New water color exhibit at Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery

Scotland. Water color by Bill Hamilton. (Image courtesy Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery)

MICHIGAMME -- A new art exhibit A new art exhibit, "Home and Abroad" -- new water colors  by Bill Hamilton, Brook Powell, and Peg Sandin -- is on display at Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery and continues through Oct. 24, 2014.

A reception will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. TOMORROW, Sunday, Sept. 14.

Bill Hamilton’s latest creations include vistas from his trips abroad, most recently Italy and Scotland. Anyone familiar with water colors will appreciate Hamilton’s skill and artistic vision.

"I try to pay attention to details in a scene," Hamilton says, "Hopefully my efforts go beyond being a picture to being an experience."

While his trips out of the country have expanded his artistic aspirations, Hamilton continues to enjoy portraying the natural beauty of the Upper Peninsula.

 "My favorite subject is nature," he explains, "and no other place has as many exciting possibilities as right here."

Water color artist Brook Powell’s newest work is taken directly from life. Painting in the open, Powell often chooses a site near the Big Lake and begins painting by actually dipping the paper into Lake Superior to set up a technique known as "wet-in-wet."

Moved by what he perceives, he will work quickly to place colors on the sheet, letting the pigments flow into and past each other. The result is a spontaneous depiction of dynamic sights.

"I get caught up in the excitement of painting," Powell says.

Peg Sandin is also a student of nature. She has become aware of the undulating waves, ever-changing seasons and the energy of growth. Her latest water colors reflect those patterns in a series of vibrant works. Based on direct observation and awareness, Sandin’s creations celebrate the infinite potential for variety in nature’s forms. Much of her work attempts to capture nature’s changing moods.

"After this harsh winter when temperatures were so cold, I noticed a definite change once it reached 30 degrees," Sandin says. "It seemed as if the trees were celebrating the approach of spring!"

Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery is at 136 East Main in Michigamme. Summer Gallery Hours: Monday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday by chance. For more information call 906-323-6546.

Community Arts Center to host Sept. 12 reception for "Isle Royale Artist in Residence" exhibit

Scoville Point Bay watercolor by Clyde Mikkola. (Image courtesy Copper Country Community Arts Center)

HANCOCK -- The new exhibition in the Copper Country Community Arts Center's Kerredge Gallery is "Isle Royale Artist in Residence: Selections from the Permanent Collection." For over 20 years artists from all over the country have applied for a residency that provides transport, lodging and precious time to create artwork inspired by the surrounding wilderness of Isle Royale.

The exhibition, on loan from the Park, includes work by 23 artists -- work that represents the many different ways of seeing and experiencing the unique qualities of the island.

A reception will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Friday, Sept. 12, at the Community Arts Center, 126 Quincy Street in Hancock. Refreshments will be provided.

Anywhere from 90 to 170 applications are received for a limited number of two - three-week residency slots in the short summer season. In return, artists are asked to donate one piece of art to Isle Royale National Park.

The following artists are included in the exhibit: Amy Arntsen, Cynthia Coté, Lee Dassler, Robert Dorlac, Phyllis Fredendall, Greg Green, Yeshe Helander, Gendron Jensen, Christine Kionka, Gary Kolb, Jeff Korte, Joyce Koskenmaki, Clyde Mikkola, John Miller, Bonnie Peterson, George Provost, Tom Rudd and Margo McCafferty, jd slack, Sharon Schafer, Richard Shilling, Dan Urbanski, and Mary Jo Vandell.

This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For more information call (906) 482-2333 or email ccarts@coppercountryarts.com.

Parade of Nations celebrates its 25th anniversary

With flags and signs representing many countries, Parade of Nations participants gather on Quincy Green in Hancock before lining up for the 2013 Parade. (Photos by Keweenaw Now) 

By Jennifer Donovan, Michigan Tech Director of News and Media Relations
Posted on Michigan Tech News
Reprinted in part with permission

HOUGHTON -- This week marks the 25th anniversary of the Parade of Nations, the popular parade and multicultural festival that has become a harbinger of fall in the Copper Country. The theme -- fittingly -- is Around the World in 25 Years: A Silver Jubilee.

The parade itself and the multicultural festival that follows it in the Dee Stadium are scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 13. But those colorful events -- and a dramatic Step Afrika performance that night at the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts -- are just the finale to a week of Parade of Nations Silver Jubilee celebration.

Michigan Tech's Pep Band opens the 2013 Parade of Nations in Hancock. (Videos by Keweenaw Now)

At 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, Parade of Nations founder Betty Chavis will present the history of the event at a free public program at the Portage Lake District Library. Several international students from Michigan Technological University will participate as well, talking about their countries, their cultures and their impressions of the Keweenaw.*

On Friday, Sept. 12, at Michigan Tech, Arun Gandhi -- the grandson of the legendary Mahatma Gandhi -- will discuss the lessons he has learned from his grandfather. The program begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Rozsa Center. It is free and open to the public.

