Happy Spring Equinox from Devil Track Lake by Bryan Hansel.
Greetings from the North Shore, where all is pretty quiet here. Many of us are hoping for that special quiet that often happens when it snows. They are predicting that we could get a bunch this week, so we’ll see. Happiness if we do.
Meanwhile, we continue to be amazed at the oscillation of temps and their effect on the landscape.
Boys Fishing at 50° F near Bayfield, Wis. recently. Photo by Patrick Mayotte.
A reminder that it’s not time to plant outside yet. This photo was taken on Sunday at temps well below freezing, by Anton Moody.
Easter Week is coming up and to celebrate this fact, Joy and Company will offer an opportunity to make a God’s Eye weaving at Art Night.
Weaving a God’s Eye is on tap for this week’s Art Night.
The God’s Eye, or Ojo de Dios, is a colorful design made from yarn wrapped over a cross-shaped stick. They were woven as spiritual symbols and for protection in ancient Mexico and are popular as decorative crafts. The shop will have sticks and yarn available to show participants how it’s done at Art Night this week. The event is held at the shop from 3:30-5 pm. Free, with a suggested $5 donation. Open to all.
Also on Thursday, Dappled Fern Fibers will hold a Hygge Party for crafters to work on their projects at the shop from 6-7 pm.
Dappled Fern Fibers will hold two “make” events this week — from 6-7 pm Thursday and from 10 am to noon on Saturday. Crafters are invited to bring their projects to work together.
The shop also holds a Fiber Circle for fiber artisans on Saturdays from 10 am to noon. Participants are invited to bring their projects and work on them together.
And not to forget that Third Thursday Jazz with the North Shore Swing Band will be at Up Yonder from 7-9 pm on Thursday.
Third Thursday Jazz Night with the North Shore Swing Band is at Up Yonder from 7-9 pm this week.
Plan on hearing some great danceable music played by this local band. The event is free.
On Friday, the drama, “Queens,” a production of the Grand Marais Playhouse continues at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
The drama, “Queens,” a play about Henry VIII and his beheaded queens, will be performed at the ACA this weekend.
In the play, King Henry VIII is trapped in purgatory, bound to his throne by a sinister Fool and the ghostly Women in White. Here in his gilded cage, he is forced to relive the sins he committed against his queens, mistresses, and people of the court, over and over again, for an eternity.
The cast includes Aubrey Williams, Kevin Kager, Abbyzak LeGare, Karen Blackburn, Aliya Marxen, Shawn Finnston-Aldrich, Jane Gellner, Payton Quaife, Maggie Gatzke and Dune Arrowsmith. It is directed and designed by Sue Hennessy, and choreographed by Rachel Clark. The stage manager is Brittany Lilienthal.
Tickets are $15 and are sold at the door or online here.
Exhibits:
Winter Plein Air, featuring paintings by members of the Outdoor Painters of Minnesota, continues at the Johnson Heritage Post.
Bearskin Trio by Tracy McDermott is one of the paintings on exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post this month.
Early March Birch, oil, by Lisa Stauffer.
The plein air painters spent a week at YMCA Camp Menogyn on West Bearskin painting the outdoors. The exhibit continues through March 24.
In Duluth, The Zeitgeist Arts Cafe is featuring the paintings of Cherry Koch through the end of the month.
Painter Cherry Koch is exhibiting her work at the Zeitgeist in Duluth through March.
The Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth is featuring an installation by John Hitchcock entitled “Blanket Songs.”
Shields, Two-sided, an installation by John Hitchcock is at the Tweed Museum of Art.
Curator Leah Kolb writes:
“Blanket Songs draws us in with a dazzling convergence of image, light, sound, and movement. Its visual abundance is matched by the depth of referential content that the artist weaves into each element of the exhibition, including its title. He grew up watching the various ways that his Kiowa grandfather and Comanche grandmother used blankets to honor others: wrapping them around the shoulders of venerated guests, giving them as gifts of respect and friendship, or laying them on the ground to collect food and donations to offer visitors. With Blanket Songs, Hitchcock engages in a respectful act of honoring not only the family and history that shaped him, but also each viewer who enters the gallery.”
Hitchcock is a Wisconsin-based artist and musician of Comanche, Kiowa and Northern European descent. Raised in Oklahoma on Comanche Tribal lands, he draws on his personal history to create works that fuse frenetic abstraction with layered allusions to indigenous traditions. Along with the artist’s characteristically exuberant prints and drawings, Blanket Songs features neon, video, and audio recordings.
The Minneapolis Institute of Art is featuring an exhibit of its collection of art by women.
Portrait of Our Nurse by Margaret Burgess, 1939. To see MIA’s collection of art by women, click here.
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is featuring two student exhibitions by art students at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay.
DiCarlo, In My Own World, acrylic, by Emma Viser, is one of the paintings in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery exhibit.
One of the exhibits is a juried student exhibit, the other features honors students. Both include works in a variety of media. The opening reception is April 5. The show runs through April 28.
Upcoming:
Thrill-seekers and community champions are invited to Take the Plunge for the Gunflint Trail Firefighters on March 30 on Poplar Lake.
A polar plunge to benefit the Gunflint Trail Firefighters will be held at White Pine Lodge and Poplar Haus on March 30.
This fundraiser for the Gunflint Volunteer Fire Department invites participants to take a refreshing (and icy!) dip into beautiful Poplar Lake along the Gunflint Trail.
But don’t worry, the shivers won’t last long! Following the plunge, participants will be treated to a rejuvenating sauna session at either Poplar Haus or White Pine Lodge, the perfect way to warm up and relax.
