Dear Friends,
willowwood market harvest festival
With spring right around the corner, it’s almost time for Minnesotans’ annual pilgrimage to the Northland! In its second year; the Pine to Prairie Fiber Arts Trail has a whole new line-up of exhibits, workshops, open studios, hands-on demos, maker sessions, woolen mill tours, our Annual Textile Artist Keynote Talk plus a community tree weave in Turtle River!

The word ‘headwaters’ is used a lot around here. Heading north and west out of Itasca before curling around in an easterly fashion; the Mississippi River flows through Lake Bemidji giving Bemidjians an honest right to call their home the ‘First City’ on the river.

Downtown Bemidji centers our trail this year. We’re so happy to have members’ work showcased for the whole month of April at Wild Hare Bistro & Coffee House starting on Friday, April 6th just in time for ‘First Friday Art Walk’. Artists will be there between 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. Work will be on exhibit through April 30, 2017.

During the Fiber Arts Studio Tour weekend on April 21 – 22; Tom Stillday will have his beadwork exhibited at Watermark Art Center. Betsy May and Clyde Estey are teaching traditional Native American quill work and basketry at Headwaters School of Music and Karen Goulet offers a drop-in maker session on Saturday titled, “On the Surface.” Bemidji Woolen Mills is offering two tours and the Beltrami County Historical Society has a jewel of a railroad depot (completely restored) featuring a permanent exhibit called “Baskets and Beads: Weaving Traditions.”

Kristin Majkrzak’s weaving studio is just down the street from Watermark. She’ll have four kinds of looms set up for those who want to give it a go and she’s doing a community weave/drawing!

If you’re looking for some great food Wild Hare’s menu is, of course, fabulous along with good coffee at Cabin Coffee House and Café, great breakfast at Minnesota Nice Café and the local brew at Bemidji Brewing. They have new digs, too.  If you’d like more info, click here: Visit Bemidji

Willow Wood Market Designs is just south of Bemidji (10 minutes). Bonnie’s shop and design studio is full of fiber-y needle work, quilt making and she has two fun maker projects ready for visitors to pull up a chair at the table.

Carrie Jessen and Patty Lovegreen are sharing studio space at Carrie’s Bear Den Handwovens west of Bemidji in Solway (15 min). Carrie weaves ‘voyageur-era’ blankets on floor looms and Patty needle felts, weaves and does a million other fiber arts activities. It’s always fun to see what she’s up to next.

Heading northeast out of Bemidji on Old 71, Keila McCracken’s new studio is hosting its Grand Opening! We’re doing a happy dance that Keila is hosting the OPENING this weekend. She’s also ‘warped some trees’ which if you know anything about fiber bombs and weaving, you’ll understand what this is all about. It’s a community tree weave and everyone is welcome to weave a bit of their imagination into the woods.

Further up the road in Tenstrike, Eve Sumsky’s studio is situated along the shores of Gull Lake. Eve is a basket weaver and you can never own just one of Eve’s lovely baskets. I would also like to thank Eve for her ‘great idea!’ for our Trail member exhibit at Wild Hare. Hats off to you, lady!

One more thing! Scott Knudsen of Lakeland Public TV filmed us last year and the documentary/episode of Common Ground will air one week before this year’s tour. It scheduled to first broadcast Thursday, April 13th at 7pm and it will repeat over the weekend into the next week on Lakeland’s Prime & Plus channels. Thank you, Lakeland Public TV and Scott!

See you soon!
Jenny

Click here for a Trail Map! 
p.s. Two of our Trail stops from last year’s event are not open this year. Northern Woolen Mills in Fosston closed and Marilyn Lee moved to beautiful land even farther up north.