The Duluth Superior Film Festival is taking a call for entry for all forms of film presentation. No specific parameters. All submissions will be considered. Shorts, features, docs, narratives, animation, experimental. Festival dates are May 31 to June 4.
To be considered, send password-protected Vimeo links to [email protected] and/or [email protected].
The awesome poster was created by Duluth artist Jonathan Thunder.
I’ll be talking about art on Saturday at Zinema 2 in an event sponsored by the Duluth Art Institute, for the showing of American Splendor. Here is other writing of mine on art; if you like it, I hope to be this elegant Saturday.
A Woman Bathing in a Stream by Rembrandt
When I was 22, I took the bus to New York and visited the Rembrandt/Not-Rembrandt exhibit.
I learned that conservators struggle with Rembrandt’s work, because he added ground chalk and bits of glass to the paint to add texture and to speed drying. These practices make the paintings hard to preserve hundreds of years later.
… fragments of chalk and glass in an oil painting, causing the paint to crack over time.
Those fragments have become integral to identifying a Rembrandt — a painting without them starts from the presumption of forgery. The bits of glass have become a sign of authenticity.
It is impossible to admire a Rembrandt without admiring the cracks and breaks caused by the ground and broken things.
… so it is with falling in love.
This past week, I went to see Gao Hong, Sarah Deer and Ed Downs give public talks, each a kind of rethinking for me.
As we do each year, PDD is putting out the call for some super skinny horizontal images to put in the banner at the top of the page during Homegrown.All the regular guidelines apply.
If you have your sights set beyond the PDD banner, the Homegrown committee and the Duluth Art Institute are currently accepting submissions for the show that will hang at the Red Herring.
The 2017 Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide is off the presses. All three tons of the processed wood fibre will be distributed to various shops across the Twin Ports beginning this weekend. This year’s cover art is by Sarah Brokke, who was also the featured artist in yesterday’s “Selective Focus” on PDD. The photo above, shot by Kip Paslowicz, shows Homegrown Assistant Director Adam Guggemos standing atop a portion of the 20,000 copies of the 100-page promotional magazine.
This year’s Homegrown happens April 30 to May 6, with 196 bands performing over the course of the eight days.
Duluth’s 10,000+ sq. ft. cooperative member workshop is in full swing this month. Duluth MakerSpace offers a different class or event every night in February — everything from welding to electronics to soap making. Wednesday nights are also free demo nights with a different demonstration each week.
Paid membership is not necessary to take classes or attend demo nights.
Last night, I went to the TED at the Teatro. This regular event (on the third Wednesday of every month) has both a Facebook Page and a Youtube Channel. It’s the second time I attended, and it’s an event I’d like to return to, even if it had some complexities.
The event is structured with a chatty welcome, last night including an uncomfortable handshake (getting us to meet the people around us, like the handshake in a church). There is a Raymond Carver essay in which Carver reflects on something Tobias Wolff told him when Carver invited Wolff to an event, to meet some people. “I don’t want any new friends. I can’t do right by the ones I have now,” or something more or less like that. If, unlike me, you are into meeting strangers, sure, this was fun.
There was music from Medical Underground. Others, more into local pop/rock music, might chime in on their quality. I found them pleasant. One of the refrains of one of their songs appeared to be something like “We will be okay,” which maybe is reassuring.
The Standing Strong for Our Precious Water Art Exhibit and Concert Benefit for Standing Rock took place this past Friday at AICHO Galleries and was an amazing success. 400+ people showed up, raising a preliminary estimate of above $7,000 for Standing Rock water protectors and Honor the Earth (and that number continues to rise as more artwork is purchased over the course of the next month). The evening featured artwork by roughly 100 different visual artists, with musical performances by Annie Humphrey, Keith Secola, Jamie Labrador, #theindianheadband, Oshkii Giizhik Singers, Jake Vainio, and Richie Townsend.
I’m unofficially writing to ask for stories to share for the “Hands Up: Police/Community Relations in Duluth” on Election night, Tuesday, Nov. 8.
This event is a forum for conversation about police and community interactions in the city of Duluth. Duluth Mayor Emily Larson, Duluth Police Chief Mike Tusken, Jeremy Nevilles-Sorrell (Mending the Sacred Hoop), and Civil Rights Activist Kym Young will kick off the event with brief statements. We invite UMD students, faculty and staff to share their experiences about police encounters with our guests. Our goal is to generate action steps to keep police/community relations healthy and proactive.
With the 2016 Color Run just two weeks away we take a glimpse at last year’s run through the eyes of James Gottfried.
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
Celebrate Labor Day at the AFL-CIO Labor Day Picnic, artists are invited to take advantage of open studio time at the Depot, St. Luke’s opens an art show with items by cancer survivors, adventurer Lonnie DuPre gives a presentation on what he’s learned during his various trips, the grounds of Glensheen Mansion become a classroom where folks can use fresh vegetables from their garden during lessons, Green Day’s rock opera is staged at The Underground and Twin Cities band Rogue Valley performs at Sacred Heart Music Center.
Hip-hop crew Doomtree performs during the End of the Summer Block Party outside Dubh Linn, the biggest slip-and-slide to ever hit Duluth asphalt gets unrolled, the 2016 Lake Superior Harvest Festival takes place on Saturday, the monthly Nice Girls of the North arts and crafts show happens at Lakeside Lester Park Community Center, kitties and bunnies are looking for homes, the Harbor City Roller Dames are back in action and Rachael Kilgour releases her latest LP.
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
August is ending, and many ongoing summer events are winding down. The Hermantown and Downtown farmers’ markets are closing up shop in the upcoming weeks, the last Doggy Happy Hour at the Fitger’s Brewery complex happens on Tuesday, the Shark-Watching Society meets for the final time in 2016 and Teague Alexy performs during the last installment of the Chester Creek Concert Series.
Also: Woodland is ground zero for BBQ on Tuesday, Mayor Emily Larson and City Councilor Elissa Hansen invite the public to City Hall in the City, the 2016 Pride Celebration kicks off with the mayor’s reception and includes the Bayfront Pride Festival, the dark history of American assassins is explored in musical form, the classic football rivalry between East and Denfeld continues at Public Schools Stadium on Friday and a gaggle of musicians play the Super Big Block Party.
Here’s a bit of what you’ll find in this week’s PDD Calendar:
The Miller Auction Service holds its weekly auction on Monday, people can play mini-golf in Superior to benefit the Old Firehouse and Police Museum, the Head of the Lakes Fair runs from Tuesday through Sunday, the public can attend an open house on the Superior Street reconstruction project, the Lake Superior Zoo is showing its Wild Side and Ladies’ Night Karaoke is going down at R.T. Quinlan’s on Wednesday.
The Silk Shieks bring the instrumental thunder to the Red Herring, little tykes can join up with the River Rovers Nature Playgroup, Sour Fest 2016 is the place for people who like their beers to make them pucker up, Jack Sparrow stars in the final Movies in the Park of the year, the Lake Superior Dragon Boat Festival is back, there’s a block party going down on Jefferson Street, the fifth Superior Man Triathlon will host over 400 athletes and the 125th anniversary of Minnesota’s state parks and trails is celebrated.
Duluth’s Tall Ships Festival runs Aug. 18-21. The video above and photos below are from Liftoff Aerials (a/k/a the “PDD Drone”). The music is “Ocean Blue” by Duluth band Glen’s Neighbor from the album Behind the Door.