More than just a dip, the Gunflint Trail Volunteer Fire Department will be supervising each hole and accepting donations. These dedicated individuals are the backbone of safety on the Gunflint Trail, and the proceeds from the Poplar Plunge will help them continue to provide essential services to the community.
Put this on your calendar as a must-do, happy-to-support list. For more information, click here.
Also, this month is National Poetry Month and the Grand Marais Public Library will observe it by holding a Poetry Workshop from 6-7:30 pm on April 3 at the library, facilitated by librarian, Ryan Leng.
The Grand Marais Public Library will hold a poetry workshop April 3.
The first segment of the workshop will feature exercises aimed at developing poems, as well as time to revise and expand drafts. The second segment will include a peer review of those drafts to promote new growth in poetic creativity. In order to participate fully, poets should bring drafts of poems and ideas for new poems. Free. No registration is required. For more details about the workshop, email Ryan at Ryan.Leng@alslib.info
Hovland ceramicists and printmakers Lee and Dan Ross will open a show at the Groveland Art Gallery in Minneapolis on April 20.
“Walking the Breakwall,” monoprint, by Lee and Dan Ross. They will open a show at the Groveland Art Gallery in Minneapolis on April 20.
In the show, the artists explore the breakwall in the Grand Marais Harbor from the glaciers to the present. Stay tuned.
Artists at Work:
First Nations Carvers, 1926, in Kingcome, also known as Okwunalis, British Columbia. Photo courtesy of the of the Royal BC Museum and Archives.
Aspen burl bowl by Lou Pignolet.
Illustration by Ginny Sims.
Self-portrait by Lydia Schauland, who is in the 7th grade at ISD 166. She and other students are exhibiting work in the hallway of the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
Spring Fish, oil, by Scott Murphy.
Listening to the Moon, acrylic, by Rachel Rae Klesser.
Low Tide, watercolor, by Kim Dayton.
Online Findings:
Sea Pork, photo by Kim Dayton.
Seemingly not appetizing, Tunicates, or Sea Pork, are a delicacy in Japan, Korea, Chile, and parts of the Mediterranean. Some species can be eaten raw, cooked, pickled, or dried, with a 2022 study showing that eating these animals reversed aging in mice. To read more, click here.
Here’s a preview of one of the movies they will be showing at the Grand Marais Public Library next month. “Women Talking” will be screened at 6 pm on April 19. Free.
Making Maple Sugar
Making maple sugar over a campfire. Click here to see.
Online Music:
Live Music:
Thursday, Mar 21:
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
- North Shore Swing Band, Up Yonder, 7-9 pm
- Open Old Time Appalachian Music Jam, Community Center, 7-9:30 pm
Friday, Mar 22:
- Jim Miller, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Pete Kavanaugh, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Timmy Haus, Up Yonder, 7-10 pm
Saturday, Mar 23:
- Timmy Haus, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- “Katieoke” AKA Karaoke hosted by Katie Slanga, Up Yonder, 8-11:59 pm
Sunday, Mar 24:
- Briand Morrison, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
Tuesday, Mar 26:
- Eric Frost, North Shore Winery, 4:30-6:30 pm
- Open Stage, Up Yonder, 6-9 pm
Thursday, Mar 28:
- Timmy Haus, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Gordon Thorne, North Shore Winery, 6-8 pm
Friday, Mar 29:
- John Gruber, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 4-6 pm
- Pat Eliasen, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Al Oikari and Rod Dockan, Bluefin Grille, 8-10 pm
Saturday, Mar 30:
- Jim Miller, Cascade Lodge Restaurant & Pub, 6-8 pm
- Unity DJ, Up Yonder, 8-11 pm
Sunday, Mar 31:
- Briand Morrison, Moguls Grille & Taproom, 10 – noon
Photographs:
Here’s a selection of photographs we found this week:
Wildlife:
Crossbill by Paul Sundberg.
Yard birds getting frisky yesterday by Thomas Spence.
This Snowshoe Hare says spring is on the way. Photo by Paul Sundberg.
Mallard drake courtship display by Michael Furtman.
Territory discussions by Paul Sundberg.
Potpourri:
Taming the Light by Layne Kennedy.
New section of Trail north of Waturi Beach in Aruba. Some super tasty sections weaving through the boulder fields and cactus! Photo by Mica Harju of Dirt Candy, a bike-trail building company based in Grand Marais.
Something is wrong with this picture by Betsy Warren.
Needs No Explanation, courtesy of Michael Furtman.
1886 National Geological Survey Map courtesy of Dan Helmerson.
Treescapes, Landscapes, Waterscapes and Cloudscapes:
Acacia Trees, Kenya by Layne Kennedy.
Low Cloud Sunrise by Debbie Benedict.
Ed Stone got out there to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow by Layne Kennedy.
Morning Dream by David Johnson.
Back view by Don Davison.
Beautiful sunrise with Isle Royale visible by Kim Nelson.
Park Point walk by Siffy Torkildson.
Wonders of the Night Sky by David Johnson.
Caught one, March 18, by Mike Wiggins, Jr.
Grand Marais sunrise courtesy of the Lake Superior Trading Post.
Shipping season begins this week. Photo courtesy of Destination Duluth.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Ok, we’ll admit it! We really like putting out these issues every week. It’s interesting, it provides a service to the community and, in my case, I like finding things that are unusual or beautiful, or totally out of the box. Some weeks are more challenging than others, I must admit. In either case, we need your support to continue to do this. Please consider donating today, whatever is comfortable for you. You can click on the icon below and donate online or send a check to NorthShore ArtScene, PO Box 1232, Grand Marais, MN 55604.
P.S. Jeremy Lopez, Yvonne Mills, and Kari Carter are the three people who help make this all possible every week. A donation is a Thank You to them, too.