Representing several countries, international students and community members cross the Portage Lift Bridge from Hancock to Houghton. Chinese students carry their traditional dragon.

The Parade of Nations from Hancock to the Dee Stadium in Houghton will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13. The queen of the 2014 Alpenfest in Gaylord, Lauren Bushong, will march in the parade, carrying the Swiss flag.

From noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 13, in Dee Stadium, Houghton the Multicultural Festival will feature nearly 30 international food booths, crafts booths and entertainment.

A large crowd fills Dee Stadium for the 2013 Parade of Nations Multicultural Festival.

International alumni of Michigan Tech have been invited to attend the first-ever international alumni homecoming. Finlandia University, Northern Michigan University and other regional institutions of higher learning have been asked to participate by inviting their international student community to attend as well.

Baraga and L’Anse Elementary Schools will each receive a $200 art grant for their students to make internationally themed posters.

Their posters will be displayed at the Dee Stadium during the Multicultural Festival on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The headline act, Step Afrika! -- a percussion dance troupe that involves the audience in their heart-pounding performance -- will perform at the Rozsa Center for the Performing arts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at Rozsa Center. Step Afrika! will give a free mini-performance at the Multicultural Festival Saturday afternoon at the Dee.

University and community organizations have been building floats for the Saturday morning parade. Prize money totaling $500 will be awarded for the winning floats.

For more information on Step Afrika, see http://www.stepafrika.org/

* Editor's Notes: Click here to read more about this presentation at Portage Library TONIGHT, Sept. 10.

Click here for the entertainment schedule.

Portage Library, FOLK to host National Geographic Adventurers of the Year Sept. 11

Dave and Amy Freeman launch their canoe in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. They set out from Ely, Minnesota, and will stop in Houghton Thursday, Sept. 11, on their way to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of potential pollution from sulfide mining. (Photo © and courtesy Nate Ptacek)

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library and the Friends of the Land of Keweenaw (FOLK) invite everyone to "Protecting Our Precious Waters," a presentation by National Geographic Adventurers of the Year Dave and Amy Freeman, at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 11, at the library.

Dave and Amy Freeman at their camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. (Photo © and courtesy Nate Ptacek)

The Freemans will tell stories from their three years of kayaking, canoeing and dogsledding 11,700 miles across North America. Their human-powered trek took them from the Pacific Northwest to Key West via the Arctic. From coming eye-to-eye with humpback whales and grizzly bears to hunkering down as Superstorm Sandy battered the New Jersey coast, the Freemans have an unforgettable story to share.

The Freemans live near our nation’s most popular protected wilderness: the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota. Both the Boundary Waters and Lake Superior are currently threatened by plans for sulfide mining -- copper and nickel mines. To protect these waters from pollution and to raise awareness about preserving these pristine areas, the Freemans are gathering signatures on a petition canoe they are paddling to Washington, D.C. Their trip coincides this month with the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which established the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

With this petition, the Freemans hope to motivate the federal government to enforce the Clean Water Act and the Wilderness Act.

The Freemans sail their sailboat, Yemaya, with their petition canoe on deck, across Lake Superior. (Photo © and courtesy Nate Ptacek)

"We are going up against multinational corporations who have big shot lawyers, massive PR budgets and billions of dollars," the Freemans write on their Web site. "All we have is a 40-year-old sailboat named Yemaya, a 16-foot canoe covered in signatures and the belief that sulfide mining will not happen in Northeastern Minnesota. Why? Because when Minnesotans and people across the United States and Canada find out about the true threats that sulfide mining poses to the Quetico Superior Watersheds, they won’t let it happen."

The Freemans' petition canoe, signed by many who support the goal of their journey. (Photo © and courtesy Nate Ptacek)

The Freemans are following Chief Buffalo’s example by paddling to Washington, D.C. On April 5, 1852, Chief Buffalo and five men set off from Madeline Island, Wisconsin, in a birch bark canoe on a ten-week journey to Washington D.C. Their journey halted attempts to remove the Lake Superior Chippewa from their land and set the stage for the 1854 Treaty.

On Monday, Sept. 8, the Freemans docked at Madeline Island. They'll soon be on their way to Houghton.*

After paddling 160 miles through the Boundary Waters, the Freemans put their canoe on a sailboat in Grand Marais, Minn., planning to sail across Lake Superior and upper Lake Huron and then canoe via streams and lakes to Ottawa and then to Washington, D.C.

This map shows the Freemans' approximate route for their Paddle to DC journey. Click here for more detailed maps showing the potential pollution from sulfide mining. (Map courtesy PaddletoDC.org.)

For more information about their trip, visit www.PaddletoDC.org. To learn about their online wilderness classroom, visit www.wildernessclassroom.com.

