Trunk & Tent Show Coming to Carlton April 21 (and Other Reminders)

Biking is a subject that has really grown in recent years. You can tell what's hot by how many new posts there are on a theme in Google Alerts. This mornings "alerts" for biking include a mountain biker who will be talking about safety after having broken all four limbs in a biking accident, street bike rentals in Miami, bike tours in Philadelphia, a road accident that killed India's leading woman biker, and the Second Annual Light the Fire Biking Fest in Cape Town, South Africa.

If biking is in your blood, or even it is just beginning to become something more inviting to you, then you might be interested in the The Carlton Trunk & Tent Show coming next week on April 21, sponsored by Carlton Bike Rental & Repair.

I remember the late Jim Oberstar's ribbon-cutting when Carlton Bike Rental (CBR) first opened. Hard to believe that was already six years ago.

Carlton is an ideal kickoff point for Minnesota's famous bike trail network. For this reason there will also be reps from Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores (COGGS), a chapter of the International Mountain Bicycling Association. Yes, this region not only has paved trails for family outings but an astonishing network of mountain biking trails for serious adventurers.

The Trunk & Tent Show is more than a biking occasion though. There will be representatives from Swiftwater Adventures, local pros with 50 years of experience guiding whitewater rafting and kayaking here on the St. Louis River as well as reps from the 50-mile Minnesota Voyageur Ultra Marathon and the Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon Race giving away free passes. Jay Cooke Park manager Lisa Angelos will be on hand to answer questions about the park and The Streetcar will contribute by grilling eats and offering libations via a cash bar.

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Other Upcoming Local Happenings

Tonight is the opening reception for Team Spirit and Hat Trick at the Depot (Duluth Art Institute galleries upstairs.) This is another excellent show. (I got a sneak preview Sunday.)

The Minnesota Arts Board is conducting two meetings tomorrow from noon till mid-afternoon. The first is about funding for arts programs in Minnesota with an overview of all grant programs. This will be highly informative with a Q&A period after the presentation. The second will address funding for art in public spaces. Both meetings will be at the DAI at their Depot location. Details here on Facebook.

The current exhibit at Karpeles Manuscript Museum has been Full Steam Ahead, a clever title for the rare manuscripts and documents pertaining to Robert Fulton's development of the steamboat. This Sunday Karpeles is having a special kickoff to the upcoming Huskeys baseball season titled Spring Fever Reliever. It's a family event for local baseball fans... or rather, fans of our local baseball heroes.

And since we're talking about Karpeles here, May is going to be one of the most exciting months on record for local Dylan fans as the Duluth Dylan Fest team has pulled out all the stops. One of the new events will be taking place at Karpeles, title Einstein Disguised As Robin Hood, it will feature rare documents from the William Pagel Collection. For details on all the upcoming Duluth Dylan Fest events, follow on Facebook here.

Meantime, I gotta get ready for the new day. Have a great weekend.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Local Art Seen -- One Year of Selective Focus and Collection of Chaos II

One Year of Selective Focus: Tim White's contribution 

to perfectduluthday.com, documenting the people and activities 

of our Northland corner of the world @ Red Herring Lounge.

Collection of Chaos II: Eris Vafias retrospective at Pizza Luce.

Team Spirit and Hat Trick -- Two Exciting Exhibitions Open This Week at the Duluth Art Institute

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz."
~Humphrey Bogart

120 baseball covers (detail)

As every fan of baseball knows, April is when it all begins anew. As the great Hall of Famer Honus Wagner put it, "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring." There's nothing quite like the opening of a new season. Your team has yet to lose a game and you have an abundance of hope in your heart that this is your year.

So it seems only appropriate that this week the Duluth Art Institute is hosting a baseball themed exhibition titled Team Spirit featuring a collaboration with Jen Dietrich and Robb Quisling. Quisling is an artist, art teacher (Hermantown school district) and former student of Dietrich who teaches at UMD. (It's actually about a variety of team sports, but with spring in the air it was necessary to start with baseball.)

