John Bauer

We connect with Betty Firth from the Ely Folk School every first Friday of the month. She educates us on all the learning opportunities happenng at the folk school.  Cheese making, photography, canoe building and backcountry baking are just a few of this month's offerings! 

Every First Friday Katie Marshall from the MacRostie Art Center fills us in on the first Friday events and the new exhibits at the MacRostie galleries!  Food trucks, live music and art, oh my!  People are starting to enjoy art and community in groups again!  It's a beautiful thing. 

CelloWoman is an original song story taking the stage at Rail River in Bemidji this weekend. We learned all about it and even found out what a chincello is on the morning show!  

Every First Friday we check in with the Ely Folk School to find out what they've got cooking for the month.  In May they've got a birding by ear class,  a jewelry making class, paiting, pie, cheese making, a celebratory spring bonfire and much more!  Click the link to hear Betty and Lucy break it all down! 

Every First Friday we check in the Katie Marshall from the MacRostie Art Center in Grand Rapids. She lets us know all the happenings going on.  Listen to the interview for all the info! 

Hey... it's Mother's Day this weekend!  By the mom in your life some locally crafted art!!

...it's just so incredible, the matrix in nature...when I see a bird, I see the bird. I see the shape of it but at the same time I see the history and the biology and the beauty … and they feel like poetry to me. - Kellie Rae Theiss

Nature gives us hope.  Art gives us hope. Inspired people give us hope.  We are celebrating hope this week and Kellie Rae Theiss is a painter who gives us hope.

I was very unaware of what went into drag and being able to express myself with like minded people, I was able to learn more about myself as a person and…learn more about my identity. And it was through drag that I was able to find myself and find my gender that fits best with me and find the best way to express myself- in and out of drag. – Alex Pfannenstein/Dakota Hunter

I've definitely gone through a bit of a mourning period...I was performing anywhere between one to four shows a week, for the last seven, eight years. So..., it's just been so devastating in so many ways for any artist that does it for a living...It's been stressful, but at the same time, to be able to use technology to still  play in some capacity and then, of course, to be writing music...it's been a bit of a saving grace, if that makes sense. ... So it's kind of been all the things - it's been terrible and also amazing .- Jillian Rae on the pandemic impact

I feel like the art is sort of a vehicle for showing that connection that I have, but because it's so hands on and you're working with natural materials... in a way it is sort of a natural experience just creating it. - Kristen Anderson 

...through through the pandemic, we really, really saw how committed our staff was. And just the way that they stepped up was just incredible and dealt with all the uncertainty and all the changing guidelines. And ....what are the things that we could do that are going to be the most impactful on people's long term quality of life? And these are these are some of the  jumping off points that we decided on. - Jake Robinson, Brigid's Irish Pub