Keweenaw Now: 7/30/17

"Bullwinkle Trail" is one of several posters featured at Cross Country Sports' poster art show during the month of August. (Photo courtesy Cross Country Sports)

CALUMET -- Enjoy the First Friday Art Walk TONIGHT, Aug. 4, for opening art receptions, music, art demonstrations and sales and more ...

Cross Country Sports: "Art Bike"

For the month of August, Cross Country Sports will host "ArtBike," a poster art show portraying the trails of Copper Harbor by a group of artists collaborating to raise money for trail building. Each artist chose a trail and created a unique artistic depiction. The participants were given a 2-month time line to complete their poster. Each artist donated time, talent, and an original submission for the cause. Forty copies of each poster were then hand printed with archival paper and inks and then numbered and signed by the artist. Posters are $25 and every poster purchased directly funds building trails in Copper Harbor.

"Mango" by Chris Schmidt. (Photo courtesy Cross Country Sports)

The public is invited to a reception from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on First Friday, Aug. 4. While you are here check out the Summer Bike Sale! For more information call 337-4520, or follow Cross Country Sports on Facebook.

Paige Wiard Gallery: Artists Ladislav and Jana Hanka

"Bee and Bee Eater," by Ladislav Hanka. (Photo courtesy Paige Wiard Gallery)

The Paige Wiard Gallery is happy to welcome Ladislav and Jana Hanka as featured artists for the month of August. Both Ladislav and Jana bring a unique vision of the beauty of the natural world.

"Empty-Eyed Horsehead," sculpture by Jana Hanka. (Photo courtesy Paige Wiard Gallery)

Jana creates sculptures that show her fondness for creating rough and unpredictably earthy effects of ash deposits and microclimates by using a traditional Anagama Japanese wood firing technique and raku. Her finished sculptures show off her rough, yet elegant love for both her sculptures and subject. Ladislav uses his etchings of trees, landscapes, fish and birds, to reflect his own connection to nature. In recent years, he has incorporated his love and fascination with bees to create amazing works of art that are a combination of his etchings and the bee’s hive building.

An opening reception for the artists will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 4. At about 7 p.m. Jana will also be performing an interpretive dance, "7 Days," that she wrote and choreographed. Also help celebrate the Paige Wiard Gallery's 5-year anniversary! For more information contact paigewiardgallery@gmail.com or call 906-337-5970.

Café Rosetta: Jill Isaacson's paintings

Café Rosetta will be doing an extension of Jill Isaacson's paintings for August. Open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on First Friday.

Supernova Yoga, Gallery and Gifts: "Freshwater and Nature's Bounty"

Artist and Yoga instructor Regina Alleman, left, and photographer Natalie Pruett are pictured here during the July First Friday event at Supernova Yoga, Gallery and Gifts. Both art by Regina and photos by Natalie will be exhibited this month as well. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

Supernova Yoga, Gallery and Gifts invites you to the opening reception for their August exhibit, "Fresh Water and Nature’s Bounty," on Friday, Aug. 4. Enjoy music and refreshments. The August exhibit features new two-dimensional work. The exhibit’s centerpiece is a magisterial work in oil on canvas titled, "The Lake," by Jim Dee, a Chicago native who resides in the Keweenaw. The exhibit also includes new photographs of the Keweenaw in bloom by Natalie Pruett, a photographer from Flint, Michigan. Regina Alleman contributes new photomontage, a unique multi-media technique, which captures summer blossoms and nature’s enduring bounty.

Calumet Art Center: Art by Gray Dawg

Visit the Calumet Art Center from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on First Friday, Aug. 4, as they feature the art works in encaustics by Gray Dawg - Graydon Dagen.

Art by Gray Dawg - Graydon Dagen. (Photo courtesy Calumet Art Center)

"My work is inspired by such things as walking outdoors and observing nature in all its splendid diversity," Dagen says. "Live flowers, because of their ephemeral nature and exotic beauty are especially fun and gardening conjures up ideas that are the basis for still lifes and background material. The following unattributed quotation sums up the role of nature and gardening in my work: 'When the world wearies and society ceases to satisfy, there is always the garden.'"

Click here for more details.

Galerie Bohème: "New Work From Margo McCafferty"

New art by Margo McCafferty. (Photo courtesy Galerie Bohème)

Galerie Bohème, 423 5th Street, will be showing "New Work From Margo McCafferty" with a series of Egg tempera paintings, and Casein and Prismacolor paintings. The public is invited to an opening reception from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on First Friday, Aug. 4.

