Stars Coming Into Alignment for July 10 Second Friday Art Crawl

Micaella Penning

The old saying is that if summer falls on a weekend everyone here goes waterskiing. Fortunately the myth is wrong on two counts. Summers last a bit longer than a weekend, and generally the real activity on the lake that consumes many of us is sailing.

Summer 2015 has provided ample opportunity for nights out and this coming Friday will be a good one for getting out to catch a number of visual arts openings. There are plenty of other dates to mark on your calendars as well, but let's start with the Second Friday Art Crawl.

Sclavi's Italian Restaurant is hosting an opening for Vince Larson, Melanie Sternberg and Jill Berquist from 4-8 p.m. Sclavi's is located at 1106 Tower Avenue in Superior and if you can't make the opening, you should take a lunch their soon and check out the art.

If you begin your evening here you can then saunter over to the North End Arts Gallery for an opening reception for the new regional watercolor/poetry exhibit featuring vintage watercolors by Brule summer resident Julia Marshall. The reception there is from 5-7 p.m. The exhibit is titled Watercolors: North Coast WI and will run thru to the first week in September. The gallery is on the second floor of what is popularly becoming known as the Red Mug Corner at the corner of Broadway and Hammond.

Sponsored by the Superior Council for the Arts (SCFTA)the gallery is open Thursdays thru Saturdays from noon to 6 pm

On the Duluth side of the bridge you will want to make five stops if you can.

Pierce & Piszczek Fine Pianos will welcome you from 6-8:30 p.m.  If you haven't seen Esther Piszczek's Zentangle-inspired piano, then you'll assuredly want to make this a stop. I can't help but see it as a museum piece somewhere someday. They are located at 405 E. Superior Street. If you make this your last stop of the evening you can stop by and say "Hi" before heading over to Movies in the Park: The Mighty Ducks, 9 pm, at Leif Erikson Park.

Washington Gallery is back in the action with a show titled Abstractscapes, an exhibition of landscape photography and acrylic paintings by Duluth-based artists Samantha Pranger and Jonathan Thunder. Though the two artists have dramatically different styles, they share a deep connection with the natural world. The opening reception there will be from 7-10 pm with a closing on Friday, July 31 from 7 to 10 pm at Washington Gallery.

Pranger has spent the last two years building up a body of work that represents a fresh take on the ordinary. “This show is more about what the viewer brings to each piece than my take on the work. I wanted to break away somewhat from my past work and try to bring people into my world- to allow them a glimpse of the world through my eyes.”

Thunder, whose work I saw in a group show earlier this year, describes his work as, “like entries in a scrapbook. They're conceptual snapshots of events, characters, epiphanies and dreams that shape my life.” His paintings explore personal themes of identity, life transitions, internal conflict and self-transformation. A strong theme focuses on the ability of the self to break away from “what it has been programmed to do.”

Abstractscapes is viewable Fridays July 17th and 24th from 4 to 9 pm; Saturdays and Sundays from July 11th to 26th from noon to 6 pm as well as by appointment. Washington Gallery is located in the former Washington Junior High School at 315 North Lake Avenue in Duluth.

Janet Billig

Studio 15, Janet Billig, Friday, July 10, 7 p.m.
15 3rd Avenue W.

Janet Billig paints natural scenes of the North-shore of Lake Superior, on anything from traditional canvas to drift wood to furniture. She utilizes things like the natural knots in the wood, making them part of her images. She researches historic Duluth, bringing aspects of that into her work. It is not your typical nature scene so come check it out.

For some reason I thought I'd read or heard that The Red Herring is hosting a reception for a Sarah Brokke show that will be hanging there this month. I will probably find the details tomorrow, but even this isn't the case you can't go wrong making a stop there on the way to your next destination.

Benchmark Tattoo is hosting a show called Kandy with an opening reception Friday eve from 6-9 p.m. featuring work by Carla Hamilton and fellow artist Cully Williams. Benchmark is located at 1831 E. 8th Street, kitty corner from At Sarah's Table.

Other July Art Exhibits and Happenings

Beaner's Central is showing Francis O'Connell, Jr. this month.
324 N. Central Avenue

Pizza Luce is featuring Adam Swanson
11 East Superior Street

Red Mug is showing Superior High School Seniors' Collaborative Art Show
916 Hammond Avenue, Superior

Zeitgeist: Café has Alberta Marana's work on its walls with Micaella Penning's first public show in the Atrium. 222 E. Superior Street

The current MN Comics show featuring Paneled Pages from the Northland will remain in the Morrison Gallery at the Duluth Art Institute till August 27. There will be two gallery talks of note in August to look forward to on August 4 (Kate Vo Thi) and August 21 (David Beard and Tim Broman). And a visit to the Tweed is a must at least once this summer to see the Chee retrospective.

You may put Thursday August 6 on your calendar for an Art Reception at Pizza Luce featuring pieces by Esther Piszczek. I still remember checking out her first show at Amazing Grace and being impressed by her energy.

Her newest art collaboration appears in the Zenith City News with her talented friend Brenna Jordan of Calligraphy by Brenna. Fine Lines!

Piszczek is also teaching a Zentangle (R) Pattern Drawing for Youth (ages 8-14), Friday, July 24, 12-4 p.m. at the Ordean East Middle School, 2900 E. 4th Street.

Speaking of youth art, Pineapple arts is offering Kids Art Sessions on Wednesday afternoons from 2 to 4 p.m. throughout the summer ($5 per child per session). Here are the times and themes:
July 8 (today): Air Dry Clay Techniques
July 15: Tie Dye Shirts
July 22: Nature Drawing-Outside Weather Permitting
July 29: Watercolor-Outside if possible
August 5: Wood Sculpture w/Tape & Glue
August 12: Acrylic Painting
August 19: Painting Tote Bags

Maybe you know of a July event that should be shared. Feel free to mention it in the comments. There's a lot going on... let's let people know.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Embrace it.