Radio Gallery

Niiyo-wiij-anishinaabeg or four friends, a new show in The Depot Great Hall, has opened and is up through July 24.  Minnesota artists George Morrison, Joe Geshick and Carl Gawboy each took different artistic paths with their work but their journeys as leading Ojibwe artists in the 20th century brought them together. They welcome you on this journey with them, as the fourth friend.

This weekend is the Free Range Film Festival held each year at the Food Farm's Wrenshall Barn.  Films will be shown Friday night starting at 7 p.m. and Saturday beginning at 2 p.m.

As always the festival is comprised of independent shorts and some not so short films by regional and national filmmakers. This year's schedule has 25 films ranging from 2  to 95 minutes.

Last year, Duluth artist Natalija Walbridge was the award winner for fiber arts at the Park Point Art Fair and this year she returns with her original textile works from her creative endeavor, Dock 5.  She has become known for her lift bridge design messenger bag but her canvas bags also carry a variety of art and graphic designs from vintage maps to works inspired by the natrural world. 

Prøve Gallery celebrates the new collective show "Chromascope" on Friday June 15, with works of over ten local and regional artists creating a visual panorama. 

There is still time to see Chance, an art experience created by local composer and media artist Kathy McTavish. Chance is a thought-provoking, experiential installation at the UMD Tweed Museum's Sax Brothers' Gallery, up through the summer. It is a self creating, coded, digital and audio installation, ever-changing through the hours of the day and the seasons of the year. To get the full affect of the work, you want to visit multiple times as no two days of the exhibit are the same.

"Time for Ihan," directed by Norah Shapiro comes to Duluth at 3p.m. on Saturday, at Zinema 2. This Minnesota-made documentary film captures the journey to elected office for Ilhan Omar, the first Somali American elected to state office in the United States. Director Shapiro will be in attendance for a post showing Q&A and joins us here on Radio Gallery.

The Duluth Superior Film Festival celebrates opening night with the Northland premier of the locally-filmed heart-warming story "Virginia Minnesota" on Wednesday, May 30 at Clyde Iron Works.

There are different viewpoints on what constitutes a long song.  When it comes to writing, Bob Dylan has spun some long yarns like the 11 verse "Hurricane" or 10 verses of Desolation Row.  Never have they seemed so long as when written out, by hand, stenciled in 2 inch type.  "Some of his longer songs are 27 feet long" says installation artist Skye.

This week painter Tara Austin opens her new body of work "Boreal Ornament" in the George Morrison Gallery at the Duluth Art Institute.  Along with Jonathan Herrera, Austin welcomes the public the opening on Thursday, May 10, with a reception and gallery talk from 6 - 9pm.

An MFA graduate from UW Madison, Minnesota native Austin brings the northland and Nordic traditions of rosemåling into her vibrant flora, patterned paintings.  Listen for more about her process and inspirations and check her work on display at The Duluth Art Institute May 10-July 1.

The Duluth Homegrown Music Festival brings out photographers in droves and at every show this week you'll see music fans pulling out their phones in dark barroom lighting to snap a pic of the band of the hour.  It's such a tradition there is an annual photo show and a field guide full of these captured moments. 

Plus there is a lot of filming going on; enter Manny Villanueva.  A photographer, videographer and former news cameraman; Villanueva has been working on a 20th Anniversary Homegrown documentary with live footage, photos and interviews with the key players. 

This Friday April 27, the 20th Anniversary Homegrown Anniversary Illustration Show opens at Prøve Gallery with a reception 7 - 10 pm.  This is an exciting addition to Ancillary Arts Night that has been a part of the usual Homegrown schedule.  Local artists were invited to create fantastic illustrations of Homegrown luminaries, who have helped create the success and longevity of the Duluth Homegrown Music Festival.

Two artists in the show join us on Radio gallery this week: UMD Professor David Short and art student Joanna Harms.

This weekend is the Annual UMD Student Exhibition, Reception & Award Ceremony in the Tweed Museum of Art.  Students in the University of Minnesota Art & Design Department are celebrating the Art for Earth Day Gallery Hop along with other Duluth Art venues with open studios and this student art exhibit.

The 25th Annual Duluth Empty Bowl happens Tuesday, April 17 at The Historic Depot in downtown Duluth beginning at 10 a.m. This annual fundraiser supports Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank in providing food for the hungry in Northeastern Minnesota and Northwestern Wisconsin.  Nearly 46.5 million people in America face hunger. The idea behind Empty Bowl is that it reminds us of all the empty bowls in our country.

The new Bent Paddle Taproom, prominently featuring local artists and artisans, is celebrating their grand opening on Thursday, April 12, 2018 from 5-7 p.m.  Bent Paddle Brewing Co. will be serving up their Duluth-made beer in the new expansive space located in the old Enger & Olson Furniture building at 1832 W. Michigan St., spitting distance from the brewery and old taproom.