Sustainable Living, Weaving & Storytelling

There are lots of fun things to do this weekend to keep you busy, entertained and learning lots of new stuff.

Weaving by Marie Westerman.

First up is fiber artist Marie Westerman’s exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post. It opens with a reception from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, May 4.

Westerman is a nationally recognized weaver and teacher and exhibits throughout the country. She specializes in an adaption of an ancient form of weaving developed in Scandinavia which incorporates images into her work. It is quite stunning.

The Heritage Post is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and 1-4 p.m. Sunday. The reception is open to the public.

And writer Kate Fitzgerald, who is also the program director for the North Shore Music Association, will give a Full Moon Reading at Drury Lane Books outside by the bonfire from 5-6 p.m. on Friday, as well. (Note: The two venues are only a few blocks apart — it will be easy to attend both.)

Also on Friday about 6:15 p.m. Gordon Thorne and Bob Bingham will talk about their music and play a few tunes on WTIP’s The Roadhouse. The duo will play at the Gunflint Tavern on Friday and Saturday night.

There are two big events this weekend, too — The Northern Sustainability and Simple Living Symposium at North House Folk School and the Gunflint Green Up and Ham Lake Walk Run.

The Gunflint Green Up is being coordinated by Gunflint Lodge this year, and will feature planting, releasing, and working on re-establishing the Gneiss Lake Trail up to Blueberry Hill. This trail, which has been closed since the 1999 blowdown, starts adjacent to the Chik-Wauk Museum.

In past years, participants in the Green Up have planted and “released” trees in the Ham Lake Fire footprint, but things are going well in those areas, so a new project will be tackled by participants this year.

There is a registration fee for project participants who will not be staying at Gunflint Lodge. The fee includes Saturday lunch, Friday and Saturday dinners, planting equipment from the Forest Service, trees and group leaders. This registration is $48 per person. Taxes are additional. For more information about the event and to register, click here.

The Ham Half-Marathon Run and 5K Walk is on Sunday. For more information, click here.

The Northern Sustainability and Simple Living Symposium is this weekend.

The piece de resistance, though, is the Northern Sustainability and Simple Living Symposium at North House Folk School. There are lots of courses, seminars, demos, tours and community gatherings including a film (8 p.m. Friday), a community pizza potluck (7:30 p.m. Saturday) and more over this fun weekend.

The featured speaker is year is Lloyd Kahn, head of Shelter Publications and author of Home Work and Shelter. His latest book, Tiny Homes, has already been selling like hotcakes. Check out a short video about his work here.

Kahn will teach workshops over the weekend and also give a public presentation at 7:30 p.m. Saturday entitled “Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter: Scaling Back in the 21st. Century.”

Coursework includes everything from how to plan a garden for seed saving with Grant Olson from the Seed Savers Exchange, to beekeeping, apple tree pruning and more.

There are three “Lunch & Learn” events, too. David Abasz of Round River Farms in Finland will present at the Angry Trout at noon Friday. Olson will present at at The Pie Place on Saturday and Lloyd Kahn will present at North House on Sunday at a brown bag luncheon.

Local energy solutions will be the topic at a seminar on Friday at 6:30 p.m. (suggested donation $5.) and there will be a community woodfired pizza potluck at 5:30 p.m. Saturday before Kahn’s talk at 7:30 p.m.

There will also be an Energy Efficient Home Tour on Sunday morning, to name a few.

For more information, to see the schedule and /or to register, click here or call 218-387-9762.

Also on Saturday, naturalist Margie Menzies will talk about and demonstrate bird banding at Sugarloaf Cove at 10 a.m. The event will be cancelled if it rains.

And not to forget, Cook County’s Most Wanted will play for a Cinco de Mayo party at Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar at 9 .m. Saturday. There will be contests and games at the party from 7-9 p.m. All invited.

Photos of three of Tim Young's paintings were published in this magazine.

