Local Arts Seen: Cutting Edge and Great Lakes Academy Student/Instructor Exhibition

Great Lakes Academy, an invitation to splendor.

I was able to briefly drop in on two art openings last night. I primarily wanted to grab a few photos so I might encourage others to attend these shows if able.

The Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art had its first annual Student/Instructor Open House and Exhibition. It's a full weekend affair, as in Friday through Sunday. We also dropped in on Ellen Sandbeck's The Cutting Edge at the Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center. You can read details about both of these art exhibits in yesterday's post.

The purpose of today's blog post is simply to encourage you to go check out these events. We also have a Duluth Dylan Fest event at Karpeles Manuscript Museum from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m., Phil Fitzpatrick's presentation "Roots & Echoes: Images and Influences in Dylan's North Country. Karpeles is hosting Bill Pagel's Dylan-themed archives, "Einstein Disguised As Robin Hood" till the end of June, but you can get a double scoop of good stuff if you stop this afternoon. Karpeles is directly across the street from St. Luke's Hospital emergency room entrance on First Street.

Ellen Sandbeck's work has become increasingly complex, and her current themes are attention-getting. Check it out if you are able.

Her Buddha-A-Day project should have been preserved in a book.

Sampat Devi Pal, founder of the Pink Gang. "We, we giths rapists with sticks.
If we find the culprit, we thrash him black and blue so he dare not attempt
wrong toany girl or woman again."

The Cutting Edge is can be viewed at the former YWCA at 202 West Second Street. GLA of Fine Art is on the 800 block of Third Street on the West side of Mesabi. This show is open from 1 to 8 Saturday and 1 to 5 tomorrow.

Meantime, the sun is out. Seize the day.

Local Arts Scene: Ellen Sandbeck On the Cutting Edge, Lake Superior Academy of Art Exhibition and More Duluth Dylan Fest

I hope you've had a rewarding week. If you've been attending our Duluth Dylan Fest events I am certain you have. As we enter the weekend there are some art events you may wish to be aware of. 


ANNUAL STUDENT/INSTRUCTOR EXHIBITION at the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art

Brock Larson, oil on canvas.

Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art invites you to attend our first Annual Student/Instructor Exhibition. We will be showcasing our students first year curriculum and also lead you through what an atelier style of classical art training looks like. We will have many examples of their work as well as that of our instructors (Jeffrey T. Larson and Brock Larson) on display here at the Academy. We are also excited to be able to show the progress with the renovation that has been made on our building (the old St. Peter's Church)
May 26th, 5pm - 9pm
May 27th, 1pm - 8pm
May 28th, 1pm - 5pm

Be sure to read Christa Lawler's story from yesterday's DNT, Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art wraps year one of operation with student-instructors exhibition.



ELLEN SANDBECK ART OPENING - ON THE CUTTING EDGE

Another great event at the AICHO's Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center is opening tonight. Here's the press announcement I received, but I will preface by saying her work is exceptional in its detail and exquisite vividness. Needless to say, she can also pack a punch.

Papercut artist Ellen Sandbeck will be exhibiting her latest, politically-charged body of work in the newly renamed Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center at Gimaajii Mino Bimaadizimin, alongside 3 other completed series of work. The exhibit will open with a reception on Friday, May 26 from 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. The exhibit itself will be on display through June 7th. Music will be performed by Mina Kaiser and refreshments will be served.

On top of her newest body of work that features imagery exploring the strength of women in modern social movements, Sandbeck’s exhibit will also include her series Valentines for Grownups, pretty papercut patterns made up of animals mating (insects, reptiles, ocean invertebrates, etc.). The second included body of work will be her Odd Duck cards, illustrations paired with limericks by Mina Kaiser, which are expressions of her experience in transitioning from male to female; they are meant to help encourage/validate people who are going through experiences that are generally not covered by Hallmark Cards.

The final series included in the exhibit will be a selection of images from her A Buddha A Day project, executed over the course of a year, during which Sandbeck did 365 papercuts of Gautama Buddha. Proceeds from the sale of the Buddha art will go directly to a charity of the buyer’s choice at the event.

