Art
Miniatures Display at the Nordic Center
The Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Ave., is now open to public visits on Fridays from noon to 4 p.m.
The current display features miniature Norwegian churches and dwellings by Jerry Sime who passed away in 2012. The results of Jerry’s love of Nordic structures and woodworking are on full display for the next three weeks.
Selective Focus: Kirsten Aune’s North Coast Fashion
Kirsten Aune Textiles outfit
Kirsten Aune has lived in Duluth for a number of years, working in textile and garment design. She has a fashion show upcoming in her new showroom, Kirsten Aune Textiles, at 12 N. 21st Ave. W., in the heart of our blessedly reviving Lincoln Park Craft District. It goes down July 17, with two showings, one at 4 p.m. and one at 5 p.m. Most of the fashions being shown will be for sale or can be custom ordered. Mary Mathews, a master sewer, will be modeling her own creations out of Aune’s fabric. The showroom is stocked with household items as well as clothing, and Aune notes that you can order custom printed fabric by the yard there as well. (more…)
Selective Focus: A Year of Sunrises with Ron Benson
Stoney Point, March 6, 2021
Ron Benson, a Duluth glass and ceramic artist, began posting daily photos of sunrises over Lake Superior to Facebook during the first winter of the pandemic. I hadn’t known him as a photographer, so I was surprised. He posted these images almost every day, and they were amazing. I knew, and eventually thousands of people knew, that he’d be out perched on rocks as ice water slammed or sloshed, aiming a camera at the sunrise, every day. It was impressive. (more…)
The Slice: Sean Connaughty’s Art at Sugarloaf Cove
Artist Sean Connaughty seeks to repay nature for what human’s gain from it. The installation at Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center, about 65 miles northeast of Duluth, is sponsored by the Grand Marais Art Colony and will remain on display as long as nature allows.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Great Lakes Aquarium art on Superstore
It was nearly impossible to notice, but there was a glimpse of Duluth in the series finale of the NBC sitcom Superstore. The episode, titled “All Sales Final,” aired March 25. It concludes with a scene of the character Amy Sosa putting her children to bed. For just a few seconds, a piece of Great Lakes Aquarium art by Daymark Designs, a Duluth-based graphic arts company, is shown in the background. (more…)
Selective Focus: Diane Keinanen’s Glass Art
Instagram
69 likes, 5 comments - diane_duluth on January 29, 2021: "Yep... you guessed it.. presenting Bernie Tranders! . . . . . . #transnurse #transwomen #trans #male2female #transbeauty #transgirlsofinstagram #transvisibility #thisiswhattranslookslike #duluth #registerednurse".
instagram.com
Diane Keinanen started creating glass window hangings 20 years ago after attending a community education class on stained glass. The medium then became a “lasting love” for her. In addition to glass art, Keinanen explores woodworking and has worked as a registered nurse for 28 years. Over the course of the pandemic, Keinanen has created live streams while creating her stained glass art. These live streams have included stories about her life and her experience as a transgender woman. More pictures of her work can be found on her Facebook page and YouTube channel. (more…)
Selective Focus: Shaun Chosa’s Wheat-paste Project at AICHO
Shaun Chosa created a group of images to be wheat pasted on the wall at AICHO — seen here with some of the folks who helped make it happen.
The American Indian Community Housing Organization, which has become a force for enabling Native voices in Duluth and bringing radiance to the city, worked with In Progress, a multi-media arts organization in St. Paul, to create this installation of Shaun Chosa’s strong images on the walls of AICHO’s headquarters, 202 W. Second St. (more…)
On Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can be Heard with Moira Villiard
Duluth artist Moira Villiard is interviewed in the Spring 2021 issue of Open Rivers, an online journal “that recognizes rivers in general, and the Mississippi River in particular, as space for timely and critical conversations about the intersections between biophysical systems and human systems.”
The topic of the interview is Villiard’s animated video collage, Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can Be Heard, which was projected in February on walls at the closed Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. The article can be read in the PDF version of the journal, beginning on page 50, or on a web page.
Blindfold
From surviving cancer to inspiring others with his beautiful origami creations, Duluth’s Todd Olson has shaped more than just the paper at his fingertips.
Selective Focus: Deep Cuts Hair Salon
Deep Cuts hair salon opened in August 2020. Bee Golding started the salon after five years of working with hair because they “love meeting and connecting with new people.” They work together with their partner Jes Golding, who helped Bee with the mission and aesthetic of the shop. “In fact, I almost quit cutting hair, but Jes encouraged me to create our own environment instead. Barbershops are traditionally very stereotypically masculine places that don’t always feel the most welcoming to LGBTQIA2S+ folks and I wanted to change that.” (more…)
Selective Focus: Carl Gawboy’s Life Well-Painted
A Life Well Painted
This text, taken from the curriculum written by Wendy Savage, serves to introduce Carl Gawboy — a foundational artist in this region.
