A Potpourri –The Eclipse, Wolves, Art & Music

Greetings from the North Shore, where wolves popped up on my feed this week, so I thought I would share!

September is definitely coming in like a lamb… 70+ degrees today with more to come. Fabulous.

And art making continues.

Make an art project at Joy and Company this Thursday. The Art Project Counter at the shop is open from 3-4:30 pm.

Instructions and supplies are provided. The event is free, but a $5 donation is appreciated. Open to all.

Also on Thursday, the Grand Marais Farmer’s Market will be held in the parking lot of the Cook County Community Center from 4:30-6 pm.

This is a busy place on Thursday afternoons, with producers, bakers, jam-makers, and more selling from stands set up in the parking lot. It’s the height of summer gardening, so look for everything from potatoes to tomatoes, squash to carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, garlic, and much more. Artisan breads and baked goods are also available, as well as fresh-cut flowers, to name a  few.

On Friday, Marcia Roepke will teach a writers’ workshop at the Johnson Heritage Post entitled “The Art of Noticing Writers.” She currently has an exhibit of her paintings at the Heritage Post Gallery.

Roepke, an artist and writer, will talk about how she writes Trail Time, her award-winning program broadcast on Grand Marais’ WTIP. She will describe her method of writing that puts the senses foremost and includes our humanity as part of nature. There will be time for writing practice and sharing. The workshop is from 2-3:30 pm and is free.

This session is part of JHP’s main gallery exhibition, “Painting Pictures with Words, Telling Stories with Paint,” which features work from Roepke and runs through Sept. 13. Through her artwork, Roepke paired the paintings with stories from “Trail Time,” her radio show. The work is her personal response to the landscape of the North Shore and the wilderness along the Gunflint Trail.

On Saturday, the Cook County Market opens at 10 am in the parking lot of The Hub.

The market features a great selection of work by local artists and artisans, including paintings, pottery, fused glass, jewelry, rock lamps, hand-dyed scarves and clothing, beeswax candles and more.

The market runs from 10am to 2 pm. This week, Boyd “Bump” Blomberg will play. Open to all. (Note: There’s often a spontaneous dog parade around noon.)

From 11 am until noon, Kevin Kager, the Muffin Man, will read books to children outside Drury Lane Books.

 The Children’s Story Hour is open to every age and is free.

On Saturday afternoon, the Grand Marais Art Colony will host an opening reception for an exhibit by Sue Rauschenfels and  Emily Wick at Studio 21.

This exhibition brings together the work of Sue Rauschenfels, a mixed media painter from Duluth, and Emily Wick, a tapestry weaver based in Grand Marais.

Rauschenfels’s layered compositions combine paint, texture, and movement to create richly worked surfaces that feel both intuitive and deliberate. Her work explores abstraction, memory, and the passage of time, inviting viewers to uncover meaning within each layered mark.

Wick’s handwoven tapestries offer a tactile counterpart, where color, structure, and material come together through slow, deliberate process. Rooted in tradition yet distinctly contemporary, her work emphasizes texture and pattern while reflecting a deep connection to place. Together, Rauschenfels and Wick create a dialogue between gesture and structure, surface and thread—highlighting the beauty of process and the expressive potential of material.

The artists are part of the Rising Arrowhead Artists series. The exhibit continues through the end of September.

Studio 21 is open from 10 am to 5 pm Thursday through Saturday.

Briand Morrison will be in concert at the Schaap Community Center on the Gunflint Trail on Saturday afternoon. The concert is sponsored by the Gunflint Trail Historical Society. Roxann Berglund will be in the concert, too.

The Gunflint Trail Historical Society’s Artist-in-Residence Program (AiRP) helps carry the creative spirit forward by giving artists and writers the rare chance to fully immerse themselves in the landscape and share that experience through workshops, presentations, and conversations.

In March, the AiRP hosted jazz guitarist and composer Briand Morrison, whose residency provided space to reflect on his musical journey and deepen his work honoring his Anishinaabe heritage.

Briand says of his residency:

“I was able to practice, record, and evaluate
my playing and direction… I’m going to take this place
with me when I leave… It’s changed my playing.”

Community support makes this program possible. Gifts of any size help bring artists to the Gunflint Trail and keep their programs accessible to the public. If you value the role of art in deepening the connection to this place, please consider supporting the program by donating or volunteering.

Donations can be made at gunflinthistory.org or by mail to GTHS, Attn: AiRP, 28 Moose Pond Drive, Grand Marais, MN 55604.

On Saturday evening, William Kent Krueger will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books at 6 pm.