Ellen Sandbeck has written and illustrated four books about non-toxic housekeeping and gardening, all published by major New York publishers. She has written, illustrated, and self-published a book of non-toxic gardening and housekeeping, and a book about vermicomposting.


ROOTS & ECHOES: IMAGES AND INFLUENCES IN DYLAN'S NORTH COUNTRY.

Australia's Susan Laing, a week long visitor to the Northland for Dylan Fest this year, has observed that our Northland's influence on Dylan's life and music is most apparent and quite striking. We almost take our region's features for granted, much like the proverbial inability to see the forest for the trees. This reality has become repeatedly apparent in various ways, most especially during the panel discussion Wednesday at our Poets of the Northland event.

One of the poets who would have shared with us Wednesday would have been the former teacher Phil Fitzpatrick, except that he was at Harvard making a presentation there to former classmates at a 50th anniversary class reunion, a presentation that "exceeded fondest hopes." Tomorrow's presentation will include slides and music and is a family-friendly event.

Karpeles Manuscript Museum
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

If you've never been to Karpeles, this presentation would be a great excuse to visit. 

There is a fabulous exhibit of Dylan originals on display.

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Tonight at Clyde Iron Works the Duluth Dylan Fesr continues with the annual Singer/Songwriter Contest. This event begins at 7:00 p.m. with four local celebrity judges and singer-songwriters from as far away as Chicago. Each performer will share a favorite Dylan song and then a composition of their own. For many people this is a highlight of the week.

EdNote: It's not too late to check out the Dylan-themed art at the Zeitgeist Atrium. That show will come down this weekend.

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

Goings On About Town: Three Special Twin Ports Art Openings This Week

Photo courtesy Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art

This is just a heads up for three visual arts events coming up that you won't want to miss. If you've been following along here you already know Duluth Dylan Fest kicks off tonight with Robby Vee at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum. Every time I mention Karpeles people ask, "Where's Karpeles?" When I say, "It across the street from the entrance to St. Luke's Hospital Emergency Room, just above the parking lot for the Gitch."

"Oh, yeah," they invariably say. "I've been meaning to go sometime."

Well, today might be a good time to check it out. Bill Pagel has donated more of his Dylan collection for public viewing, and it will be there through June. If you've bought tickets for Robby Vee's Rock N Roll Caravan tonight, then go early so you can see all these pieces of history, though actually the museum will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. If I have my facts correct, the show is again titled Einstein Disguised as Robin Hood, though I have been told this will not be an identical replay of last year's exhibit. I will keep you posted.

As for Art Happenings, here are four to mark on your calendars.

Dylan-Themed Art Show Opening Reception 

In the past our Dylan-inspired art shows have been across the bridge at the Red Mug Coffeehouse. This year, we're in the heart of Downtown Duluth at the Zeitgeist Atrium, one block west of Carmody's where our annual Dylan Trivia takes place. The Monday reception at Zeitgeist is free and will run from 5-7 p.m. We have new work by Daniel Botkin of Chicago, and a couple great pieces based on an original work by Kristi Abbott, an artist from Down Under who now resides in St. Paul. Other contributors include Sue Rauschenfels, Becky Perfetti, Adan Swanson, Tim Beaulier and a blogger who signs his work with an e.

Monday, May 22, 5-7 p.m.

On the Cutting Edge
Papercut Art Exhibit by Ellen Sandbeck

Anyone who has seen Ellen Sandbeck's papercut art is an instant fan. I have been following her career since the early days when she was doing illustrations for Dover Books. Her Buddha-A-Day Series was a remarkable achievement and only showed the first inklings of what she was capable of.

The Opening Reception for On the Cutting Edge will be this coming Friday at the AICHO/Dr. Robert Powless Cultural Center, 212 W. 2nd Street in Duluth. If you have never been to this facility I strongly encourage you to make this your first visit. It won't be your last. 

There will also be entertainment, with music and limericks by Mina Kaiser. Sounds like fun to me. There is a suggested $10 donation to support AICHO's ongoing arts and cultural programming.

