North Shore Arts Scene

There’s a harvest of color on the North Shore this week, and everyone is getting out there to enjoy it.  The northern lights have been playful, too, making for long days and long nights for photographers and nature lovers. Indoors, look for a celebration of storytelling, music, art and poetry.

First up is the 6th annual Storytelling Dinner at Lutsen Resort Oct. 9, a fundraiser for the North Shore Commercial Fishing Museum and the Tofte Historical Society. This year, father and son, Brian and Eric Tofte, will give a presentation entitled “Fishing Throughout the Ages.”  The social hour by the fireplace starts at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6:30 p.m. The presentation is at 7 p.m. For tickets, call Lutsen Resort at 663-7212.

On Saturday, renowned singer/songwriter John Gorka will be in concert at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m.

Gorka, who got his start in the late 1970s in a coffee house in Pennsylvania, was quickly recognized for his soulful baritone and original songwriting. It wasn’t long before his rich, multifaceted songs gained increasing attention from critics and audiences across the country as well as in Europe, where his tours led him through Italy, Belgium, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany.

Over the years, Gorka has produced 11 critically acclaimed albums, and in 2010,  he released Red Horse with Lucy Kaplansky and Eliza Gilkyson. The album landed on the Billboard Folk Charts and was one of the most played albums on folk radio.

Tickets for the concert are $24, $8 for 18 and under, and can be purchased at www.tix.com and at the door.

On Monday, opera comes to the Grand Marais Public Library when Alisa Magallón, teaching artist with the Minnesota Opera, will present Stories Sing! A Special Storytime Presentation by the MN Opera at 10:30 a.m.

Magallón has performed as a young artist with Chicago Opera Theater, given concerts in Chicago’s famed Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, performed in the Teatro Piccinni in Bari, Italy, and has given recitals in the capital city of La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.

The presentation is geared toward preschoolers and is open to the public. She will perform  from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

For the poetry side of things, the Definitely Superior Art Gallery‘s Random Acts of Poetry continues throughout public spaces in Thunder Bay through Saturday. Poetry “construction crews” have been wandering the streets and dropping into libraries, cafeterias, coffee shops and radio stations all week with poetry on their lips. This is the 11th year of the event, and is one of the largest poetry performances in Canada.

It’s a totally fun event. For example, here’s the schedule for the poetry crew on Saturday:

• 1st stop, outside the Thunder Bay County Market, between 11:30 a.m. and noon
• 2nd stop, Starbucks Coffee House, between 12:30-1 p.m.
•  3rd stop, Either at the Marina Waterfront Park, outside the Calico Coffee House or outside the Waverley Library, between 1:30-2 p.m.
• 4th stop, Lakehead University Radio,  between 2:30-3 p.m.

For more info, and to see the schedule for the week, click here.

In Grand Marais, the Plein Air 2015 exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post continues to draw accolades. Bob Upton won 1st place with his painting “Clearwater.”  It also won the People’s Choice award.

The event, which is sponsored by the Grand Marais Art Colony, brought 70 plein air artists to Cook County to paint for a week. Their work is on exhibit at the Heritage Post through Nov. 15. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday and Monday.

In other Art Colony news, Lisa Stauffer will teach a workshop,  “Harvest Bounty in Pastel” at the Art Colony this weekend. And North Carolina potter David Voorhees will teach a porcelain workshop this weekend, too. For more info and to register, call 218-387-2737 or visit www.grandmaraisartcolony.org.

Make-A-Bowl for Empty Bowls continues this month where the public is invited to the ceramic studio at the Art Colony to make bowls for the fundraiser to help the hungry in Cook County. The Empty Bowls Dinner & Silent Auction is Nov. 12  at St. John’s Catholic Church.

Registration to make a bowl or two is still open. Sessions are held on Sundays at 2 p.m. and Mondays at 7 p.m., although there will not be a session this Sunday, Oct. 11. To register, call the Art Colony at 387-2737.

Upcoming

Next weekend is Moose Madness in Grand Marais with lots of moosey events scheduled throughout town and nearby hillsides. To find out more, click here  and stay tuned for details next week.

The Annual Members Show & Sale at the Grand Marais Art Colony opens Oct. 27.

The North Shore Readers and Writers Festival: A Minnesota Voice,  hosted by the Art Colony, Drury Lane Books and the Grand Marais Public Library, is Nov. 5-8. Lorna Landvik is the keynote author. For more info, click here.

The Bluegrass Masters Weekend is Nov. 6-8 this year and will be held at Lutsen Resort. The featured instrument is the resophonic guitar with Mike Witcher as the featured artist. For more info, click here.

In other art news, Marco Good is directing Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” for the Grand Marais Playhouse.

This is not the first time that Good, who studied theatre arts at Augsburg College, has directed a play for the Playhouse. “I did ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’ one year and ‘The Crucible’ when they did that one spring,” he said.

But directing this play is really an exciting opportunity for him.

“I’m getting so wound up about it, I can hardly sit still,” Good said in a telephone interview recently. “I especially love Shakespeare. The language is so brilliant and fun and playful … Nobody does it like Shakespeare.”

The cast includes Rosalind-Linnea Henrickson; Orlando-Finn Garry; Celia-Erica Marxen; Oliver-Kevin Kager; Phebe-Robin Henrickson, Silvius-Janet Healey, Touchstone-Santina McMillian, Audrey-Shae Morowitz; Duke Senior-Sam Kern; Jaques-Mark Abrahamson; Adam-Dick Swanson; Charles-Mark Abrahamson; Duke Frederick-Sam Kern; Corin (Shepherd)-Aurora Schelmeske; Amiens-Amelia Roth; Tina Krauz and Kurt Anderson and other cast members to play multiple roles.

Set design and lights will be by Jackson Nickolay, costumes by Emma Bradley. Beth Farone is the stage manager.

“As You Like It’ opens Nov. 12.

Everyone at Betsy Bowen’s Studio & Galleries is taking a long nap after a busy 10 days of the Crossing Borders Studio Tour, but there’s still lots of art to see. The galleries are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Oct. 18. Stay tuned for the fall schedule. The Holiday Art Underground sale, featuring a variety of local and regional artists, is scheduled to open Dec. 4.

Here’s the music schedule for this week:

Friday, Oct. 9:

• Al Oikari and Rod Dockan, Bluefin Grille, 8 p.m.
• Gordon Thorne, Chris Gillis & Mike Roth, Gun Flint Tavern, 9 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 10:

• Jim & Michelle Miller, Voyageur Brewing Co., 4 p.m.
• Briand Morrison, Lutsen Resort, 7p.m.
• Jim McGowan, Cascade Lodge Pub, 7:30 p.m.
• John Gorka, Arrowhead Center for the Arts, 7:30 p.m.
• Gordon Thorne, Chris Gillis & Mike Roth, Gun Flint Tavern, 9 p.m.
• Timmy Haus, Papa Charlie’s, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 11

• Cellist Yvonne Caruthers, Chippewa City Church, Hwy 61, just east of Grand Marais, noon to 2 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 12:

• Pete Kavanaugh, Bluefin Grille, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 14:

• Gordon Thorne, Bluefin Grille, 8 p.m.

Let’s start this week’s photo tour with fall colors.

 

 

 

 

We found some wonderful water shots, too. Here’s one by Travis Novitsky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are some great northern lights photos.

 

And last, but not least, two photos by Layne Kennedy. First, the harvest.

 

And last, but not least, this photo by Kennedy of Erik Simula and his dog “Kit” on Elbow Lake paddling one of Erik’s classic birch bark canoes.

Have a great weekend, everyone!