It's Never Boring Here. October Arts Happenings at the DAI, Tweed and Goin' Postal

"Art, Music and Nature"

Wow, it's definitely autumn. Autumn colors are showing up everywhere. Now if only we can get a little sunshine to make those trees radiate.

This coming 
Saturday, October 6

There's a book signing at Lakeside Gallery from 1-3 p.m. I misread the announcement in a humorous manner. "Local author Kathleen M. Corgill will be signing copies of her new book: Refreshments Provided. I missed it that the book's title was higher up at the top of the invitation: Letters from Lucia.

Also from 1 to 3 on Saturday is a family event at the Tweed showcasing new work by Anne Labovitz. The actual title of the event is 122 CONVERSATIONS: Family Day at Tweed Museum.

The Tweed announcement reads like this:

The Tweed Museum of Art invites families to join in the fun to meet and make art with Anne Labovitz, artist, Alison Aune, Art Education professor in the School of Fine Arts at UMD, and thirteen students enrolled in Art in Elementary Education.

This is a free community event that offers families the opportunity to join in hands-on artmaking and community building related to 122 Conversations: Person to Person, Art Beyond Borders, a new exhibition by Anne Labovitz that seeks to promote peace and understanding across cultures. The artist conducted 60 Skype interviews with citizens and mayors from each of the Duluth Sister Cities International Organization, namely Thunder Bay, Canada; Rania, Iraqi Kurdistan; Växjö, Sweden; Petrozavodsk, Russia; and Ohara Isumi-City, Japan. Participants will be able to view the works created in each of the cities and, in turn, create artwork inspired by this project.

When I first heard the title of Anne Labovitz's 122 Conversations I thought of Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea, which I've read a few times over the years. At one point the old man is out there in the sea, alone in his skiff talking to himself. After he catches himself talking to himself he asks himself "When did you start talking to yourself?"

Conversation with others is good. Everyone has a story inside them, and by engaging with others in dialogue, in conversation, especially people with perspectives and experiences different from our own, we can better understand the world we live in and our own place in the human experience.

If you catch me talking to myself  while standing in front of one of Anne's pieces, just pinch me. Gently, please.

TWEEVENING: QUIET SIMPLICITY: THE PAINTINGS OF DAVID ERICSON WITH PETER SPOONER
October 16, 2018 6:30-8:00 pm
Tweed Museum of Art
Free and open to the public

Peter Spooner will join us to lead participants through the upstairs Court Gallery to present the five David Ericson paintings currently on view in the exhibition Quiet Simplicity: Life in 19th and 20th Century America. Spooner is well-versed in the art of David Ericson, as he curated an exhibition of works by the artist at Tweed and contributed to the development of the exhibition’s catalog entitled David Ericson Always Returning: The Life and Work of a Duluth Cultural Icon, published in 2005.

Spooner will share his knowledge on the artist and paintings on view, namely: Salting the Sheep, 1889; Morning of Life, 1907; Etaples, France, n.d.; Woman at Dressing Table, ca. 1930-1939; and Untitled (Plowing), n.d.

Peter Spooner is a freelance curator, writer, and art appraiser who currently teaches at the College of St. Scholastica and Lake Superior College in Duluth, MN and former curator of the Tweed.

Here are a pair of announcements from the Duluth Art Institute:

Northpoint Writers:
Duluth Arts Writing Cohort

The Duluth arts writing cohort, formerly known as Ambient Intelligence, is excited to start its second year this Fall at the the Duluth Art Institute. Cohort participants will meet monthly from October 2018 to May 2019 to learn with and from one another. This cohort will be smaller, will consider approaches to writing about the arts for the region, and produce writing for a Northpoint Arts publication and blog. The blog can be found on the Duluth Art Institute website: www.duluthartinstitute.org/Blog. By spring, the participants will work with master writers in the arts to improve their practice through broadening frameworks for approaching arts writing.
For more information and to sign up for the cohort contact Christina Woods at 218-733-7562. There are only 10 seats available.

DAI 2018 Masquerade Gala
Saturday, November 3rd, 5PM

Join us for the visual art event of the year! The Duluth Art Institute's Masquerade Gala celebrates contemporary art, artists, and the community. Your evening includes a three course meal with a local artist who recently exhibited at the DAI and a gift personally selected by the artist. Dinner catered by Blackwoods Catering.

New this year is a fund-a-need opportunity to provide scholarships for classes and workshops. Available for purchase will be original artwork, silent auction items, and tickets for beer, wine, and spirits baskets. Stay for a post-gala DJ dance party!

Tickets are $100 and can be purchased at duluthartinstitute.org through Oct. 26.

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LAST BUT NOT LEAST DEPT.

AND Finally....

Here is a reminder to mark your calendars. October 12 is the 8th Annual Goin' Postal Art & Music Show... This year it will be bigger than ever, with 7 venues, 9 bands and over 100 artists. (I have not counted them up personally, but I have been assured that it would not be on our poster if it weren't true.)

This SUPERIOR Event is a kickoff for the annual 2-Day Festival known as North End Days.
North End Days is a 2-Day Event that includes a Saturday Parade, Pumpkin Patch, Car Show & Street Dance. Friday evening its Art and Music.

I myself have produced some new work that I will be showing at Goin' Postal, but all seven event locations will have art and photography on display that you will want to see.

MEANTIME, ART GOES ON ALL AROUND YOU. GET INTO IT.