Cover photo courtesy of Taryn Okesson

The City of Marquette Art Week (June 19-24) brings together local artists, arts organizations, and businesses to put on a week-long series of special events, concerts, workshops, performances, and demonstrations that will immerse visitors and locals alike. Check out the schedule below to start crafting your Art Week itinerary.

 

MONDAY, June 19th

Opening Sunrise Ceremony
McCarty’s Cove, Monday 5:45am

Experience the dawn of Art Week! Poetry reading by B.G. Bradley and sunrise photography by Bugsy Sailor.

 

Cultural Conversation: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Marquette Harbor Lighthouse Park (300 N Lakeshore Blvd.), Monday 12:00pm

A conversation about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the City and the Arts.
Made possible by Innovate Marquette SmartZone

 

Youth Plein Air Painting
Marquette Maritime Museum (300 N Lakeshore Blvd.), Monday 1:00pm-3:00pm

A free plein air painting workshop for children, materials provided. Free to attend.
Hosted by Liberty Children’s Art Project and the Marquette Maritime Museum

 

Make Our City
Marquette Harbor Lighthouse Park (300 N Lakeshore Blvd.), Monday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Contribute to the community-built installation “We Make Our City/Our City Makes Us” 

 

Drumming Circle
Marquette Harbor Lighthouse Park (300 N Lakeshore Blvd.), Monday 5:00pm

The Marquette Drumming Circle invites anyone who is interested in community drum circles to join in, or simply enjoy listening to, a community drum circle. Everyone is invited to participate, regardless of age or ability. The facilitator is Pastor Alex LaChapelle. Please bring a chair and a drum or rhythm instruments, if you have any. Some rhythm instruments will be available to use.

 

TUESDAY, June 20th

Second day of Art Week brings us to South Marquette. Play and dance at Hurley Park, but don’t forget to pop over near South Beach for a behind-the-scenes tour of Lake Superior Press!

Cultural Conversation: Housing & Neighborhoods
Hurley Park Basketball Court (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 12:00pm

How can your neighborhood help? – City Planners facilitate a discussion about housing options and local neighborhoods.

 

Pine Mountain Music Festival: Upstarts! Pop-Up Concert
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.) Tuesday 2:00pm-2:30pm

The Pine Mountain Music Festival UPstarts! features young emerging singers and instrumentalists from the Upper Peninsula.
Full Concert at NMU Reynolds Recital Hall at 7:30pm on June 20

 

Make Our City
Peter White Public Library (217 N Front St), Monday 9:30am-1:00pm
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Contribute to the community-built installation “We Make Our City/Our City Makes Us” 

 

Presses to Paper: Print Shop Tour
Lake Superior Press (802 South Lake St.), Tuesday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Tour behind-the-scenes at local business, Lake Superior Press. See how the Art Week magazine was made and explore the history of printing!

 

Kids Map Marquette
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 2:00pm-5:00pm

Liberty Children’s Art Project invites kids to map out their home. Inspired by the City Planning process, how do children navigate our City and what locations are significant landmarks to our local kids?

 

Senior Dance: Square Dance
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 4:00pm-5:00pm

City of Marquette Senior Services Manager Maureen McFadden leads a special Art Week session as part of the Senior Center’s Dance program! Learn the basics, then stick around for the family square dance beginning at 5:00pm. Open to ages 50+.

 

Family Square Dance with The Feltliners & Friends
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 5:00pm-6:30pm

Bring the family and learn how to square dance while listening to traditional music from historic times, performed by a live 5-piece band featuring local musicians including Janis Peterson and Dave Bett from the Marquette-based Feltliners band, with calling by Jo Foley. No experience necessary! More Info

 

Ethan Bott: Bringing It All Back Home
Hurley Park (240 Mesnard St.), Tuesday 7:00pm-9:00pm

Bring your picnic and lawn chairs for an evening of local tunes by Ethan Bott and other neighborhood musicians and artists!
*Alcohol Allowed in the Park, no glass containers 

 

WEDNESDAY, June 21st

Downtown Day is PACKED with creative fun! Start your day at the Marquette Commons with fun for the whole family and then explore the entire downtown with the return of Art Stroll. End your evening with a visit to the DDA Artisan Market, now hosted on the 100 block of Washington St. We’re lucky to have such an awesome downtown district! Wednesday of Art Week has been made possible through partnership and support of the Marquette Downtown Development Authority

Paint The Downtown with Love
MQT Commons (112 S Third St.), Wednesday 10:00am – 4:00pm

U.P. Children’s Museum hosts chalk art for the whole family, Supplies provided, all ages welcome.
Pre-registration recommended.

