Check out ART TO GO!

Hello NWFA Members and Friends!

Thank you to our renewing members and welcome new members and friends to NWFA! 

June brings a full schedule of activities and events at the gallery and in the community. We need your help, and any amount of time or support will be greatly appreciated. It’s also a great way to meet fellow NWFA supporters and have some fun.

Please look at the following opportunities to volunteer and email nwfamn.org@gmail.com or call 218-780-7130 if you are available.

Friday, June 5, 5-7 p.m.

Opening Reception for the 15th Annual Spring Art Expo

Many of our members will have work on display and for sale beginning June 3 to June 27.

• We are looking for volunteers to bring a savory or sweet dish to share

• The 50/50 raffle tickets are available to sell and packs of 10 will be available to pick up beginning this Friday at the gallery

Saturday, June 13, 

9 a.m. – 3 pm at Timber Days, and 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gallery

NWFA will have two activities: an activity table for children at Timber Days, and a screen-printing demonstration from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.in front of the gallery

• Volunteers needed to assist with the craft activities and screen printing 

Tuesday, June 16, 5- 7:30 p.m.

NWFA Annual Meeting 

5- 5:30 p.m. meeting; 6 – 7 p.m. Guest speaker: David Colburn, Cook/Orr Editor, The Timberjay. 

The meeting will review the past year and new programs and partnerships in 2026.

There will be a potluck meal (board members are asked to bring a sweet or savory dish to share)

Classes:

We continue to add to our schedule of classes offering an exciting variety of opportunities to spark your creativity and build skills, including pottery, watercolor, drawing, poetry, and more! Please check our website for updates on nwfamn.org.

Register for classes at www.nwfamn.org, email nwfamn.org@gmail.com, or call 218-780-7130.

Sat June 6: Block Print with Lyn Reed from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Wed June 10: Fish Print (Gyotaku) with Lyn Reed from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Thu & Fri June 18 & 19: with Cecilia Rolando Gelli Print (Thursday), Collage (Friday) from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. both days

Tue, July 7 (previously Wed June 17): Free Curious and Creative Class Pottery Fun (Kids Ceramics) with Lyn Reed from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Thu July 9: Free Open Mic Poetry Sharing with Cecilia Rolando from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.

Fri July 10: Painting Daisies Watercolor Workshop with Diane Levar from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Wed July 15: Felted Sauna Hat with Shelly Tahija, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Wed July 22: Silk Screen a T-Shirt with Lyn Reed from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Wed Aug 5: Free Curious & Creative Class Fun Printing for Kids with Lyn Reed from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Sat Aug 8: Acrylic Painting from Beginner & Onward with Dafne Caruso from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Happening Now!

• Wednesday’s Music in the Park Schedule will be posted by June 15. We promise it will be fabulous and fun for all!

• Our newest program, Art to Go, which includes transportable activity kits that will be offered for use to Boys and Girls Clubs, Lake Vermilion Resorts and any interested groups, is kicking off in the next few weeks. Stop by the gallery to see the kits and learn more about the program NWFA developed with support by the Department of Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation.

Special Hours: The gallery will have special hours from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sat, June 13, for Cook Timber Days.

Please check our website nwfamn.org for updates throughout the month.

NWFA is a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization dedicated to Inspiring, Nurturing, & Celebrating the Arts

Each Monday artists are invited to "do art" with others at NWFA gallery from 6 to 8 p.m. No registration required. Hope to see you there!

The popular Wings Mural in Cook City Park by the Library and gazebo, has been duplicated and set back in place! The original was made up of feathers painted by children during NWFA Summer classes . Thanks to Lyn Reed and Lauren Nelson. The mural is up now, go check it out!

MN Public Radio Art Hounds…2025

From July 17 2025 Art Hounds interview MPR:

Live music by the lake

"Jeanne O’Melia, who lives on Lake Vermilion, makes her way to Cook, Minn., every Wednesday evening — often by boat — to enjoy the free live music at the gazebo downtown. Attendees are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets. In the event of rain, concerts move indoors to the VFW.

The music runs from 6–8 p.m. on Wednesdays throughout the summer. Next week, central Minnesota cover band JustUs takes the stage. On July 30, Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame inductee Keith Secola performs.,,,,mprnews.org/podcasts"

https://www.mprnews.org/episode/2025/07/17/art-hounds-shakespeare-music-and-pottery-all-outdoors

ListenMPR News“On fabric, dragons and freedom”

Listen to this broadcast here.  If you select “Cecilia Rolando” online within the article you will see Rolando artwork.

Jan. 16 2025 Art Hounds on MPR News

A stitch in time

Lyn Reed is a former art teacher and a ceramic artist living in Orr, but she made the trip to the Northwoods Friends of the Arts in Cook, Minn., to take in the joyful colors and compositions of fabric artist Cecilia Rolando of Ely.

Entitled “Piecing it Together,” the exhibit runs through Jan. 31. Several small quilts designed and sewn by NWFA’s Round Robin Quilt Group are also on display. 

Lyn Reed offers this look around the gallery, where the colors and textures provide a welcome burst of inspiration in January.

Lyn says: She calls it fabric collage, and that’s exactly what it is. She must have just an incredible resource of fabrics because I notice fabric from Southeast Asia … Japan … she’s used doilies, antique lace, gingham …There’s a piece I really like that’s red and white spiral.

She cuts different pieces of different sizes, and she’s collaged those together. You can see that she’s layered them. She’s using all different types of stitching, and the lines actually look as if they’re in a drawing. The compositions are really beautiful. 

It’s like a cornucopia of all different types of fabrics from around the world. If you love fabrics, you will enjoy Cecilia’s work.

— Lyn Reed

Thank you to artist and NWFA member, Lyn Reed, for volunteering to be interviewed by MPR News “Art Hounds”.