Brian Barber
Selective Focus: Steph Anderson
Stephanie Anderson is an illustrator working as The Hillside Creative. She enjoys making detailed, textured drawings with simple tools. And if you’re looking for a pet portrait, she’s ready to help you out.
SA: Ink and watercolor is my medium. There is something that I love about the harsh, black lines of the ink pens in contrast with the free-flowing, vibrant watercolor brush strokes.
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Selective Focus: Max Mileski
Selective Focus has been a series mostly about visual arts, but there is an undeniable link between music and visuals. This week Max Mileski talks about making music, creating a band and the work that goes into building the sound and the aesthetic that goes with it.
MM: My name is Max Mileski, I work under the nom de plume – Sadkin. I merrily toil with contemporary music as a multi-instrumentalist who writes and records songs in a self contained, d.i.y. manner. Two years ago I released the first collected works of Sadkin, Élan Vital. In speaking more specifically with regards to style, the music is categorized first as Alternative. Within that, there are certainly some subdivisions which help describe the sound ~ Artpop, New Wave, New Romantic, Synthrevival. Most recently and with the help of 4 other inspired souls in Duluth, I’ve been able to take Sadkin to the stage as a live show. The performances have been unquestionably invigorating and has more recently pushed Sadkin into new arenas, exploring deliberate visual components closely tied to the music.
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Selective Focus: Yarrow Mead
Yarrow Mead is a metal smith who works with Northern Minnesota “gems” including local stones, agates and seaglass. The pieces she creates proudly show tool marks and uneven, organic shapes that reflect the North Shore.
YM: I am a silver and gold smith working with primarily local stones, beach glass, and American sourced metal. I was trained in jewelry by Stephen Hoglund, who is a very talented smith out of Grand Marais, as well as through my time working as a Props Master at the Hamline University Theater Department, under Theater Director Bill Wallace. My personal style has been influenced by both of these men, as well as my childhood on the North Shore of Minnesota. I am greatly inspired by the shapes and textures along the shores of Lake Superior, as well as my personal Nordic heritage.
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Selective Focus: Duluth Polar Vortex 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtOxa_OHg_J
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Selective Focus: Mike Scholtz
Mike Scholtz makes movies about odd little things that no one seems to know about, but after watching them, you think, “Why didn’t I know about that?” Also, these are not little things, they are big parts of some people’s lives. The world premiere of his latest film “Riplist” at the Fargo Film Fest was just announced today. Mike talks about what drives him to dig into these stories and presents some trailers from his work.
I’m a documentary filmmaker who enjoys making funny films about serious subjects. Or serious films about funny subjects. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure which. But I do like to sneak up on an audience with a few laughs before I hit them with the soul-crushing realization that we’re all going to die in a cold, uncaring universe.
That’s how I approached my latest film, Riplist. It’s about a group of friends from Fargo who compete in a celebrity deadpool. It’s a contest where players draft celebrities they think might die in the next year, like fantasy football but with elderly presidents and ailing musicians. I hope people are as morbidly fascinated with this hobby as I am, because it’s premiering at the Fargo Film Festival in March. I suspect it will play at some other festivals in the area shortly after that. If you like your comedy as black as your soul, I think you’ll like this film.
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Selective Focus: Esther Piszczek
This week, Esther Piszczek talks about her journey from attorney and doodler to artist and teacher. Be sure to check out the beautiful documentary produced by Lola Visuals toward the end of the post to see in real-time how she makes her intricate artwork.
EP: I am a pattern artist specializing in the Zentangle® method of pattern drawing. The Zentangle method, created by Maria Thomas and Rick Roberts in Massachusetts, uses a .01 Sakura micron pen and pencil shading on a 3.5 x 3.5 inch paper tile to create intricate, beautiful, non-representational art. The method is contemplative and founded on the principle that there are no mistakes, only opportunities to create something unexpected. (more…)
Selective Focus: Amber Burns
Amber Burns is a true advocate for the arts. She has worked as a dancer, choreographer, painter, teacher and is now Artistic Director of the Duluth Playhouse Family Theatre. This week she talks about her love of many types of expression, and how she builds the work of other people as well as the many disciplines of her own.
