Sneak Preview: Sirpa Särkijärvi's Transcriptions at the Joseph Nease Gallery

Tonight Joseph Nease Gallery will for the first time feature an artist from outside the United States with an exhibition of over twenty new works by Finnish painter Sirpa Särkijärvi. The reception will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

Since opening in October 2017, the contemporary art gallery has facilitated artistic exchange in Duluth by bringing in artists from around the country, and in particular from throughout the Heartland and the Kansas City region, where owners Joseph and Karen Nease previously curated a gallery. This current exhibition, titled Transcriptions, marks a departure from this trend.

As you can see here the Finnish painter has an impressive energetic style. In person the paintings are even more striking, in part due to the scale, and also because of some technical effects. By using a matte, uniform colored background, the glossy, multi-colored images pop from the canvas. The overall impact is dramatic.

Särkijärvi is based in Turku, a city on the southwest coast of Finland about two hours west of the capital Helsinki. She was born in Muonio in the Lapland area of Finland north of the Arctic Circle, a region that experiences 24/7 darkness a portion of the year and 24/7 daylight in mid-summer.

Särkijärvi’s travels have taken her far from Finland, where she has earned an established position in the arts scene. Her work has been shown in Spain and Berlin, drawing inspiration from her experiences in places as distant as Beijing and California. The title of this series, begun in 2015, references her artistic process of soaking in the environments she visits before translating them to the canvas.

“The idea behind the name is that these aren’t just about my inner world, but that I kind of write notes on a paper according to what I hear or about what I perceive,” Särkijärvi told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat in 2017. “Everything comes from the surrounding world, what I see and experience, and what other people experience. I turn it into a picture, like as if it were an engram of our time.” *

How did it come about that Särkijärvi's work is appearing at the Joseph Nease Gallery here in Duluth? In 2011 the artist had work in a Kansas City show where the Neases' gallery was located until until moving to the Northland two years ago. The Neases were impressed with the work and never forgot the artist behind it. The plans for this Duluth exhibition unfolded when the Neases learned that Särkijärvi had received a grant from Finland to exhibit internationally.

“Right at the outset, the Finland connection seemed like a suitable fit for the region, especially in view of the many Scandinavian immigrant communities that settled along the North and South shores of Lake Superior,” said Joseph Nease.

As it turns out, Särkijärvi herself has distant ties to the region.

“Sirpa told us that her great-grandfather visited the Iron Range area and traveled along the north shore before the First World War,” said Karen Nease. “According to Sirpa, he planned to migrate to Minnesota. But when he went back to Finland to bring his family over, World War I broke out and he wasn’t able to return.”

Särkijärvi will be in Duluth for the exhibition’s opening reception tonight and will spend a few days here seeing the area.

“It’s interesting to see how multiple generations of Sirpa’s family have been drawn here," said Joseph Nease. “We’re very pleased to help write a new chapter in a story that started decades ago, so to speak, by showcasing Sirpa’s work in Duluth.”

According to the press announcement:
Her Transcription series blends the portrait and the landscape traditions to create hybrid compositions in which the subject and the background discernibly influence each other. Särkijärvi’s earlier painting series going back to 2011 typically depicted a lone person, often female, in surroundings that were identifiably interior or exterior spaces. In 2015, she shifted her focus to place a greater emphasis on the individual or individuals in a field of emotionally-charged color.

Sirpa Särkijärvi was born in the Lapland town of Muonio in 1974. The Turku-based painter’s systematic process of working with fluid acrylics on a horizontal canvas has distinguished her within the Finnish art scene and abroad, with exhibitions in Spain, Berlin, and Helsinki as well as Kansas City, Missouri in the United States. Her paintings are known for their swirling, flowing colors and tension, reflecting themes from gender and behavior norms, to marginalization, exclusion, and power. 

For more information on Sirpa Särkijärvi, visit the gallery website and the artist’s website sirpasarkijarvi.com.

