Hunter's Point guided hike and Copper Harbor Marina Open House to welcome visitors June 9

View of Hunter's Point from Copper Harbor. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

COPPER HARBOR -- Copper Harbor residents Dick Powers and Alex Protzel will lead a guided hike of Hunter’s Point from the trail head at the Copper Harbor Marina at 1 p.m. Saturday, June 9.  The relatively easy hike should last between one and one and a half hours. Refreshments will be available. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is holding a Statewide Marina Open House at the Marina between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday. Visitors are welcome to tour the Marina and check out the amenities offered.

"Hunter's Point is a prime location to observe natural history, birds, plants and animals, excellent geology structure, and whatever else these beveled edges are inclined to reveal to the visitor." -- Description by the late Jim Rooks, naturalist and eco-tour guide.

For more information Visit www.hunters-point.org or call Fort Wilkins State Park at 906-289-4215.

Summer Reading Program to begin at Portage Library June 9

At the 2011 Summer Reading Program opening day, Chris Alquist, right, Portage Lake District Library Community Program director, signs up two librarians -- Mies and Beth Martin, and their sons, for summer reading. Mies works at Michigan Tech's J. R. Van Pelt and Opie Library, and Beth is the librarian at Finlandia University's Maki Library. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

HOUGHTON -- Opening day activities and registration for the Portage Lake District Library Summer Reading Program begins from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, June 9. Kids are invited to make crafts and everyone can create their own ice cream sundae in the community room.

Portage Library visitors enjoy creating ice cream sundaes during the 2011 Summer Reading Program opening day event. This year the ice cream sundae tradition continues -- this Saturday, June 9, in the community room. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

The "Dream Big! Read!" Summer Reading Program will continue through Saturday, August 11, and people may register throughout the summer. Participants will receive a reading log, book bag, and sticker when they register and prizes as they progress through their reading lists. The Summer Reading Program is open to all ages, children through adults. Reading logs may include books, magazines, audio books, reading to young children, or being read to.

Library assistants and parents help kids make crafts during the Summer Reading Program event in June 2011. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

The Summer Reading Program series of events includes Storytimes with Maria Sliva every Wednesday from 11 a.m. - noon. The Houghton High School Key Club will also present Storytimes and a craft on days to be announced. Look for listings of additional programs and events in the library, the media, and at www.pldl.org.

Everyone is invited to join the fun and see where dreams will take them!

For more information, please call the library at 482-4570.

Friends of Portage Library to hold Book Sale June 8-9

HOUGHTON -- The Friends of the Portage Lake District Library invite everyone to their Book Sale on Friday, June 8, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Saturday, June 9, from 10 a.m. -  3 p.m. The sale will take place in the Michigan and Local History room. New and gently used books will be sold to raise money for library projects and materials that the Friends provide.

Adult and children’s hardcover books will sell for $2 and paperbacks for $1. A half price sale will begin on Saturday from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m.

Projects that the Friends of the Library have done include buying books and other materials, furniture, and the Children’s Listening Center. Information on how to become involved with the Friends will be available at the book sale.

For more information, please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org.

Finlandia Gallery hosts "Dale Wedig: Mentalsmith" June 7-July 20

Artist Dale Wedig, with student in his jewelry class. (Photo courtesy Finlandia University)

HANCOCK -- "Dale Wedig: Mentalsmith," is featured at the Finlandia University Gallery, located in the Finnish American Heritage Center, Hancock, from June 7 to July 20, 2012.

An opening reception for the artist will take place at the gallery from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. TONIGHT, Thursday, June 7. The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Controlled and complicated, whimsical and expressive, even sophisticated and naïve: these contradictory statements capture the essence of Dale Wedig’s artwork. Ranging in size from jewelry to architectural installations, his work incorporates metal processes from blacksmithing, welding, and casting to sheet-forming, fabrication, and foundry applications.

Whether it’s sculpture, furniture, hollow ware, or jewelry, Wedig’s art celebrates the melding of form and function. The inherent qualities of the metals he uses -- strength, luster, and density -- provide physical and visual testimonies, while his hands provide the object’s character.

Dale Wedig, Aluminum Table, Red Line, 2004, 36" x 42" x 24." Aluminum and Rubber. (Photo courtesy Finlandia University)

Art-making can be described as the physical and mental labor involved in creating an object from an idea, and the end result can be very satisfying.

For Wedig, however, it is the activity and struggle of the art-making process that is most inspiring.

"Life without labor is guilt," Wedig says. "I like to keep busy recording my lifetime by making tangible objects from the ideas that float through my head."

Wedig is a professor of art and design at Northern Michigan University, Marquette, and for 28 years has been head of the metalsmithing and sculpture departments there.

The Finlandia University Gallery is in the Finnish American Heritage Center, 435 Quincy Street, Hancock. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or by appointment.

