Inuit Premiere, Throat Singers, Make-A-Bowl & a Full Moon Reading

by Joan Farnam on October 13, 2016

“Looking Up,” fall colors by Sandra Updyke.

Fall is falling, but poplars and aspens are still showing a lot of color and the forest floor is deep in leaves, a hiking paradise.

And this weekend, we celebrate the art of the North with the 16th annual Inuit Premiere at Sivertson Gallery. This event is truly extraordinary, as the gallery showcases Native Alaskan and Canadian Inuit art, the only gallery in the lower 48 to hold such an event.

“Rainbow Reflection,” print by Ningeokulak Teevee is one of of the prints on exhibit at Sivertson Gallery‘s Inuit Premiere this weekend.

At the premiere, you will see gorgeous and inspiring Inuit prints and soapstone carvings as well as Native Alaskan sculptures crafted from walrus tusk, whale bone, whale baleen and soapstone. The Premiere also offers a wide variety of unique fossilized woolly mammoth molar and tusk jewelry.

One of the most fascinating (and entertaining) part of the Inuit Premiere are the throat singers Taqralik Partridge and Nina Segalowitz, who will perform at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday at the gallery.

Throat singing is a vocal form in which a single voice produces more than one tone at the same time, usually as harmonics of a main tone or drone, traditionally practiced by peoples in central Asia, the Inuit, and Tibetan Buddhist monks. Get a preview of what throat singing is all about on WTIP’s The Roadhouse on Friday night when Partridge and Segalowitz will be on the show. The Roadhouse airs from 5-7 p.m. on Friday night.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday, Tqarlik Partridge will be featured at A Fireside Chat, where she will talk about her life and read from her poetry. Partridge is a spoken-word artist and has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada. All the events are free. Refreshments will be served. All welcome.

Also on Saturday, Tom McCann and Nancy Haarmeyer will give the Full Moon Reading at Drury Lane Books at 5 p.m. Each full moon, the bookstore gathers outside around the bonfire to hear a local writer read from their own work or the work of others. Free.

Also, this is the last weekend for the public to come to the Grand Marais Art Colony Clay Studio and Make-A-Bowl for Empty Bowls, the fundraiser to help feed the hungry in Cook County. Studio space is limited, so register now. There are Make-a-Bowl sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

Theresa Oberg and during a Make-A-Bowl session at the Grand Marais Art Colony. The photo was

Theresa Oberg and Cindy Hakala throw bowls during a Make-A-Bowl session at the Grand Marais Art Colony a few years ago. The one-hour sessions include instruction on how to throw a bowl and handbuild a bowl. Call 387-2737 to register. There’s a $5 materials fee. The bowls are donated to the Empty Bowls fundraiser which will be Nov. 10 this year.

These workshops are open to all levels and ages. When you attend one of these one-hour sessions, you’ll make one wheel-thrown and one hand-built bowl to donate to the Empty Bowls fundraiser on Nov. 10. There is a $5 participation fee. Workshops are held at the Grand Marais Art Colony. Call 387-2737 for more info and to register.

Also, there are two workshops for making a glass bowl for Empty Bowls Oct. 25 & 26. Registration required. Call 387-2737.

For opera lovers, the Grand Marais Public Library is presenting MN Opera Stories Sing with Alisa Magallon, a free program at the library at 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13. Magallon, a professional opera singer, uses tools from the stage to inspire and help children engage in books. Children will make a puppet and use it to perform pieces taught in the story. Magallon will read and sing a children’s book with an operatic theme. Free.

And, for wine lovers, the North Shore Winery, located on Ski Hill Road in Lutsen, will host a Harvest Fest on Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Join winemaker, Chuck Corliss, and his assistant, Karl Klinker, as they demonstrate how North Shore Winery ferments and processes wines after receiving grapes. Wine tasting, of course, and food by Double D’s. Gordon Thorne will play.

And don’t forget to stop in at the Johnson Heritage Post to see the Plein Air 2016 exhibit this weekend.