For a chance to meet the artist and see her newest paintings in the Transcription series, be sure to attend the opening reception tonight at Joseph Nease Gallery. More than twenty of Sirpa Särkijärvi’s paintings, all completed in 2018, will be on display at the gallery until June 1, 2019.

* * * * 

Joseph Nease Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in the downtown art district of Duluth, Minnesota. Similar in scope to its progenitor in Kansas City, Missouri, the gallery features exhibitions of painting, sculpture, installation, and new media by artists regional, national and international. Since its October 2017 opening, the restored building at 23 West First Street has established an arts destination providing educational and social opportunities for art lovers, collectors, and visitors to the north shore of beautiful Lake Superior. For more information on Joseph Nease Gallery, visit josephneasegallery.com.

EdNote: Simultaneously, there is also an event at The Nordic Center titled Flask Exhibition: Focus on Form and Function running from 6:00 to 8:30. The weather will be perfecto. Include a little art in your evening plans tonight.

* Sirpa Särkijärvi quotes from: “Scenery Enters the Human,” Turun Sanomat, published Oct. 23, 2017.

This Week's Second Friday Art Crawl including Tonight's Events

Although I missed it, I fully expect that last night opening at the Red Mug Coffeehouse was fun. Suzanne Johnson, the proprietor, always does a stellar job at these events. Last night was kickoff for a collaborative show of smaller pictures and paintings and works which will be on display till the end of May.

I have around ten small works in this show, along with a host of local artists including Sterling Rathsack, Erik Pearson, Adam Kloss, Larry Turbes, Esther Piszczek, Stephen Ljubovic, Ellen Sandbeck, Karin Kraemer, Karen Savage-Blue, Adam McCauley, Lynn Anderson, Laura Kirwin, Chris Monroe, Kenneth Marunowski. If you can make it for lunch the soup's always on and always good, as are the sandwiches, wraps and other fixin's. They also have free wi-fi so it's a nice place to simply sip coffee and get out of the office.

Here's a quick rundown of happenings, with special thanks to Esther Piszczek.

Tonight at Pizza Luce from 7-9 p.m. there's a very special opening that might surprise you.

Also tonight at the Sacred Heart Music Center, 201 W. 4th Street 7-9 PM, Thursday, 5/7
Life House Variety Show: A Night Of Song, and Poetry, Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, and Rock by area youth; $3.00 At The Door, or One Nonperishable Food Item

2nd Friday Art Crawl

This is the second weekend of the month, so you might as well amp up for the Art Crawl Friday evening.

On Friday night you can start at Pierce & Piszczek Fine Pianos, 405 E. Superior Street 6-8:30 pm. For those who missed April's event, come on out and see a little Northwoods mixed with patterns among the pianos, one of which is a little more artsy than the rest.

That is, unless you start at the Book Launch Party for Eddy Gilmore's Emancipation of a Buried Man at Amity Coffee, 4429 E. Superior Street (Lakeside) 6:30 PM  Recently reviewed by Naomi Yeager in the Budgeteer News, I interviewed Gilmore here earlier in May.

Benchmark Tattoo, 1831 E. Eighth Street
Dan Hansen's work was placed at Benchmark Tattoo in April but is still exhibiting through the end of May. It is worth the trip up the hill to see it! Stop in at Sara's Table kitty-corner across the street while you're in the neighborhood.

Beaner's Central, 324 N. Central Avenue New Artist Reception, tonight at 6 pm: Christine Valento's Elementary Student Showcase from Laura MacArthur with music by Duluth Jazz Band Mangolith at 7 pm

The Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Avenue 7-9 PM
Patterns & Mermaid Tales: Artwork by Kirsten Aune, Alison Aune and Joellyn Rock
It almost feels like The Nordic Center is Alison Aune's home away from home.