For additional information, contact gallery director Carrie Flaspohler at 906-487-7500 or carrie.flaspohler@finlandia.edu. 

Empty Bowls soup event kicks off at Café Rosetta June 8

CALUMET -- Join the Calumet Art Center and BHK Great Explorations at the Café Rosetta for the initial Empty Bowls event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, June 8.

These bowls, donated to the Art Center by artists, were painted by children in the BHK Great Explorations program. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

For a $10 donation select a bowl made by local potters and enjoy a meal of soup and bread. 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to local organizations fighting hunger in our communities: CLK Food Pantry, St. Vincent DePaul (Hancock and L’Anse) and Community Action Food Pantry.

The Empty Bowls Project, an international effort to fight hunger, is a community based fundraiser designed to create awareness of food insecurity and to generate income for local food pantries.

Since April, groups and individuals -- including children accompanied by an adult -- have been coming to the Calumet Art Center to decorate the bowls. Beginning with this first event at Café Rosetta, restaurants and cafés will be invited to serve soup to customers who donate $10 for one of the decorated bowls. The café/restaurant will serve the soup in one of their own bowls and the customer will take home the decorated bowl.

See our April 30, 2012, article, "Empty Bowls Project to fight hunger kicks off at Calumet Art Center" and visit www.calumetartcenter.com for details on the project.

Café Rosetta is at 104 Fifth Street in Calumet, across from the Ed Gray Gallery.

Keweenaw Adventure Company begins downhill mountain bike shuttle service June 5

COPPER HARBOR -- Keweenaw Adventure Company will be commencing its weekly Tuesday evening downhill mountain bike shuttle service from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. TODAY, June 5, and will plan to continue through the last Tuesday in August.

Cost: $18.50 day pass; $165 season pass (also valid for Saturday and Sunday afternoon service through mid-October).

Celebrate at 11th Annual Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival June 9

Cynthia Coté, right, artist and executive director of the Copper Country Community Arts Center, and Phyllis Fredendall, Arts Center Board member, fiber artist and professor at Finlandia's International School of Art and Design, are pictured here at the 2011 Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival. This year the festival will again be held on the upper parking deck in downtown Houghton. (Photos by Keweenaw Now)

HOUGHTON -- Celebrate the arrival of spring with the Houghton Spring Art and Music Festival happening from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, on the upper parking deck in downtown Houghton. Hosted by the Copper Country Community Arts Center, the festival, , now in its 11th year, provides an opportunity to hear live local music, spend time downtown, and shop at regional artist booths.

Houghton artist Miriam Pickens displays her pottery for sale in her booth at the 2011 Art and Music Festival.

This year’s artist booths will feature stained glass, pottery, jewelry, fiber art, wearable art, photography, soaps, books, and many more quality art items for sale. A new addition to the festival will be demonstrating artists scheduled throughout the day.

Debbie Mues, artist and CLK Schools teacher of art, joins her husband, Mike Gage, wood carver, at his booth during the 2011 Art and Music Festival.

There will be a variety of fun and free family art activities along with the Frog Hop scavenger hunt at local businesses. This year features a Frog Hop for adults and a Jr. Frog Hop for youth ages 18 and under. Get your Frog Hop cards during the festival, visit each of the participating downtown businesses for a frog stamp, get your last stamp at the Copper Country Community Arts Center (CCCAC) booth and your card will be put in a prize drawing.

At the Community Arts Center booth during the 2011 festival, artist Kerri Corser holds plants she purchased from volunteer and Arts Center Board Member Christa Walck, left. The box for Frog Hop cards (lower left in photo) will again be at the Arts Center booth this year.

You may win prizes and gift certificates from these businesses supporting the festival and the Community Arts Center: Surplus Outlet, Wicker and Willow, Down Wind Sports, 5th and Elm, Swift's True Value Hardware, The Bike Shop, Good Times Music, Chickadees, Victoria's Kitchen, The Lunch Bag, and The Blue Iris.

The Arts Center will also have an information booth with the ever popular Extreme Bake Sale.

Artist Suzanne Hamilton volunteers at the Extreme Bake Sale, a favorite stop for visitors  during the 2011 Art and Music Festival.

The CCCAC will sponsor family art activities tents with demonstrations and activities throughout the day, including Fish Prints from noon to 2:30 p.m., Frog Masks and Paper Flowers from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Watercolor Painting from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Anita Campbell of Calumet, Isle Royale and Keweenaw Parks Association Board member, volunteers at the Association's book sale booth during the 2011 Art and Music Festival. She is holding a copy of Death's Door: The Truth Behind Michigan's Largest Mass Murder, by Steve Lehto.

Author Debbie Frontiera sells her books at her booth during the 2011 Art and Music Festival. Customer Allan Baker holds one of her books, Copper Country Chronicler: The Best of J.W. Nara.

