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The Grand Marais Art Colony, founded in 1947, offers studios, multi-disciplinary spaces and classrooms that lend themselves to aesthetic inquiry and artistic development. "While firmly rooted on the North Shore of Minne - sota in what we like to call the Third Coast, our arts community is at the same time not geographically bound," said Ruth Pszwaro, artistic director. "The external horizon line offers us all an expansiveness that translates to the internal, and we support the stepping stones of learning and growth for those who want to give art a try as well as for those who want to mature in their work," Pszwaro continued. The Art Colony draws as many as 300 adult students each year. They sign up for small in-person classes (with a few virtual options), and explore everything from painting to literary arts to ceramics. Fans also flock to the town each year for the annual Grand Marais Arts Festival in July and the biennial North Shore Readers and Writers Festival in November. Moheb Soliman (above right), an interdisciplinary poet, spent time on the shoreline writing his book "HOMES," which traces the coasts of the five Great Lakes through postmodern poems. Affiliated with the Art Colony for over the past decade, Soliman, 43, has served as a featured presenter at the annual literary festival and headed up a performance project. "They are so supportive of me," Soliman said. "They connect so strongly to the regional community but are aware of themselves as important to the larger region and the country, one node of greater The Arts Flourish in Rural Minnesota By Patricia Corrigan
consciousness of thinking about the Great Lakes — and that is so stimulating to me."
Last summer, Gloria Pfeifer took a class in plein air painting through the Art Colony, and now she's scheduling a workshop in Farwell, a town some 336 miles southwest of Grand Marais. Pfeifer is one of several older adults who over the past six years has helped restore four historic buildings there, turning them into art spaces to display the talents of artists and musicians. All the events take place in the restored one-room schoolhouse, a service garage, a creamery and the Farwell Norwegian Lutheran Church, built in 1907.
This story is part of Next Avenue’s Art + Aging in Community series, funded by E.A. Michelson Philanthropy
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