AB: When I think about my medium I more like to think about what I love to create, which is visual movement, whether it is through my choreography, directing, through sculpture or on a canvas. Sometimes my medium is paint and sometimes it is physical bodies. I am a dancer, actor, director, choreographer, and visual artist. When I was just three years old I started dancing at a studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota and when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up I said, “I already am a dancer!” As I got older I developed passions for many other things, including drawing and painting. When it was time to pick a career and go to college I decided to b become an art teacher, and graduated from UMD in 2011 with a BFA in Art Education, all the while I was still dancing and teaching dance classes. At UMD I also received a minor in dance, and this is where I was introduced to the theater world.
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Selective Focus: Erin Tope
We kick off 2019 with a profile of dancer and choreographer Erin Tope, who as her stage persona Miss Tallulah Creant, keeps busy with the Duluth Dolls and other burlesque groups, is a member of the band Red Mountain, teaches, and works to make dance of all kinds more accessible to audiences and those interested in participating.
I am a dancer, choreographer, performer, and dance teacher. My mother was a dancer and dance teacher so she put me in creative movement classes at age three. By age six, I was in ballet at Minnesota School of Ballet here in Duluth. While at Minnesota Ballet I also studied Jazz and Modern dance. At age eight I started figure skating with Duluth Figure Skating Club and continued to competitively skate until age 16, when I was accepted into Perpich Center for Arts Education. There I finished my junior and senior year of high school in their Dance Department, studying Modern Dance, Ballet, Dance Composition and Dance History extensively. I moved back to Duluth after graduating and began Performing with Over The Top dance company, with a focus on Latin Ballroom Dance, mainly Salsa. With that group I was lucky enough to attend and perform at Chicago International Salsa Congress as well as learn the inner workings of producing shows. I learned most of my production, technical, and backstage lessons in those days and that has definitely shaped who I am and what I am capable of today. After the Director of Over The Top Dance moved to Minneapolis in 2011, I started dancing with Grace Holden and through her got connected with Rebecca Katz Harwood at UMD.
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Selective Focus: Snizzle Storm 2018
https://www.instagram.com/p/Br6C5FMlfji/
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Selective Focus: Jason Voss
This week artist Jason Voss talks about the art and challenges of tattooing. He recently opened a shop, Gitchee Gumee Tattoo on Central Entrance, and will be hosting a Grand Opening on Jan. 14.
JV: Tattooing is a craft that requires a lot of technical skill. Being able to control needle depth, emulate texture, and keep a steady hand over a squishy, rounded object are some of the fundamentals of tattooing. (more…)
Selective Focus: Globe Grain Elevator Fire in Superior
https://www.instagram.com/p/Brgf8YblHlx/
Duluth News Tribune: “Historic grain elevator burns in Superior” (more…)
Selective Focus: #duluthmusic
A quick visual journey through recent #duluthmusic
https://www.instagram.com/p/BrGPCYSlpY9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
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Selective Focus: Naomi Christenson
Naomi Christenson has been featured here before as a dancer, this week we get to see her work as a painter. A self-described “detail junkie” she gets inspiration from unusual places, including fungus and lichen. Her paintings are filled with immaculate detail and vibrant colors, abstraction and pattern.
NC: I primarily work in acrylic paint, though I’ve also worked with oil and gouache for some projects. When I started painting, it was in a classroom and we worked primarily on still lives. The instructor set up a backdrop with a diverse collection of objects in the foreground and we painted it. In that setting, I found myself most drawn to the complex objects with lots of detail. An old gumball machine with its glassy top, red metal body and shiny silver flourishes springs to mind as one of my favorite objects to paint. Beyond classes, the more I painted the more my style came into view. For example, I found myself happiest with paintings that not only had a lot of detail but also a lot of color. Years later I discovered my love of natural patterns and the mix within my work became more interesting. (more…)
Selective Focus: #northernminnesota
Instagram
174 likes, 6 comments - hubert_thebulldog on November 27, 2018: "Wishing it was still the weekend and I was still hanging out #upnorth . Back to reality I guess. Hey @umdathletics do you need a new mascot? I would be happy to do the job for a simple wage of bacon and cheese! .
