“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” ? Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

As nearly everyone is well aware, staying informed regarding everything that is happening in the world is an impossible task. It’s difficult enough keeping track of how many countries there are at any one time, let alone what’s happening in each of them.

You’d think that narrowing your scope to a specific topic would make things easier, but even if we focus on the visual arts alone you have art museums in every modest-sized city in the world inviting the public to openings, introducing us to new works by established and emerging artists.

Those with their antennae attuned already know there is an amazing amount of activity in the arts, even if only a portion of it rises high enough above the treetops for the local media to actually cover it. Just as it takes work on the part of the public to learn what is happening in the global political scene, it can likewise takes a bit of effort to discover the local arts world in our own Northland communities. I strongly encourage you to learn more about what’s happening in the visual arts scene, and to discover the varieties of creative expression taking place here in the Twin Ports.

ASSORTED NEW VENUES

2013 was an exciting year in the Twin Ports. In addition to art in all the usual places and gallery spaces, there were numerous new locations where art was happening this year. To cite just a few, I saw art by the DeWitt brothers at a home on Park Point, a friendly open house at the Collette’s in Lakeside (Art in the Neighborhood), a fabulous show by the Northern Printmakers Alliance at the North Shore Bank downtown, art-related events at Clyde Iron Works, plein air painters at the Oldenburg House in Carlton during a music festival called Sol Fest, an intimate new venue for artists at the Minnesota Wine Exchange, a special event featuring work by Anne Labovitz at Security Jewelers, poetry/art events at Double Dutch, Native American art at Trepanier Hall (the former YWCA, now home of the American Indian Community Housing Organization), art openings at the Lake Avenue Restaurant & Bar and Amazing Grace in the DeWitt Seitz Building and an art show featuring local artists at the Tower Avenue Tavern (formerly Molly’s) in Superior.   

Other new spaces include these. The Skyline Gallery opened this year near Thompson Hill Rest Area. In the Canal Park ICO/DQ/Caribou Coffee complex The Medium Control can be found on the second floor with the Art on the Rocks Studio one floor above. This studio will host live painting parties in addition to showing art. At year’s end, just days before Christmas, the Armory Annex officially  opened its doors. In addition to a small gallery the former Perkins building will house artist studio spaces, piano tuner Paul Piszczek and area blacksmiths.

BEST OF 2013

Here are a few of the visual arts events and activities that local voices cited as especially noteworthy from the year now concluded.

“Adrian Stimson’s performance (as Buffalo Boy) at the Tweed’s Blood Memoirs reception. In fact, considering the cross section of folks involved and attending that night, it’s one of the top highlights of the decade I’ve been in town.”
Eric Dubnicka, Artist and Tweed Museum Preparator
 
Bill Payne, UMD Dean of the School of Fine Arts concurred. “Most interesting? The Blood Memoirs opening at the Tweed in October… including the performance art by Buffalo Boy.”

“The whole Water Works exhibit at the DAI was a highlight for me…..the work (ranging from emerging to professional artists) embraced and interpreted human relationship with water. The whole program, including the plein air quick paint around the tall ships visit, the whole focus on water, our relationship to it and the actual science-art relationship. I was thrilled to walk into work during those months, through the Morrison Gallery, and an overwhelming feeling of freshness embraced me, like I had just taken a “dip” in a cool spring! I loved that the show was hung in salon style and gallery visitors were invited to sit on the bench and take it all in.”
Kat Eldred, Duluth Art Institute Director

“The art activity I enjoyed most was the Free Range Film Festival in Wrenshall. Also, the plein aire painting event at the Tall Ships Festival was a favorite… And I always have a good time at the PRØVE.”
Adam Swanson, Artist
 
“2 exhibits come to mind. Erika Mock & Kathy McTavish’s art installation in the abandoned building across from PRØVE, & the art painting installation by Sarah Brokke Anderson in the old Superior Depot building (part of the Phantom Galleries.) Both because of the quality of design and the experimental play with ideas of memory, time and place.”  
Tonya Borgeson, Art Instructor, Artist/Owner ~ Snoodle Ceramic Studio  

The installation Borgeson references here was the radiø plutø project, which was indeed a remarkable experience. radiø plutø billed itself as a wandering 6-month, episodic exhibit. The project was an evolving collaborative story caravan connecting spaces, visual artists, musicians and writers. It came out of a residency by Kathy McTavish at the PRØVE Gallery. The first installment took place in the vacated Gardner Hotel and involved a collaboration between poets, sound artists, filmmakers and 2D/3D visual artists reflecting on the space. The show then travelled to Carbon Chroma Gallery in Minneapolis, to Studio Z in St. Paul and back to Duluth for a live multi-media performance at the Redstar. In October radiø plutø wound up with exhibits at the Lyric Center in Virginia, the PRØVE once again and the Gimaajii Mino-Bimaadiziyaan here in Duluth. The travelling event wove together the work of six writers, four filmmakers, seven musicians, six visual artists, seven physical spaces and seven arts organizations.
 “What moved me in 2013 is how artists are finding ways to cross boundaries; create new bridges; take risks that impact beyond the work into our communities. Here is one of these:
‘Confluence/Confluencia’ the installation in Duluth Art Institute’s Morrison Gallery by Carla Stetson and Cecilia Ramon very powerfully showed us that at the heart of their ‘collaboration’ is a process to find inspiring ways to form relationships.”
Erika Mock, Artist/Owner ~Textiles for Body and Soul

Carla Stetson, who brought some of her students to Duluth from Ithaca, NY to help assemble her show, may not be a household name in Duluth but there are few here who do not know her work. Stetson was the artist behind the Clayton Jackson McGhie Memorial and was also responsible for one of our Lakewalk sculptures.

