North Shore Arts Scene

Greetings from the North Shore, where Cook County’s summer traditions continue. This weekend, all eyes are on the Grand Portage Reservation, where Rendezvous Days and the Celebration Pow-Wow will be held. (See below for details.)

It is going to be a beautiful weekend, and cool, good news for the wildfires, too, which we’re happy about.

And art-making continues.

At Joy and Company, the Art Counter Project, an opportunity for the public to come to the shop and do a quick art project, continues. Good news on this front: the shop has increased the size of the art counter area. More room for everybody.

Art-making is from 3-4:30 pm on Thursdays. It is free, but a $5 freewill donation is appreciated.

Also, 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 always a great market. Look for a wide variety of locally-grown vegetables, artisan breads, baked goods, maple syrup, fresh flowers, and more. Open to all.

On Thursday evening, the Grand Portage National Monument will host a Star Party, a chance to discover the mesmerizing wonders of the night sky.

Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the cosmos with Jesse Gates, dark sky specialist at Voyageurs Conservancy and NASA Solar System Ambassador, who will lead an engaging introduction to stargazing suitable for all experience levels. Joining Jesse is local Grand Portage nature and night sky photographer Travis Novitsky, who will offer a captivating session on dark-sky photography and share techniques for capturing the stars in striking detail. This event provides a unique opportunity to ask questions, learn new skills, and deepen appreciation for the incredible beauty shining above us.

For more details, click here. The event is free. The public is invited.

On Friday, Rendezvous Days opens at the Grand Portage National Monument with music, dancing, craft demonstrations, and hands-on workshops, ensuring an exciting visit to Grand Portage National Monument. Seeing over 300 reenactors in the historically recreated clothing is a joy for many who attend Rendezvous Days. This year the focus is Games and Entertainment of the Fur Trade Era.

• Admission is free. Visitors are not required to wear period clothing. Come as you are!
• No vendors, demonstrations only
• No pets (except service animals) within the stockade (Historic Depot)

For more information, click here. 

The Celebration Pow-Wow, hosted by the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, is held in conjunction with the Rendezvous. This is a wonderful pow-wow, featuring dancers and drums from all over the region, including Canada, arts and crafts booths, Indian tacos, and more.

Grand entries are at 1 pm and 7 pm on Saturday, and 1 pm on Sunday. This is an important community gathering, and all are invited.

In Grand Marais, the musical, “As You Like It,” based on the Shakespearean play, concludes its run at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts with performances at 7 pm Friday and 2 pm Sunday.

 Tickets can be purchased online here or at the door.

In Duluth, the opening reception for a Retrospective of work by Jeffrey Kalstrom will be held at the Nordic Center at 4 pm.

Kalstrom made art, taught art, and curated shows in Duluth for over 30 years. He was one of the founders and mainstays of the North Shore Iron Pour and was an active member of the iron-casting community worldwide. He was recently given a teaching award from UMD, where he taught art and led the Art Rats art club, an artmaking consortium open to all students.

He defined himself as a creator of beauty; he also had a great love for the lakes and forests of this region. He died unexpectedly while on a camping trip on the boat he had outfitted for camping, on Fish Lake, a beloved location for him. He is mourned by the many people he knew in this region and far beyond.

The exhibit continues through August 25.

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

The market features arts and crafts by local artists and artisans. Look for paintings and pottery, hand-dyed clothing, rock lamps, jewelry, fused glass, baskets, and more. This week, Andy Keith will play from 10 am to noon, and Fred Anderson will play from noon to 2 pm. The public is invited.

Tim Vahle is offering his “How to See Like an Artist” workshop this weekend, with 4-hour sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

This fun, casual workshop is designed for beginners or anyone who wants to expand their artistic expression. You will learn the basics of shape, value, color, and more while participating in exciting activities that lead to a completed landscape painting. For more information, click here.

Lake Superior photographer Craig Blacklock will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books at 6 pm on Saturday.

Blacklock describes his latest book this way:

“I’m thrilled to announce my next book, “SUPERIOR: A 50-Year Photographic Journey,” featuring images of wild shorelines and remote islands from all around Lake Superior. The book brings together my favorite photographs from earlier publications — including the best-selling Lake Superior Images, Minnesota’s North Shore, Apostle Islands: From Land and Sea, and Pictured Rocks: From Land and Sea — along with many new images created specifically for this project over the past several years.

The talk begins at 6 pm. There will be time for questions as well as a book signing. The public is invited.

Next Wednesday, Molly Dean will be featured in the second Dockside Sessions concert event at North House Folk School. The concert series is sponsored by the North Shore Music Association, North House and WTIP.

Molly Dean is a Minneapolis vocalist and multi-instrumentalist known for her captivating loop-driven performances. She layers guitar and voice in real time, creating intimate, textured music that moves between folk, indie, and atmospheric pop.

Molly, who partners with Barbara Jean Meyers in Dusty Heart, will be joined onstage by Meyers, Mike Lewis, and Lars-Erik Larson on drums.