At Tweed Museum of Art this winter of 2021, Carl Gawboy’s stellar paintings were featured in the exhibition “A Life Well Painted: The Art of Carl Gawboy.” It featured 36 narrative paintings. Carl Gawboy is a highly respected Ojibwe and Finnish artist; he paints the beauty of everyday life of his Ojibwe people. He is an Elder and enrolled member of the Bois Fort Band of Chippewa in Northern Minnesota. Carl has been creating art since he was a child at his Finnish mother’s kitchen table. Carl’s father was a trapper, and his mother was a teacher and farmer. Carl went on to college and studied art and history, and researched the fur trade era. (more…)
Art outside Wussow’s Concert Cafe and Zenith Bookstore
I parked to watch the new media installation by Daniel Benoit and Tom Moriarty. Below is the description from Facebook:
This installation is a pilot project initiated by the Duluth Public Arts Commission, with plans on the horizon for more rad art like this to be shown around Duluth (more…)
Elliot Silberman: Duluth’s Five-minute Sketch Artist
He’s a one-man band and a five-minute sketch artist. Presenting Elliot Silberman.
Selective Focus: Help Wanted
Perfect Duluth Day is looking for a new curator for its ongoing Selective Focus feature. Applications are being accepted through May 9.
Curator sounds artsier than coordinator, right? And it’s not really a writing thing, is it? Well, maybe it’s a bit of all three. (more…)
Robot Rickshaw’s Spring Rite
The Embassy wrapped up its first season of “plaguestreams” earlier this month, and now Robot Rickshaw has released this excerpt of a spring rite. (more…)
UMD literary magazine Roaring Muse reactivated
Cover of Roaring Muse.
From the story on UMD’s website:
UMD’s literary magazine Roaring Muse is a student-led magazine that was started in 1997 by UMD’s Literary Guild. Often including poetry, prose, and artwork, and edited by students, Roaring Muse sought to highlight the great work by UMD’s community, and at one point solicited submissions from community members outside the campus. Since its beginnings in ’97, the magazine has been published on and off and is currently back up and running. (more…)
The Slice: The Art of Carl Gawboy
A retrospective of artist Carl Gawboy was on display during the pandemic at the Tweed Museum of Art on the University of Minnesota Duluth campus. This video offers a glimpse of the works. Gawboy is a member of the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Leif Brush – “Terraplane Chorography I”
Artist Leif Brush, who taught at the University of Minnesota Duluth from 1976 to 2002, died on March 15 at the age of 88. His obituary can be found on cremationsocietyofmn.com.
The video “Terraplane Chorography I,” embedded above, is a performance with audio tape and live piano, shot at the Tweed Museum of Art in 1979 and digitized from videocassette in 2011.
The Slice: Moira Villiard’s “Madweyaashkaa”
Duluth visual artist and Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa descendant Moira Villiard reflects on her latest project: “Illuminate the Lock: Madweyaashkaa – Waves Can Be Heard,” featured in February on the St. Anthony Falls lock wall in Minneapolis.
In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.
Call for Performers: Welcome Home {Grown} | Live {Stream}
We miss live music! We all miss live music … right?
This will be the 11th year of 2104’s Soup Social, dubbed #SoupB4Supe. Last year we were forced into the Live Stream gig … and now Bryce Kastning and I, also with support from a few others, have been producing Music Live Stream’s since April 2020. If you haven’t listened to our streams … you can pick them up as often as you want, they are at youtube.com/duluthiscool or 2104.us. As of this writing, we have created 22 streams from 2104. (more…)
Selective Focus: Nature’s Winter Artistry
Instagram
98 likes, 8 comments - nicholas_j._narog_photography on March 9, 2021: "My LensBall with a frozen Sea Stack- at Tettegouche State Park.
.
.
.
#destinationduluth #winter2021 #tettegouchestatepark #tettegouche #mnstateparks #lensball #perfectdayduluth #seastack #northshoremn #lakesuperior #northshore #visualambassadors #captivatemn #exploremn #exploreminnesota #thisismymn #onlyinmn #capturemn #minnesotaphotographer #yourshotphotographer #mnexposure #minnstagramers #authenticduluth #captureduluth #moodyinminnesota #earthpix #optoutside #ourplanetdaily #stayandwander #upnorthtco".
instagram.com
Select Instagram photos showing a few of nature’s icy art projects. (more…)
Perspective: A Review of Decennia by Jan Chronister
Unforgettable things happen to us. Those pivotal events take on new meaning with the passage of time. Jan Chronister looks closely at those events in her past in her latest collection, Decennia (Truth Serum Press, 2020). The title means “decades.” Chronister splits her life into five of them and examines each in detail. (more…)
New Plan: Trick the Archeologists of the Far Future
Mockup example of proposed bronze historical marker series
New plan is to commission pieces on bronze or stone that can survive longer than paper, longer than digital, to really communicate with the future. The alien surveyors of 5000 AD will ask themselves, “WTH was going on in Duluth?” I’ve reached out to a few locals with the right skills; I hope to be able to show a nice series by Fall.
Meet Lanue boss, same as La old boss
Music video for “What I Love the Most” below the fold.
Duluth musician finds new meaning with ‘Lanue’ - Duluth News Tribune | News, weather, and sports from Duluth, Minnesota
Known for her rich vocals and poetic sense, Sarah Krueger releases her latest project under a new name.
duluthnewstribune.com