Celebrating Lake Superior Day

IRONWOOD, MI - Thursday, July 15, 2010 - The opening of a major art exhibition at the Ironwood Theatre Center for the Arts is tied to the celebration of Lake Superior Day on July 18, an event held in areas around the entire lake basin each year. Lake Superior Day is an opportunity to participate in a morning cleanup of lake beaches, gather in parks for a picnic lunch, and in the afternoon, fly kites or take in other activities at the lake.

The formal opening of the art exhibition Inspired by the Lake, begins earlier at 6:00 PM on Saturday, July 17 with traditional Anishinabe water and pipe ceremonies honoring the lake and sharing its importance with the regional Native American community. The evening includes the first public opportunity to meet the artist who created the artwork on display.

Featured in this inaugural showing of the exhibit which will tour for three years are 33 large format watercolor paintings of Lake Superior, views from above, on, and below the surface of the lake and along its shoreline. The paintings are the culmination of a three year project to depict the big lake in its many moods and settings and are the work of Peg Sandin, an artist living at Little Girls’ Point, Michigan.

Property owners and others who use the lake to recreate are encouraged by the Lake Superior Binational Forum to walk stretches of shoreline on the third Sunday of July each year which the Forum has designated as the annual cleanup day around the entire lake. In the Ironwood, Michigan area the day includes kite building workshops starting at 1:00 PM at Saxon Harbor, Wisconsin, and Little Girls’ Point and Black River Harbor in Michigan. Kite materials and building instructions will be avilable free of charge to persons of any age interested in building a kite. Participants are encouraged to bring their own kites to fly.

Beginning at 7:00 PM, also on July 18, the theater hosts a documentary film festival on Lake Superior. Included in the film list is a showing of the movie Paddle-to-the-Sea a film adaptation of the Caldecott Award winning book of the same title written in 1941 by noted children’s author Holing C. Hollings. Among other films to be shown are an underwater exploration of the wreck of the Great Lakes vessel Emperor which lies 200 feet below the surface of Lake Superior's chilling waters off Isle Royale, an award winning film on issues surrounding a proposed sulfide mining operation in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and a movie on surfboarding the Upper Great Lakes during the stormy autumn and winter months. There is no admission charge to attend any of these events.

Among other activities scheduled during the three week run of the exhibit are a forum on Lake Superior sponsored by the Sigurd Olson Environmental Institute and Lake Superior Binational Forum beginning at 6:30 PM on Thursday, July 22. The evening opens with an opportunity for the public to record personal comments on issues relating to Lake Superior. Those comments will be compiled and sent to legislators and organizations having direct ties to the lake. At 7:00 PM, experts will be present to lead discussions on the history, health and future of the big lake.

On Tuesday, July 22, at 7:00 PM, Peg Sandin will conduct a gallery walk through the Inspired by the Lake exhibit and discuss how the lake has her influenced her work.

The a cappella group Sons of the Voyageur, Les fils du Voyageur, will close out activities on Thursday, July 29 with a 7:00 PM program of songs , stories, and images of the centuries old Great Lakes fur trade. Admission to the event is $8.00 for adults and $5.00 for students.

The Ironwood Theatre is located at 113 East Aurora Street, Ironwood, Michigan. Exhibit viewing hours are from noon to 3:00 PM, Mondays through Saturdays. Inspired by the Lake closes on Saturday, August 7 with a last opportunity to view the artwork from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. For more information contact the Ironwood Theatre at 906/932-0118 during normal business hours. Additional information is also available at the website: www.ironwoodtheatre.net.