Selective Focus: Joel Cooper
I’ve been fascinated by screenprinting for a long time, because I’ve done it, and I know how difficult and frustrating the process can be. Joel Cooper tells us about his process for this week’s Selective Focus.
JC: I am a silkscreen printer. I became interested in this medium when attending a workshop at the Duluth Art Institute in the late ’80s. I guess the whole process appeals to me. It fits my personality … It is slow. Each color is drawn with black ink on acetate using a pen or brush, exposed to a screen, and using oil based ink squeeged to sheets of archival paper. The colors are layered one on top of the other starting with the lightest and ending usually with black. Most prints take well over a month start to finish. I take a lot of photos to get ideas in the summer and save the printing for our long cold winters. My style would be considered representational. (more…)
A week of art, music and singles mingling
How do I catch you up on the past week, PDD?
Last Thursday, I went to the reopening of the Tweed. Mayor Larson was there, exciting. Ken Bloom directs one of the most significant cultural resources in the region. Bill Payne‘s tenure as Dean of the School of Fine Arts at UMD made great things possible for the Tweed, too. (more…)
Aerial Bridge from end of Ship Canal
The message on the back of this postcard, mailed April 3, 1909, might require an interpreter — as often seems to be the case. (more…)
Northern Lights at Boulder Lake Dam
Time lapse photography by Grant Johnson of the tail end of the Mother’s Day Northern Lights at Boulder Lake Dam near Duluth.
Paddling in and around Lake Superior
Highlights from a year of paddling in and around Lake Superior — St. Louis, Lester, Cascade, Beaver and Baptism rivers; Lester point break, Duluth and Apostle Islands.
Team Dilly
Video by Matt Thompson.
Video Archive: Mayor Bergson says he won’t seek re-election
This clip from KDLH-TV 3 is from 10 years ago — June 14, 2006 — the day Duluth Mayor Herb Bergson announced he would not seek re-election the following year in order to focus on solving the city’s unfunded retiree health-care liability without politics interfering. At the time, the city’s health-care debt was projected to reach $300 million by 2014.
In early 2007, Bergson hinted he might run again after all, then announced two months later that he wouldn’t, only to reverse course three months after that and file to run.
His opponents in the race were Charlie Bell, Meg Bye, Joanne Fay, Greg Gilbert, Todd Gremmels, Sunny Helbacka, Reiner Nelson, Don Ness, Jim Pratt, John Socha and Robert Wagner. Bell and Ness advanced to the General Election, with Ness ultimately replacing Bergson as mayor.
Public comment sought on EAW for Spirit Mountain projects
The city of Duluth is accepting public comments until July 13 on an environmental assessment worksheet that was prepared for proposed projects at Spirit Mountain Recreation Area in 2016-2017. The plans include Nordic cross-country ski trails, mountain bike trails, Superior Hiking Trail extensions, rail-to-trail conversion, and an 18-hole disc golf course.
The proposed projects would initiate when all permits and approvals are received. They are part of the St. Louis River Corridor Initiative aimed at revitalizing and enhancing recreational opportunities and appropriate development in the western corridor of Duluth. (more…)
St. Louis River Story: Sheila Packa
People in the St. Louis River watershed shared their connection to the river with WDSE-TV during the opening reception for The St. Louis River: Diverse Connections at the Duluth Art Institute. In this installment, Sheila Packa shares her poem “St. Louis River Route.”
Midnight Movies at 7 – New Film Series at Zinema 2
In August Zeitgeist Arts Cafe and the Duluth Film Collective are launching a new film series: Midnight Movies at 7. The series will focus on cult classics, genre favorites, and films that are so bad they’re great.
First up in the series is Miami Connection, a 1980s tale of ninjas, rock ‘n’ roll, and taekwondo. The film will screen for one night only: Tuesday, August 9 at 7 p.m.
This Week: worms, wildflowers, whippersnappers and more
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
There’s a public meeting on the Can of Worms reconstruction plans, people can learn how to use a hand plane at Duluth MakerSpace, the folks behind the upcoming WDSE documentary Lost Superior are looking for stories, the Trans+ support group is holding its biweekly meeting on Tuesday, Teague Alexy plays the first show of the 34th Chester Creek Concert Series and it’s again time for the monthly Minecraft event at the Duluth Public Library.
Wednesday is “no kids allowed” night at World of Wheels Skate Center in Superior, the Duluth Art Institute is saying “thank you” to its members via the annual Art Night Out, Bagley Nature Center is the place to be if you like hiking and/or wildflowers, and it’s Grandma’s Marathon Weekend — which is a great time to get your young whippersnapper involved in racing, or to see a bunch of local and national music acts.
Denfeld Senior Graduation Video 2016
A shot-by-shot re-make of Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feelin’!” produced by Denfeld High School’s graduating class of 2016.
PDD Quiz: Happy Birthday to Us!
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
June 29 will be PDD’s 13th birthday. How much do you know about our 13 glorious years of being Duluth’s Duluthiest website? Take the quiz to find out.
