Radio Waves Music Festival & Grand Marais Plein Air

Just because Labor Day has come and gone doesn’t mean that things have cooled down in Cook County. On the contrary — September is absolutely stuffed with great things to do: WTIP’s Radio Waves Music Festival, the Grand Marais Art Colony‘s Plein Air Competition and Sale,  North House Folk School’s Unplugged with Kevin Kling & Flannel Formal Gala and, starting on Sept. 29, the first annual Art Along the Lake Fall Studio Tour, to name a few.

First up, though, is Briand Morrison’s performance of “Musical Impressions: The Art of George Morrison,” at the Johnson Heritage Post on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 5:30 p.m.

In the presentation, Morrison pairs his father, George Morrison’s (1919-2000) work with his own musical compositions on a blu-ray disc that is intriguing to visual art and music lovers a like. The disc, produced by Morrison, consists of 128 images of George Morrison’s work from the 1940s through 2000. The accompanying sound track includes of 12 original jazz compositions composed and performed by Morrison.  Some of these images have never been shown to the public.

Morrison has shown this disc throughout the Arrowhead Region for the past three years to accolades. “We listened and laughed as Briand spoke of George Morrison’s life, art, and music and were drawn into the intimacy of it all as the conversation continued between guitar and art in this presentation,” said one attendee.

The performance will be held at the Johnson Heritage Post on Thursday, Sept. 7 with a reception at 5:30 p.m. followed by the presentation at 6 p.m. All invited. Free.

The 10th annual Radio Waves Music Festival is this weekend, too. This must-go-to event put on by WTIP Community Radio, features an entire weekend of music from local and regional musicians at Sweetheart’s Bluff in the Grand Marais Recreation Area. The festival grounds includes a big tent with two stages and a great dance floor, a smaller Kids’ Tent, where children can play games and more, as well as a selection of food vendors on the side. Camping in the Rec Park is encouraged, too, since this is definitely a family friendly event.

The music starts at 4 p.m. on Friday, and at 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

To get a taste of what the music festival is all about, check out this cool video by Patrick Knight of Good Measure Media.

Here’s the line-up for the Radio Waves Music Festival this weekend:

Festival Schedule: Friday, Sept. 8:

• Community Swing Band • 4:00 – 5:00 p.m.
  Gene LaFond and Amy Grillo • 5:10 – 5:50 p.m.
  Pushing Chain • 6:00 – 6:50 p.m.
  Blues Happy featuring Pete K • 7:00 – 7:50 p.m.
  Trapper Schoepp • 8:00 – 8:50 p.m.
  Step Rockets • 9:00 – 10:00 p.m.

Festival Schedule: Saturday, Sept. 9:

• Sky Blue Jazz • 10:00 – 10:50 a.m.
  SVEA • 11:00 – 11:20 a.m.
  Portage • 11:30 – 12:20 p.m.
  Moe and Larry • 12:30 – 1:10 p.m.
  Bughouse! • 1:20 – 2:10 p.m.
  Common Ground • 2:20 – 2:50 p.m.
  Curry Family Band • 3:00 – 3:30 p.m.
  Plucked Up String Band • 3:40 – 4:30 p.m.
  Rich Mattson and the Northstars • 4:40 – 5:30 p.m.
  Brothers in Arms • 5:40 – 6:20 p.m.
  Floydian Slip • 6:30 – 7:20 p.m.
  Sam Miltich and Briand Morrison • 7:30 – 8:20 p.m.
  SplinterTones • 8:30 – 10:00 p.m.