Red Herring Lounge, 208 E. 1st Street
Artist Reception: New Paintings by Brent Kusterman

Sacred Heart Music Center, 201 W. 4th Street 7-9 PM, Thursday, 5/7
Life House Variety Show: A Night Of Song, and Poetry, Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, and Rock by area youth; $3.00 At The Door, or One Nonperishable Food Item

Studio 15 at 15 3rd Avenue W.
At 6 p.m. there's an Emily Hayes Artist Reception with music by Brothers Burn Mountain and DJ Nola. Kudos to Lydia Walker for what she's added this past year to the Duluth art scene.

* * * *

As for later this month, we're one week away from a major retrospective of world-renowned Duluth watercolorist Cheng-Khee Chee on May 14 at the Tweed Museum of Art, UMD.

Later in the month is our annual Duluth Dylan Fest with a week's worth of events culminating in the May 23 Acoustic Salute to the Music of Bob Dylan at the Sacred Heart Music Center, 201 W. 4th Street. Tickets and information

Hopefully all this is accurate. Most of it is. Isn't it exciting that we live in a region that has so much happening that one person can't keep track of it all. The Duluth News Tribune doesn't, the Reader doesn't, the Transistor doesn't, nor does social media... but we're all doing the best we can.

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

The Week Ahead: Opening Receptions at the DAI and the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe

"Angry Crow" by Ann Klefstad

I dislike food that is served lukewarm. Evidently I'm not alone because it's a recurring complaint amongst restaurant reviewers at Yelp. I very much prefer it when the server says, "Be careful. The plate is hot."

This coming week there are two more Twin Ports art openings that I'm with eagerness looking forward to tasting. The first is this coming Thursday, February 19, at the Duluth Art Institute (DAI). The second is next Monday at the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe. Both promise to provide satisfying experiences for the aesthetic connoisseur. Here are details on each.

DAI Opening Reception Celebrates Two New Exhibitions

Natural Contract features Japanese-American artists Ryuta Nakajima and Aya Kawaguchi; A Retrospective Response presents work by Lake Superior Watercolor Society members. The opening reception from 5 - 7 p.m. highlights both shows.

Natural Contract is the first regional show of Japanese-American artists Ryuta Nakajima and Aya Kawaguchi, who have been collaborating together for more than a decade, exhibiting their work throughout the nation, and currently call Duluth home. Both are curious about the sensory experience and use photography, sculpture, projection and paint to investigate the natural impulse to shape our environment. Nakajima, an associate professor of painting and drawing at UMD, finds source material in the way that cephalopods take external information and react by producing new shapes and colors. Kawaguchi explores the differences between experiencing something and interpreting it, adding or subtracting information from her photographs to transform the originals into something more personally meaningful.

The exhibition is curated by DAI Artistic Director Anne Dugan, sponsored by Jen Dietrich and Lew Conner, and will be on view in the DAI George Morrison Gallery through April 19.

A Retrospective Response showcases the Lake Superior Watercolor Society, an active, Twin Ports-based arts group. The exhibit will feature 41 watercolor paintings by 22 members. Each painting was inspired by regional artists from Duluth’s rich history (including David Erickson, George Morrison, and John Peyton), with works selected by John Salminen, a renowned watercolorist who lives and works in Duluth while traveling around the world to teach workshops and make presentations. He has won more than 230 awards and his work has been included in exhibitions throughout the United States, Asia, Europe and Australia.

The exhibition will be on view in the DAI John Steffl Gallery though May 1.

* * * *

Flight

Next Monday, February 23, there will be another hot serving of cool art at the Zeitgeist Arts Cafe. The exhibition is titled Flight and features new work by Ann Klefstad and Bridget Riversmith. The opening reception will be from 5 - 7 p.m.

Ann Klefstad has had long experience as both artist and art critic. Her work in this show consists of sumi ink paintings on the theme of crows done on maple panels, and a group of photographs printed on shaped steel depicting water surfaces. She lives in the room with no ceiling—her home the world of forest and water. "I strive to create work mimetic to my experience here, which will evoke both the grace of the natural world and the discomfort of its fit with our built world," she states.