Carl Bretzke’s “Behind the Fish Dock” won best of show at the Plein Air 2016 competitoin.

More than 70 plein air artists participated in this year’s event organized by the Grand Marais Art Colony. More than 240 paintings are on view. The Johnson Heritage Post is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and from 1-4 p.m. Sundays and Mondays. It is closed on Tuesdays.

And the Cross River Heritage Center continues its exhibit of artists including work by Charlotte Durie, Sandi Pillsbury-Gredzens, Rose Vastila, Tim Ostroot, Kathleen Gray- Anderson, Trish Hunter and Mary Jane Huggins.

In Thunder Bay, the Baggage Building Arts Center opens the exhibit, “Making An Impression” on Friday, Oct. 14.

Linoleum block print by Gail Kuhl is in the Baggage Building Art Center’s printmaking show.

The exhibit features Thunder Bay printmakers representing various disciplines of hand-made original prints. The exhibit runs through Nov. 10.

Upcoming

Moose Madness is next weekend, Oct. 21-23, during MEA weekend, and there are lots of things going on in Grand Marais, including special drop-in art activities at the Grand Marais Art Colony and North House Folk School, as well as classes and workshops at both places. Moosey things are organized throughout the weekend, too. For more info and a schedule of events, click here and stay tuned for details.

The Grand Marais Art Colony‘s annual Member Show opens Oct. 28. Members are invited to submit works by Oct. 24. For more info, click here, or call the Art Colony at 218-387-2737.

Rose Arrowsmith DeCoux will hold a Novel Starter Class in conjunction with the National Novel Writing Month, which is in November. The five class sessions start Oct. 29. For more information, click here.

In Other Art News:

Betsy Bowen just celebrated the 25th anniversary of her book, “Antler, Bear, Canoe.” Bowen printed a page from that book for the celebration that was held last week at her gallery.

This is the special edition print “January,” crafted from a block Betsy Bowen carved in 1989.

Did you know that the “Antler, Bear, Canoe” was voted among the 10 Best Children’s Books by the Smithsonian Magazine? An honor, for sure.

Linda Bauer has a number of felted bags at Kah-Nee-Tah Gallery in Lutsen.

Felted bag by Linda Bauer.

Here’s the music schedule for this weekend:

Thursday, Oct. 13:

Frozen Britches, Cascade Lodge Pub, 6 p.m.
Jon Miller, Gunflint Tavern, 7 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 14:

Timmy Haus, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
Portage, Grandma Ray’s, 6 .m.
Joe Paulik, Bluefin Grille, 8 p.m.
Mysterious Ways, Grandma Ray’s, 8 p.m.
GinStrings, Gunflint Tavern, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 15:

Pete K, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
Gordon Thorne, Lutsen Resort, 7 p.m.
Dat Dere Jazz, Cascade Restaurant Pub, 7:30 p.m.
Brothers in Arms, Grandma Ray’s, 8 p.m.
GinStrings, Gunflint Tavern, 8:30 p.m.
Timmy Haus, Papa Charlie’s, 9:30 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 17:

Pete Kavanaugh, Bluefin Grill, 8 p.m.

We found some great photos this week.

Let’s start with “The Chatty Grouse.”

"It's hard to get anything done when the neighbors keep coming over to chat. " Photo by Evelyn DeShaw.

“It’s hard to get anything done when the neighbors keep coming over to chat,” by Evelyn DeShaw.

DeShaw said this grouse turns up in their yard all the time, apparently just to visit.

Fall colors continue to amaze. Here are some examples.

Basking in Afternoon Light by Kjersti Vick.

“Lonely Autumn” by Jakub Sisak.

Oak Leaves by Paul Sundberg.

Island with red leaves by Sandra Updyke.

Mushrooms are going crazy this fall, too. Here’s a photo by Paul Sundberg to prove it. He said he went back to this fallen birch tree to photograph the mushrooms again and the squirrels had already begun consuming them.