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#umd #duluth #duluthmn #minnesota #northernminnesota #onlyinmn #northshore #bulldogsofinstagram #umdbulldogs #duluthbulldogs #minnesotadogs #dogsofminnesota #dogsofmsp #hubertthebulldog #aerialliftbridge #bulldog #englishbulldogs #englishbulldog #englishbulldogsofinstagram #bulldoglovers #bulldoglove #dog #dogsofinstagram".
instagram.com
A few views of the area via Instagram. (more…)
Selective Focus: John Heino
This week in Selective Focus, we hear from photographer John Heino about his work, and how he he balances his ever-growing creative wish list as well as evolving travel and equipment wish lists.
JH: I began as an old-school film photographer in the early 80’s as an art student at UMD. With the advent of digital photography, I made the transition from darkroom to computer. I was a bit skeptical about digital in the beginning, but it’s incredible how the technology has evolved over the last ten years. (more…)
PDD Gift Guide 2018
Find something for everyone on your gift-giving list with PDD’s annual curated gift guide. It’s a bit different than most gift guides in that it’s not a list of stores that advertise with PDD — it’s a list of items created in our region, chosen simply because they are nifty. (more…)
Selective Focus: Ice and Frost
Instagram
37 likes, 1 comments - mikemayouphotography on November 15, 2018: "Love living where this is only a 5 minute drive from home.".
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This week, some cold and icy scenes from around the area. (more…)
Selective Focus: Richard C. Johnson
This week, photographer Richard C. Johnson tells how he looks for and catalogs special locations to come back to with his camera, how and why he has switched between ways of making images, and the advantages of Flickr over Instagram.
RCJ: I have lived and worked as an artist in Duluth for more than 35 years. My education and training as an artist was in both printmaking and photography. I have always thought of myself as first and foremost a photographer, even through those times I was not actively photographing. In the latter half of the 1980s, I found myself without access to a viable darkroom, and was living in a house that had no suitable place to build one. I spent a few years working with collage, mixed media, and assemblages, with varying degrees of success. In 1992 I purchased a Mac computer along with a flatbed scanner. For the next 8 years I worked exclusively within the realm of digital montage. When I did photograph, it was to make images to be part of a montage, not as singular works in themselves. By the turn of the century, 2000-’01, I felt a bit burned out with this work, spending too much time in front of a computer, and living too much in my head. I felt that what I needed was to return to photography, and reconnect with the world. (more…)
Selective Focus: Hilltopper 6
Students at Marshall school have been launching a weather balloon equipped with a camera and data gathering equipment since 2013. This year a larger balloon went higher than ever, and collected more data and 360 videos. The extra boost came from assistance from Trail Genius, a company that maps and provides data to trail-based events and clubs. Marshall science teacher David Johnson fills us in on the project.
DJ: I met Jason at the Birkie where I carried his camera so that he could make a Trail Genius map about the Birkie Trail like he did for Hilltopper 6.
After hearing about our ballooning project, Jason offered up his camera and expertise to help us film the flight in 360 degree video. What he did for us is so much more than I ever could imagined, he has given so much of himself to this project. (more…)
Halloween Banners
Time to go back one year and look through your pictures on your phone. We want to see your creepy, comical, kooky Halloween photos, we’ll add them to the banner rotation – those long skinny photos at the top of the page. Keep in mind, the proportions are extremely horizontal, so not every photo works when cropped. Click here for complete submission guidelines, but the basics are: 1135 pixels wide by 197 pixels high, e-mail them to banners@perfectduluthday.com
If you’re not able to crop and size them, send the full image and we’ll do our best to crop it into a banner. Happy Halloween, we’ll start rotating the Halloween Banners this weekend.
