"Cottage Food Law and Beyond" workshop to be Nov. 30 in Calumet

CALUMET -- The Main Street Calumet Market and Michigan State University Product Center will host a free public workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, for people interested in starting a home-based food business.

The workshop, "Cottage Food Law and Beyond," will cover specifics of the state's Cottage Food Law enacted in 2010, food safety and marketing and business-management issues. It is designed to help people understand the law as well as show entrepreneurs how to find opportunities to test market food and broaden their customer base.

The workshop will be held at 6 p.m. downtown at the Village of Calumet Council Chambers, 340 Sixth Street, Calumet.

For additional information or questions please contact the Main Street Calumet Market at 906-337-6246 or ereese@mainstreetcalumet.com.

Home for Holidays Gift Market to feature Guatemalan handicrafts, calendars Nov. 26

HOUGHTON -- Copper Country Guatemala Accompaniment Project (CCGAP) members will be selling Guatemalan handicrafts at the Home for the Holidays Gift Market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 26, at the Rozsa Center. These will include jewelry and textiles, bags and scarves, even some gently worn clothes for which you can bargain.

"We'll also have the ARTE MAYA calendars for 2012," says Sue Ellen Kingsley, CCGAP executive director. "Those of you who have had these calendars in the past know how brilliant and beautiful the paintings are; many of us save the calendars from year to year because they're too lovely to throw away."

When you buy a calendar you are supporting not only CCGAP, but also NISGUA (the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala) and the artists and their families in Guatemala. Prices are $20 each for one or two calendars, $18 each for three or four calendars, and $15 each for five calendars or more. Student rate is $15. You can also buy the calendars online at nisgua.org.

See you at the Rozsa!

Archival note cards on sale at Calumet Art Center

CALUMET -- Archival Note Cards are now on sale at the Calumet Art Center. The cards are made exclusively for the Calumet Art Center by Mark Gregg (all rights reserved).

Archival note cards such as these, by Mark Gregg, are now on sale at the Calumet Art Center. (Image courtesy Calumet Art Center)

Some of the cards are available now and more will be on sale by Dec. 1. They sell for $5 each and are sold only at the Calumet Art Center, open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday - Friday. Call 906-281-3494 for more info and orders to be sent.

The Calumet Art Center is located at 57055 Fifth Street in Calumet.

Artists Jerry Hammes, Clyde Mikkola exhibit work in Calumet

A and P by Calumet artist Jerry Hammes. Click on photos for larger versions. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Associated Artists)

CALUMET -- Two artists from the Copper Country Associated Artists (CCAA) Gallery are Featured Artists through November in Calumet. The sketches of Clyde Mikkola are on display at the Café Rosetta, and the paintings of Jerry Hammes are featured at the CCAA Gallery. Both artists grew up in the Calumet area, and their fondness for the Copper Country shines through their work.

Quincy Shaft by Jerry Hammes. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Associated Artists)

Jerry was always interested in art; and he was often found copying cartoons from comic books as a young boy, eventually drawing his own cartoons. After retirement, he started working with acrylics on canvas as well as on saw blades, painting scenes from his childhood in the Copper Country. He does careful sketches before he paints, working mostly from memory but also from researching old photographs. His style can be described as "folk art." The subjects vary from "Grandma’s Kitchen" to trains, mines and famous buildings. His work has been so prolific that as a collection it tells the story of Calumet during the middle part of the twentieth century.

Jerry Hammes was the Featured Artist at the Eagle Harbor Fair in 2009. CCAA members are honored to have this consistently thoughtful, caring and humble artist as a fellow member and particularly pleased to have a special display of his work at the CCAA gallery this winter, from November until May. The Gallery will be open until Christmas, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. After Christmas they return to the regular schedule of being open from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on First Fridays.

Clyde Mikkola was born in Highland Park, Mich., and moved up to Calumet when he was 7 years old. He graduated from Calumet High School and worked at the Osceola Mine for three months before joining the Navy and later studying at Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. After returning to the Copper Country, Clyde became involved in many community art activities.

Drawings by Clyde Mikkola. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Associated Artists)

He is currently CCAA vice-president but also has worked extensively at Keweenaw Krayons in Mohawk, has taught classes at the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock and at the CCAA in Calumet, and has worked extensively at the Omphale. Like Jerry Hammes, Clyde is also a bit of a "time traveler." He enjoys occasionally stepping back into the world of the "Limners" -- itinerant artists of the mid 18th century -- and much of his artwork reflects the unspoiled beauty of that time. He has shared this interest with many area schools, bringing educational programs to history classes. Clyde did a Lewis and Clark Residency as well as Artist in Residency programs at Isle Royale, the Hiawatha National Forest, and the Porcupine Wilderness State Park.

Artist Clyde Mikkola, left, chats with another Calumet artist, Tom Rudd, during Mikkola's exhibit of acrylic and watercolor paintings, pencil and pen and ink drawings and stone carvings at the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock in August 2010. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

Clyde’s most common subjects are scenery, but he does portraiture as well. He is well known for his breathtaking watercolors, expansive acrylics and meticulous pencil drawings. These drawings are on display at the new Café Rosetta on Fifth Street in Calumet, just two doors down from the CCAA Gallery. The display continues through the month of November.

Gromit the Trail Dog posts new photos, trail reports

Gromit the Trail Dog pursues Sandy Aronson in the fresh, deep snow at Twin Lakes State Forest on Sunday, Nov. 20. (Photos courtesy Arlyn and Sandy Aronson and Gromit, from Gromit's blog: The Trail Mutt Reports. Reprinted with permission.)

HANCOCK -- Gromit the Trail Dog has posted some new photos from October and November 2011 on her blog, The Trail Mutt Reports. She includes photos of her great romp in the deep snow at Twin Lakes State Forest on Nov. 20 as well as reports of trail work at Maasto Hiihto in Hancock -- helping Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club (KNSC) volunteers get the trails ready for the coming season of cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

Here are some excerpts from Gromit's report:

Gromit posted this photo on Nov. 5. Trail crew members include, from left, Sandy Aronson, Mark Roberts and Saurav Pathak.

On Nov. 5, Gromit writes, "Today with the irreplaceable help of Saurav Pathak and Mark Roberts, the pack and I cleared the remaining weeds in the Swedetown gorge, plus we cut many limbs and branches that had fallen onto the trail. I myself moved many sticks and saw some very, very friendly people down there. Who'd not want to be in the gorge with gorgeous weather like this!!

"Before we started today, we found the area around the storage building at Tomasi Trailhead to have been "magically" cleaned of debris...many thanks to the magician who made this happen. You may know him: his name is David Bach."

Maasto Hiihto groomer Arlyn Aronson, left, and Jonathon Rulseh with a 12-ft. drag post they planted at the Tomasi Trail Head.

"On Friday this motley crew was at the Tomasi trail head and planted a 12-ft. post there to hold the drag up and off the trail when it's not in use. Please thank Jonathon Rulseh when you see him for his gracious help," says Gromit in her Nov. 12 posting.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, at the Hancock Chalet, skiers learn about applying pine tar to wood skis.

Gromit reports: "With the ski season upon us, Keweenaw Nordic had a Pine Tar clinic for anyone who cared to learn about that process. Since I love all skiers, I was glad to see this class offered. They seemed enthusiastic just like me!"

See more photos and read more of Gromit's comments on her blog: The Trail Mutt Reports.

To learn more about the Keweenaw Nordic Ski Club and Maasto Hiihto Trails, visit their new Web site.