Klefstad has lived by the shore of Lake Superior, and a five-minute walk from forest and river in the city of Duluth, for twenty years. During this time she has been creating sculptures and other works that respond to this environment. She is not an adherent of a signature style, but instead chooses media and ways of working that allow her to serve the aesthetic needs of her environment, and that communicate well. She works as a features writer and critic as well as a public artist, and is open to commissions. She has created many sculptures and sculptural environments by commission and is currently working on two commissions, one for St. Louis County, a plaza environment tentatively called “Wild in the City,” and one for the city of Fergus Falls, called “Freedom,” which features birds.

Bridget Riversmith outlines the ideas behind her work in this statement:

Art is a place to put things so they’ll keep. Moments can be preserved in dance, song, on pages and walls…. These containers fill with things we may find difficult to contain within ourselves. I create art that moves using bright water-base paints, 2D animation, recycled machines and other junk, and am persistently drawn to and motivated by art, science and the vital need to reconcile these two halves. Experimenting and making mistakes are my primary techniques. The artists who have influenced me the most are inventor-innovators like Dr. Seuss, Lotte Reininger, Yuri Norstein and Charles-Émile Reynaud. 

BIO: Bridget Riversmith is a self-taught multimedia artist with a disability, and an advocate for disability rights. Riversmith has received grants from Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (made possible through an appropriation from The McKnight Foundation), VSA Minnesota –The State Organization on Arts and Disability (funded in part by the Jerome Foundation), as well as a Jerome Foundation Stipend for the Arts Retreat of New York Mills Regional Cultural Center. She received the Jaehny Award for Most Active and Visible Minnesota Artist with Disabilities at the 11th Annual VSA Minnesota Arts Access Awards. 

If you are unable to make it to the opening next Monday, then be sure to go out of your way to eat lunch there some time soon and take in the visuals while dining fine. 

Friday Night's Art Crawl and Other Twin Ports Happenings This Week

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ~ Albert Einstein

A Twin Ports tradition is taking place... The Friday Night Art Crawl. Now in its fourth year, here are some of the openings and events I'm aware of, plus a view additional items of note. I begin with the latter.

Cleave Land, the Documentary

Having been born into Cleveland's "Little Italy" district, I am looking forward to tonight's Zinema showing of a new documentary by filmmaker William Payne. The film "explores the impact of sub-prime mortgage foreclosures, extreme poverty and rampant drug violence in the ghettos of Cleveland, Ohio. The movie speaks through the voices of the community members trying to make a difference, the politicians struggling to fix the problems, and the police officers that confront the harsh reality in the streets of Cleveland every day."

The Zinema will screen this new documentary as part of their Explorer's Club series tonight at 7:30 pm.

Following the film, there will be a panel discussion moderated by Karen Sunderman of the Playlist. On the panel will be Police Chief Gordon Ramsay, Citizen Review Board Member Renee Van Nett, Xavier Bell of Community Action Duluth and filmmaker William Payne.


Second Friday Art Crawl

Love Your Local Artist
This is the fifth annual Love Your Local Artist event at the Superior Public Library. Not often that you get to sip wine and rub shoulders with artists of all stripes... and some polka dots. Opens at 5:30 and runs till 8:00 p.m. A great way to start your evening, or end it.

Bravissimo Kickstarter Party
This event isn't really part of the art crawl per se, but it's Friday, and you may wish to lock it on your calendar as an alternative. Ellen Sandbeck's FB invitation reads, "Come help us celebrate the Kickoff of the BRAVISSIMO Music Game Kickstarter campaign! Eat, drink, be merry, play the game, watch the hilarious Kickstarter video!"
Event is 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. at 2532 East Fourth Street, Duluth.

