The Crossing Borders exhibit opens at the Johnson Heritage Post with a reception from 5-7 p.m. tonight, Friday, Sept. 11.
It’s another busy weekend on the North Shore.
First up, the Crossing Borders exhibit at the Johnson Heritage Post opens tonight, Sept. 11, with a reception from 5-7 p.m. The show features a selection of the work by artists on the North Shore (and Thunder Bay, Canada) who will be participating in the popular Crossing Borders Studio Tour & Sale.
Artists include Marcie MacIntire (beadwork), Lee & Dan Ross,(stone & clay sculpture, monoprints), Kristi Downing (raku pottery), Betsy Bowen (woodcut prints), Joyce Seppala (innovative clothing), Nancy Daley (handmade paper works), Kathleen Baleja (jewelry), Dick & Debbie Cooter (wood-fired pottery, handwoven rugs), Jody Friej-Tonder & Michael Tonder (recycled glass earrings, kiln-formed glass sculpture), Dale Burton (hand-forged ironwork), Fritz Lehmberg (wood-fired pottery) and Dave Yungner (functional stoneware pottery). The show is up through Oct. 11.
The Studio tour itself begins on Friday, Sept. 25 and runs through Oct. 3. Nine studios from just outside of Duluth to Grand Portage hosted by the artists in the Johnson Heritage Post exhbit will be open every day during the tour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. They will bring in other artists to their studios for the tour as well, which really makes the studio tour a fun exploration of art and the artists living on the North Shore. Stay tuned for more details later this month. For a preview, check out the studio tour Web site at www.crossingbordersstudiotour.com.
Meanwhile, the opening tonight at the Heritage Post should be a lot of fun. We’ll see the latest work by this talented group of artists and meet them as well. Refreshments will be served and the public is invited.
Also this weekend, WTIP Community Radio is holding its 2nd Annual Radio Waves Music Festival, which should be even bigger and better than last year. It is held at the Rec Park at the base of Sweetheart’s Bluff from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. There will be a dance floor and a children’s tent, food vendors offering everything from fish tacos and nachos, grilled sweet corn tamales and caramel apples, brownies and cookies from Lola’s Sweet Life Bakery.
This year’s line-up (in order of appearance) includes the North Shore Community Swing Band, Critter Du Jour, Amigos, Michael Monroe, Bicycle Army, Trails End Band, Joe Paulik, Portage, Pete Kavanaugh, Rod ‘n’ Real and Gordon Thorne & Bob Bingham. The festival caps off with the Minneapolis honky-tonk group Trailer Trash. Here’s a cut from one their CDs.
Bump Blomberg and Jef Cierniak will play at the Gunflint Tavern on Saturday night for the After-Party.
Also this weekend, drive up the Gunflint Trail for a food and historic lodge tour from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. The event, called A Taste of the Gunflint Trail, is a fundraiser for the Chik-Wauk Museum & Nature Center which is slated to open July 4, 2010. There are three featured historic lodges on the tour – Rockwood Lodge, Loon Lake Lodge and Chik-Wauk Lodge, which is on Moose Pond Road near the end of the Trail. Historians will be present at each and refreshments will be served, inspired by the popular cookbook, “A Taste of the Gunflint Trail.” There will be booksignings at Chik-Wauk during the day as well: “A Taste of the Gunflint Trail”; John Hendricksson’s “Gunflint Cabin”; Sue Ahrendt and Kelly Dupre’s “Becoming a Boundary Waters Family,” and Betty Hemstad’s “Wildflowers of the Boundary Waters: Hiking through the Seasons.”
Other lodges and resorts on the Trail are participating in this open house fundraiser including Bearskin Lodge, Clearwater Lodge, Poplar Creek Guesthouse B&B, Hungry Jack Outfitters, Nor’wester Lodge & Outfitters, Gunflint Lodge, Gunflint Pines, Heston’s and Voyageur Canoe Outfitters.
This image of fall leaves is by Nancy Seaton of Hungry Jack Outfitters.
Mary Jane Huggins and Joan Beard open their exhibit at the Cross River Heritage Center in Schroeder on Sunday, Sept. 13. Huggins is a basketmaker and fiber artist, Beard makes beaded jewelry. The Heritage Center also has a gift shop with a variety of items by artists throughout the region.
Speaking of Hungry Jack Outfitters, Nancy Seaton, who co-owns the business with her husband, Dave, is an artist in her own right and cards of her images are available at Hungry Jack as well as at Drury Lane Books and Sivertson Gallery.
Also at Sivertson Gallery there is a fun selection of funky, colorful handmade Italian “cheater” glasses by Melissa Eyewear. She calls them “Art for Your Face.”
"Into a Wild Country" by David Gilsvik. (Oil.)
The gallery has two new prints by Two Harbors painter David Gilsvik, a night scene along the shore called “Big Lake Night” and “Survivor,” a painting a white pine which survived the Ham Lake Fire. Pictured is his “Into a Wild Country.”
Photographer Kathy Gray-Anderson will exhibit her photographs at a special exhibit at the Attic Gallery of American Crafts. The opening reception is from 4-7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19. Gray-Anderson’s photographs include landscapes, florals and wildlife
Birchbark Books & Gifts has just received the latest mystery by William Kent Krueger, “Heaven’s Keep.” It was published Sept. 1. Birchbark’s book manager, Judy Renkieweicz said the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s autobiography, “True Compass” will be released on Monday. The bookstore will have another “hot” book later this month — Dan Brown’s latest, “Lost Symbol.” It will be on the shelves on Sept. 15. The bookstore also has a great selection of regional and Minnesota books as well as signed books by local authors, a good mystery collection and lots and lots of great children’s books.
Prudence Johnson and Dan Chouinard will be in concert at the ACA Sept. 19.
Coming up, a great concert with Prudence Johnson and Dan Chouinard, “The Golden Age of Radio” at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts Sept. 19.
The show will include lots of great songs from that era, photos and a chance to sing along. The program is part of the Minnesota Historical Society’s series, “Greatest Generation Program.”
Johnson, who has performed at the Grand Marais Jazz Festival, has a passion for jazz and the work of 20th Century songwriters. She and pianist Dan Chouinard have recorded a CD of Gershwin songs together. Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students and can be purchased at tix.com or at the door. For more about Johnson and her music, see her Web site.
