Art, music & an insect potpourri

Hmmm — maybe this is the weekend to apply that old Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared.

In short,  get all essential gardening and outdoors work done now because the summer festival season starts next weekend with the Wooden Boat Show & Summer Solstice Festival at North House Folk School and goes pretty much non-stop every weekend through mid-August. Fun times, no doubt about it.

The Good Harbor Hill Players are already gearing up for the Summer Solstice Pageant (June 23 at North House). Everyone in the community is welcome to become part of the production, especially children and family groups.  Workshops to help make props and costumes are held at  What’s Upstairs, above Betsy Bowen Studio  on Fridays, 6 – 8 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon  &  2 – 4 p.m., until showtime on the 23rd.  For more info, call Betsy at (218) 370- 8077, or just show up. Everyone welcome.

To learn more about the Wooden Boat Show, sign up for classes and workshops, click here.

Since we’re talking about events-to-come, the musician list for Mountain Stage’s return to North House Folk School for Unplugged has been announced.

At the top of the list are two Duluth bands: Trampled by Turtles and Low.

Trampled by Turtles was featured on the The Late Show with Dave Letterman earlier this year, and Low performs throughout the U.S. and Europe to critical acclaim. Here’s a link to the Trampled by Turtles web site.

Here’s a link to Low.

The line-up for the Mountain Stage shows Sept. 13 & 14 also includes such well-known musicians as Jonathan Edwards, Gretchen Peters, Mollie O’Brian & Rich Moore as well as Chip Taylor and Jon Vezner, to name a few. Unplugged will also be held this year, on Sept. 15. Tickets for all three shows go on sale  July 1. Visit www.northhouse.org for more.

The Lutsen 99er, a mountain bike race in the Lusten area that celebrates its second year this year, will also be held June 23. It’s headlined: This Ain’t No Walk In The Park. Here’s a link to a video trailer they’ve produced about the race. It’s pretty cool. It was created by Alex Downey, Beau Larson and Carl Hansen with music by Hansen, Elliot Doherty Noyce and Andre Borka. To read about the Lutsen 99er and find out more about this fun race, click here.

This Friday is what could well be the party of weekend when Stephan Hoglund hosts Earth, Wind & Todd in the courtyard behind his shop, Superior Designs, on Friday night from 6-10 p.m.

It’s the final fundraiser event for the kickstarter.com campaign to fund a video about Frank Moe’s sled dog “race” to St. Paul to deliver petitions to the governor from Minnesotans opposed to sulfide mining in the Lake Superior watershed and close to the Boundary Water Canoe Area Wilderness. The event will also feature refreshments and prizes. To learn about the project, click here and type in sled dogs.

Also this weekend, the Cook County Historical Society will host a lefse-making demonstration and tasting from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday. And Judi Barsness is teaching a Cedar Plank Cooking Class at North House this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is open until Thursday. Call 387-9762 for more info.

The Cook County Farm & Craft Market is on Saturday, too, in the Senior Center parking lot from 9 .a.m. to 1 p.m. and features lots of arts & craft items, baked goods, plants, vegetable starts, perennials & herbs. Early greens like spinach and lettuce might be available, too. Check it out.

For bird lovers, Molly Hoffman continues her 3-day weekend workshops on Birds of the North Shore Friday through Saturday. The workshops include classroom work as well as field trips. To register and for more info, call 287-2000.

There are some great exhibits to see this weekend, too. The Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder is open for the season, featuring exhibits of quilts, needlework and basketry as well as historic forest photos by  William F. Roleff.

Virginia Danfelt’s photography exhibit, “People: A Sense of Place,” continues at the Johnson Heritage Post through June 24.

And the Grand Marais Art Colony is exhibiting the work of  iconic Minnesota potters in its mini-gallery as well. The exhibit is called “Minnesota Potters: Sharing the Fire.” Two of the potters, Robert Briscoe and Jason Trebs, will be in Grand Marais next weekend for a reception on Friday night and a free  all-day pottery workshop/demonstration on Saturday, June 23. For more info, call the Art Colony at 387-2737.

In other art news, Tom Christiansen is putting final details on the bigger-than-life-size bronze sculptures he has crafted for the new law enforcement center in Duluth. They will be installed sometime next month, Christiansen said. He plans to hold a send-off party for them at Last Chance Gallery in Lutsen. Stay tuned. To read about the process, click here. Last Chance Gallery is open daily.

