First week of January

Greetings from the North Shore, where winter has arrived, offering lots of opportunities for outdoor adventures and quiet times for art-making and connections with friends and family.

For Trivia lovers, WTIP Community Radio will host Trivia Night at Up Yonder from 6-8 pm Thursday.

This is a bar-type trivia and is free. The public is invited. Prizes will be awarded.

The Norpine Fat Bike Classic is this weekend, featuring a variety of races and activities from Friday through Sunday.

Registration is at the North Shore Winery on Friday with a Dark Sky Tour at 5:30 pm. Race day is Saturday, starting and finishing at Cascade Lodge. On Sunday, there’s a group ride on the Pincushion Mountain trails.

For more info and schedule, click here.

There are two opportunities to watch films this weekend: the Friday Night Reels at the Grand Marais Public Library on Friday and a film hosted by the Grand Marais Film Society at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts on Saturday.

The library will be screening free films on every other Friday through March. They start at 6 pm. This week’s film is entitled “Sinners.” Here’s the trailer:

Refreshments will be available.

Some films contain graphic violence or offensive content. The Grand Marais Public Library does not endorse the views expressed by the films, and it strongly encourages community members to preview trailers and film details online to find the films that best match their preferences.

Here’s the list of upcoming films (Click on the link to see a preview.)

• Jan. 23: A Radiant Girl (2021), 1hr 38m.
• Feb. 6: Grave of the Fireflies (1988), 1h 28m.
• Feb. 20: A Complete Unknown (2024), 2h 21m.
• March 6: Ace in the Hole (1951), 1h 51m.
• March 20: Chinatown (1974), 2h 10m.

This month’s offering by the Grand Marais Film Society on Saturday was a winner at the Sundance Film Festival.

 To see a trailer and buy tickets, click here. The film starts at 7 pm.

On Monday, the North Shore Artists League Grand Marais Pod will hold a meeting at the Cook County Community Center from 3- 4:30 pm.

The theme of this month’s meeting is “Art and artists matter more than ever: Navigating the contemporary experience.” Artists and creatives of all media are encouraged to bring in pieces that are in process, are completed, or even ideas to discuss with the group.

While the event is sponsored by North Shore Artists League and will include members, these meetings are designed for anyone who is a creative or is interested to learn more about the artists who live in and around the North Shore. Artist Tim Vahle will lead the meeting. There is no cost to attend.

 Exhibits:

The Johnson Heritage Post has opened a new exhibit in the gallery entitled Scenes of the North Shore, featuring works from its permanent collection.

This is the gallery’s first major exhibition of the year, and it offers a unique, immersive look at the last 100 years of life on the North Shore. This exhibition bridges the gap between art and history by pairing historic and contemporary local works from the JHP permanent collection with physical artifacts from the Cook County Historical Society’s archives and from the artists themselves.

Here are a few examples from the exhibit:

The Art Gallery will be open during its regular hours this winter. They are Thursday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, and Sunday, from 1-4 pm.

In Duluth, the Tweed Museum of Art‘s exhibit, “All Kinds of People” continues.

“All Kinds of People” is the first installment in a series of permanent collection rotations that feature works organized within thematic areas. Drawn from the Tweed’s growing collection of about 11,000 objects, this rotation includes artists from the 17th century to the present day who approach portraiture and the depiction of people through the mediums of drawing, painting, sculpture, collage, photography, and printmaking. The title draws its name from a 1968 exhibition organized by influential curator Walter Hopps (1932 – 2005) at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art (Washington, DC). The salon-style exhibition of portraiture and figurative work was organized in response to the overwhelming predominance at the time of abstraction in contemporary culture.

Grand Marais plein air artist Neil Sherman is one of the artists exhibiting at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska.

The exhibit, “Winter Quietude,” captures the hushed reverence of a forest and the tranquility of frozen lakes. The exhibit showcases the vibrant, ephemeral dance of light on landscapes and the glittering frost on branches. The artwork includes gouache, ink, and pastel of  Susan Solomon, the oils of Ann Singsaas and Neil Sherman, and the woven natural fibers of Emily Wick.

The exhibit concludes with an Artist Reception from 1:30-3 pm on Jan 25.  To see more and listen to the interview, click here.

 Upcoming:

The North Shore Music Association will host two Alpha Consumer Residency Concerts at North House Folk School on Jan. 16-17.

The public concerts are part of a broader residency that also includes separate, hands-on workshops with Cook County Schools ISD 166 band students. Together, the residency brings artists, students, and community members together around improvisation, listening, and shared music-making.

Part of a weekend residency, the concerts will feature collaborative, improvisational performances by Mike Lewis (saxophone, bass), Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar), and JT Bates (drums). Each musician brings decades of national and international experience, working across jazz, indie rock, experimental music, and beyond. Together, they create a dynamic ensemble that blends adventurous improvisation with deep musical connection.

For more information and tickets, click here.

Opportunities

A Call for Photographs of Cook County

Cook County is seeking proposals from photographers to provide high-quality digital images to be featured as a backdrop carousel for a community resource directory website.  The name of the website will be “Thrive Together: A Cook County Community Resource Guide.”  This is a cross-agency initiative, and the final product will be a site that is promoted by all partner agencies with the shared goal of helping residents more easily find and connect with available local resources. The photographs will be purchased, with a total budget allowance not to exceed $2,400.

All proposals submitted in response to this RFP must be received by Cook County no later than 4 p.m. on January 30th 2026, via email to grace.grinager@co.cook.mn.us . To find out more, click here.

Volunteers needed for the 2026 Gunflint Mail Run

The Gunflint Mail Run is always a great event. It will be held on Feb. 7. To find out more and volunteer, click here.

Artists at Work:

Online findings:

Surfing on Lake Superior

 

This is a great love story

Online Music: 

Music Selections by Phil Oswald: 

Photographs:

Wildlife:

Yum! A winter snack. Photo courtesy of the Lake View Natural Dairy.

Peoplescapes

Potpourri:

 

 

Skyscapes, Landscapes, Icescapes, & Waterscapes: 

 Have a great weekend, everyone!

This would be a good time to contribute to North Shore ArtScene, your weekly source for arts and entertainment news. Just click on the icon below to donate. And Thank You!

 

 

A big Thank You! to Jeremy Lopez, tech support, the Live Music Schedule, and Yvonne Mills, proofreading, for their contributions to this issue.  And a big Thank You to Visit Cook County for its great Events Calendar.