The concert is free.

Ongoing:

The Biggest Blueberry Contest on the Gunflint Trail continues through  Aug. 9.

To find out more, click here. 

Bird banding sessions are held at Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center on Thursdays from 7- 11 a.m.

The sessions are free and open to the public.

Hedstrom Lumber holds sawmill tours on Thursdays at 10 am and 1 pm.

Free. For more info, click here.

The Cook County Historical Society holds Walking Tours of the Harbor every Friday evening.

The tours start at the History Museum at 7 pm. Free. For more info, click here.

Exhibits:

This is the last weekend to see Borderlands, an exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post featuring works by Betsy Bowen, Jeanne Hedstrom, Stephan Hoglund and Heidi Sobanja.

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

Sue Rauschenfels is the Artist of the Month at the Heritage Post.

“Play,” the summer exhibition at Studio 21, features a selection of works by regional artists and continues through the end of the summer season.

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

Jim Ellis and Mary Stafford are the Arrowhead Artists for August at Studio 21.

The exhibit continues through the end of August. Free and open to all.

Deborah Birkeland is exhibiting at Tettegouche State Park this month.

The watercolorist is exhibiting in the Great Hall at the park. The exhibit is free and open to all.

The Great Lakes Aquarium in Duluth is exhibiting photographs by Kelly Schamberger.

 Upcoming:

 Mixed Precipitation’s Pickup Truck Opera, a favorite in Cook County, will perform in Hovland and Grand Marais this month. Now in its 18th season, the Minnesota company transforms Jacques Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann into an irreverent, family-friendly spectacle filled with soaring opera, ’90s grunge, unexpected comedy, and plenty of audience delight.

Admission: Suggested donation of $5–$50 for adults. Free for youth and teens. Reservations are encouraged at www.mixedprecipitation.org.

Performance Schedule:

• Friday, Aug. 14 | 6:30 pm
  Hovland Town Hall (Benefit for the Hovland Volunteer Fire Department)
• Saturday, Aug. 15 | 3:00 pm
  Sweethearts Bluff, Grand Marais

Keith Morris will give an Author Talk at Drury Lane Books on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 6 pm.

Keith is an artist, builder, woodworker, writer, master paddler, and woodsman. Generations of his family have lived and worked on the Gunflint Trail since 1915. From cutting lake ice to building log houses, Keith has the stories, photographs, and artwork from many years of trail life.

Opportunities:

North House Folk School is accepting applications for the 2027 Craft Education Internship. Interns spend 10 months living on the North House campus, gaining a breadth of experience in craft, folk school education, and public engagement. The program includes furnished housing, a modest living stipend, funding for course tuition materials, and more. The program dates are January through November.

Applications due: Sept. 18. Click here to learn more and apply.

On Becoming: The Craft Education Internship is a year of change. In this blog post, intern Anna Crabtree writes about a life in motion, and about growing in relationship with the landscape, with materials, and with each other. Read it here.

Kudos:

The Grand Marais Lions Club named Anna and Sarah Hamilton this year’s winners for the 2026 Citizen of the Year Award. This award is given at Fisherman’s Picnic every year to the citizen or citizens of Grand Marais who volunteer their time and service to make this community a better place.

The sisters received their award for their nonprofit Hamilton Habitat, which has already built over 10 homes for the current working population of Grand Marais. These homes are for the community members to buy at an affordable price because of the housing crisis in Grand Marais.

Boreal Community Media reports:

Sarah Hamilton could not make the ceremony as she was working at the Trail Center this busy weekend. Anna Hamilton was there and expressed their gratitude, saying, “Thank you whether you are a community member or not. This community is amazing and saved me, as well as my sister, and we’re just trying to give back. We are little people, and that is who we are trying to get into a home and get a job for; and keep it moving. We all need to keep moving, and thank you for your support; we appreciate it.”

Community members often feel stuck when their housing options are extremely limited and, on top of that, over priced. Hamilton Habitat has a waiting list of local working community members who need help with that next step for permanent housing.

The Hamilton sisters have done much for the community. They bought the Trail Center first, over 30 years ago, and then began starting businesses like My Sister’s Place, Hughie’s Tacos, Camp Chow, and The Gunflint Mercantile. They have employed and created jobs for hundreds of community members, which is why they know firsthand how imperative and rare affordable housing is for the average worker.

You can learn more, donate, or volunteer by visiting their website here.

Every house is built with donations and volunteer builders only.

Artists at Work:

Online Findings:

No one owns the sun, a podcast by Staci Drouillard

“Happy to share the recent Nibi Chronicles, which took a year off. Question: Did you know that six of seven Ojibwe bands in Minnesota all utilize solar energy and plan to build more capacity?”

To listen to the podcast, click here.

 

Colors, a podcast by RadioLab wherein the color blue and other mysteries are discussed.

There are lots of songs about colors in the podcast, “Colors.” Here are a few of them: