Updated: Calumet to host CopperDog 150, art, music, fireworks, bike races Mar. 2-3

CALUMET -- The third annual CopperDog 150 will again begin on First Friday, March 2, in Calumet, in conjunction with art gallery openings, street music, food and beverages, and winter fireworks.

At the start of the 2011 CopperDog 150 race, crowds along Fifth Street in Calumet cheer for mushers and their dogs. (File photo by Keweenaw Now)

"The volunteer army is ready, the mushers and dogs are fired up, the food is hot, music fills the streets, and downtown Calumet is ready to host the best winter festival yet," says Todd Brassard, race director. "At 5 p.m. the live music starts up on Oak Street with the The Wingnuts, and Tommy Katalin is rumored to play a few numbers on Portland Street. Food and beverages will also be readily available on the streets and at the storefronts. Everyone has worked hard this year to bring more food and drink to the festival. You can support their efforts by having a little dinner in town."

Emily Dekker-Fiala says, "We'll have our homemade burritos (and hot drinks) for sale in front of 5th and Elm in Calumet for the start of the CopperDog Friday night."

The first sled team leaves the starting chute at 7 p.m., so come early, have dinner, get some hot chocolate or beer, and check out the new artist shows at local galleries.

Oren Tikkanen reports the Backroom Boys will be playing traditional jazz, swing, and blues from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Vertin Gallery.

At the Omphale Café and Gallery, Heaven Hawkins will exhibit her art and play her music Friday evening.

Following the exciting start of the race, Main Street Calumet will offer a treat for the kids -- a fireworks show over Calumet's Agassiz Park, Brassard adds.*

Copper Country Associated Artists to host face painting

Girl Scouts practice face painting with artist Ellen Torola. (Photo courtesy Copper Country Associated Artists)

The Copper Country Associated Artists (CCAA) Gallery is sharing in the spirit of volunteerism and love of animals that the CopperDog 150 race is known for by holding a fund raiser for the Copper Country Humane Society. CCAA will host a face painting event at the Gallery on First Friday, hoping to gather donations which will help the local shelter.

Ellen Torola, a well known local artist, worked ahead of time with two local Girl Scout troops, helping them prepare for this event by creating designs that reflect this awesome occasion. On the evening of the CopperDog 150, CCAA artist members will be on hand to assist these young artists in painting designs on the faces of those who would like this when they visit the gallery. Refreshments will be provided.

Saturday, March 3, will be a day of festivities and more races in Calumet. The CCAA Gallery will be open so stop by and visit at their new location: 205 Fifth Street!

Ed Gray Gallery to hold reception for "Icon, Shrine, and Reliquary" exhibit

The "Icon, Shrine, and Reliquary" show will open with a public reception at 6:30 p.m. March 2 at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet. This is a call for entry show which features local artists and their interpretations of icon, shrine and reliquary. The icon is a symbol which represents more than its literal interpretation. A shrine often houses icons or relics and is a sacred place. A reliquary contains a sacred object. Each artist has used his/her media of choice to translate these terms.

The Ed Gray Gallery is located at 109 Fifth Street, in Calumet.

Update: Vertin Gallery to exhibit paintings by Kathy Carlton-Johnson

This month local artist Kathy Carlton-Johnson will be featured in an exhibit at Vertin Gallery. Kathy's show "On Death and Dying" is a collection of paintings and assemblage that examine death in a matter-of-fact way -- a commonality among living things. Kathy's signature style and color palette are employed in a new way while her work remains recognizably hers.

"Last Known Address," by Kathy Carlton-Johnson.

The show is on display starting Friday, March 2, and Kathy will give a talk on her new body of work at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 24.

This First Friday Vertin guests are welcome to park behind the Vertin Building (off 6th Street).

Artist Phyllis Fredendall's show "Mining Memories" remains on display through next Thursday, March 8. If you haven't had a chance to see this wonderful work, you've got time!

Red Jacket Cyclotron Saturday, March 3

In conjunction with the CopperDog 150 this weekend, the Red Jacket Cyclotron is scheduled for Saturday, March 3, in downtown Calumet. Snow-bike racers will be battling it out on the Calumet Snowdrome on 5th Street between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. A total of nine races are scheduled, including criteriums, four-cross sprints and miss-and-out. Pasties and t-shirts will be available for fat-bike racers!

Got a fat bike? Come race! (two classes for men, one for women). No fat bike? Come check it out! And/or bring a mountain bike for the Atomsmasher Mountain Bike Crit -- to be contested on the same course as the other races, but open only to regular mountain bikes.

A number of Calumet merchants are offering special deals throughout the day, and the Michigan House / Red Jacket Brewery has brewed up a special ale in honor of the race (Moonlander). Local and regional shops will be on hand with gear and demo bikes.

For those racing the Midwest Snow Bike Championships / GBC Snow Bike Race the day after the Great Bear Chase Ski Race (bike race: March 11), a pre-ride of the Swedetown race course will follow the Cyclotron.

For full details, see www.rjcyclotron.com. For additional information or if you have questions, please email Chris at cts@xmatic.com.

Copper Dog continues through Sunday, March 4

After leaving Calumet Friday, the dog teams spend the night in Eagle Harbor, heading out to Copper Harbor at 9 a.m. Saturday morning. Come cheer them on as they take off for Copper Harbor! They’ll arrive in Copper Harbor around 1 p.m. Saturday; and the festivities will continue there, with free sled rides for the kids from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., and a chance to meet the mushers and dogs.

Sunday morning they’re off again, heading straight to Calumet. The CopperDog 150 Sled Dog Race should finish in Calumet around 2 p.m. Sunday.

* Visit the CopperDog Web site if you wish to donate for the fireworks or learn more about the race. See Main Street Calumet for the complete schedule of CopperDog 150 activities, including street closures.

New Slide Show: December Art in Calumet

"A Winter's Passing," by Kayo Miwa, one of several artists featured at Calumet's Vertin Gallery in December. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

CALUMET -- Keweenaw Now's latest slide show offers some photos of art events and exhibits in Calumet during December 2011.

See the new slide show in the upper right corner of this page and click on any photo. Above the large photo click on the title of the slide show; then, at the top left, click slide show. Links to previous slide shows can be found below our Blog Archive in the right-hand column.

You can also click here to go directly to the new slide show.

Calumet galleries to offer First Friday art exhibits, events Sept. 2

CALUMET -- First Friday, Sept. 2, will offer several art events in Calumet galleries.

Omphale Gallery to present art by Daniel C. Boyer

Omphale Gallery will display a one-man exhibition of drawings and paintings by Daniel C. Boyer in September. The exhibit, titled "The Teenage Girl With Grey Hair," will run through September. A reception will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2.

"The Adjustment to Silence," by Daniel C. Boyer. Gouache diluted with Diet Coke. (Image courtesy Daniel C. Boyer)

The Omphale Gallery recently re-opened with a new café offering espresso drinks and a gourmet lunch menu that is predominantly vegetarian with an emphasis on raw foods -- and lots of home-made bakery items.

Barista and baker Katie Jo Wright, Omphale co-owner with Julie DePaul Johnson (not pictured), serves a gourmet lunch to Laurium residents Patricia and Bernie Koskiniemi on Aug. 20, 2011. Patricia ordered pita bread with a vegan vegetable spread while Bernie's choice was a veggie beet burger. Both ordered the Omphale's special red cabbage slaw. (Photo by Keweenaw Now)

The Omphale Gallery Café is at 431 Fifth Street in Calumet.

Ed Gray Gallery to host exhibit by Sharon Schmeltzer

The work of Sharon Schmeltzer of Kingsford, Michigan, will be featured for the month of September at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet. An opening reception will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2. Schmeltzer will be available at the reception to answer questions and to describe her work.

Schmeltzer was invited to have a solo show at the gallery after she was selected from a group of artists who entered the annual juried show at the Bonifas Arts Center in Escanaba.

