Art
Ripped on the Art Gallery Stroll in 2006
[Editor’s note: For this week’s essay we’ve once again pulled out a relic from the drunken compendium of Slim Goodbuzz, who served as Duluth’s “booze connoisseur” from 1999 to 2009. Twenty years ago the Sultan of Sot took a tour of Downtown Duluth art galleries and composed this article for the June 5, 2001 edition of the Ripsaw newspaper.]
Let’s get one thing straight: I love art. I mean, there’s no greater art than getting drunk. So, with that in mind, I’m on my way to the Art Gallery Stroll — the first of five monthly, multi-gallery art receptions this summer in Duluth. Pop those corks, artsy-fartsies; I’m out to get completely, utterly and entirely fucking Brandenburged.
Art receptions, as any seasoned alcoholic knows, are the most abundant source of complimentary wine in the world. But this adventure is about more than saving money; it’s about improving my health. Instead of sitting on a stool in a smoky room and staring dumbly at myself in a Budweiser mirror behind a bar, tonight I’m going to air out my hemorrhoids by walking around and staring dumbly at, for example, a clay sculpture of a bear with a cup and saucer on his head. (more…)
A Literary Summer Begins
It’s been a very literary summer in Duluth and Superior.
First, the Duluth Failed Poets Society met at Wussow’s Concert Cafe to celebrate a new book. Laminated Wildflowers is a celebration both of craft and of community. (It’s also a sequel to Murder Your Darlings.) Photos and video of the event are available on Instagram. (more…)
Ish Meets a Mermaid
Written and directed by Duluth’s Jonathan Thunder, the short movie Ish Meets a Mermaid was produced in 2025 and premiered at the Historic State Theater in Ely during the Ely Film Festival in March 2026. It recently made its Duluth debut at the Zeitgeist Minnesota Film Festival. (more…)
Bug Ball fundraiser has Prøve Gallery buzzing
Dressed in gowns that look like they came straight out of a doll house, a few artists met at Prøve Gallery last week to shoot a promotional video for their upcoming gala. As soon as the bug garments and masks were placed on the models’ heads, the poses came out.
“A mask is transformative,” artist and Prøve Collective board member Cherry Koch said, watching the models move around the room in playful bug-like fashion. (more…)
Selective Focus: Chosen Family & Mutual Aid with Carolyn Olson
Centering on themes of mutual aid, chosen family, snapshots of the home and community spaces, Carolyn Olson works with gouache, pastel and oil to create narrative paintings. Her work has included scenes from laundromats, overnight parking areas, community gardens and food distribution locations. The subjects in her work are often presented with unrealistic body proportions to bring out different energies in the characters or accentuate the task at hand. (more…)
Writers Speak Out: Power to the People
Writers Speak Out: People Have the Power was held at Wussow’s Concert Cafe on April 21. (more…)
Making it Up North: Lenore Lampi
Ceramicist Lenore Lampi discusses the transition from being an art teacher to a full-time artist, the inspiration behind her “Scrolls Interrupted” series, and the unique techniques she uses to bring her sculptures to life — including the use of furniture gilding wax and birch-inspired motifs.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Former Duluthian Nik Nerburn exhibits at MIA
Still from Nik Nerburn’s “Going Out For Cigarettes.”
The Minneapolis Institute of Art has announced former Duluthian Nik Nerburn will have work on exhibit there March 21 to June 21. (more…)
Making it Up North: Alt Creative
Melissa Weisser and Tammy Underwood talk about how Alt Creative has grown into a vibrant arts collective of 50 creators.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Lisa Fitzpatrick recognized with environmental film award
Lisa Fitzpatrick creates a tiny tableau of the St. Louis River estuary in “River Creatures,” an artwork that is part of “The River Speaks” exhibit at Wussow’s Concert Cafe, organized by the St. Louis River Alliance. (Image via the St. Louis River Alliance’s Instagram page.
Duluth-based artist, animator and climate advocate Lisa Fitzpatrick was recognized with an Outstanding Environmental Film Award at the Short. Sweet. Film Fest., an event in Cleveland, Ohio that highlights short features. Her submission, Love Song for Earth, was part of the festival’s environmental program on March 4. (more…)
Meet the Moment: Writers Speak Out
Meet the Moment: Writers Speak Out was held at Wussow’s Concert Cafe on Feb. 26. (more…)
Making it Up North: Catherine Meier
Visual artist Catherine Meier shares her journey from hauling cattle across the Great Plains to creating deeply immersive animations and drawings on Minnesota’s North Shore.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Jonathan Thunder’s Digital Tampering Reel
This compilation shows various animation projects Duluth artist Jonathan Thunder has worked on in the past decade, including his own projects, collaborations and works for hire.
Exhibitions celebrate Indigenous art
Illustration by Carl Gawboy.