In other art news, Tim Young has had three of his

Willow, by Tim Young.

paintings published in Spring Thaw magazine, a publication of Itasca Community College. He spoke at the library there on Tuesday night. He will be speaking at his graduation ceremonies at the college on May 10.

In other Tim Young news, he has started up a new blog with his dog portraits. They are pretty amazing portraits — all of the dogs have their own personalities, that’s for sure.

Check them out here.

There are lots of blogs that have been active and/or newly established this week, too.

Here’s Neil Sherman’s latest post.

Layne Kennedy has been posting interesting photos on his blog. Check it out here.

Blues guitarist Pete Kavanaugh has just put a new blog online. Check it out here.

Holly Beaster's goldfish painted on fabric.

And Holly Johnson Beaster has been painting fish on fabric in her latest post. Click here to read about it and see her work.

Jazz musician Frank Gillis’ memorabilia has a new home at the Cook County Historical Society.

Earlier this month, the collection of his memorabilia that had been in the WTIP conference room moved to a new home at the Cook County Historical Society.

Carrie McHugh, the Historical Society director, is excited about the donation and has plans to create a permanent exhibit at the museum.

Frank’s son, Chris, and WTIP station manager Deb Benedict are pleased about the increased accessibility that the public will have to the collection when the display is complete.

Also in WTIP news, its annual meeting will be at the East Bay Suites tonight starting at 5 p.m. All members cordially invited.

Hazel Belvo was featured on WDSE’s The Playlist last week. Here’s the video of the program.

The deadline for the Hovland Arts Festival is May 15. The festival is June 30 & July 1 this year. For more info and to apply, send an email to moosevalley@lakenet.com or phone 218-475-2527. It is not necessary to be a resident of Hovland to participate in this popular festival.

And last, but not least, if you’re going to be in Duluth this weekend, check out all the live music opportunities there because it’s the Homegrown Music Festival Week in the Twin Ports.

Not only are there concerts, but bands are playing in almost every venue in Duluth and Superior, there are art shows and more. Tonight, Trampled by Turtles, who were recently featured on The Late Show, will be in concert at the Clyde Iron Works.

Here’s the link to the Web site where you can find lots of information about who is playing where, get tickets to concerts, etc., etc. Also, there will be videos about the festival on the Playlist, which airs on WDSE at 9 p.m. Thursday.

Bob Bingham & Gordon Thorne play at the Tavern this weekend. They'll also be interviewed on WTIP's The Roadhouse around 6:15 p.m. Friday night.

And here are the live music opportunities in Grand Marais this weekend:

Wednesday, May 2

Brett Berka & Friends, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 6:30 p.m.
Pete Kavanaugh, Birch Terrace Lounge, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 4

Bingham & Thorne, WTIP Community Radio, around 6:15 p.m.
Briand Morrison, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 7 p.m.
Community Music Circle, in What’s Upstairs, above Betsy Bowen’s Studio.
Bob Bingham & Gordon Thorne, Gunflint Tavern, 9 p.m.

Saturday, May 5

Bob Bingham & Gordon Thorne, Gunflint Tavern, 9 p.m.
Cook County’s Most Wanted, Cinco de Mayo Party, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 9 p.m.

Sunday, May 6

Ian Alexy, Gunflint Tavern, 6:30 p.m.
Paul Pederson, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 5-8 p.m.

For photos this week, we’re going to run this photo of the northern lights over Grand Marais again. Stephan Hoglund shot this last week. It was featured on the Daily Duluth blog this week.

Photo by Stephan Hoglund.

Here’s another take on that northern light extravaganza. Paul Sundberg took this shot.

Paul Sundberg took this photo on the evening of April 23. It was a long exposure... the white dots are the stars that night.

Since we’re doing last week’s photos, check out the Smelt Queen puppet as she walked on the Lake Walk in Duluth during the Run, Smelt, Run! puppet parade last weekend. She’s sort of a cutie, ah?