Even though I played the game in my youth and have followed the sport all my life, the exhibit brought out facts that even I didn't know. One piece is a construction made of 18 leather ballgloves. Yes, I did know each team has nine players and 18 is the total of two teams of nine. But did you know that each game uses 120 baseballs? Dietrich and Quisling have one piece that features the leather covers of 120 balls. They have also concocted the smells of baseball. Were you aware of the process that's involved in preparing those balls for each game? And there's more.

Dietrich grew up as a "tomboy" and that "spirit" remains embedded in her DNA. You can see my review of her last show here. She even married a football player.

In my "sneak preview of the upcoming show I had a chance to talk about the relationship between the artists. Quisling noted that he "wasn't good at understanding conceptual art." Dietrich helped bring his comprehension into a higher level of clarity.

Their collaboration aims at bringing out nuances and layers of meaning in this sport and others. For Quisling sports are about companionship. Another part of the Morrison Gallery will feature rock climbing as well, another activity which involves achievement in collaboration with others. Dietrich brings yet another layer to the game... the smells. I myself always think of the leather, There's also sweat. And for the fan there are those hot dogs.

One portion of the exhibit will address the current issue of concussions in football, an issue that has come under the spotlight of journalist scrutiny the past several years, especially after Junior Seau's 2012 suicide. This is an especially interesting and thought-provoking set of pieces with some clever juxtapositions.

The Steffl Gallery will play host to a celebration of hockey and art titled "Hat Trick." If you know hockey, a hat trick is when a player scores three goals in a game, an impressive feat at any level of the game. And the works on display here are impressive as well. Tim Cortes is a nationally recognized sports artist and his finely honed photo-realistic drawings in colored pencil are remarkably striking. I had to ask, "Are these photos?" "No," I was informed.

Not a photo. It's colored pencils. 

According to the DAI description of the show, Cortes’ work has been displayed at the US Hockey Hall of Fame and at jersey retirement ceremonies for NHL and NFL pros. It can be found in the private collections of sports heroes like Troy Aikman, Dale Earnhardt, Wayne Gretzky, and Shaquille O’Neal; and his murals can be seen at Target Field’s “Champions’ Club” lounge. The artist currently lives in Duluth’s Lakeside neighborhood with his wife and children, and coaches youth hockey and baseball. Paired with Cortes’ work will be a variety of paintings and sculptures that celebrate hockey including work by Robert Pokorney, Sue Pavlatos, Josh Nelson and Roger Nieboer. An art-making piece that the audience can engage in, designed by DAI Executive & Artistic Director Anne Dugan, will also be part of the experience.

The opening reception for both shows is this Thursday from 5-7 p.m. at the Depot. It's not to be missed. On the other hand, this is Jen Dietrich's last show before leaving to move to Colorado. She will most certainly be missed.

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AND TWO MORE DAI EVENTS

On Friday, April 15, the Duluth Art Institute will host two grant program informational sessions by the Minnesota State Arts Board in the Ruth Maney Room of the Duluth Depot (506 W Michigan St). Session one, a general information session, will go from 12 – 1 PM and will consist of two Arts Board program officers giving a brief overview of all Arts Board grant programs. Session two will take place from 1:30 – 2:30 PM and will provide an overview of Minnesota’s program and public art commissioning process. These are free and open to the public, although registration is encouraged. For more info, please see the attached news release.

On Saturday, April 16, from 11 AM – 2 PM, the DAI will host a Free Family Day at the DAI Lincoln Center for Arts Education (2229 W 2nd St). At these events, children can experience fun, hands-on arts activities. Family outings can be expensive, but this program is accessible to people of all ages, abilities, and income levels. All the projects and supplies are provided free. This session will feature Earth Day-themed projects and is sponsored by Whole Food Co-op and the Lloyd K Johnson Foundation.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Have you been noticing?

Highlights of the 2016 Duluth Dylan Fest: Get Your Tickets Here

Yesterday afternoon while listening to various playlists on my iTunes player the album Highway 61 Revisited came on beginning with that snare-shot heard round the world, the opening salvo of "Like A Rolling Stone", Dylan blasting out that nothing would ever be the same. It was a shot heard 'round the world, history in the making and any time I hear it after not having heard it in a while it strikes me as especially profound. The attitude. The tone. The lyrics. The sound.