Selective Focus: Last glimpse of Fall
The leaves are almost all gone, here are a few final peeks for the year. (more…)
Selective Focus: Kip Praslowicz’s video blog
This week in Selective Focus, we’re going to tune in to Kip Praslowicz’s YouTube channel. You may remember Kip from such films as “Memory Card Dump #14,” “Memory Card Dump #11” and “The Story of Homegrown 2016.” He’s a prolific photographer, and his YouTube feed is a combination of tutorials on working with film photography, behind the scenes documentaries about his ongoing photo projects, and photographic experiments. Even if you’re not really needing instruction on loading 120 roll film into a decades-old camera, there’s plenty of other wisdom and fun. Here are a few samples along with a brief bit of background from Kip. Take a look, and then “smash that subscribe button.”
KP: Before I did photos, I was into making music. Before I was making music, I was into making weird videos. This was also when I was about 11 and used a big VHS camera with the only concept of editing being by starting and stopping the tape. (more…)
Selective Focus: Laura Goodman and Karen Owsley Nease
On Oct. 19 and 20, Laura Goodman’s sensuous and powerful new ballet, “Curl, Uncurl and…” will be performed as part of the Minnesota Ballet’s fall performance, The Rite of Spring and Other Dances. Basing her choreography on the wave paintings of Karen Owsley Nease, Laura explores the elemental and generative forces depicted in Karen’s artwork. Karen’s paintings will be projected as the back drop during the performance.
On Friday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m., at Joseph Nease Gallery, Laura and Karen will present an artist’s talk discussing their work during a mini-exhibition of the paintings that were included in the performance. “Elemental Forces and Other Work” is the mini-exhibition of Karen’s paintings and will be on display from Oct. 19-27.
What was the origin of your collaboration?
Karen: Over dinner last year, Laura and I were discussing our respective work as artists, particularly her experience as a professional dancer and choreographer, which led me to suggest how cool it would be to have her “interpret” my wave paintings into motion.
Laura: Growing up in Duluth, Lake Superior has been a place for reflection and awe. It has been a backdrop that I have missed when living elsewhere. I first saw Karen’s wave paintings at her show “As Above, So Below” at the University of Wisconsin, Superior in 2017. The idea of choreographing a piece based on her paintings was exciting to me, and so I worked to find a way to do that. After a few conversations and studio visits with Karen, I approached Robert Gardner at the Minnesota Ballet. With his support of the project I applied and was awarded an Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC) Career Development grant. (more…)
Selective Focus: Canal Park, Brighton Beach and Park Point flooded
Instagram
118 likes, 1 comments - kruegerpix on October 10, 2018: "Street flooding in Duluth’s Canal Park is spreading a bit... water from along ship canal is now encroaching on Lake Avenue near the Lift Bridge. Similar to last fall’s big storm. .
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#duluth #duluthmn #mn #mnwx #minnesota #captureduluth #capturemn #authenticduluth #canalpark #lakesuperior #waves #greatlakes #exploremn #thisismymn #minnesotaphotographer #duluthphotographer #flooding".
instagram.com
Standing water in the Canal Park business district. Debris and open manholes beneath the water. Waves pushing debris and rocks onto the Lakewalk. (more…)
Selective Focus: Jim Richardson
Jim Richardson is an artist, a writer, a snorkeler and outdoorsman, a video blogger — in other words, a modern day renaissance man. He has a show of his cartoons opening tonight (Friday, Oct. 5) at the Red Herring Lounge. This week in Selective Focus, we get a preview of the show, and hear about some of the other projects he has up his sleeve.
JR: My current show at the Red Herring features recent cartoon illustrations I’ve done for transistormag.com, so I am wearing my cartoonist cap. The Perfect Duluth Day community knows me primarily, if anything, by the work I do as Lake Superior Aquaman. But cartooning has been with me the longest. I have always been a committed doodler. (more…)