park is a group show featuring the Voyageur Art Club, which is based in Two Harbors.

Look for a selection of 2-D work, including paintings and photographs. The Voyageur Art Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting art expertise, education, workshops, and shared camaraderie with persons of all ages and abilities, and to instill creative appreciation for the arts in its community. The exhibit continues through the end of December.

At the Minneapolis Institute of Art, step into the splendor of Cambodia’s Khmer Empire in “Royal Bronzes: Cambodian Art of the Divine,” a groundbreaking exhibition in collaboration with the Guimet – National Museum of Asian Arts, France, and the National Museum of Cambodia.

While Angkor’s monumental stone temples are world-renowned, this exhibition highlights the empire’s exquisite bronze artistry—statues, ritual objects, and artifacts that reveal a fascinating blend of artistic mastery, religious devotion, and royal power.

Featuring more than 200 objects, including a colossal sculpture of the Hindu god Vishnu—a Cambodian national treasure—this exhibition offers an uhnprecedented look at Khmer bronze craftsmanship brought to light through recent archaeological discoveries. Witness the enduring legacy of Cambodia’s sacred metallurgical traditions and their profound cultural significance..

To find out more, click here. The exhibit continues through Jan. 18.

Opportunities:

 

There is still time to find handmade ornaments at the Johnson Heritage Post, a fundraiser for the Historical Society’s community programs.

 

The winners of this year’s ornament contest have been announced, with first place going to  Linda Q., 2nd place to Jayne R., 3rd place to Kris K., and  Madison A., won 1st place, Youth.  

The ornaments are on a Christmas tree in the lobby at the Heritage Center. It is open from 10 am to 4 pm Thurday through Saturday, and from 1-4  pm Sunday.

Artists at Work:

 Online Findings:

Here is what Michael Furtman posted on FB about wolves and deer in his neighborhood:

“It has been interesting to witness the rise and fall of the wolf population here. Just five years ago we had a large pack (10 or 11?) just south of us, and another pack (6-7?) just to the north. Our cabin was on the boundary line.

Then came two fierce winters with 10-12 feet of snow. Those deer (we are north of their normal range) that didn’t starve were taken by the wolves, which have an advantage in deep snow. Then a no-snow winter came, and now the remaining deer had the advantage. Wolves died or moved for lack of food.

Wolves don’t control ungulates. The number of ungulates controls the number of wolves. 

So the following winter I saw almost no sign of wolves. Certainly not of packs. Just the rare individual. This year I am seeing more wolf sign – still loners. But yesterday I saw the first sign of a pack (albeit small) of four wolves traveling together along the Wanless Road. 

There are still few deer; I saw three so far this year, and very little sign (droppings and tracks). Moose, however, seem to be thriving.

But it takes more than a “pack” of four to take down a moose, and the loners must be going “coyote” getting by on beavers, hares, and grouse. 

The gist of it, though, is that there is more evidence of wolves this year than I’ve seen in a while. Will they make it? Maybe if the loners and the small pack join into a larger pack capable of taking moose.”

Here is the link if you wish to make comments on FB:

Online music, courtesy of Dave Seaton: 

 

Photographs:

Here is a selection of photos we found this week:

Wildlife:

 

Peoplescapes: 

Potpourri:

 Landscapes, Waterscapes & Cloudscapes:

Sunrise over Lake Superior by Bryan Hansel.

Have a great week, everyone! Hope all goes well with your holiday preparations this week!

P.S. If you’d like to make an end-of-year donation to NorthShore ArtScene to keep it strong in 2026, you can contribute through the icon below. And Thank You!

 

 

Thank you to Jeremy Lopez and Yvonne Mills for their invaluable help every week. I’m so grateful to them. And Thank You! to Visit Cook County for its outstanding Calendar of Events.