Inspiring, Nurturing
& Celebrating
the Arts
Susan Martin Memorial Member Show Oct. 3 -31 with Opening Reception on Friday, Oct. 3 from 5 - 7 p.m.
October is the month for the Northwoods Friends of the Arts member exhibit!
All members are invited and encouraged to show and sell their artwork at the gallery. Approximately 4 x 8 feet of wall space, or 6 feet of table space will be provided. Exhibitors are asked to bring their artwork to the gallery on Monday, Sept 29 or Tuesday, Sept. 30, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. along with an inventory of items including price or indicate if not for sale.
Exhibiting in the show is rent free, and a commission of 15% will be collected on all items sold.
For more details, contact Alberta Whitenack at 218.666.2153 .
Grab a few friends, stop in and shop this exciting show!
And don’t miss the reception - it’s always a great time!
SUMMER HOURS!
Wednesday - Friday
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday
9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Let's Soar…take a photo with our wings mural! Photograph it…enjoy it, share it! #NorthwoodsFriendsOfTheArts #LetsSoar @NWFAMN
Happening Now
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Northwood Friends of the Arts Member Newsletter
October 2025
Hello members and friends! Thank you for your incredible support so far this year.
Together, we have enjoyed an amazing season with incredible exhibits, classes and a
very popular Music in the Park series. Following are the remaining exhibits and event for
2025. More details will follow in the coming months. Read to the end for more
opportunities and exhibits representing artists and organizations in our region.
Susan Martin Memorial Member Show
Exhibit dates: October 3 - 31
Opening Reception on Friday, October 3 from 5 - 7 PM
Pottery Class taught by Lyn Reed
Hand build a vessel using the clay slab method!
Saturdays Oct 18 & Oct 25, 10 AM - 2 PM each day
Class fee $30. NFWA member/$45 non-members + 25 material fee to instructor
Don’t miss Open Art Mondays!
Join fellow artists each Monday to “do art” at the Gallery from 6 - 8 pm. No registration required!
Fun, friendship and creativity will be flowing!
“Fall into Christmas” Saturday, November 8
NWFA will join other shops in Cook and work in tandem with the Cook Community Center for
the annual “Fall into Christmas” holiday shopping event on Saturday, November 8. The gallery
will extend their hours to 4 PM that day and offer refreshments and make and take crafts. If
you are displaying arts and crafts, this is a good time to look at your inventory and prepare for
holiday shoppers. More details will follow, and we will be part of the larger promotion in local
papers.Save the Date for the Cook Genealogy Club with Cathi Weber
Friday, Oct 17, 1-3 PM
Using Church and Cemetery Records in your Genealogy Research
Location: Northwoods Friends of the Arts, Cook MN
All are welcome.
Remaining 2025 Exhibits:
November, Native American Art Exhibit
December, Mary Lou Ellison Exhibit
(More details to follow)
NEW Opportunity Available Soon!
The Emergency Relief Fund Grant Program provides $500 or $1000 to individual artists who
have had a critical need relating to healthcare, housing, equipment, or legal emergencies since
January 1, 2024. This grant is intended to serve our community by addressing the pressing
circumstances of artists in need. We can fund at least 36 artists in need with this program.
Available: September 29, 2025
Deadline: November 9, 2025, before 11:59PM
Emergency Relief Period: January 1, 2024 – Present (Time in which the emergency took
place)
2025 Peter Capell Award for Midwestern Creativity & Entrepreneurship
Nominate a Minnesota arts leader for the 2025 Peter Capell Award! This one-time award of
$2,500 will honor someone who has made a significant impact on their arts community.
Nominations due: October 16, 2025
Creative Native Call for Art
This year, we want to see your art inspired by what is SACRED to you.
What is important to you and your community? Is it a place, person, a tradition, a story, the
young people of your community? Is it a smell, a sound or a language?
Creative Native is a call for art that supports young, Indigenous artists ages 5-24 by providing
the opportunity for national recognition and awards up to $1,000.
Submissions will be accepted until 11:59pm EST on November 30, 2025.