Festival Schedule: Sunday, Sept. 9:

• Gospel Show with Gordon Thorne • 10:00 – 11:10 a.m.
  The Fish Heads • 11:20 – 11:50 a.m.
  Joe Paulik • 12:00 – 12:40 p.m.
  Fred Anderson • 12:50 – 1:20 p.m.
  Mysterious Ways • 1:30 – 2:10 p.m.
  Dusty Heart • 2:20 – 3:10 p.m.
  Cook County’s Most Wanted • 3:20 – 4:10 p.m.
  Jack Klatt • 4:20 – 5:20 p.m.
  Earth Wind and Todd • 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Grand Marais Plein Air kicks off on Friday when 60 plein air artists from around the region come to Grand Marais to paint the landscape for a week. Plein Air concludes with a spectacular opening at the Johnson Heritage Post from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15. That exhibit continues through Oct, 29.

There are several public events scheduled for the comng week, too. On Saturday is the Pincushion PaintOut from 1-5 p.m. The public is invited to watch. On Monday, Sept. 11, Allison Eklund will lead a brown-bag lunch discussion about the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota from noon to 1 p.m. at the Grand Marais Art Colony. Open to the public.

Thursday, Sept. 14, is the every-popular Quick Paint at Artist Point, where the artists are given 1.5 hours to make a painting. It is held on Artist Point. The public is invited to come and watch. On Friday, there will be a juror lecture, “The Lineage of Color” by Kami Mendlik at the Grand Marais Art Colony at 11 a.m. The Plein Air Exhibition & Sale opens with a reception from 5-7 p.m. on Sept. 15. Stay tuned for details next week.

Saturday begins with the Cook County Market in the parking lot of the Senior Center. A variety of artists and artisans have booths at the market, which is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Also on Saturday morning, bowl carver Jon Strom, who will be the Instructor in Residence at North House Folk School from Thursday through Sunday, will give a class on how to carve a wooden boat hook. For more info and to register, call North Houseo at 387-9762.

Last Chance Gallery in Lutsen will hold a Bronze Pour at 4 p.m. on Saturday as well. It’s always exciting to see the hot, molten metal poured into molds to create sculptures. Free and open to the public.

On Saturday evening, Sept. 9, Drury Lane Books will host a Writer’s Salon with Marcie Rendon & Nora Murphy at 7 p.m.

Marcie Rendon is a White Earth Anishanaabe member and author. Her debut novel Murder on the Red River features the magnetic Cash: aged-out foster child, girl pool shark, truck driver on White Earth Reservation, and sometimes detective in the small towns along the Red River. She will read short passages, discuss writing, and hear questions and stories along with her writing group partner Nora Murphy.

Murphy will discuss her new memoir, White Birch, Red Hawthorn. She tells the story of her ancestors’ maple grove that, long before the Irish arrived, was home to three Native tribes: the Dakota, Ojibwe, and Ho-Chunk. That her dispossessed ancestors’ homestead was built upon another, far more brutal dispossession is the hard truth underlying Murphy’s search for the deeper connections between this contested land and the communities who call it home.

Writer’s Salon’s are free. All invited.

On Sunday, felter Elise Kylo will hold a class on felting your own beer koozie at Voyageur Canoe Outfitters from 4-6 p.m. There is a $15 materials fee, which includes a 9-ounce beer.

Exhibits

 This is the last weekend to see David Johnson‘s great photo exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post. Landscapes, wildlife and northern lights are Johnson’s specialties, and the show is wonderful.

The Heritage Post is closed on Tuesdays. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and on Mondays, and from 1-4 p.m. Sundays. Free.

The Duluth Art Institute opens “Reservation Pop,” an exhibit of work by Wendy Red Star, an artist based in Oregon, on Friday, Sept. 8 with a reception from 5-7 p.m. in the Morrison Gallery.

Red Star works across disciplines to explore the intersections of Native American ideologies and colonialist structures, both historically and in contemporary society. Raised on the Apsáalooke (Crow) reservation in Montana, Red Star’s solo exhibit will feature documentary images of the cars and HUD houses there.

