Art
Selective Focus: Matt Kania
Matt Kania is an artist who has won awards for his plein air paintings that capture the light, the feeling and the experience of being in a place. His work brings life to scenes that most of us would walk past without noticing.
MK: I am a professional oil painter and an original printmaker. With most of my artistry coming in recent years in the form of plein air painting (that’s French for ‘in open air’ or ‘on location’). (more…)
Poems for Chance
Chance: Poems
Tuesday night I attended the publication party and reading for “Chance: Poems,” an anthology of poems edited by Kathleen Roberts in honor of the art installation currently at the Tweed Museum. (more…)
Selective Focus: Carli Vergamini
Carli Vergamini takes old jackets and other items and re-purposes them into a wild variety of accessories. A quote on her website reads “the best fashions are fringey & up-cycling is cool.” In this week’s Selective Focus, we get an introduction to what she’s doing. It’s worth a deeper dive into her blog, where she frequently makes updates about what she’s working on, and she highlights other businesses that she admires in a series she calls “Biz Crush.”
CV: My main medium of choice is leather. Specifically, re-purposed from vintage leather jackets. It happened as a mistake — I was fresh out of college and didn’t know what I was doing with my life. All I knew is that I wanted to make stuff, but I didn’t know where to buy the materials I needed to make the stuff I wanted to make. So I did what I typically do and got resourceful. I bought the first leather coat I could find at Goodwill, took it home and cut that baby up to smithereens. (more…)
Trampled by Turtles new album and tour: Life is Good on the Open Road
Duluth’s own Trampled by Turtles recently announced a new song, new album and new tour. The new album, Life is Good on the Open Road, will drop May 4 and be available on CD/LP at the TBT online store, Amazon and Itunes. Above is the first release Kelly’s Bar. The tour also kicks off May 4 at the Palace Theater in St. Paul.
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Selective Focus: Mary Reichert
This week, Mary Reichert talks about how she stumbled into the art of felting and textiles. She’s become passionate about the craft, and has even gone to live in Central Asia to learn more about the history and techniques.
MR: I work with wool, making felt. How this came to be feels like an incredible mystery and also the most natural thing to happen. When I speak about felt-making I light up; I feel connected with the world. I have been most at home in my life working with a group of people making large community rugs. I did not grow up making things, surrounded by animals or wool, or ever imagine myself involved with fiber. (more…)
Theater of All Sorts in the Twin Ports
Sure, all the theater illuminati were at the opening of the NorShor for Mamma Mia. But across the street and down the road, on Friday and on Saturday, other kinds of theater and performance were opening up at Teatro Zuccone and the Underground, and I want to give them a nod. (more…)
North Country Girl in the Saturday Evening Post
Gay Haubner’s memoir about growing up in Duluth during the 1960s has been running as a weekly serial in The Saturday Evening Post since May 24, 2017. It’s at 36 chapters and counting, indexed on the page linked below.
Selective Focus: Michael Smisek
Michael Smisek is a designer and artist whose work would be hard to miss around here. He and his wife operate the DLH Clothing company, and also Šek Design, where they have worked with a number of high-profile clients in the area.
MS: I primarily work as a graphic designer but my background is in drawing and painting. I have a degree in Fine Art from UMD and I find that a lot of my work still takes on a ‘painterly’ quality – especially when designing posters and other collateral for print. I tell all of my clients that I begin every project with open ears and a pencil in hand. I know it sounds corny but it’s absolutely true. Some designers jump right on the computer and use Photoshop tricks and things before truly thinking through the goals or issues that a client faces. If you look at our Šek logo, you can see that the accent above the ’S’ actually doubles as the tip of a pencil. (more…)
The Dexter Project
Dexter Ojeda is a 10-year-old Duluth boy who has a rare form of cancer that has no cure. One of the last items on Dexter’s bucket list is to star in a horror movie. Duluth’s Death Calm Studios and Dexter Ojeda’s family are determined to make Dexter’s wish come true, but they need help make it happen.
Selective Focus: Emily Krueger
This week, illustrator Emily Krueger tells how she began to incorporate digital techniques into her painting and drawing styles, as well as how she has looked for a wide variety of opportunities to get her work out there and make her own job.
EK: My professional training is in graphic design and fine art (specifically, oil painting). I’ve dabbled in most mediums; watercolor, acrylic, drawing, graphic art, pastel, and colored pencil. As an illustrator, my main medium is a mix of pencil drawing and digital painting. (more…)
Creative Minnesota releases report on arts economy
Creative Minnesota has released its second biennial economic report. The effort is a collaboration of arts and culture funders in partnership with Minnesota Citizens for the Arts with the goal is to “create solid, hard data about the arts sector.” The data is collected for “analysis, education and advocacy.” (more…)
Superior Siren – “Nightmare”
From the new self-titled Superior Siren album. Production and cinematography by Killy Kay.
Shakespeare in Motion: Romeo and Juliet
In this remix video, Duluth artist Joellyn Rock collaborates with dancer/choreographer Rebecca Katz Harwood and adds music by Low, while layering in book textures and historical references from the Folger Library’s Shakespeare collection. (more…)
Selective Focus: Samantha Nielsen
This week, we hear from watercolor artist and urban sketcher Samantha Nielsen. Also, this week we have a first, a Selective Focus artist teaching on Skillshare. Read on to hear her story and get the preview for her Skillshare class.