Here we are more than fifty years later and it's somewhat incredible that this kid who appeared on the scene like the phenomenon he was is still out there producing records, performing with a supertight band, still remaining unpredictable.

This May, he'll turn 75 and the town of his birth will once again celebrate this passing of another year with a week long festival of events designed to honor this native son who has achieved international fame yet remained connected to his roots. He still maintains a home in Minnesota, and other examples could be cited.

A Little History
The first Bob Dylan Way birthday party was in May 2008 to celebrate the installations of the signs along Bob Dylan Way. The first weeklong Dylan Fest was in May 2011. So 2016 marks the 6th year of the weeklong fest and the 9th year of the Bob Dylan Celebrations put on by the Bob Dylan Way team. The group, however. was started in early 2007 to raise money after the City Council passed the Cultural Pathway in May 2006.

Duluth has a rich history of celebrating Bob Dylan from John Bushey’s radio show on KUMD – October marks the 25th year. To the early Dylan Birthday Party celebrations held around Duluth in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

This Year's Event Schedule

The 2016 Duluth Dylan Fest has a number of exciting events in store to celebrate Duluth’s native son Bob Dylan’s 75th birthday and showcasing the Northland’s vibrant arts and music scene.

Highlights include:
• 48 hour Dylan Film Fest
• Art Show featuring Daniel Botkin
• Duluth Does Dylan CD Release Party
• Poets from the North County featuring Duluth Poet Laurates Barton Sutter and Jim Johnson, among others
• The ever-popular Blood on the Tracks Express rolling music revue featuring local musicians and Dylan Fest favorite the Boomchucks aka The Freewheelers
• Duluth Dylan Fest Singer Songwriter Contest
• Duluth to Hibbing and Back Dylan Fest Bus Tour
• Postage Stamp Cancellation Event at the Armory Annex on London Road, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
• Amory Arts & Music Center Benefit Concert: The Basement Tapes/Great White Wonder Concert
• Farewell Brunch at the Zeitgeist Café featuring songwriter Jim Hall

Noteworthy
The Duluth Dylan Fest committee is thrilled to share that a special Bob Dylan exhibit featuring handwritten lyrics, inscribed photographs, early concert flyers and more from the William Pagel Achieves will be on exhibit May 4-30 at Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.

Ticketed Duluth Dylan Fest events are available on https://www.eventbrite.com/d/local/dylan-fest/
• May 24th Duluth Does Dylan CD Release Party at 7:30 PM
• May 26th Blood on the Tracks Express Rolling Music Revue (available soon)
• May 27th Dylan Bush Tour: Duluth to Hibbing and Back from 9 AM to 5 PM
• May 28th Bob Dylan Benefit Concert for the Armory Arts & Music Center at 7 PM

All other events are free.

Please share this information with your friends and colleagues. If you have questions, please email duluthdylanfest@gmail.com or zane@northlandfdn.org.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Be part of it.

Local Art Seen: Gordon Coons, Ojibwa/Ottawa Artist

Friday evening I had the privilege of attending the opening reception at the AICHO for artist Gordon Coons of the Ojibwa heritage from the Lake Superior Chippewa Band of Wisconsin and Ottawa of Michigan. Now living in Minneapolis, Coons is a self-taught artist who works in a variety of mediums including painting, printing and mixed media. The work was an interesting blend of traditional native storytelling and various forms of contemporary expression.

There were numerous familiar faces present, including painter Jonathan Thunder who confided that Coons had been a mentor when Thunder first began to taking his art seriously, and Ivy Vainio whose photography proved to be an emotive addition to last Monday's One River, Many Stories exhibition at the Depot.

"Muskrat returning the Earth"

The exhibit itself seemed to be something of a retrospective from various stages of Coons' career. There were also a range of creative explorations that involved various types of printing, embossing and even works in duct tape.