Another creative music-themed event is the Artists' Reception at Pierce & Piszczek Fine Pianos from 6-8:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Music by Aleks Tengesdal (Cello) and Angela Tengesdal (Piano).
This is a joint artists' reception featuring the lovely nature photography of UMD Professor Ladona Tornabene, Ph.D., and Esther Piszczek's Zentangle (R) inspired art. Last month she showed me a piano she was going to tangle. Friday evening we can check on her progress.

Beyond Light - New Photography by Ryan Tischer

Tischer is a distinctive Duluth landscape photographer who will be  exhibiting new photography at Washington Gallery from 6:00-9:00 p.m. The exhibit will also be open Saturdays & Sundays 1:00-5:00pm through March 1st.

PROVE Gallery
I'm not really sure what's on the docket for this Friday at the Prove. Will have to wait and see. Usually there's something from 7 till 11. Might be that Kathleen Roberts of the collective will be around the corner at the Pineapple Arts Poetry Event that she is co-hosting with Faith King. "Bandage up your hearts, put the whiskey in a flask, and come on down! Or just read something happy…"

* * * *

Artists & Their Art
The North End Arts Gallery is holding the opening for their first SCFTA exhibit of 2015 on February 12, from 5-7 p.m. The gallery is on the 2nd Floor of what is coming to be nown as The Red Mug Building. It's upstairs from the new Spirit Room, and will be worth checking out.

Studio 15
Lydia Walker has been very active making Studio 15 into a fun place to be creative. Studio 15 has been hosting a number of classes for kids and adults, with this coming Sunday being a chance for kids to have Fun with Erupting Paint. Lydia announces her events on the Twin Ports Arts Align pages at Facebook if you want to follow along for future events. Pre-registration is required in order to have a suitable supply of materials.

Have fun.

Upcoming Arts Events and the Schedule for This Year's North Country Dylan Celebration

Karen Nease is here in the Twin Ports.

I'm just thrilled by the number of artists who have been arriving on our shores from various places around the country and even the world. In the recent years we've been joined by artists from Germany, South America, Atlanta, New England and Kansas City. Karen Nease is the artist from KC and I had the privilege of visiting her studio Sunday to get a glimpse of what she is all about, and what she has in the works for her April exhibition at the Duluth Art Institute next year.

Though Nease has just unpacked, she has had her eye on the Northland for a while. The Joseph Nease Gallery that she and her husband owned and managed in Kansas City, showcasing the work of regional artists there, was featured three times in Art in America, garnering national recognition for their contribution to the arts. Karen and her husband will be welcome additions to our local community. And I very much look forward to sharing more about her work with you here in the near future.

Upcoming Events 

Zenith Visions... John Heino Photography at Lake Avenue Cafe
Zenith Visions is a photo exhibition by John Heino opening this Thursday at Lake Avenue Cafe from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (The abbreviated time is no doubt so he can get behind the piano at the Blackwater with the Maxi Childs Trio.) The show will feature 19 pieces in a variety of sizes from 10x16 to 36x24, including prints on dye-infused aluminum, giclee and 300 wt. rag. Subjects range from North Shore landscape to dance, steampunk and abstract with something for every price range from $35 to $375. The show runs through March 31 so if you can't be there for the event, there will be plenty of opportunity to check things out while you grab a coffee or meal on another occasion. John wants everyone to know, "The gracious folks at Lake Avenue Cafe remind you that it is not necessary to be a customer to walk through and view the show."

Mary Boman at Lizzard's
I heard Jeffrey of Lizzard's Gallery and Framing on KUMD the other day noting that the opening for this retrospective exhibit coincides with Mary's 80th Birthday Celebration. Drop by and see her work, and share a bite of birthday cake. The opening reception/birthday party is also this Thursday from 5-7:30 p.m.

Caleb Wood, Alexis Pio & Flo Doodles take over Prøve
Guess what? There is no Second Friday Art Crawl this week. Why? Because Washington Galleries is taking a hiatus. I've been notified that they will be making changes and that we can look forward to some new things in the months ahead.