The Ed Gray Gallery is located at 109 Fifth Street, Calumet.

Copper Country Associated Artists to present "You Can Do This" Sept. 2

With a greeting card and a scrap of wool, discover your artist within. Pam Hecht will guide you through this creative process during a First Friday event on Sept. 2 at the Copper Country Associated Artists Gallery, 112 5th Street, Calumet.

The first presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. All materials will be provided. Also bakery and coffee will be served. Donations are appreciated.

Vertin Gallery to host September exhibit by Ingrid Blixt

Vertin Gallery is pleased to announce its September exhibit, Ingrid Blixt’s "Hiding Places," a collection of new graphite drawings and encaustic paintings. Blixt’s work is an ongoing exploration of the common threads connecting people from varying cultural and geographical backgrounds. "Hiding Places" explores the geography of human emotions.

"Hiding places are openings into these inner spaces, sacred spaces and rolling hills," Blixt says.

"White Dress," by Ingrid Blixt. Acrylic on canvas. (Photo courtesy Vertin Gallery)

The Romanian born artist moved to the Escanaba area in 2001, after earning her MFA from the University of Art and Design, Cluj Napoca, Romania.

A reception will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 2. At 7:15 p.m., the artist will talk about her work, which will remain on display through the month of September.

The reception is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

For more information please call the Vertin Gallery at (906) 337-2200.

Editor's Note: The new Gallerie Bohème will also present a September exhibit on First Friday, Sept. 2. Click here to read about their opening reception with three artists.

New gallery, art exhibits to open Aug. 5 in Calumet

Entering Keweenaw County, by Patricia Watson, featured artist at the Vertin Gallery in August. (Image courtesy Vertin Gallery)

CALUMET -- First Friday, Aug. 5, in Calumet will be the scene of several art exhibit openings -- and the opening of a new gallery as well.

Gallerie Bohème to open Aug. 5

The public is invited to the opening of a new gallery in Calumet from 6:30 p.m. through 9 p.m. Friday, Aug.5.

Gallerie Bohème, a new visual artists’ exhibition venue in Calumet, will open its doors with a showing of works by the Rockland Street Gang, a group of artists who live on Rockland Street in Calumet Township.

Artists showing in the August exhibition are Stuart Baird, wood carvings; Richard Dana, blown glass; Margo McCafferty, paintings; and Tom Rudd, sculpture. The artists will be in attendance at the opening to discuss their work with interested viewers and collectors.

Gallerie Boheme will exhibit exceptional works by Calumet and Keweenaw area artists and craftspersons. The gallery is located in Calumet on the north end of Fifth Street at 423, near the newly-renovated Omphale Gallery and Café and Artis Books. Business hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, July through October; other times by appointment. For additional information contact Tom Rudd at (906) 369-4087 or Tom Dumble at (760) 285-5128.

Ed Gray Gallery to feature Sand Hill Light artists

"In the Shadow of the Sand Hill Light," the August exhibit at the Ed Gray Gallery, will feature the work of the late Carol Gorgas, taipaleNurmesniemi; Mike Ramos and Jan Manniko.

This show is primarily a retrospective of work from the 1980s, painted while these three artists created together at the Sand Hill Light before the lighthouse became a bed and breakfast inn.

Carol Gorgas is now deceased. Her work in this exhibit is from a private collection; some pieces have come directly from the Gorgas family. Carol’s work is known internationally, having been widely exhibited. This collection of acrylics on canvas is being shown for the first time since her death.

Jan Manniko and Mike Ramos continue to paint. A portion of the pieces in the show were painted during the time that they painted with Carol. Others are their contemporary work.

A portion of the proceeds from this show will be donated to the Calumet Art Center to promote the continuing art programs at the Center.

Vertin Gallery to feature paintings by Patricia Watson

Patricia Watson’s "Enter Keweenaw County," featuring paintings inspired by the landscape of the Keweenaw Peninsula, will open with a reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 5 at the Vertin Gallery. Refreshments will be served. The artist will speak at 7:15 p.m.