In the hallway outside the gallery there were a series of paintings using the American flag, in a manner not unlike Jasper Johns, yet altogether different. Here we find Coons incorporating statements from Ojibwa history into the flag, most vividly the grievous Mankato hangings of 1862 in which 38 Dakota natives were executed by hanging. One flag painting lists Native tribes and the years of their treaties. Another lists the 38 Dakota men who were hung in Mankato the day after Chritmas, 1862. Here's one account from the New York Times. And here's an alternative or supplementary account of this tragic moment in time that was overshadowed by the American Civil War. You may also read the Wikipedia record here.

Ivy Vainio, Gordon Coons, Jonathan Thunder, Francine Corcoran

Jake Vainio produced a soothing ambience with his electric guitar during the reception except for a portion in which Mr. Coons was invited to address the audience from the AICHO stage. To see more from this event, visit this page of photos by Ivy Vainio.

Gordon Coons speaking after introduction by Jonathan Thunder.

"Mooz / Moose"

"Owaazisli / Bullhead"

"Lac Courte Oreilles Elder" -- Layered duct tape cutout. 

American Flag with tribes and treaties.

Detail from above. 

Gordon Coons has won numerous awards and commissions for his graphics, prints, paintings and sculptures. His work has become part of numerous permanent collections. 

If you have never taken in an exhibit at Trepanier Hall, the former YWCA, then you really need to put American Indian Community Housing Association on your watch list for upcoming events. There is a vibrant arts community here and a lot happening.  

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

Seeking Balance in Coping with Anger

GUEST POST: DR. RONALD NEWMAN, PH.D.

How do you feel when others do not meet your expectations, or when you do not get what you want? Do you “bite your wife’s head off”? Do you lose your voice yelling at your kids? Do you secretly obsess and seethe at something your neighbor did, wondering how you can get even?

Depending on many complex factors, we can react in many different ways. Sometimes we are simply irritated, frustrated, or impatient. Other times we rage, at least on the inside.

Anger brings with it a great deal of physiological arousal. Your heart beats faster, your breathing rate increases, your pupils constrict, and your blood flows more to your active muscles - all signs that your adrenal glands are pumping more hormones which signal your body to go into “fight or flight” mode.

Here are a few tips to help you cope in a way that can diminish the damage that poor anger management does to both you and those around you.

1) Delay your response. It essential to break negative automatic and habitual ways of expressing your anger that hurt others and yourself. “Counting to 10” is age old advice that really does serve a purpose. It helps you engage the thinking portions of your brain so you can evaluate the potential consequences of the angry comments you would like to make.

2) Resist acting out anger inappropriately. This can be verbal or non-verbal behavior. Saying or doing things intended to hurt others will only escalate your problems. Be slow to speak. This is the path of mature, responsible adult behavior.

3) Listen attentively and objectively. What is the other person really communicating? How is the person feeling? Seek to really put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Research shows the high value of empathy in overcoming habitual expressions of anger.

4) Consider the offense before responding. Focus on the big picture, rather than reacting on impulse. Attempt to understand their reason for offending you in the way they did, or if they even meant it as an offense. What is really triggering your feelings of anger? How might your response affect your future relationship?

5) Release the anger before the day is over. Holding on to your anger is not worth it on many levels, including your health. Research has even shown it increases pain and depression levels. Seek to release the anger as quickly as possible.

6) Tell yourself “I am not easy to offend.” And believe it. You really can modify your habitual ways of thinking.

7) Avoid a victim mentality. Even if you are a victim of unfair treatment, you do not want to get stuck there. Instead, look for ways to empower yourself and take responsibility to manage your life and relationships in healthier ways. Considering your situation from the position of an equal rather than from a superior or inferior position can help you negotiate relationship conflicts and work toward win-win solutions.

8) Develop assertive communication skills. You can use the anger to motivate you to assertive, but not aggressive, action. Assertiveness includes open, honest communication that expresses your concerns and what you want. Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s non-violent responses are examples of healthy assertive action that brought about positive change. You can do the same in your family, speaking the truth in love.

