Duluth MN Art News and Information from Perfect Duluth Day

Selective Focus: Kirsten Aune’s North Coast Fashion

Jul 03, 2021 No Comments

Kirsten Aune Textiles outfit

Kirsten Aune has lived in Duluth for a number of years, working in textile and garment design. She has a fashion show upcoming in her new showroom, Kirsten Aune Textiles, at 12 N. 21st Ave. W., in the heart of our blessedly reviving Lincoln Park Craft District. It goes down July 17, with two showings, one at 4 p.m. and one at 5 p.m. Most of the fashions being shown will be for sale or can be custom ordered. Mary Mathews, a master sewer, will be modeling her own creations out of Aune’s fabric. The showroom is stocked with household items as well as clothing, and Aune notes that you can order custom printed fabric by the yard there as well.

Art Kirsten Aune, Selective Focus

The Slice: Cynthia Faith’s Animal Eyes

Jun 30, 2021 No Comments

Duluth painter Cynthia Faith combines art and social justice to present messages of peace, kindness and love.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Art The Slice, WDSE-TV - PBS North

Selective Focus: A Year of Sunrises with Ron Benson

Jun 23, 2021 No Comments

Stoney Point, March 6, 2021

Ron Benson, a Duluth glass and ceramic artist, began posting daily photos of sunrises over Lake Superior to Facebook during the first winter of the pandemic. I hadn’t known him as a photographer, so I was surprised. He posted these images almost every day, and they were amazing. I knew, and eventually thousands of people knew, that he’d be out perched on rocks as ice water slammed or sloshed, aiming a camera at the sunrise, every day. It was impressive.

Art, Photos Ron Benson, Selective Focus

The Slice: Sean Connaughty’s Art at Sugarloaf Cove

Jun 21, 2021 No Comments

Artist Sean Connaughty seeks to repay nature for what human’s gain from it. The installation at Sugarloaf Cove Nature Center, about 65 miles northeast of Duluth, is sponsored by the Grand Marais Art Colony and will remain on display as long as nature allows.

In its series The Slice, WDSE-TV presents short “slices of life” that capture the events and experiences that bring people together and speak to what it means to live up north.

Art, Videos Sean Connaughty, The Slice, WDSE-TV - PBS North

Great Lakes Aquarium art on Superstore

Jun 14, 2021 1 Comment

It was nearly impossible to notice, but there was a glimpse of Duluth in the series finale of the NBC sitcom Superstore. The episode, titled “All Sales Final,” aired March 25. It concludes with a scene of the character Amy Sosa putting her children to bed. For just a few seconds, a piece of Great Lakes Aquarium art by Daymark Designs, a Duluth-based graphic arts company, is shown in the background.

Selective Focus: Diane Keinanen’s Glass Art

Jun 11, 2021 No Comments

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A post shared by Diane Keinanen (@diane_keinanen)

Diane Keinanen started creating glass window hangings 20 years ago after attending a community education class on stained glass. The medium then became a “lasting love” for her. In addition to glass art, Keinanen explores woodworking and has worked as a registered nurse for 28 years. Over the course of the pandemic, Keinanen has created live streams while creating her stained glass art. These live streams have included stories about her life and her experience as a transgender woman. More pictures of her work can be found on her Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Selective Focus: Shaun Chosa’s Wheat-paste Project at AICHO

Jun 06, 2021 No Comments

Shaun Chosa created a group of images to be wheat pasted on the wall at AICHO — seen here with some of the folks who helped make it happen.

The American Indian Community Housing Organization, which has become a force for enabling Native voices in Duluth and bringing radiance to the city, worked with In Progress, a multi-media arts organization in St. Paul, to create this installation of Shaun Chosa’s strong images on the walls of AICHO’s headquarters, 202 W. Second St.

On Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can be Heard with Moira Villiard

Jun 03, 2021 No Comments

Duluth artist Moira Villiard is interviewed in the Spring 2021 issue of Open Rivers, an online journal “that recognizes rivers in general, and the Mississippi River in particular, as space for timely and critical conversations about the intersections between biophysical systems and human systems.”

The topic of the interview is Villiard’s animated video collage, Madweyaashkaa: Waves Can Be Heard, which was projected in February on walls at the closed Upper St. Anthony Lock and Dam in Minneapolis. The article can be read in the PDF version of the journal, beginning on page 50, or on a web page.

Art Moira Villiard

Blindfold

May 24, 2021 No Comments

From surviving cancer to inspiring others with his beautiful origami creations, Duluth’s Todd Olson has shaped more than just the paper at his fingertips.

Art, Videos Origami

Selective Focus: Deep Cuts Hair Salon

May 22, 2021 No Comments

Deep Cuts hair salon opened in August 2020. Bee Golding started the salon after five years of working with hair because they “love meeting and connecting with new people.” They work together with their partner Jes Golding, who helped Bee with the mission and aesthetic of the shop. “In fact, I almost quit cutting hair, but Jes encouraged me to create our own environment instead. Barbershops are traditionally very stereotypically masculine places that don’t always feel the most welcoming to LGBTQIA2S+ folks and I wanted to change that.”

Selective Focus: Carl Gawboy’s Life Well-Painted

May 20, 2021 No Comments

A Life Well Painted

This text, taken from the curriculum written by Wendy Savage, serves to introduce Carl Gawboy — a foundational artist in this region.

At Tweed Museum of Art this winter of 2021, Carl Gawboy’s stellar paintings were featured in the exhibition “A Life Well Painted: The Art of Carl Gawboy.” It featured 36 narrative paintings. Carl Gawboy is a highly respected Ojibwe and Finnish artist; he paints the beauty of everyday life of his Ojibwe people. He is an Elder and enrolled member of the Bois Fort Band of Chippewa in Northern Minnesota. Carl has been creating art since he was a child at his Finnish mother’s kitchen table. Carl’s father was a trapper, and his mother was a teacher and farmer. Carl went on to college and studied art and history, and researched the fur trade era.

Art Carl Gawboy, Selective Focus

Art outside Wussow’s Concert Cafe and Zenith Bookstore

May 09, 2021 No Comments

I parked to watch the new media installation by Daniel Benoit and Tom Moriarty. Below is the description from Facebook:

This installation is a pilot project initiated by the Duluth Public Arts Commission, with plans on the horizon for more rad art like this to be shown around Duluth 🌟

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Art Daniel Benoit, Homegrown Music Festival, Tom Moriarty