Duluth Art Institute Inspires

Laura Andrews & Paula Gudmundson: Integrated Vision 

 Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6, 5-8 PM

On View: December 2019- March 2020

George Morrison Gallery

Digital landscapes and meditative harmonies invite viewers to find respiteand connect with the surrounding world in Integrated Vision, a collaborative exhibition by Laura Andrews and Paula Gudmundson. Large scale images of nature float on the walls of the Morrison Gallery, documenting the ever-changing state of our environment. Slow, thoughtful music projects a state of fluidity, transcending reality.  

Minneapolis based visual artist Laura Andrews examines the relationships and interactions between people and the natural world. Shooting footage for Tunnel 2 on the family tree farm where she learned to paint, Andrews captures the melancholic and nostalgic emotions accompanying change. Local Duluthian, Paula Gudmundson echoes this sentiment with improvised flute melodies, capturing the meditative quality of being… just being in nature. Together, both artists question how one connects with our environment and how art can evoke curiosity about what is unfolding in nature, challenging society’s value on staying busy.

Andrews is a landscape painter teaching drawing and painting at Minneapolis College. She has shown her work throughout the Midwest and explains that the low definition videos in Integrated Vision evoke a painterly quality and aim to provide a sensation of moving through space.  Classically trained flutist, Paula Gudmundson is an Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Performing nationally and internationally, Gudmundson began to improvise musically during her travels and explains, “Improve allows me to tap into different senses and with practice, becomes meditative.” Together, Andrews and Gudmundson create a space for viewers to reflect, contemplate, and integrate the senses.  

Image Credit: Laura Andrews and Paula Gudmundson, Falling, digital projection

Shaun Chosa: War Paint

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6, 5-8 PM

Artist Talk: March 17, 5-7 PM

On View: January – March

John Steffl Gallery

Pulling from popular culture, nature and his Ojibwe heritage, Shaun Chosa creates detailed pen and ink work that is evocative and at times whimsical. In War Paint, Chosa translates his ideas onto large canvas with acrylic, “War Paint is a social commentary on popular culture and its intersection in Indian country. Some blatant, some coded in ways only those people growing up on the Red road would understand.”

Chosa traveled the United States throughout his youth, visiting and living among various Native American tribes alongside his mother, an artist. Many of her friends were free thinkers: poets, musicians, hippies, veterans; they had a large influence on Chosa’s constant search for knowledge.

Exploring line and color, Chosa searches his way around his subjects like the contours on a landscape. Each elevation rising with another color and pattern, lines creating depth and form with a graphic style inspired by street art. Subjects range from political to familial, highlighting strengths and obstacles of Native American people. Strong images capture emotion, evoke reaction, and encourage introspection, pushing against perceptions and challenging stereotypes.  

Chosa’s design work has been seen around Duluth in the form of posters, CD covers, and apparel for local artists, venues, and concerts including Charlie Parr and Save the Boundary Waters Music Festival. Chosa fills the gaps in his community’s art programming, bringing an art club to Ely High School, creating a puppet troop, hosting the Great Nordic Beard Fest and organizing music concerts. Image Credit: Shaun Chosa, Survivor, acrylic

Tommy Kronquist: Medium Control

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 6, 5-8 PM

On View: December 20, 2019- February 9, 2020

Corridor Gallery

Local artist and business owner Tommy Kronquist began his design career on the winter slopes of Minnesota. Merging his passion for snowboarding with his interest in art, a company was born: Medium Control. Long before designing however, Kronquist joined a competitive winter sports circuit that included traveling with his snowboarding sponsors. Through them he was exposed to a market heavy with design fads. During this time, Kronquist gravitated towards working with sales representatives to present his design work. Eventually, the ebb and flow of multiple seasons brought with it the desire to create timeless designs, work that would be relevant for more than a season, or a year, or even a decade. Kronquist’s work presented in the DAI Corridor Gallery embodies his classic minimal designs.

Image Credit: Tommy Kronquist, Us , giclees print

Sharon Dawson

On View: January – March

City Hall Mayor’s Reception Room

Sharon Dawson’s work invites viewers to investigate with emotion, the forms encouraging viewers to linger and emerge with a connection outside of oneself. Pulling us in with depth, color and texture, the images reflect Dawson’s practice, “While creating art draws the internal world outward, awareness in meditation draws the attention inward”. Applying multiple layers of oil and acrylic before rubbing, scraping and carving into the surface, Dawson’s process becomes meditative. Her movements, visible as strokes on the canvas, promote stillness and harmony.

Painter and adaptive Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist Sharon Dawson lives and works in Duluth, MN. After earning her BFA from the University of Minnesota, Duluth she studied Buddhist meditation in Nova Scotia then relocated to Albuquerque New Mexico to study art therapy, deepening the connection she found between the practices of mediation and the artistic creative process. Dawson has received numerous awards for her paintings and has exhibited at the Tweed Museum, the Duluth Art Institute, and the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Competition.

Image Credit: Sharon Dawson, Blessed Born, oil acrylic, mixed media on paper

Our Neighbors: Exhibiting Artists from BAM

On View: January – March

City Hall Rotunda

The Duluth Art Institute hosts the Birkenstein Arts Movement, a year-long program for middle school students based on the art and principles of Jean Birkenstein. Fifteen BAM students joined this movement to focus on growing their art and leadership skills, working towards communicating through drawing, ceramics, painting and mixed media.  

Youth, primarily from Lincoln Park Middle School, work in the Duluth Art Institute’s Lincoln Park Building, exploring the new Print Studio and creating work in the historical building’s painting and drawing space. Weekly sessions have included field trips to the Duluth Art Institute Galleries and leadership development classes with artist instruction by local artists, including Carla Hamilton, Ashley Hise, Karen Keenan, Flo Matamoros, Adam Swanson and Jonathan Thunder. Duluth Art Institute and Duluth City Hall proudly present BAM participants work in the next City Hall Rotunda exhibition with program funding provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Access grant. Work on view includes mixed media self-portraits, animal inspired acrylics on canvas, and drawings in ink, graphite, and colored pencil.

Image Credit: Brenna, Self Portrait, mixed media

Get up off that couch and make your way over to the desk you have all your tax documents you have stacked on. “I’ll get to it later” you’ll say. Pick up the phone and tell your best friend to get his things packed because Duluth is calling your name! It’s now time to plan an amazing adventure your family will never forget this summer.

I have some tips for planning your unforgettable Duluth vacation this summer…

Plan a new experience during your next visit to Duluth!

Plan it out!

Convince your significant other to get over to Duluth. Or zip over on your own! Whether you are coming from Alberta, Canada or Tampa Florida, Duluth is bound to take your breath away!

Check out what time works best for you. I’d recommend the June – August period myself as the most comfortable time.

Staying at the Merryweather Inn Bed & Breakfast, Sampling Minnesota-made brews, listening to music, and enjoying a summer day by the lake. I’ve had my pilot’s license for over twelve years now and I get enjoyment out of flying over the area!

Jump in the Lake!

Related: Merryweather Bed & Breakfast Complements Your Stay In Duluth