Barbara Jean Johnson will be opening for The Honeydogs at the Tycoon’s Alehouse and Eatery in Duluth this Friday. Show time is 10 p.m.

Here’s a scoop!

Mark Johnson, one of the founders of the Playing for Change  movement, will be interviewed on  WTIP’s The Roadhouse this Friday night.

Johnson is a Grammy Award-winning producer/engineer and award-winning film director. As the co-founder of the Playing for Change documentaries, he has been perfecting an innovative, mobile technique for recording musicians outside all over the world, and combining them together to create “Songs Around the World.” He is also the chairman of the board for the Playing for Change Foundation, and has dedicated his life to connecting the world through music. To hear one of the Playing for Change songs, click here.

The Roadhouse airs from 5-7 p.m. on Friday night.

Take a road trip in any direction from Grand Marais and enjoy a spectacular exhibit of Native American art.

The Tweed Museum of Art  on the campus of the University of Minnesota-Duluth has recently opened an exhibit of works by 17 Native American artists in Minnesota and covers a broad spectrum of work, ranging from paintings to porcupine quillwork.

It is entitled “Mni Sota: Reflections of Time and Place.” The word “mni sota”  comes from the Dakota words meaning “clouds reflecting in water,” “smokey water” or “cloudy water,” and are words that reflect our understanding of where we live, writes an essayist for the show.

The art works are traditional as well as contemporary and come from established as well as emerging artists. The exhibit continues through Aug. 26. To see more images from the show, click here.

The Roy Thomas Retrospective opened at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery last Friday with standing room only crowds. The exhibit is the largest the gallery has ever mounted and will travel to galleries around Canada after it’s summer exhibit here.

The work is extraordinary and covers Thomas’ lifespan and is highly recommended. The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is located on the campus of Confederation College and is open Tuesdays through Sundays.

Tom McCann has just donated a painting he created over a rubbing of  a historic plaque in Quetico Provincial Park to the park. He said he and his wife, Nancy Haarmeyer, took the rubbing from the plaque, and then he painted the map onto the rubbing and mounted it on canvas. Mark Tessier photographed the work.

And here’s some news: The musician line-up for the Hovland Arts Festival (June 30-July 1) has been finalized.

Yvonne Mills, Eric Frost, Carnival Meltdown and Blueberry JAAM will play on Saturday, June 30, and Joe Paulik & Friends, Bump & Barbara Jean and Portage play on Sunday. On Sunday morning, July 1, there will be an Old-time Hymn Sing & Gospel Jam with Jane Howard and Georgene Daubanton.

There’s lots of great music this week, too. Here’s the line-up:

Wednesday, June 13

• Joe Paulik, Birch Terrace Lounge, 7 p.m.
• Brett Berka & Friends, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 7 p.m.
• Eric Frost, Bluefin Grille, Tofte, 9 p.m.

Thursday, June 14

• Don Bauer, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 6 p.m.

Friday, June 15

• Earth, Wind & Todd, Courtyard behind Stephan Hoglund’s shop, Superior Designs, 6-10 p.m.
• Don Bauer, Devil Track Resort Lounge, 7 p.m.
• Community Music Circle, What’s Upstairs, above Betsy Bowen’s Studio, 7 p.m.
• Michael Monroe, Bluefin Grille, Tofte, 9 p.m.
• Joe Paulik, Grand Portage Lodge & Casino, 9 p.m.
• Midwest Assembly, Gunflint Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

Saturday, June 16

• Briand Morrison, The Pie Place, Grand Marais, 6-8 p.m.
• Midwest Assembly, Gunflint Tavern, 9:30 p.m.

Sunday, June 17

• Cook County’s Most Wanted, Devil Track Resort Lounge, 5 p.m.
• Joe Paulik, Gunflint Tavern, 6:30 p.m.
• Max Childs Trio, Harbor Light Supper Club & Bar, 7 p.m.

We received quite a potpourri of photos this week. Take a look:

First off, a lovely sunset by Bryan Hansel.

And flowers in Colvill. This was posted on the Grand Marais Facebook site.

Insects made their appearance this month, and photographers have responded. Here are some images.

And last, but not least, Layne Kennedy was on his way from the Rec Park campground to the Gunflint Trail one early morning last week, and caught this picture-perfect sunrise over Grand Marais.

Have a great weekend!