Julie Kean's wire and button baskets are among the items on display at the Northwoods Fiber Arts Guild exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post.
This is the weekend to catch your breath before three weekends of festivals and powwows in Cook County.
Next weekend is the North Shore Dragon Boat Festival, the weekend after that is Fisherman’s Picnic (July 31 – Aug.2) and then the Rendezvous Days and Celebration Pow-Wow in Grand Portage ( Aug. 7-9).
This weekend, North House Folk School will have a Pizza Potluck on Saturday at 6 p.m. Bring all the toppings, North House will supply the dough and bake your pizza in the wood-fired bread oven on campus. Next weekend, North House will have a community bread bake and people can bring casseroles and pies and breads, etc., to be baked in the oven for their own use. Both events are always a lot of fun.
There will be live music at the Gunflint Tavern, the Howlin’ Wolf, Devil Track Landing, Birch Terrace. and the Pie Place (Max Bickel plays there on Saturdays. Here is a clip of him playing with Chris Gillis at Sivertson Gallery earlier this year. )
Gillis, by the way, was featured on WTIP Community Radio on Wednesday night when the station rebroadcast “A Thread of Jazz Up North,” a 3-part series that documented the life and music of Gillis and his father, Frank, over the years. The broadcast was part of WTIP’s “Catch the Wave” membership drive. Local musicians, including The Sivertones, the Pincushion Warblers and Tres Amigos also performed on the radio during the drive.
The membership drive continues through Monday. Stop by the station on Highway 61 and/or tune into 90.7 FM and listen. They’ve got lots of neat stuff going on.
Art walks are also a great activity in downtown Grand Marais. This weekend, check out the Eighth Broadway Gallery for paintings, prints, woodwork and pottery. Sivertson Gallery always has a great selection of regional and Inuit art and the Northwoods Fiber Arts Guild has a show at the Johnson Heritage Post. Many artisans show their work at the Farm & Craft Market on Saturday mornings, too.
In other art news, Amy Vanderwall Demmer will start as the new administrator at the Grand Marais Art Colony on Monday, replacing Don Hammer, executive director.
Michael Monroe has received a JPF nomination for his song “Illumination,” a song from his instrumental soundtrack for “Chased by the Light.” Monroe has a busy concert schedule this summer playing at a number of venues in the Twin Cities and Duluth. He’ll be performing in his Log Cabin Concert Series in Grand Marais July 25 (For tickets call 612-789-2255 or e mail mm@michaelmonroe.info ) and at Fisherman’s Picnic in Grand Marais at 3:30 p.m. Aug. 2