Several musical groups will play for listening and dancing throughout the day. Here is the music line-up:
Noon -- Suzuki Students
12:45 p.m. -- Gratiot Lake Road
2 p.m. -- Uncle Pete's Allstar BBQ Blues Band
3:15 p.m. -- The Board
4:30 p.m. -- Thimbleberry Band
5:45 p.m. -- AJ Fischer and Scott Perkins

During the 2011 Art and Music Festival, dancers do a schottische to the music of the Pasi Cats. This year a number of bands will play music for all ages at the festival.

There is plenty of parking and the event is free and open to everyone.

The 2012 Spring Art and Music Festival is sponsored by the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock, the City of Houghton, Brockit Inc., with support from the Keweenaw Brewing Company, Minnesota Public Radio, 5th and Elm, Swift's True Value Hardware, and the Lunch Bag.

Since 1972 the Copper Country Community Arts Council has been dedicated to fostering an environment where the arts and people grow together. Visit the Community Arts Center at 126 Quincy Street, Hancock or, for more information, call the Copper Country Community Arts Center at 482-2333 or visit www.coppercountryarts.com and www.facebook.com/CCCAC.

Author Steve Lehto to speak on his books June 7 at Brownstone Hall

ATLANTIC MINE -- The Adams Township School District (ATSD) Foundation, Inc., and the Sarah Sargent Paine Historical Research Center (SSPRHC) will host an evening with author Steve Lehto from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 7, at the Brownstone Hall in Atlantic Mine, Mich. Admission is $10 (tax-deductible).*

Lehto will give a presentation on two of his books, Shortcut: The Seeberville Murders and Death’s Door: The Truth Behind Michigan’s Largest Mass Murder. A discussion period will follow the lecture. The evening will conclude with wine tasting, hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and coffee. You will also have an opportunity to socialize and browse books by Steve Lehto as well as material from the Sarah Sargent Paine Historical Research Center. Books may be autographed by Mr. Lehto.

Steve Lehto has written articles for magazines such as Michigan History, Huffington Post and the Houghton County Historical Society Lantern. His books also include Michigan’s Columbus: The Life of Douglass Houghton and Drawn to Injustice: The Wrongful Conviction of Timothy Masters, which will be released the week of Steve’s visit.

*The Sarah Sargent Paine Historical Research Center is an affiliate of ATSD Foundation, Inc. and thus, admission to this event qualifies for a 501(c)3 tax deduction. The Foundation Board is now concentrating on accumulating funds for other projects in addition to scholarships. These funds, under the direction of the Foundation Board are used to provide for teacher and student inspired programs as well as to assist in the preservation and enhancement of Adams Township school buildings.

New Art by Thomas Cappuccio opens at Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery June 6

MICHIGAMME -- Professor Emeritus Thomas Cappuccio will have a new show, "TIME and NATURE," at Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery. The exhibit will run from June 6 through July 7 with a Sunday Afternoon Reception from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. Refreshments will be served.

"Forms of Dimensions," by Thomas Cappuccio. (Photo courtesy Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery)

The exhibit will feature new paintings with a focus on Nature, Time, and Form. Cappuccio’s paintings continue his exploration of ideas from other disciplines such as philosophy and science.

He explains, "I am drawn to testing concepts like time and space beyond speculative academic authority and create my own sense of what they might mean artistically."

Expressed in his own dynamic forms, vibrant colors, and nuanced light, Cappuccio’s paintings nevertheless have no recipe for arriving at an outcome. Cappuccio’s work draws on ideas about the temporal nature of things that can only be experienced by an indirect route.

"I don’t find any clarity in the difference between abstraction and realism," says Cappuccio, "For me, a scene in nature is just a starting point for my investigation. It is the building of a process, the discovery of a process to convey an essence that is most exciting to me."

In his new cycle of work, the artist attempts to reconcile seeming opposites into a larger commonality. Cappuccio regards a mote of light, a wisp of shadow, and solid rock to hold equal implications in his artwork.

"Each painting is a little world in itself," he explains. "Some ideas are only discoverable when you are trying to create a form."

Cappuccio’s passion for emotional and psychological expression beyond the lexicons of math and science are not intended to challenge these areas of knowledge but to extend them by finding a deeper way to express their truths.

Call Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery at 906-323-6546 for more information. Gallery Hours:  Monday through Sunday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Tuesdays by appointment.

Updated: Stand for the Land: No U.P. license for Rio Tinto until they obey the laws

 Posted on Stand for the Land, June 2, 2012

MARQUETTE -- A series of letters recently published in the Marquette Mining Journal reflects ongoing and insistent objections to Rio Tinto’s activities in the Upper Peninsula, particularly with regard to the not-yet operational Eagle Mine Project.

Click here for excerpts from these letters and links to them on Stand for the Land.

Update: Click here to read the June 3, 2012, Guest Op-Ed by Gene Champagne of Big Bay in the Mining Journal: "Science, public relations are two different things."