by Alex Starace   July 5, 2006 Thomas O�Sullivan, curator of �Bloom! � Botanical Art Through the Ages,� asks: �Will twenty-first century tools such as digital imaging and plant genetic research make botanical art seem obsolete?� It seems quaint he even bothers posing the question. or, at least, this was my response before attending his well-curated exhibit at the Bell Museum of Natural History. In �Bloom!� O�…

by Britt Aamodt   July 3, 2006 Wood isn�t like paint on an artist�s palette. It isn�t wedged on a board and thrown into vase shapes and mug shapes and platters by an expert potter. Wood has neither the consistency of an illustrator�s India ink nor the timed accuracy of a photographer�s developer. It is living tissue. One moment, an oak flanks a residential neighborhood, extending roots deep underground…

by Britt Aamodt   June 8, 2006 Where my sister and I grew up in rural Maryland, an unbroken band of forest stretched across the southern horizon and formed a barrier between the farmhouses and single-family homes on one side and the bruising intensity of interstate traffic on the other. The woods provided a getaway�a zone of freedom where homework, house chores and the pointless cruelty of…

by Susan Clayton   June 5, 2006 There is a fascinating ambivalence among a significant number of Hibbingites toward singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, who � say it with me, Minnesota � grew up as Bob Zimmerman in the Iron Range town. Hibbing must be about the only place on the planet where folks really deny the relevance of Dylan�s poetry and the magnitude of his impact on the world. At times downright…

by Britt Aamodt   May 31, 2006 In 1983, Ron Merchant, in his early thirties, sat down to reflect on life. He and wife Cherlynn took a sheet of blue-lined paper and began to write: 1969�got married; 1969�Jason is born; 1972�bought the duplex; 1973�Naz is born. They continued to catalog milestones. For every year together, they picked events that said, The account passed 1983 and moved optimistically…

by Christine Dean   April 15, 2006 The Bayfront Blues Festival may attract the biggest crowds, but no music event in Duluth inspires more hometown pride than the Homegrown Music Festival. This annual showcase of local talent has become a vital spring ritual in a town itching for a release after a long, gray winter. It all started in 1998 when Scott �Starfire� Lunt decided to throw himself a 30th…

by Chris Godsey   April 6, 2006 Duluth Does Dylan…Again by Chris Godsey The morals of this story: owning a recording studio can be more comfortable than renting time in one; even underground rockers and their scenes grow up; a good song is always a good song. The story behind the morals: In 2001, multi-disciplinary Duluth entrepreneurs Tim Nelson and Tom Fabjance (who actually lives in Ashland, WI…

by Nanci Oleson   March 9, 2006 The three are friends, and this is their second year doing a week-long retreat. The rules of the retreat are simple: work on a writing project, all day, every day. Each woman has a desk and a computer, and there is internet access and phone. Each woman brings her own breakfast and lunch, and the three trade off making dinner for each other. The last night of their week they…

by Lightsey Darst   March 7, 2006 Four mannequins, some hanging from chains, some on stands, lean into the attic space of studio. Bright fabric�magenta gauze, blue satin�overflows from one rack, while another is crowded with clothes, some finished, some in the making, some half-demolished. At the far end of the room is a small window, the walls around it draped in furry green fabric, making a cozy yet…