Ms. Watson’s work celebrates the luscious color, light and forms she sees in the world around her, from the Copper Country forest to the Lake Superior shore.

"Mother Nature is my muse and she will not tolerate any indignities. Effectively rendering the subtle way light surrounds and embraces an object is a delightful challenge," Watson says.

For more information on the gallery or upcoming events, please visit www.vertingallery.com or call (906) 337-2200.

Three Calumet galleries to host First Friday events June 3

CALUMET -- First Friday, June 3, will offer three great events at three Calumet galleries.

"Orchids and Rare Wildflowers" at Copper Country Associated Artists Gallery

Ram's-head Lady's-slipper (Cypripedium arietinum), a native Keweenaw Orchid and a wildflower of Michigan Special Concern, is part of the program photographer Harvey Desnick will present Friday, June 3, at the Copper Country Associated Artists Gallery in Calumet. (Photo © and courtesy Harvey Desnick)

Some of the most fascinating orchids in North America inhabit our Keweenaw Peninsula. Friday June 3, Harvey Desnick, author of the wildflower pictorial Keweenaw Wildflowers Blooming Seasons, will present his program, "Orchids and Rare Wildflowers of the Keweenaw," at the Copper Country Associated Artists (CCAA) Gallery as part of First Friday Art Night in Historic Downtown Calumet.

Through Harvey’s photography, you’ll see and learn about 26 native orchids and a number of rare and endangered wildflowers growing from the Lake Superior shores to the tops of the Keweenaw cliffs.

The lights will be dimmed to afford the best viewing of this colorful presentation. The program will start at 7 p.m. and will run about 45 minutes. Admission is free. Seating is limited. The CCAA Gallery is located at 112 Fifth Street in Calumet.

Ed Gray Gallery to host Fiber Show

An exhibit by fiber artists Donna Kallner, Bill and Linda Sumner, and Karen Tembruell will open with a reception for the artists from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on First Friday, June 3, at the Ed Gray Gallery in Calumet.

This show, which will continue through June 29, 2011, will coincide with the Midwest Weavers’ Conference to be held June 19-26 at Finlandia University in Hancock. The theme of this year's conference is "Northern Wefts."*

The Ed Gray Gallery is at 109 Fifth St. Call (906) 337-5970 for more information.

"The Language of Fiber" to open at Vertin Gallery for June

The Vertin Gallery's June show, "The Language of Fiber," will feature the work of Wynne Mattila, Cameron Taylor-Brown and Susan Moran. This show coincides with "Northern Wefts," the 2011 Midwest Weavers' Conference taking place in Hancock June 19-26.*

Wynne Mattila is a self-taught rug designer and weaver, creating "contemporary expressions of weave structures used in traditional Finnish and Scandinavian textiles." She is based in Minneapolis, Minn.

Cameron Taylor-Brown is a Los Angeles-based fiber artist, who, through her weaving, "embraces and celebrates the ancient heritage and language of woven cloth." She has been involved in textiles and education on both coasts in many different arenas.

Susan Moran works with traditional surface design techniques, adapting them to express contemporary images of the human experience of the natural world, while acknowledging the historical significance as well as the functions that textiles have served. She lives in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"The Language of Fiber" will be on display at the Vertin Gallery from June 3 through June 29, with an reception to be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 22, to coincide with the Midwest Weavers' Conference.

Although the reception will be postponed to June 22, the Vertin will be open late on First Friday, June 3, for those who want to get a first look at the exhibit. The Vertin is also pleased to welcome back Ansley Knoch as a special guest curator for this event.

Located in the heart of downtown Calumet, the Vertin Gallery is one of the Upper Peninsula’s premiere galleries, featuring art across all mediums including painting, copper, jewelry, sculpture and fine woodworking. The work in the gallery changes frequently and, each month, premiers a new exhibit to feature fresh new artists of the highest quality. For more information on the gallery and upcoming events, please visit www.vertingallery.com or call (906) 337-2200.

* Click here for information on the Midwest Weavers' Conference.