Arts & Culture

Despite the difficulties in accessing many art galleries in these difficult days, Annie tells us about two great opportunities to interact with art this week online.

Growing up in Milwaukee, Derek Nicholas wasn't really plugged into either his cultural heritage or the great outdoors.

But when he arrived in rural west-central Minnesota to study at the University of Minnesota-Morris, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa member found two new passions: sustainable food systems and his Anishinaabeg culture.

The Kenspeckle Letterpress and Warrior Printress are closing their brick-and-mortar store in Canal Park.  Rick Allen and Marion Lansky are downsizing themselves back to their original printshop studio, and Warrior Printress will be relocating to Lincoln Park.

At his 70th birthday party, he took me aside and it was like a little ceremony with just me and him in the corner.

“Arne, you need to write. I know you have at least one book in you and maybe more. The only way you’re going to find out is by writing and I want to write the forward to your first book.
He went on, “I’ve been writing all these years and I’m always looking for the next writer among us, Arne. Telling our stories is important and I want to pass something formally to you right now.
“Believe that what you have to say is important. The commas and the punctuation will take care of themselves. You need to write.’”

Minnesotans can read Chad Montrie's article “'In That Very Northern City'”: Recovering a Forgotten Struggle for Racial Integration in Duluth" in the latest issue of the Minnesota Historical Society's Minnesota History magazine.

There are several ways to get an art break in your day this week.

One is a real, live, in-person (albeit masked and physically-distanced) art opening, as Adam Swanson's new exhibit at the Great Lakes Aquarium takes a look at animals on the federal threatened and endangered species lists.  The Mirrors by Adam Swanson art reception opens tomorrow (Tuesday, July 28) at 6:00pm.

(This episode of Journey to Wellness originally aired June 17, 2019.  Look for an updated list of links at the end of  this story.)

Canada has finished its three-year inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous woman and girls. And they're calling it genocide. Is that the right word?

 And why does Canada seem to be so much further along the road to acknowledging historical wrongs and trying to make reparation than the US?

Writer, radio personality, podcaster and guy-with-depression John Moe talks about finding what works for you in addition to meds and therapy (dogs, being in a band, Bigfoot videos on YouTube), getting rid of the word "stigma" (when what we mean is "discrimination"), and depression as a super-power, especially in these times.

The Hilarious World of Depression by John Moe is published by St. Martin's Press.

Last week, 30 FBI agents descended on a northern Michigan home believed to be at the center of a national art forgery ring.

Florence and her sister were forcefully taken away from her family when she was a little girl and put into a residential school.  She was driven far away from her family, her braids were cut off and she was forbidden to speak her language.  “I was always told before that that I was a beautiful little girl inside and once I was taken away I was told I was stupid and ugly. When I got older I fell in with the wrong lifestyle because I couldn’t go back home and I just wanted someone, anyone to accept me.”

Jeffrey Briggs is a big fan of waterfronts. From the frigid waters of Puget Sound to the frigid waters of Lake Superior's North Shore, he's written the second installment of his Waterfront Mystery series, and this one is set right here in the Northland.

Within a Shadowed Forest is published by Water's End Publishing.

“I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.”

 - Michel de Montaigne

Red Lake Nation Ojibwe artist Robert DesJarlait has a lot going on, but he really loves those words from Michel de Montaigne.

DesJarlait, a writer, artist, traditional dancer, and gardener is showing his recent watercolor/mixed media paintings in a virtual exhibition and at AICHO through September.

Kao Kalia Yang's book The Shared Room begins as what she calls "a love letter" to the 6-year-old who drowned three years ago at the Lake Elmo Park Reserve, the little girl she'd gotten to know and who told the author, "When I grow up I want to be a writer. Not just any writer, but one like you."

The Duluth Art Institute has reopened and they have some exhibits up.  Folks who come into the Depot are, of course, asked to wear masks and social-distance.

Kari Halker-Saathoff: Odysseus & Penelope: The Long Journey

She had a Singer treadle sewing machine and I was fascinated by the steady “click-click-click” of the needle going up and down. I watched her rock her foot to thread the bobbin, then slide back the cover to load the bobbin into the shuttle. I was always amazed when the sewing machine picked up the thread and could never figure out how it could get thread to link together on both sides of the fabric.