Weaving Ancestry by Martha Bird
September 5, 2025 – October 9, 2025
Nordic Center Duluth
23 N. Lake Ave. Duluth, MN
The Weaving Ancestry exhibition is an expression of Martha Bird’s sculptural basketry. It
embodies Bird’s learnings and journeys connecting her art to her ancestral roots. Art mirrors her
life and through a variety of materials and techniques these works allow Bird to discover herself.
Screenplay "Cabin #4" Table Read
September 30, 2025, 7 PM
First Lutheran Church
123 Wayside, International Falls, MN
On September 30, 2025, the International Falls community has an opportunity to hear and give
feedback on a screenplay-in-progress written by local authors Martha Enzmann, Mary Jo Falk,
Patti Wood, read by Icebox Radio Theater.
“Cabin #4” is the story of a writer who refurbishes her family’s cabin after a flood with the help of
her childhood friends, who know just how much it means to her.
Grand Rapids Players Presents The Great Gatsby
September 26 – October 5, 2025, Friday & Saturday 7 PM | Sunday 2 PM
Reif Performing Arts Center
720 Northwest Conifer Drive, Grand Rapids, MN
Grand Rapids Players presents the original stage adaptation of
F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to the Ives Studio Theatre at the Reif Center. In Simon
Levy's adaptation, scenes are blurred from one to the next. The production comes at the
centennial of the original publishing by this treasured Minnesotan author. The production is
directed by John Schroeder.
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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!
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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!
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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”.
Music in the Park!
Thank You for Joining Us in 2025!
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to our Music in the Park events! Your presence, energy, and support made these gatherings so special. We’re especially grateful to the talented musicians who shared their music, and to the organizations and community members who helped make it all possible. We couldn’t have done it without you!
KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR THE 2026 SCHEDULE!
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU NEXT SUMMER!
Classes & Events
Did you know that Volunteers run Northwoods Friends of the Arts?
Priscilla Hiipakka is the volunteer coordinator and would love to have you stop in the gallery or contact her at nwfamn.org@gmail.com to volunteer. Some training is required and Artists exhibiting at the gallery may volunteer to work in lieu of the rent fee.
It’s fun and challenging and the volunteer experience looks good on a resume. Publicity is so very important to gallery. Do you know publicity or are you interested in learning? Email us at nwfamn.org@gmail.com and we can set up a class on ‘Publicity’.
We’re part gallery, part shop, and all about celebrating handmade creativity!
Swing by to check out (and take home!) beautiful jewelry, watercolors, woodcarvings, textiles, greeting cards, oil paintings, stained glass, pottery, ceramics, mixed media, photography, crafts, and more—made with heart by talented artists.
We work with community businesses, local schools, other arts organizations, and individual artists to provide a variety of quality arts experiences for Cook and the surrounding area residents.
There’s an ART for everyone here at NWFA!
You’ll find listings for painting classes, pottery, weaving and special youth painting and crafts classes offered on a regular basis in our classroom area. We also feature a summer writing class, concerts throughout the year, dance and drama performances and literary readings, too.
Literary readings and book signings are held here, too. So there’s always something of interest taking place in the gallery along with the lovely display of “Up North” artwork, prefect for your enjoyment and gift ideas.
Classes and workshops are taught by Gallery Members as well instructors from out of the immediate area.
Look around our site and discover all we offer and learn how we can make your art blossom!
Certain activities by NWFA are made possible in part by a grant provided by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council (ARAC) and is funded, in part, by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
Northwoods Friends of the Arts (NWFA) Copyright © 2011-2015 All Rights Reserved Northwoods Friends of the Arts (NWFA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. No copies of text or photographs are to be made without permission by NWFANWFA is a recipient of the Mineral Articles Funding through the 2024 Mineral Taxes Grant.
The following projects are supported by the Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation (IRRR)
Facility Upgrades
New Point Of Sale System
Programming
Northwoods Friends of the Arts Gallery (NWFA)
Your Community-Based Non-Profit Arts Organization!
Staffed by: Volunteer Members
210 River Street, Cook, Minnesota
218-780-7130
Come Visit and Shop NWFA GALLERY