9) Evaluate and modify your thinking in the direction of being grateful for the blessings in your life. This is particularly true when we notice an underlying hostility from unresolved anger that is beginning to fester within us. Learning to let go of offenses and embracing our blessings has great value for our own health and the health of our relationships with others.

10) Forgiveness is fundamental. Understanding, accepting, and letting go of offenses is a process we go through in relationships we value. This is a process that takes time for some, but is something we are all challenged to embrace.

Ronald S. Newman, Ph.D. is a New Jersey psychologist at the Lakeview Professional Center on Route 30 who can be reached at: write2balance@gmail.com, or 609-567-9022. This article original appeared in the Hammonton Gazette, March 2016

Local Art Scene: Spotlight on Jonathan Thunder

I first encountered one or two of Jonathan Thunder's striking works at at a group show at the AICHO last year, and then later at the Washington Gallery. The scale and drama in his paintings made one immediately aware that he was serious about his work. I am especially drawn to his painterliness and his use of color and line. This interview is a continuation of discussions we began at that joint show called Abstractscapes with Samantha Pranger.    

EN: How did you get started as a painter?

Jonathan Thunder: I started painting in the 7th grade. I had an introduction to painting with still life arrangements. Back then I wouldn’t wear my glasses most of the time, so the still life looked fuzzy and seemed to bloom with soft edges, sparkles and undulating shapes. My instructor told me that I have a "bit of Van Gogh in my style” due to the odd way of recording the elements. I looked into this “Van Gogh” character in the school library and soon discovered a variety of painters that completely blew my mind. I was soon spending most of my free time in the art classrooms working on my projects and creating extra credit assignments for myself with the help of both of the art teachers.

EN: Where were you trained?

JT: When I graduated from high school I had been given a flyer for a fine art school in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Institute of American Indian Arts offered a 2D Fine Arts program that I started in 1999. I studied painting under an Instructor named Norman Akers. I also spent some years studying digital arts. I received a Bachelors of Science in Visual Effects and Motion Graphics from the Art Institute International Minnesota in 2005.

EN: How did your experience in Santa Fe influence you?

JT: The art world in Santa Fe is a strange and vast world of colors, textures and culture existing in a whirling energy that makes a great breeding ground for the fantastic. I paid attention to the artists that were creating work with weight and movement.

EN: Where have you been showing your work?

JT: I have mainly shown my paintings in the Twin Cities, Duluth and Santa Fe. My work has also been seen in publications in France, Oregon and Canada.

EN: What are your primary themes?

JT: I work mainly based on my experience. I paint life occurrences and interpretations through a dream-lens. Faces change and rolls shift on a spiritual stage.

EN: Who are your favorite artists?

JT: I have taken a great amount of inspiration from the line work of Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni and the freedom and drama of Hieronymus Bosch. The imagination of Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali. I like the style of Patrick DesJarlait, Sr., a painter from Red Lake, Minnesota and the muralist Diego Rivera. My favorite artists, from a technique and color approach, are Chris Mars of Minneapolis, MN and Tony Abeyta of Santa Fe New Mexico. Any artist that takes risks and creates work with an intensity and depth can my attention. Such as Tamara de Lempicka, Jose Clemente Orozco, and Edgar Saner Flores to name a few more.

EN: Where does your inspiration come from?

JT: Most of my inspiration comes from how I view life, how I have experienced life, how the spirit world has affected me, and the beautiful and ironic way it all comes together so perfectly.

EN: Any up-coming shows?

JT: I have some new work that can be seen in the Washington Gallery in central Duluth on April 23rd or by appointment. I’ll also be showing at Trepanier Hall later this summer, also in Duluth. Further on the horizon is a showing in Santa Fe during August and again in January.

EN: Do you have a website or somewhere we can see your work online?

JT: My work can be viewed online at thunderfineart.com, mnartists.org or on Faceook at facebook.com/ThunderFineArt,

EN: What are you working on now that has you jazzed?

JT: It’s a secret.

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Recommended: Make sure that if you do the Art for Earth Day Gallery Hop, make Washington Gallery on of your stops.

(Detail from larger piece.) His images are full of symbols. The owl, he said, is a messenger.