The May Arrivals

” Where did we put that nest?” by Paul Ostrum.

Greetings from the North Shore, where we welcome the rain and our favorite migrant birds. Truth be told, we are definitely ramping up to celebrate Memorial Day next week. Here is what we know:

First up is the creative opportunity at Joy and Company during the Art Counter Project on Thursday. This week, participants will create small canvas paintings to take home.

It’s Free Paint Night at Joy and Company this week.

The event is held from 3-4:30 pm on Thursday. All supplies will be provided, as will some instruction. Free, but a $5 freewill donation is appreciated.

Cook County native Keith Morris will hold a book-signing and reading from his newly published book, “Growing Up on the Gunflint Trail,” from 5:30-7:30 pm at the Johnson Heritage Post.

Keith Morris will hold a book launch at the Johnson Heritage Post on Thursday.

The book is published by Minnesota Children’s Press, with 90 photos and illustrations. Morris draws on his skills as an engaging and witty storyteller, accomplished wilderness paddler, kayak designer and builder, expert artist, inventor, and renowned north woods adventurer to create a lifetime of satisfying experiences through the book’s multimedia offerings.

They include:

• 19 essays, with topics such as “Ice House” and “Loons”, as well as an annotated art section
• 35 photographs from the Morris family archives
• 55 of Morris’ stunning pencil sketches, linoleum block prints, acrylic paintings, hand-drawn maps, pictures of novel furniture Morris designed and built
• samples from the two patent filings Morris holds for kayak transport systems.

A slide show of his work begins at 6:15 pm. The public is invited.

Also on Thursday, the WTIP Trivia Night will be held at Up Yonder from 6-8 pm.

It’s Trivia Night at Up Yonder on Thursday.

This is a bar-type Trivia and is open to all. Prizes.

On Friday, North House Folk School will host Hide Week Gathering Day as part of Hide Week, featuring speakers and demonstrations. It is free and open to the public.

The Hide Week Gathering will be held at North House on Friday.

Leather is a material humans have used to create some of the very items that have made life possible, including clothing, footwear, blankets, and many accessories. While there are many processes for tanning animal skins, each method reflects the culture, landscape, and knowledge of a specific place and people.

Friday events include presentations on tanning in cultures around the world, as well as a panel/group discussion. There will be demonstrations of tanning techniques from 2-4 pm.

On Saturday night, Darla Campbell and Kevin Lewis will give a presentation entitled  Kâniyâsihk Culture Camps: Traditions, Community and Cultural Revitalization through Land-Based Education.

To find out more, click here. 

On Saturday, Great Expectations School will hold its annual Plant Sale and Breakfast Fundraiser at the school from 8 am to 1 pm.

The Great Expectations Plant Sale and Breakfast is on May 16.

This highly anticipated spring event features a great selection of annuals, vegetables, and herbs for the Cook County gardener, grown by students at the school. Perennials are supplied by Prairie Restoration. Breakfast is served from 8 -10:30 am. Tickets are $7 for children 7 and younger, $10 for adults. The plant sale will be held from 8 am to 1 pm. The public is invited.

Also on Saturday, the Marshall W. Alworth Traveling Planetarium will be at the Grand Portage Lodge Events Center from 11 am to 3 pm.

A planetarium will be in Grand Portage on Saturday.

The public is invited to step inside the immersive dome theater and explore the wonders of our night sky—from constellations to deep space objects and everything in between.

As part of the park’s ongoing commitment to dark sky awareness and preservation, this event highlights the importance of protecting our natural night skies and inspiring the next generation of sky watchers.

This free, family-friendly program is offered in collaboration with the Grand Portage Lodge and Grand Portage National Monument. All ages are welcome. Free.

Also on Saturday, join the Heartwood Trio for an all-ages, participatory journey through story and song that audiences are calling a deeply visceral experience of beauty, joy, truth, and imagination. The event will be held at the Hovland Town Hall at 4 pm.

The Well Tree is a three-person musical, illustrated with a “crankie” – an illuminated, papercut, hand-cranked scroll. It is an original singing story about wild journeying and remembering kinship – the tale of a young woman moving beyond the fog of isolation and shame to meet songbirds, snails, and ancient trees as she travels through these unraveling times, finding her way home.

The Well Tree, an original storytelling event, will be at the Hovland Town Hall on May 16.

The three members of Heartwood – Heidi Wilson, Sarina Partridge, and Willy Clemetson – are the actors, musicians, and crew that runs the crankie, created by papercut artist Jennifer Jones. The audience will be invited to help sing pieces of the story. This is a great chance to enjoy the magic of vocal harmony and live storytelling.

Tickets are $15-$25 sliding scale, $5 for kids. For more information, click here. 

 Exhibits:

The North Shore Artists’ League exhibit, Beneath the Snow, continues at the Johnson Heritage Post through May 17. This eclectic and interesting show exhibits work from artists throughout the North Shore region.

Free falling, pastel, by Michelle Wegler.

Red-winged and Yellow-headed Blackbird, acrylic, by Gina Adams.

Spring rush, end of the Trail, oil on canvas, by Marcia Roepke.