Mock noted several other shows of significance.
Crossing Boundaries/Creating New Bridges: ‘Canvas of Flesh’, Amanda Brunner’s photographs of body expression.

‘Forgotten Tales’ … Robin Murphy’s stunning figurative sculptures. 

‘Suspended Animation’ by mixed media artist Colin James Wiita  and ‘Shift’ by painter Sarah Brokke both created environments in which to explore the role of place; how and why it matters. 

The Culture Vulture’s
Favorite Art Events of 2013

Second Friday Art Crawl
A little over two years ago several downtown Duluth art galleries began coordinating their art shows to be on the same evening, the second Friday of each month. This enabled friends and fans of the arts to catch more than one event and, if inclined, take in a dinner or go dancing afterwards. There are few better ways to get a feel for what is fresh and new in the local arts scene.

Tweevenings
The Tweed Museum began a new monthly event called Tweevenings on the first Tuesday of each month in which special guest speakers provide background, insights and greater appreciation for works in the extensive Tweed Collection. This has been a highly informative experience for those in attendance.

Project 30/30
It’s one thing to bring art out into public spaces like Pizza Luce, Jitters and Beaners, and quite another to bring the artist herself out of the studio into a very public venue as abstract artist A.J. Atwater did for thirty days during the month of July. Her studio space in the window of Perry Framing on Superior Street proved to be a very engaging location as she painted 30 canvases for 30 days, each of them 30”x 30”. Many of the pieces were given names by passers-by. At month’s end her work was displayed at the Zeitgeist in a lively opening.  

20th Annual Empty Bowl
It’s an event that we’re in danger of taking it for granted. The benefit takes place in the Depot’s Great Hall and is designed to raise money for the Second Harvest Food Bank. According to potter Karin Kraemer, “Empty Bowl was the brainchild of Dave Lynas and Linda Hebenstreit at the Duluth Art Institute.” The concept is simple: ceramic artists make bowls or help volunteers and schools in making bowls. The event is widely publicized and on a designated day the public is able to purchase soup and keep the bowl. The money raised is used to stock food shelves for the needy. Some exquisitely designed ceramic pieces are contributed for purchase as well. Empty Bowl is remarkable in its scope and impact, another major way in which the local arts gives back to the community.
Anticipating North X North
North X North (NXN) was an attempt by the Twin Ports Arts Align to bring together more than four dozen arts organizations from the Twin Ports community and hundreds of individual artists across all genres and mediums for a month of events.

The idea of an “arts month” (May) appeared to offer real potential as a means of building ties between our various organizations and the artists they serve.

NXN began with the Homegrown Music Festival, followed by Gallery Week (visual arts), then Theater/Ballet/Symphony Week, Dylan Days, and ultimately ending with the Duluth/Superior Film Festival. The challenge of pulling it off the grander vision by means of volunteers in such short notice (discussed in January, announced in March) may have been too much.  

Regarding a sequel to NXN Crystal Pelkey, chair of the Twin Ports Arts Align, said, “I’m not sure what will happen with NXN. I do know that we will continue to discuss it, but the primary Arts Align focus now is to determine the future of the Arts Align as an organization and its role in the community, in conjunction with other efforts such as the Public Arts Commission, etc.”
 
Anne Labovitz
June 6 the Tweed hosted a major show of Anne Labovitz’s new work, large portraits or painting of faces melded together to read as individual humans even though each image was a composite of many. The exhibit was an exploration of identity. The St. Paul artist with deep local roots also had an opening that same week at Lizzard’s Gallery where she continues to be represented. December included a joint venture with Security Jewelers featuring one of her heart designs as a pendant.

There are any number of ongoing venues of note including Sacred Heart, Goin’ Postal and everything happening in what’s coming to be known as the Red Mug building. A whole article could be devoted to the DAI activities alone.

A sort of summary of things I saw in 2013:

JANUARY
• Second Friday Art Crawl: Washington Galleries, the PRØVE, Ochre Ghost and Double Dutch.  
• Duluth Art Institute (DAI) Member Show with an Emerging Photographers exhibit in the John Steffl Gallery and an exciting joint exhibition by Carla Stetson and Cecilia Ramon in the Morrison Gallery titled Confluence/Confluencia.
• Twin Ports Arts Align (TPAA) workshop at Sheraton, an informal group that came together the previous year for the purpose of advancing and supporting the arts in our community.  
 