So, Friday night there will be no real decisions to make as to which event to take in first. Head over to the PROVE. The show's description goes like this: One animator. One illustrator. One doodler. Caleb, Alexis, & Flo will be taking over Prøve's walls with massive and encompassing illustrations and animations. Dad's Acid will shred. You come dance, peep some crazy creations & enjoy yourself.

North Country Dylan Celebration 2014 Schedule Announced

As you know it's never too early to start planning for tomorrow. By tomorrow I mean this year's Dylan Fest and Dylan Days, here in Duluth and Hibbing. Last night I acquired a schedule for the nine day celebration. Here are links to bookmark for ongoing updates:
dylandays.org -- bobdylanway.com -- dulutharmory.org

Saturday May 17 
A Salute to the Music of Bob Dylan @ Sacred Heart Music Center

Sunday May 18
Dylan Trivia @ Carmody’s Pub

Monday May 19 
Dylan-Themed Grog Time @ Tycoon’s Alehouse

Tuesday May 20 
Dylan Art Exhibition & Poetry Showcase @ The Red Mug Coffeehouse (Superior)

Wednesday May 21 
Open Mic Night @ Beaners Central

Thursday May 22 
Blood on the Tracks Express North Shore Railroad Ride

Friday May 23 
Creative Writing Workshop & Literary Showcase @ Howard Street Bookstore

Saturday May 24 
Full day of activities in Hibbing beginning with the Dylan Bus Tour at 10:30 a.m. and ending with the Bob Dylan Birthday Bash at Zimmy’s

Sunday May 25 
Farewell Breakfast @ Zimmy’s

I'll close with this. Google Images are a wonderful, fast way to get a visual story of so many kinds of things. In this case, see the contrast between the Fifties and the Sixties. Who, in 1960, would have guessed that the events of the Sixties would have emerged from the Fifties? But if you look closely, you'll see the seeds.

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

Miscellaneous Saturday Morning Catch-All

Today is the 3rd day of August and the 215th day of the year. It was a moonless sky and black as pitch last night when I turned in after spending a couple hours in my studio. Did some work on three or four different pieces, but was primarily trying to make decisions about what to submit for consideration in September's PRØVE Gallery show titled Transplants.

The show caught my attention because I myself am a transplant. Born in Cleveland, grew up in New Jersey, college in Athens, Ohio. Lived in Puerto Rico and Mexico, and the Twin Cities for getting dropped onto Lake Superior's doorstep. The idea of submitting a set of images reflecting these various life stages appealed to me.

But then I thought of other kinds of transplants and it will be an interesting show. Plants and tress get transplanted. And body parts, too. Heart, lung and liver transplants are miracles of modern medicine.

I can imagine someone submitting a group of flower paintings themed "Bloom where you're planted."  If you're an artist, the call for art has gone out with a deadline for submissions being August 28. For submission guidelines, email Nick at provegallery dot com and include the word Transplants in your subject line.

NOTE: If you read the guidelines you will see that the actual show is geared toward artists who have "moved to Duluth for any reason. We are in a time of change in many ways, and would like to showcase this with an exhibition highlighting the rich variety that all of this intermixing can achieve." In other words, it's not about heart transplants, though if you have geographically been transplanted here let's hope your heart came with you.

Next weekend there are a number of art openings to get scribbled onto your calendars. Friday night is the usual Second Friday Art Crawl with openings at Washington Gallery (Hootenanny, featuring Chris Dunn and Emma Rustan), PROVE (Papyri group show), and Ochre Ghost (Colin Marx). Minnesota Wine Beginnings and Double Dutch down below may also have something special planned. Then on Saturday evening there will be an opening for the Northern Printmakers Alliance Group Show titled PANORAMA. It's an afternoon opening, from 2 - 6 pm at the Northern Prints Gallery, 318 North 14th Avenue East here in Duluth.