SN: I work in watercolor and ink with a style that many describe as ‘whimsical’. My artistic journey started after my third year of college, when I switched my major from music education to art education. I went into some of my first art classes feeling as though I didn’t have my own artistic voice, and I had very little experience, so all of the mediums were new to me. The first year was spent experimenting and learning the basics, but the following year a project for my illustration class is really what made me feel at home with watercolor and ink. We were instructed to completely fill a sketchbook throughout the semester, but we could only use permanent materials (so no pencils or erasers). This is where my love for watercolor and ink began, and this project really challenged me to step out of my comfort zone. (more…)
Selective Focus: Alison Aune
Alison Aune is an award-winning painter and educator who paints large-scale works that combine intricate Nordic-style patterns, portraits and mixed-media techniques. This week Alison goes in-depth about her style, her inspirations and even her favorite paint brush.
AA: I studied painting as an undergrad and graduate student. In 1984 I received a BFA in painting and a teaching license in art education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst where I am from, my dad was a professor of philosophy at UMASS and is currently emeritus, and I received a masters degree in painting from UMD (1987) and a PhD in Comparative Arts from Ohio University in Athens (2000). In graduate school I changed from oil paint to acrylics because I needed the paint to dry quickly! (more…)
Selective Focus: Krista Pascoe
Portrait photographer Krista Pascoe talks about how she stumbled into photography at Denfeld and has turned a long-time hobby into a career.
KP: I am a local professional photographer specializing in portrait work. My main focus is weddings, seniors, families and sports. I came into photography by accident a long time ago. When I was attending Duluth Denfeld, I was accidently put into the yearbook class due to a scheduling error. They tossed me on the photography team. Back then, we used chemicals and dark rooms to develop our work, and I was immediately intrigued with the process. As digital has come along, I view the advancements in photography technology a nice complement to the artistic side of my work. I enjoy all aspects of photography from the people, the creativity, the editing and post-processing. I even do some graphic design at the end stages. (more…)
Chris Monroe art on Rain Taxi cover
The Winter 2017 issue of Rain Taxi, a Minneapolis-based book review and literary magazine, features artwork by Duluth’s Chris Monroe.
Saturday Essay: Select gems from 2017
Last week we highlighted the five most-read pieces from the second year of Perfect Duluth Day’s “Saturday Essay” series. This week’s focus is on five essays of similar quality that might have been missed by readers who didn’t catch links in their social media feeds and/or were busy doing non-internet things.
In the past two years PDD has published 100 essays showcasing the work of 22 different writers; we hope to expand that roster in 2018. Anyone who has an original piece of literary excellence that seems to fit (or appropriately defy) the established format should email paul @ perfectduluthday.com to get involved.
And now, links to a few select gems from season two, in random order … (more…)
Selective Focus: #duluth
A quick end-of the year view of other views of #duluth.
The Most Read Saturday Essays of 2017
Perfect Duluth Day’s “Saturday Essay” series concluded its second season last week. At the end of each year we take a look back at some of the favorites — like the literary version of a 1980’s-era TV sitcom flashback episode. This week is part one, highlighting the essays that were read the most times in the past year according to the folks at Google Analytics.
Before digging into the 2017 countdown, here’s a brief paragraph to spell out for the uninitiated how the “Saturday Essay” feature works:
PDD publishes an essay every Saturday. Yours truly, Paul Lundgren, is the editor. A small group of writers are featured somewhat regularly, but anyone is welcome and encouraged to submit a piece for consideration. Shoot an email to paul @ perfectduluthday.com to inquire.
And now, the champions of Duluth literature … (more…)
Selective Focus: Market Day
Market Day started as a Downtown Duluth Pop Up Shop in 2016, and moved into a twisty, multi-level space at 15 N. Third Ave. W. last spring. It’s filled with a variety of local art, crafts and workspace for classes. Director Lanae Rhoads tells us about some of the activities going on in the space.
LR: We are a shop that desires to celebrate the Farmer’s Market vibe all year long. In fact, we started as a Farmers Market at UMD in 1999. The University decided to make Market 2016 the last season. With that decision we needed to find other ways to showcase our local artisans. And through that loss Market Day was born. We received one of the holiday 2016 Pop-Up shop program spaces. It was a wonderful success and we decided to continue together in a permanent location that opened this past March. (more…)
Selective Focus: Natalie Salminen Rude
Natalie Salminen Rude works in a variety of mediums, and recently opened a studio/gallery in the Woodland neighborhood. She tells how her varied interests come together in her work.
NS: I work in a host of mediums which all wonderfully inform each other. Encaustic, oils, photography, haiku — each process shapes the other. There’s this constant hum of cross-pollination that happens in my studio. I think curiosity and a fascination with connection are the forces that propel me to do the work I’m doing. And beauty. Always on the hunt for beauty. (more…)
Selective Focus: #lutefisk
It’s a Northland tradition. Show your heritage runs deep enough that lutefisk is no big deal, or as a young, hard-driving journalist, prove you’re brave enough to venture into the depths of a Lutheran church basement to try it for the first time.
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