FEBRUARY
• Superior Library arts event titled Love Your Local Artist, featuring 30 artists this year, and some wonderful string quartet accompaniment.
• Second Friday openings in February included Washington Gallery featuring Ryan Tischer’s photography; Ochre Ghost featuring Emily Wendlin’s art, accompanied by Mark Gartman’s Fever Dream, PRØVE Gallery featuring both art and poetry in an event themed Bitters, the prickly yang portion of traditional Valentine’s Day themes.
• The following evening was 7th annual Love at the Snoodle art happening at Tonya Borgeson’s studio/gallery near the zoo.
• Phantom Galleries, Superior, had a rich opening with four shows February 21 with the theme being THAW featuring Alison Price’s Allusions with ambient music by Rachel Nelson; Colin James Wiita’s Suspended Animation; Hope Their’s Familiar Waters (mixed media fabric paintings) and Judie Phillips’ Snowdog Tales.  

MARCH
• Art show at Tower Avenue Tavern featuring work by Lindsey Graskey, Vince Larson and Becky Buchanan.
• The Second Friday art crawl featured artists from across the country at the PRØVE in a Text-themed show. Ryan LaMahieu’s intricate drawings at Double Dutch.
• Announcement that May would be designated an art month titled North X North, endorsed by both Duluth and Superior, spearheaded by the Twin Ports Arts Align (TPAA).

APRIL
• 20th annual Empty Bowl benefit in the Depot’s Great Hall
• Tweed Museum hosts the 2013 Student Art and Design Show.
 

MAY
• Student Art & Design Show at the Tweed
• Visual Arts Week with arts-related events on both sides of the bridge, including Phantom Galleries opening receptions, displays throughout Downtown Duluth, Rachel Nelson’s “Pilgrimmage” at the Habitat for Humanity, Patricia Davey’s “Glass Exposed” at the Old Superior Antique Depot, with paintings by Sarah Brokke.
• 2nd Annual Steampunk Spectacular at the Depot
• Homegrown Music Festival, Theater Arts Week, Dylan Days, DuSu Film Festival

JUNE
• Anne Labovitz at the Tweed Museum and Lizzard’s Gallery
• Second Friday Art Crawl featuring The Lost at the PRØVE, photography by Jeremiah Brown at the Double Dutch, and a humorous exhibition of portraits at the Ochre Ghost.
• Sol Fest, with plein aire painters Lee Englund and friends

JULY
• Northern Printmakers Alliance at North Shore Bank
• AJ Atwater’s Project 30/30 at Perry Framing
• 43rd Annual Park Point Art Fair
• 2nd Friday Art Crawl featuring Carla Hamilton at Washington Gallery, Philip C. Jones and the late John Peyton at MN Wine Exchange, Ian Welshons, Adam Swanson and others at the PRØVE
• Plein Air painters when the Tall Ships came in…

AUGUST
• Martin DeWitt at Zeitgeist Atrium
• Second Friday Art Crawl featuring Emma Rustan and Chris Dunn at Washington Galleries, plus openings at Ochre Ghost and the PRØVE
• Art in Bayfront Park
• cir-cum-am-bi-ent show at the Sacred Heart

SEPTEMBER
• “Canvas of Flesh” at the Duluth Art Institute
• Blood Memoirs: Exploring Individuality, Memory and Culture Through Portraiture, Amber-Dawn Bear Robe guest curator.
• National juried clay arts show “Possession” at the Duluth Art Institute assembled by the MN Women’s Ceramics Assn (MNWCA)
• “Transplants” show at the PRØVE
• Esther Piszczek opening reception at Amazing Grace
• Ken Marunowski opening at Lake Avenue Restaurant and Bar
• Unveiling of the Bess Metsa Mosaic Rose by artist Nancy Miller (in Virginia)
• “Working Through” opening, Gary Nelson, at the North End Arts Gallery, Superior
• “Crossing Borders Studio Tour” in conjunction with fall colors
• Ottertoberfest art opening at Duluth Aquarium featuring Rachel MaKarrall, John Pastor and Mary Power
 
OCTOBER
• Artist Kamikaze V at Pizza Luce
• Fall Gallery Hop with multiple galleries on both side of the bridge
• radiø plutø at the Gardner Hotel
• Blood Memoirs opening with special presentation/performance by Buffalo Boy, feature film by Chris Eyre
• Goin’ Postal Fall Art Show
• All Soul’s Night at the Depot’s Great Hall and Sacred Heart
 
NOVEMBER
• 2nd Friday Art Crwal; Washington Studios Co-op Member Show
• Chris Monroe book signing at the Red Mug
• Zenith City Lines at the Underground; photographer John Heino and Phoenix Productions artists , Jesse Davis, Sze Leung, Nicole Sippola, and Lindsey Wittkop
• Art in the Neighborhood, Lakeside

DECEMBER
• Scott Murphy opening at the Duluth Art Institute
• Armory Annex opening featuring the Forging Community and local artisans
• Numerous additional assemblies of artists and craftspersons offering locally made goods for Christmas giving
 

Here’s a recommendation for 2014.
Get out a few times and explore a little. We learn from art.  We’re struck by something that emanates from it -- passion, power… or something that challenges us. Sometimes we can be broken open by art. In an instant our paradigms can shift. If we let that instant pause us, we can emerge changed.