This event is Friday from 5-7 p.m. This would be a great way to begin a very special Friday evening of art and music. If you attend On the Cutting Edge, then move westward to the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art exhibition, you can still get over to Clyde Iron Works for the Duluth Dylan Fest Singer/Songwriter Contest. If that's too much for one evening, the Great Lakes open house is all weekend.

Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art
Annual Student/Instructor Exhibition

This is something I have been especially looking forward to. The Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art is inviting the public to attend their first Annual Student/Instructor Exhibition. According to their Facebook page, "We will be showcasing our students first year curriculum and also lead you through what an atelier style of classical art training looks like. We will have many examples of their work as well as that of our instructors (Jeffrey T. Larson and Brock Larson) on display here at the Academy. We are also excited to be able to show the progress with the renovation that has been made on our building (the old St. Peter's Church)."

May 26th, 5pm - 9pm
May 27th, 1pm - 8pm
May 28th, 1pm - 5pm

SINEW at the Tweed

"Sinew: Female Native Artists of the Twin Cities," will be opening at the Tweed Museum of Art June 1st, 2017, 6-8 PM. Mark your calendars. Come celebrate and honor this amazing group of women artists. Details Here.

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DULUTH DYLAN FEST IS UNDERWAY. Check out the full schedule of events at BobDylanWay.com.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

The Bob Dylan Marketing Machine

Marketing, like every other endeavor in life, has its share of principles that have been repeated so often they almost become cliche. "Putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time" is one way it has been described. E.J. McCarthy's famous equation of the Four P's of Marketing -- product, price, place and promotion -- is another variation of the same idea.

How this plays out may vary depending on if you are selling cars or candy or a dining experience. Hollywood dominated the movie making business by establishing the distribution channel called movie theaters which made seeing films convenient, affordable and an experience. The record business got its power from the use of radio and television [look at what Ed Sullivan did for the Beatles], in conjunction with the local record stores. The road tour was another mechanism by which bands created new fans, and cemented the loyalty of old fans.

The internet age seemed to upend a lot of the rules of marketing, so much so that some people began to believe the old rules no longer applied, having gone the way of the buggy whip. And even though "Content is King" has become the coin of the age, once you get under the skin of what's happening out there in cyberspace you will see that when it comes to the Four P's... well, it continues to remain intact that you need a product people want at a price they're willing to pay whether they can afford it or not, from a place where they know they can get and they need to hear about it so they can want it.

Even a cursory examination of the Bob Dylan Marketing Machine shows you that he and the team he has assembled have become masters of the marketing tribe. And yes, to his credit he knows that although his name has become synonymous with the brand, that brand has the value it has because of the caliber of the team he's pulled together.

What is amazing, besides the caliber of the work he has produced, is the volume (as in quantity) of quality material that has been created. The Never Ending Tour not only became a never ending promotion of the songs and albums, it became a means of creating new content that could be turned into marketable products, or material for marketing existing products.

One of the most powerful marketing weapons is word of mouth so that in the era of social media we have a whole cadre of Dylan evangelists sharing their enthusiasm for Dylan, his every move documented, dissected and disseminated. Dylan websites, Dylan blogs and Dylan Facebook communities abound, all of them serving to promote the artist and his music.

Since the beginning of November I've been listening to The Bootleg Series Volume 12, Bob Dylan 1965-1966: The Best of the Cutting Edge, waiting to weigh in on some of what I've found here. What I've found is that there's really no other artist that could have done this. Where are the bootlegs and outtakes from the Beatles? The Stones? Yes, the music (product they created) was great, but the factory shut down.

The Dylan machine is still rolling on... like a rolling stone, with a lot of nerve, and verve and never ending fan delight.

Next May Bob will be 75. Whether the train will continue to roll after that is anyone's guess, but I can tell you this.... Here' in Duluth at our annual Dylan Fest we'll be celebrating for  week with music, poetry, art and everything Dylan that we can think of. Maybe you can join us here in the Northland. Consider yourself invited.