Art
Reconstructing a literary history of Duluth: Calyx Press
I’m trying to build a history of literature in Duluth, and I’ve decided that one useful heuristic would be publishers. So, what can you tell me about Calyx Press and Cecilia Lieder? (more…)
The Slice: The Many Tales of Laughing Fox
Michael Charette, also known as Tales of Laughing Fox, is a flute maker and player, animal mask maker and more. He lives in Red Cliff, about 60 miles east of Duluth.
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.
Last Week Tonight’s Masterpiece Gallery Tour coming to Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids
A collection of three paintings — one dubbed as “rat erotica” — is beginning its five-city tour about 65 miles northwest of Duluth. John Oliver, host of the HBO cable television show Last Week Tonight, explains in the video above that the works will be on display at the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids from Sept. 7 to 28. (more…)
Selective Focus: Andrew Remer’s Marbles, Glass Art & 3D Printing
Instagram
102 likes, 18 comments - mago_glass on November 4, 2020: "Another magical dragon skull has been found along the north shore! I love these dragon skulls, and this one has a fire dichro marble in its jaws! The marble is removable from the skull’s mouth as well.
#dragon #skull #marble #dichro #glass #electroforming #northshore #magic".
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Andrew Remer has been working with glass since 2016. After taking a class in Minneapolis, he began experimenting with the medium along with some friends. The group rented hourly studio time at Potekglass and later built a garage studio in Shakopee. Remer moved to Duluth in 2019 and began working at Lake Superior Art Glass. He branched out on his own into a full-time artistic career during the COVID-19 pandemic, completing commissions and attending several festivals to share his art. (more…)
Selective Focus: Fishnetstockings at Joseph Nease Gallery
Across the globe, one discovers mermaid tales clinging like barnacles onto historic seaports, sharing themes of the cross-cultural outsider, environmental imbalance, and gender inequality. During the summer of 2021, see Fishnetstockings projections at Joseph Nease Gallery in Duluth during open gallery hours.
A gallery talk, featuring a discussion with the artists and some images of what went on behind the scenes as the projections were created happens Thursday, July 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. (more…)
The Slice: Glass Artist Jes Durfee
Duluthian Jes Durfee has been transforming glass into works of art for more than 20 years, traveling internationally to learn from masters of the craft.
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.
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".
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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.