The exhibit is part of a multi-tiered program led by Red Star and Sharon Louden, presented on the occasion of Louden’s book tour for her new publication, “The Artist as Cultural Producer,” which features 40 artists including Red Star. Directly following the exhibit opening reception, the two artists will present a lecture addressing harmful stereotypes about artists and discussing the ways that artists contribute to communities. The next day, Saturday, Sept. 9, Louden will lead an artist professional development workshop at the Duluth Art Institute’s Lincoln Park location, concentrating on the ways that artists can expand their practices beyond their studios. The workshop is free but registration is required. Click here to register.

The Tweed Museum of Art has a new collection of Pacific Northwest masks, including this piece by Tom LaFortune.

The museum is also continuing its series, “A Thousand Words” an exhibition of photographs in which each photograph captures a story related to social conditions.

In Thunder Bay, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery‘s exhibit “The Perspective From Here: 150 Artists From the North” continues through Sept. 24.

Upcoming

Unplugged XVI, North House Folk School’s weekend of community, music, craft and story is Sept. 13-16 this year. The event features traditional craft courses, music jam sessions, a Folk Artisan Marketplace. a Friday night fundraising gala and a Saturday night performance by Kevin Kling & Friends.

Kling is a well-known playwright and storyteller, and his commentaries can be heard on NPR’s All Things Considered. His plays and adaptations have been performed around the world, You can hear a few of Kevin Kling’s stories on his website. He will be joined on stage by Prudence Johnson, Dan Chouinard, Claudia Schmidt, Dane Stauffer, Simone Perrin, and special guests Jon Vezner and Don Henry.

A few tickets are still available. Click here to learn more.

The first annual Art Along the Lake: Fall Studio Tour opens on Friday, Sept. 29 and runs daily from  10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Oct. 8. The studio tour features 14 studios and galleries and work by 40 artists in a variety of media. Make plans to visit Cook County for this one!

Meanwhile, check out the Facebook page here, and see the great brochure here. Stay tuned for more details next week.

Window Shopping

 

 

Here’s the music schedule for this week:

Thursday, Sept. 7:

• Briand Morrison–Musical Impressions: The Art of George Morrison, Johnson Heritage Post, 5:30 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. music
• The Thread, Grandma Ray’s, 7:30p.m.

Friday, Sept. 8:

• 10th Annual Radio Wave Music Festival, Sweetheart’s Bluff, 4 p.m., see above
• Jason Wussow, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
• Flyodian Slip, Gun Flint Tavern, 8 p.m.
• Rich Mattson & the Northstars, Grandma Ray’s, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 9:

• 10th annual Radio Waves Music Festival, 10 a.m., see schedule above
• Flyodian Slip, Gun Flint Tavern, 3 p.m.
• Mathew Griswold, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
• Portage, Grandma Ray’s, 6 p.m.
• Thea Ennen, Cascade Lodge Pub, 7 p.m.
• Pushing Chain, Lutsen Resort, 7 p.m.
• Joe Paulik, Music by the Campfire, Bluefin Resort, 7 p.m.
• Shaky Ground, Gun Flint Tavern, 8 p.m.
• Bug Stars, Grandma Ray’s, 8:30 p.m.
• Pushing Chain, Bluefin Grille, 9 p.m.
• Timmy Haus, Papa Charlie’s, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 10:

• 10th Annual Radio Waves Music Festival, Sweetheart’s Bluff in the Rec Park, see above
• Pushing Chain, Skyport Lodge, 4 p.m.
• Jim & Michele Miller, Gun Flint Tavern, 7:30 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 11:

• Briand Morrison, Bluefin Grille, 9 p.m.

Wednesday, Sept. 13:

• Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille, 6 p.m.
• Gordon Thorne, Bluefin Bay, 9 p.m.

Now, for the favorite part of this blog– the photographs!

We’ll start with wildlife.

 

 

And here are a few shots of wild ricing, which has started in the North country.

 

 

And a few shots from Rolaag, Minnesota.

 

It was a busy Labor Day weekend in Grand Marais.

And here are some great landscapes.

 

 

 

 

 

And finally,

Have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy the music!