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

A new exhibit has opened at Tettegouche State Park featuring the work of Nicole Birch.

Hyla on Milkweed by Nicole Birch is one of the pieces on view at Tettegouche State Park this month.

Nicole is a digital media artist and a poet. The exhibit continues through May.

A group exhibit is currently on view at the Cedar Coffee Company in Two Harbors.

Not Before Coffee, acrylic, by Kathy Tormondson, is one of the pieces at the Cedar Coffee House in Two Harbors.

 The exhibit continues through the end of May.

In Duluth, the Annual Member Show 2026 continues at the Duluth Art Institute, featuring a variety of work from artists throughout the Arrowhead region speaking to the theme: We Hold These Truths.

This year’s show invites artists into that inquiry—not to resolve it, but to deepen it. Through their work, they offer reflections drawn from identity, origin, experience, and process, contributing to an evolving conversation about what American art has been, is, and might become.

These works form a living dialogue about who we are and what we hold to be true within our community. Here, we witness what happens when expression stops being polite, or when a truth unfolds rather than being announced.

As you move through the exhibition, consider your place within it. Notice how these works, in conversation with one another, invite deeper reflection—where understanding is not fixed, but continually unfolding.

Here are a few examples:

Already Settled, acrylic, by Kristin Baumgarten.

Remarkable Remarks, stoneware, by Don Delvin.

Hope, acrylic, by Konnie Ellis.

The exhibit continues through July 10.

Kudos:

Grand Marais artist Jan Attridge was featured in the Duluth News Tribune recently. Photo and story by Ryan Rodgers. Read the story here.

Or click on this link: JanAttridge – Duluthe News Tribune 2026-May08 Story w 4 portrait paintings ART hires

Opportunities:

North Shore Health has put out a call for artists to exhibit in the hallways in a group show. To find out more, click here.

North Shore Health has put out a call for artists.

Upcoming:

Next weekend is Memorial Day Weekend, and there are a variety of events and art openings. Stay tuned for details next week.

f The opening reception for Play, the summer exhibition of the Grand Marais Art Colony at Studio 21,  will be from 4:30-6 pm on Friday, May 22.

The Opening reception for Logan Hudson’s plein air exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post is from 5-7 pm on Friday, May 22.

The Cook County Market will open for the season on Saturday, May 23. The market is held in the parking lot of The Hub and is held from 10 am to 2 pm every Saturday through MEA weekend.

The Depot at the Grand Portage National Monument opens on Saturday, featuring new exhibits and renovations.

The Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center on the Gunflint Trail opens for the season on Saturday, May 23, at 10 am.

Artists at Work:

Morning Swim, oil on linen, by James Swanson.

River View, linocut, by Victoria ‘Tori’ Ford.

The High Plains, oil, by Rick Yusten.

Walls of Ice & Rock, acrylic on canvas by Reilly Fitzgerald.

Northwoods magic, felted wool, by Elise Kyllo.

Salt and Pepper, oil, by Ron Benson.

A tender thaw by Marti Mullen.

Date Night at the North Shore Winery with Bump Blomberg, Gordon Thorne, and Mike Roth. Photo by Deb Bennett.

Gender Joy, an exhibit at the Zeitgeist Cafe, has opened. Photo by Patricia Canelake.

Online Findings:

A short video about Duluth artist Scott Murphy

 Sparky Stensaas tells more birding stories

Giving Myself Permission– Following the Spirit, Episode 7
Filmed by Patrick Knight

Online Music:

Live Music:

Photographs:

Here is a selection of photographs we found this week:

Wildlife:

Cuties by Katie Slanga.

Happy Mother’s Day by John Cannell.

Excuse Me! by Christian Dalbec.

Drumming by Katie Slanga.

Torpor’s Edge, Yellowstone National Park by Heidi Pinkerton.

Male Yellow-headed Blackbird by Bill Marchel.

Arrival on Devil Track Lake by Don Davison.

The spring crop by Tom Norquist.

Happy Mother’s Day by Jill Lavro Beim.

Yesterday 2 by Chris Artist.

Male glory by Paul Sundberg.

Who else stuffed their face today? by Chris Artist.

The stretch by Chris Artist.

Drumming by Paul Sundberg.

Landscapes, Skyscapes & Waterscapes:

Two white cedar trees next to the Temperance River by Bryan Hansel.

Warp reflection by Adam Malmanger.

At Gichigami, by Staci Drouillard.

A white cedar tree grows from the rock on the Temperance River by Bryan Hansel.

A beautiful day by Sierra Parsons.

Wandering in the Dark by Hayes Scriven.

After the Rain by Maryl Skinner.

Near the Poplar River in Lutsen by Bryan Hansel.

We wait for days like this by Don Davison.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Note: We are so happy to be able to provide you with art news and photographs every week. Let us know you like it, too. Contribute to NorthShore ArtScene today. Thank you!

 A big Thank You! to Jeremy Lopez for his Live Music schedule and tech support, and Yvonne Mills for her great proofreading. Thank you, both! And to Visit Cook County for its outstanding Events Calendar.