Everyone is welcome to attend this event, and all programs at the library are free. For more information please call the library at 482-4570 or visit www.pldl.org. For more information about FOLK and mining issues visit www.folkup.org.

* Click here for the Freemans' Sept. 9, 2014, post, "Sailing through the Apostle Islands."

Update: See also this Sept. 7 article in the Duluth News Tribune: "Taking their message to Washington -- by canoe."

Friends of Calumet Library to hold meeting Sept. 9 and host Kite Aerial Photography presentation Sept 10

CALUMET -- Friends of the Calumet Public Library will hold their monthly meeting and will host a presentation on Kite Aerial Photography this week. Both events are free and open to the public.

Friends of Calumet Library to hold meeting Sept. 9

Friends of the Calumet Public Library will hold their monthly meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9, in the library. The meeting is open to the public.

Are you looking for a way to become involved in your community? How about joining the Friends of the Calumet Public Library? There are many ways to lend a hand at the library: programming ideas, volunteer opportunities, the Red Jacket Readers book club, and more! Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 5:30 in the library. Mark your calendar! This is an open meeting, and new members and new ideas are welcome. Come find out what's ahead at the Calumet Public Library.

This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Calumet Public Library. For more information, visit the library or call 337-0311 ext. 1107.

Kite Aerial Photography: Bird’s Eye Views of the Keweenaw presentation Sept. 10

Aerial photographer Nathan "Invincible" Miller will present Kite Aerial Photography: Bird’s Eye Views of the Keweenaw from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, at the Calumet Public Library. The event is open to the public.

Join Miller as he explains his unique photographic techniques at this public presentation.  Nathan will share photos and stories from his flights around the Keweenaw as well as explain how his gear works. If the weather is nice and the breeze acceptable, he’ll head outside and demonstrate how it all works with a test flight around the school.

The presentation, sponsored by Friends of the Calumet Public Library, will be held in the CLK Commons (use the regular library entrance and follow signs to the Commons) and will be followed by a reception in the library.

For more information, visit the library or call 337-0311 ext. 1107. (In case of bad weather, when school is cancelled, all library programs are cancelled.)

Portage Library to host Parade of Nations presentations by Betty Chavis, international students Sept. 10

Betty Chavis, who founded the Parade of Nations, which celebrates it 25th anniversary this week, is pictured here directing parade participants in 2006. She will speak about the growth of the annual event during a special presentation at the Portage Lake District Library Wednesday, Sept. 10. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library invites the public to attend an evening of presentations on Wednesday, Sept. 10, in celebration of the Parade of Nations Silver Jubilee. This free event begins at 7 p.m. in the library's community room.

Betty Chavis, who founded the Parade of Nations in 1990, will share her personal recollections of the growth of the event. Joining her will be Michigan Tech international students who will talk about their home countries and cultures. D. M. Ashraf Habib from Bangladesh and Sara Alian from Iran will present a photo slide show, music from their homelands and items from their countries.

Carnegie Museum to host reception, presentation for Parade of Nations Silver Jubilee exhibit

Students and community members of many different countries cross the Portage Lift Bridge during the 2013 Parade of Nations. The annual event celebrates its 25th anniversary this week. The parade will be Saturday, Sept. 13. (Keweenaw Now file photo)

HOUGHTON -- The Carnegie Museum in Houghton will host an opening reception and presentation for their exhibit about the 25 years of the Parade of Nations from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9.

This year’s Parade of Nations -- "Around the World in 25 Years -- Silver Jubilee" -- marks the 25th anniversary of the international parade and accompanying multicultural festival. The Carnegie Museum has been working with the Parade of Nations committee to develop an exhibit about the history of this annual fall celebration.

Darnishia Slade, Michigan Tech interim director of International Programs and Services, will make a presentation at 6:15 p.m. downstairs in the Carnegie Museum. Refreshments will be served, and admission is free. The exhibit will be on display through the end of September 2014.

The Carnegie Museum is at the corner of Huron and Montezuma streets in Houghton. Regular hours are the following: through Sept. 27: Tuesday to Friday, Noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, Noon to 4 p.m. Beginning Sept. 30:  Tuesday and Thursday, Noon to 5 p.m., Saturday, Noon to 4 p.m. For more information call (906) 482-7140.

Portage Library to host local stamp collecting group Sept. 9

HOUGHTON -- The Portage Lake District Library will host local stamp collecting group the Portage Lake Philatelists from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 9. The group will hold regular meetings on the second Tuesday of each month from September through May and will meet at the west end of the library.

Meetings will focus on general topics of interest to stamp collectors and share the latest news of the world’s largest collecting organization.

The Portage Lake Philatelists invite beginner and experienced stamp collectors as well as those who are curious about stamp collecting to their meetings. The group is actively seeking people who are interested in learning the art of stamp collecting, and they are eager to share their knowledge about this hobby.

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