Meet the bestselling author and listen to him read segments from the new Cork O’Connor installment, “God’s Country.” Doors will open at 5:45, and the talk will begin at 6:00 pm. The floor will open for discussion and questions after the reading and presentation, and Krueger will be available to sign books.

If the weather is nice, please plan to be outdoors.

Krueger is the New York Times bestselling author of The River We Remember, This Tender Land, Ordinary Grace (winner of the Edgar Award for best novel), and the original audio novella The Levee, as well as twenty acclaimed books in the Cork O’Connor mystery series, including Spirit Crossing, Fox Creek, and Lightning Strike. He lives in the Twin Cities with his family. Learn more at WilliamKentKrueger.com.

This event is free, mobility-aid accessible, and open to the public.

On Sunday, Chik-Wauk Museum and Nature Center will hold an Old-Fashioned Pie & Ice Cream Social on Sunday from noon to 4 pm. The event is a celebration of the conclusion of a successful summer season.

As always, there will be plenty of locally homemade pies to choose from, with a suggested donation per slice of pie, ice cream, and beverage.

The day will also feature:

• Music by Jim Miller – Playing his own style of music on the North Shore since 2003, Jim performs many familiar tunes from artists like John Prine, Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Rodney Crowell, and more.
• The Annual Chik-Wauk “Sidewalk” Sale – Enjoy steep discounts on many gift shop items.
• Pie Competition
• Silent Auction
• Games

The public is invited.

Exhibits:

 Marcia Roepke‘s exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Center,  “Painting Pictures with Words, Telling Stories with Paint,” continues through Sept. 13. The show features a variety of paintings reflecting Roepke’s inspiration living in the north woods, including contemporary and traditional works.

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

Painter Mary Ann Cleary is exhibiting work at Tettegouche State Park this month. She is inspired by northern landscapes and works in pastel and oil.

The exhibit continues through the end of the month.

Jonathan Thunder’s video, Ish Meets the Mermaid, opened at the Duluth Art Institute.

In the lakeside city of Duluth, some legends are older than America. Ish Meets a Mermaid blends Ojibwe legend with the spirit of tragic artist biographies such as Basquiat, Frida, and Loving Vincent. In this short 16-minute film, an artist in a slump meets a mysterious woman from a realm beneath Lake Superior and finds success in the last place he ever expected – death.

The exhibit continues through Oct. 2.

The Crop Art exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair was very popular this year. In all, there were 594 submissions. Here are a few examples of the work.

 To see more work and read about it, click here.

Upcoming:

The Grand Marais Plein Air Competition and Exhibition is Sept. 11-18 featuring a week of painting around Grand Marais and Cook County, artist get-togethers and workshops followed by a gala opening reception at the Johnson Heritage Post on Sept. 18. The event is sponsored by the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota.

This plein air event is unique in format: painters self-select their participation preferences for competition intensity and educational integration, with respective cash and in-kind prizes. Artist social events at restaurants and picnic locations are scheduled every day of Competition Week to give participants an opportunity to socialize, compare stories, learn from each other, and make new connections. It is all about bringing people together who love to paint. Daily paint-outs are scheduled during Competition Week at locations such as Artists’ Point, the Grand Marais Campground, YMCA’s Camp Menogyn, various state parks along the North Shore, and on the Superior Hiking Trail. On one evening of the week, a traditional nocturnal paint-out is held in downtown Grand Marais.

For more information, click here and stay tuned.

The following week, the Art Along the Lake Fall  Studio Tour begins. It runs from Sept. 25-Oct. 4 this year.

Art Along the Lake is a ten-day, self-led art tour along Minnesota’s north shore of Lake Superior during peak fall colors. From Tofte to Grand Portage to the Gunflint Trail, this event offers the unique opportunity to meet local artists in their home studios and gain insights into their creative processes. Whether you’re revisiting a favorite gallery or meeting an artist for the first time, there’s always something new to discover and beautiful scenery to enjoy along the way! Many locations showcase guest artists’ work, and all venues are open daily from 10 am to 5 pm.

To see the artists who will be participating this year, click here.

Artists at Work: 

Online Findings:

From poop to plants, how wolves help blueberries grow and spread in northern Minnesota

Online Music:

Music Selections by Kari Carter this week

 

Photography:

Here is a selection from the photographs we found:

Wildlife: 

A garden story:

Potpourri:

 Landscapes, Skyscapes & Waterscapes:

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Note: Putting ArtScene together this week was fun. Please show your support with a contribution. We are always so grateful for your donation. And it’s nice to know that you value and enjoy it. Thank you!

 Here’s a big thank you to Jeremy Lopez, Live Music schedule and tech support, and Yvonne Mills, proofreading, for their help this week. And a special thank you to Visit Cook County for its great Events Calendar.