With this series of paintings Margo is solidifying her fascination with colors and juxtaposition of shapes and shadows in urban architecture. They are delicious. The show will run from Aug. 4 through Aug. 29. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. For more info call 906-369-4087.

Hahn Hammered Copper: "Objet Trouvé All Over Again"

Shelly Hahn welcomes visitors to Hahn Hammered Copper on First Friday. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

Check out "Objet Trouvé All Over Again" at Hahn Hammered Copper this First Friday, Aug. 4! Objet Trouvé means "Found Object," and the Hahns have lots of them! Artifacts, brass bells, vintage copper tableware, Victorian hardware, fine old photographs, Strange Mystery Objects, Omars just in from Huron Bay, copper specimens, galvanized letters, slate tiles, blackboards, copper flashing from an old mansion in Laurium, and groovy art made from all of the above. Stop in at Hahn Hammered Copper this First Friday in August and enjoy beautiful, Historic Downtown Calumet!

Copper Country Associated Artists Gallery: Demonstration on Acrylic Pour Painting

From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on First Friday, Aug. 4, CCAA Gallery member Pamela Hecht will be demonstrating and sharing with those attending the complete process to acrylic pour painting from the equipment, paint mixing, techniques, recipes and how to create cells in this acrylic pour process and how to finish and protect your paintings.

This event is ONLY a DEMONSTRATION on acrylic pouring. A list of class dates will be available that evening for those interested in learning more and actually doing the process. The CCAA Gallery is at 205 Fifth Street.

Calumet Floral: Fiber artist Judy Parlato

Calumet Floral will feature a demonstration by fiber artist Judy Parlato on First Friday, Aug. 4. Judy will demonstrate alcohol ink painting on tiles and Yupo paper. Judy transfers the paintings on to fabric and quilts the fabric. She will have quilted wall hangings, table runners and bags as examples using this technique. Judy is a member of the Lake Superior Art Association, the Marquette County Quilters, and the Gwinn Quilters.

Zen Garden (new gallery): Art by Kevin Breyfogle and Tom McKeever

The Zen Garden, a new gallery at 307A 6th Street, is exhibiting art by Kevin Breyfogle and Tom McKeever. Stop in on First Friday for a reception with hors d'oeuvre and other refreshments.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers map shows the stamp sands area in Houghton County. Click on map for larger version. (Photo © Charles Kerfoot and courtesy Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

LAKE LINDEN -- The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will host a meeting to tell the public about a proposed dredging project designed to restore the Grand Traverse Harbor channel and help protect Buffalo Reef.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. TONIGHT, Thursday, Aug. 3, at the Lake Linden-Hubbell High School Auditorium, 601 Calumet Street in Lake Linden.

Public input from this meeting will be considered before the project application is finalized.

Representatives of several agencies cooperating with the DNR on the proposed project will attend the session, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Tailings, or waste rock from mining, known locally as "stamp sands," were dumped into Lake Superior near the community of Gay, more than 100 years ago. These sands have moved, with the action of the lake, about 5 miles south along the coast and in nearshore areas.

In this image, the dashed line shows the area of stamp sand near the stack in Gay (upper right) has diminished since 1938 as that toward Big Traverse has grown. Number 1 marks primary stamp sands on the shore near the location of the former mill at Gay, and number 2 marks secondary stamp sand that is carried by the current and redeposited on the shore southwest of Gay and in the lake. Click on image for larger version. (File photo courtesy Keweenaw Geoheritage Web site and Bill Rose. Reprinted with permission.)*

The stamps sands are now filling in Grand Traverse Harbor and threaten Buffalo Reef, an important spawning area for lake trout and whitefish.

The DNR is applying for a permit from the DEQ, under the Great Lakes Submerged Lands Act, to allow the Army Corps to remove some of the stamp sands from the lake. Doing this will reestablish the Grand Traverse Harbor channel and provide 5-7 years of protection for Buffalo Reef.

The EPA has provided funding for the Army Corps to design and carry out the dredging work to remove 205,000 cubic yards of stamp sand—about 35,000 cubic yards from in or near the harbor and 170,000 cubic yards to protect Buffalo Reef.

Over the next couple of years, a task force will be convened by the EPA to develop a long-term plan for protecting the harbor and reef.

The project is proposed to take place in Schoolcraft Township in Houghton County. Some of the placement of the stamp sands removed from the lake is tentatively planned for Sherman Township in Keweenaw County.

* Learn more about the Gay stamp sands on Bill Rose's Geoheritage Web site, which also has links to scholarly articles on the stamp sand, photos and more. See also our Nov. 17, 2014, article, "Geology expert notes concerns about arsenic in Gay stamp sands as DEQ accepts comments on stamp sand removal proposal."