For what it's worth today's a sunny, gorgeous day here in the Northland and if you don't have plans, it might be a nice day to go biking. If you like mountain biking, we've got all kinds of trails here. In fact, I think Duluth has more parks and trails per capita than any city in the world. (I just made that statistic up but it rolled of the fingertips pretty easily and might even be half true.) For leisurely biking there has been a continued investment in bike trails here in Minnesota. If you don't own bikes personally, you can drop down to Carlton Bike Rental and rent one of theirs. They recently had a hundred young people fly in from Chile to go biking here and it was quite the adventure. (Disclaimer: I have some of my art there including the piece here on the left, Riding Like the Wind, which I completed two weekends ago.)

One more item, in the event your day isn't already jammed, Anne Labovitz will be giving an art talk this afternoon from 1-2 p.m. at the Tweed Museum. Her exhibition there this summer has been fabulous. If you're near the U and want a mid-day Art-boost, go for it. I love the Tweed's slogan: Driven to Discover. Anne's work is worth discovering if you have not already done so.

And finally, last but not least, N&L Publishing will likely be releasing the eBook Intergalactica this coming week if we can pull it off. The sci-fi fantasy art project which we've been shaping for more than half a year will at last be ready. It will be FREE for All, so download a copy and share it when it becomes available, hopefully by next Friday. (The Link will be posted.)

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Make the most of it.

 

The Versatile Doris Sampson and More, March 8

Snapshot of Doris Sampson's more recent interests.

Duluth, MN ~ Tomorrow night's gallery hopping here in the Twin Ports has some extra-special treats. In addition to the TEXT show at the Prove which I shared here Tuesday there are the usual events at Ochre Ghost and Washington Gallery, and there are bonus openings at Double Dutch, on the corner of Lake and Superior, and Doris Sampson's opening at Just for the Season Gallery in the Holiday Center. The time to plan your trek is now.

I'm willing to guess that everyone in the region is familiar with Sampson's work but doesn't know it. Her series of paintings featuring the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald and subsequent rescue efforts can be seen in numerous locations around the Twin Ports, from the Canal Park Marine Museum to Fitzgerald Hall in the DECC to the reception areas of numerous Twin Ports business establishments. Her skills in are well honed when painting realism, especially the angry sea.

But Sampson is much more than this. I visited her home/studio in West Duluth a couple years ago and was impressed by her range. She is a superb draftsperson who has creatively poured herself into her work for over four decades now. I look forward to seeing what she exhibits tomorrow because Ms. Sampson not only has an imagination, but the talent to do something with it.

Sampson's show is called The Versatility of Doris Sampson, and if you're available during the day she's doing an artist demonstration from noon till 3 p.m. Opening reception will be from 4 p.m. till 7 p.m.  Just for the Season Gallery isn't "just for the season" and if you work downtown you should make it a monthly destination to see what's new. Sampson's work will be featured there through the end of March.

Double Dutch at 1 W. Superior St. is a welcome addition to the gallery crawl that takes place on the second Friday each month downtown.  Tomorrow eve they will feature artwork by Brian Ring and Ryan LeMahieu with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m.

Over at the Ochre Ghost photographer Andy Hartman is showing his work from 7-11 p.m., two blocks down the alley from the Prove show that is featuring 19 artists this month. And two blocks up the hill from the TEXT Show you'll find a two woman show by artists Mary Hunt and Monica Ares. Their opening runs from 4:30-8 p.m, so my guess is to catch it all, you may start with Just for the Season, hop up to Washington and then find a place to park down on First Street. (That's my plan, anyways.)

Hunt’s show is titled “Privacy No More,” dealing with privacy in a digital age. Hunt has an MFA from the University of Delaware but left academia eight years ago to work on her own. She now lives and works in Washington Studios Artist Cooperative.

Ares’ exhibit is titled “Beneath Perceptions.” Her images are created with various media including oil on masonite, graphite on Mylar and more. Personally, I can't wait to take it all in.

Hope to see you on the scene.