Two fine-art exhibitions and the music of a Minneapolis recording artist are featured at the Duluth Art Institute in shows running through April 3. A reception for the artists is on March 26 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. (more…)
Making it Up North: Bailey Builds
Meet the couple behind the wood art seen all over Duluth. After 15 years in production management, Anna and Nathanael Bailey took a leap of faith to join forces and create Bailey Builds.
Making it Up North is a PBS North series that explores stories of creative artists, artisans and entrepreneurs engaged in honing their skills, following their passion and realizing their dreams.
Dopey tune on a junky guitar
I’ve become an old man who putters around in the garage. Or the basement — the garage is really cold right now. I built a guitar out of garage stuff.
Selective Focus: Tori Kaufman’s Visual Art
Wildlife biologist Tori Kaufman has drawn inspiration from her work outside and has curated a series of oil prints. Her exhibition at Wussow’s Concert Cafe features boat-inspired vignettes, sturgeon and other critters, and other subjects. The prints are on display through the end of January. Kaufman is also a participant in the local literary scene, putting together type-written poetry in zine-like formats. A sampling of her work and a recent interview are below. (more…)
Engelbert Hattenberger: Honarary Citizen of Duluth
On Jan. 17, 1986 — 40 years ago today — Duluth Mayor John Fedo issued a proclamation declaring Engelbert Hattenberger an honorary citizen of Duluth, “with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereto, as recognition of the high regard and esteem in which this distinguished personage is held by the Citizens of Duluth.”
Hattenberger was a 65-year-old Austrian ice sculptor who was in the city for about two weeks to create art on the Duluth Civic Center plaza during the Winter Sport Festival. It was the first in a four-year stretch of ice-carving trips to Duluth for Hattenberger. (more…)
Sixteen thousand people read my little project?
I am proud to learn that a journal I have co-edited for the past decade has a new mechanism for reporting its readership. I have always known that this journal was important to me — I am ecstatic to learn that it might mean something to other people — 16,000 people downloaded articles just this year.
If you would like to be a writer or a reviewer for this journal, reach out. We are going places. (more…)
Former Duluthian Miles Spangrud releases debut novel
My friend and former Duluthian Miles Spangrud will see their debut novel released by Two Gun Publishing. Flesh and Bone: A Historical Western is interesting to me because Western feels like one of those genres that keeps happening no matter how far outside the field of my vision it is. Like Art Bell, maybe. Always there, and I only stumble into it once in a while, this time because the author was local. (more…)
Selective Focus: Brenna del Junco’s Knit and Crochet Creations
Brenna del Junco in front of a yarn display in her new store, Moki Stitches. (Photo by Jess Morgan)
Before moving to Duluth, Brenna del Junco ran a yarn store in Toronto. One of her creations can be found at the Museum of Human History in Ottawa, while others are modeled and worn by loved ones. Whether she is creating a knitted sweater for her dog Button, preparing a stitch pattern to share with others, or piecing together a teeny tiny gnome, she is often spotted with a project in hand. Check out the interview below about her creations and new store, Moki Stitches, that is opening in Duluth. (more…)
Selective Focus: Brad the Sheep
A painting of Brad the Sheep by Annmarie Genuisz.
In the fall of 2024, Brad the Sheep was sold by a farm in Carlton to a farm in Two Harbors. Determined to return home, he wandered the North Shore of Lake Superior, through Duluth and back to Carlton. The journey spanned three weeks — from Oct. 29 to Nov. 20. Along the way, Braaaaaaaaaaad was occasionally spotted. Photos and videos appeared on social media — most famously of Brad tromping along the rocky shore at Brighton Beach. A series of Brad-based memes hit the internet at the end of 2024, and two children’s books were published in early 2025 telling Brad’s story.
For this edition of “Selective Focus” we’ve brought back an interview with Brad’s owner, Ryan Osvold, conducted shortly after his return home last year. For imagery we’ve added some of the altered photos from an anonymous source, speculating about all the places Brad wandered to during his 40-mile journey. (more…)
Call for writing and artwork for ‘Going the Distance’
Duluth Publishing Project, in collaboration with the University of Minnesota Duluth and Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador, is compiling a collection of creative works — visual art, poems and nonfiction writing — on the theme of “Going the Distance.” Students enrolled in classes at the colleges will edit and create the final product. (more…)
Deep Connections: UMD Art & Design Faculty Biennial
The University of Minnesota Duluth’s Art & Design Faculty Biennial opened Oct. 28 and remains on display through Feb. 27 in the Tweed Museum of Art. The exhibit highlights shared human experiences and shared creative experiences.
The biennial’s intention is to foster connections and build community and camaraderie. The works include painting, drawing, sculpture, digital media, printmaking and graphic design. (more…)