Selective Focus
Selective Focus: Emily Koch
Left: Photograph of Emily Koch. Right: “Self Portrait” 20×28. Oil on wood panel.
Emily Koch is a surrealist painter from Duluth. She studied fine art at the University of Wisconsin-Superior, graduating in 2020 and has worked as a freelance artist since then. She is drawn to all things queer, feminine and counterculture. (more…)
Selective Focus: Aaron Kloss
Aaron Kloss is a Duluth-based landscape painter with a distinctive, contemporary style. He draws inspiration from the natural world, particularly North Shore forests and wildlife. (more…)
Selective Focus: Presidents’ Day Blizzard of 2022
Somewhere in the range of 17 inches of snow fell on Duluth from Feb. 22 to 23, blowing into tall, fluffy snow dunes. Collected here are a few images from around the region, via Instagram. (more…)
Selective Focus: Winter Recreation and Icy Silliness
Sledding, paddling, lollygagging … drifting off on an ice chunk. Collected here are a few images from Instagram of simple winter pleasures. (more…)
Selective Focus: Seeking River Stories
The St. Louis River Alliance typically organizes an annual Winter Walk event in February, but the rise in COVID-19 cases led the organization to cancel it for the second year in a row. Instead, stories, photos and videos are being collected throughout the month to to be shared on the alliance’s social media accounts to encourage people to get outside and enjoy winter.
Featured in this post as examples are photos by the alliance’s development director, Alyssa Johnson. (more…)
Selective Focus: Beargrease 2022
https://www.instagram.com/p/CZXjjXHpZZS/
The 38th running of the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon is underway. Collected here are a few select photos via Instagram. The 300-mile race is expected to finish on Feb. 1 in the afternoon. (more…)
Seletive Focus: Sea Smoke
Lake Superior sea smoke is all the rage on Instagram. (more…)
Selective Focus: Snow Day 2021
A few select images from today’s blizzardry via Instagram. (more…)
Selective Focus: November Gales 2021
Whether it’s Ten November, Eleven November or Any-day November, it’s no surprise when the gales roll in, yet it’s always eye opening. Waves crashed along the shores of Lake Superior today causing flooding in downtown Grand Marais. Collected here are select photos from Instagram showing the raw power of the big lake they call gitche gumee. (more…)
Selective Focus: The Funeral March for Rotten Ideas
Max Skeleton led “The Funeral March for Rotten Ideas” down Superior Street last night. Four marionettes were in the parade, all created by local artist Mary Plaster, who founded Duluth’s All Souls Night event. The 17-foot tall Max Skeleton, created along with artist Chris Lutter of Minneapolis, is operated by hand-pushed gantry and five puppeteers on the ground. It is largest marionette in Minnesota. (more…)
Selective Focus: More Aurora
Instagram is aglow with northern lights photos from last night, thanks to a little solar storm activity. It was less than a month ago when Perfect Duluth Day previously featured auroras in “Selective Focus,” but the show last night brought out practically every sky photographer in the region. (more…)
Selective Focus: Mushrooms
Because, well, everything gets its day, Oct. 15 is National Mushroom Day. And, as naturalist Larry Weber noted a few weeks back, there’s been a “shroom boom” this year, so we’ve selected a few images of local fungal growths via Instagram to highlight here. (more…)
Selective Focus: Geomagnetic Glory
A geomagnetic storm brought vibrant auroras across Minnesota and beyond last night and early this morning. Collected here are images via Instagram of northern lights across the region. (more…)
Selective Focus: Fall Colors 2021
The Arrowhead region is awash with color once again. Track the progression of fall and peak color with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Fall Color Finder.
Featured here are select images from Instagram showcasing this year’s fall color display. (more…)
Selective Focus: Duluth Superior Pride 2021
Four days of Duluth Superior Pride events wrapped up yesterday. Collected here are select images from Instagram of the festivities. (more…)
Selective Focus: Andrew Remer’s Marbles, Glass Art & 3D Printing
Andrew Remer has been working with glass since 2016. After taking a class in Minneapolis, he began experimenting with the medium along with some friends. The group rented hourly studio time at Potekglass and later built a garage studio in Shakopee. Remer moved to Duluth in 2019 and began working at Lake Superior Art Glass. He branched out on his own into a full-time artistic career during the COVID-19 pandemic, completing commissions and attending several festivals to share his art. (more…)
Selective Focus: Fishnetstockings at Joseph Nease Gallery
Across the globe, one discovers mermaid tales clinging like barnacles onto historic seaports, sharing themes of the cross-cultural outsider, environmental imbalance, and gender inequality. During the summer of 2021, see Fishnetstockings projections at Joseph Nease Gallery in Duluth during open gallery hours.
A gallery talk, featuring a discussion with the artists and some images of what went on behind the scenes as the projections were created happens Thursday, July 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. (more…)
Selective Focus: Lupines
Numerous photos of lupines near Duluth and the North Shore have been shared recently on Instagram. The Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis) is native to the area, while others are considered invasive species. Their flowers can be pink, purple and white in color. Please enjoy the collection of photos we pulled of local lupine sightings. (more…)
Selective Focus: Kirsten Aune’s North Coast Fashion
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. (more…)
Selective Focus: A Year of Sunrises with Ron Benson
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. (more…)
Selective Focus: Diane Keinanen’s Glass Art
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. (more…)
Selective Focus: Shaun Chosa’s Wheat-paste Project at AICHO
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. (more…)
Selective Focus: Deep Cuts Hair Salon
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.” (more…)
Selective Focus: Carl Gawboy’s Life Well-Painted
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. (more…)
Selective Focus: Help Wanted
Perfect Duluth Day is looking for a new curator for its ongoing Selective Focus feature. Applications are being accepted through May 9.
Curator sounds artsier than coordinator, right? And it’s not really a writing thing, is it? Well, maybe it’s a bit of all three. (more…)