And join us at Vikre Distillery on June 29 for PDDXIII: Perfect Duluth Day’s 13th Birthday Party. Here’s a link to the Facebook invite.
Superior Siren – “Trying Too Hard”
Superior Siren performing “Trying Too Hard” at KUMD last month promoting the Homegrown Music Festival. Listen to the interview at kumd.org.
Down Town
“I’m from New Jersey, I don’t expect too much
If the world ended today I would adjust.”
–John Gorka
New York, New Jersey. San Francisco, Oakland. Duluth and Soup Town. The Deep North, top of the map, and shallow end of the gene pool. Ugly sister-city. Can you feel the gravitational pull of the swamp it was built on? This force that bends us, slouching like the lowland willows. That drives water, beer and whiskey to seek the lower ground. Rains and fortunes falling, down and down. The banker’s son becomes a biker. The executive’s boy delivers pizza and sells dope well into adulthood. Sociologists call this “regression toward the mean.” Or maybe the swamp is pulling them. Down.
Of course the place tosses off an astronaut or Nobel winner once in a while. But folks mostly seem to understand they were born in second-place, and second place, as we know, is first loser. You get used to it. It helps to have negative role-models. Don’t do what he did. Look out for that. Rest in peace. (more…)
Walt Whitman’s Poem About Duluth?
There’s a new posting at the Reference@Duluth blog that involves a little literary detective work:
The Duluth Daily News of March 30, 1892, printed a letter offering an unpublished poem by Walt Whitman. The letter writer claims that Whitman had visited Duluth for his health the previous summer and had been so impressed with the Zenith City that he wrote a poem in praise of Duluth and had sent it to a friend in town.
Quiet (Singles) Night at the Depot
I spent Wednesday night at the St. Louis County Depot.
It was singles night, a weekly event in June. The event included $1 Castle Danger beers and entertainment from DJ Trivia. The event included free tickets to local events from KQDS and some locally owned restaurants and some tickets to Tribute Fest (I won three — anyone want to go? I feel no desire to pay tribute to any of the bands being covered.). The highlight of the event: a package to Las Vegas. (more…)
Selective Focus: Nate Lindstrom
“Awaiting”, Sunrise along the North Shore
You may have seen Nate Lindstrom’s photography at art festivals or through his annual calendar. For this week’s Selective Focus, Nate tells us about his landscape photography.
NL: It felt like it took a lot of experimenting, some minor frustrations and a heap of learning to make landscapes my photographic focus, but in hindsight that interest developed a long time ago. I’ve always had a love of nature and being outdoors and moving to a very outdoor-centered area of Minnesota helped me look at my surroundings in a different way. I was spending more time on trails, on the shore, sleeping in our many state parks, living through the hottest 10 days of our summer and diabolical winters. All of these things inspire what I look for in a subject or composition, and shape my overall style. (more…)
Tennis courts by MacArthur School coming along
Seven tennis courts and a discus/shotput-throwing area look to be almost ready at 725 N. Central Ave. The new courts and field will be used by tennis and track teams from Denfeld, as well as physical education students and other community members.
Cheng-Khee Chee profiled on The PlayList
Last week’s episode of WDSE-TV’s The PlayList profiled renowned watercolor painter Cheng-Khee Chee. Colleagues and friends share their perspective on his work and his legacy.
Perfect Duluth Day Outdoor Summer Concert Primer 2016
Those who prefer the safe confines of walls and a sturdy roof can check out Kiss or the Beach Boys this summer at Amsoil Arena or David Liebe Hart at the Red Herring Lounge, but ’tis the season for music under canopies or wide open to the elements.
Bayfront Festival Park and Big Top Chautauqua are hosting the usual slew of major acts throughout the summer, along with local music being showcased through smaller concert series, such as the Chester Creek Concert Series and Bayside Sounds at Barker’s Island Pavilion. With multiple shows scheduled every week throughout the summer, it’s hard to choose which ones to make time for. Here’s a look at some 2016 outdoor concert highlights.
June 14
Teague Alexy
Chester Bowl Park
The Chester Creek Concert Series launches its 34th season with a performance by poetic rock musician Teague Alexy.
June 17
Grandma’s Marathon Big Top Opening Night
Canal Park
Multi-platinum rock band Smash Mouth headlines this year’s opening night to Grandma’s Marathon weekend.
June 18
Brandi Carlile
Big Top Chautauqua
Singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile makes her way back for another year at the Big Top stage.
Woodblind – “Jubilee”
The ska duo of Veikko Lepisto and Jason Wussow perform “Jubilee” in KUMD’s Studio A.
Upcoming Woodblind gigs: June 9 at Beaner’s Central and June 27 at Thirsty Pagan Brewing.
J.M. Gidding & Co. | Gidding’s Millinery Duluth
The post “Duluth, the City of Electric Lights,” led me to wonder what the deal was with the Gidding’s building. A quick search of the internet produced the photo at left, which depicts the Knox Five and Dime fire of June 10, 1910, and shows the Gidding’s building at left. (more…)
Duluth, the City of Electric Lights
Circa 1907.