 

Home Made: Fiber Arts
MQT Commons (112 S Third St.), Wednesday 10:00am – 4:00pm

The Marquette County Quilters Association and Lake Superior Fiber Artists present a day of fiber art demonstrations and activities at the Marquette Commons! Bring your own projects and meet fellow fiber artists. Interactive demonstrations, displays, and more! Also be sure to check out the MCQA’s “Home Sweet Home” Quilting Challenge. Submit your home-inspired quilts for display during the event!

 

Cultural Conversation: The Role of Art in Building Communities
MQT Commons (112 S Third St.), Wednesday 12:00pm

How does art help us connect and create? Art Week’s Artist in Residence Amber Dohrenwend discusses her community built art installation project and experiences as an artist in communities all around the world. 

 

Make Our City
Marquette Commons (112 S Third Street), Wednesday 1:00pm-4:00pm
Niemisto Pocket Park (on Washington St), Wednesday 5:00pm-8:00pm

Contribute to the community-built installation “We Make Our City/Our City Makes Us” 

 

Haiku-ing Your Way Home
Peter White Public Library (217 N Front St.), Wednesday 1:00pm-3:00pm

Do you wish to capture that exquisite outdoor moment and a photo just doesn’t do it? Haiku poetry – 17 syllables in three lines – is the perfect form to express the essence of what you see and feel about the land and water that is your home. Learn how to start and make haiku with the UP Poet Laureate Barbara Matherne and volunteers from the UP Land Conservancy. Your poem could become part of the Chocolay Bayou Art Walk in August! Registration is encouraged at pwpl.info events page and/or uplandconservancy.org/events. Walk-ins are also welcome.

 

Downtown Marquette Art Stroll
Downtown District, Wednesday 4:00pm – 7:00pm

The Downtown Marquette Art Stroll returns with a host of local art studios, galleries, and businesses coming together to offer a wide array of pop-up artist installations, exhibits, demonstrations, live music, and activities for all ages! Attendees are encouraged to get out and explore, support businesses, and get to know local artists each step of the way.

Discover all of the Art Stroll Locations HERE

Make it a mission to find them all! Pick up your Passport to Home at Peter White public Library and get your passport stamped at the Art Stroll locations. Turn in your stamped passport by 7:00pm for a chance at prizes in the drawing.

 

WhoDat Brass @ BODEGA
BODEGA (517 N Third St.), Wednesday 5:00pm-8:00pm

WhoDat Brass is Marquette’s finest Mardi Gras parade band, featuring soulful favorites and originals alike by some really cool cats. From soulful, melodic trombone and vocals, to the whimsical soprano sax, pulsing bass lines and everything in between, WhoDat brings a special summer energy. Catch them in the BODEGA parking lot between 5:00pm-8:00pm.

 

Downtown Marquette Artists and Artisans Market
100 Block of W Washington Street, Wednesday 5:00pm – 8:00pm

The third annual Art Week Artists and Artisans Market will be hosted on the 100 block of Washington Street, featuring artist and artisan booths and other activities in an art fair setting. This Market includes and complements the weekly Wednesday Evening Market, which runs throughout the summer.

 

Concert on the Steps: Derrell Syria Project
Peter White Public Library Front Steps (217 N Front St.), Wednesday 7:00pm-8:00pm

Popular hometown band the Derrell Syria Project provides a concert for all lovers of music. Attend to find out the winners of the Passport to Home Art Week scavenger hunt.

 

THURSDAY, June 22nd

Discover the heritage and future of the North Shoreline on the fourth day of Art Week.

Cultural Conversation: Shoreline Restoration
Clark Lambros Beach Park (2401 N Lakeshore Blvd.) Thursday 12:00pm

Meet at the beach park and take a walking tour that will explore the sustainable and accessible shoreline. Learn about the City’s shoreline restoration project with Superior Watershed Partnership Director Carl Lindquist and City Engineer Mik Kipela

 

Cultural Conversation: The Women Who Made Marquette
Clark Lambros Beach Park (2401 N Lakeshore Blvd.), Thursday 5:00pm

Discover and discuss the women leaders of Marquette.

 

Bringing Our Hearts Home: A Celebration of Women
Clark Lambros Beach Park (2401 N Lakeshore Blvd), Thursday 6:00pm – 7:00pm

Join the Women’s Center in creating artwork that honors women.

 

Authors Reading Virtually: Homerun with Sandy Marchetti
PWPL Zoom, Thursday 7:00pm – 8:00pm

For Art Week’s Authors Reading Virtually, join celebrated poet Sandy Marchetti as she reads from her newly-released collection Aisle 228 about the Chicago Cubs, baseball on the radio, and baseball milestones, including the Cubs’ 2016 World Series Win.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86263758101?pwd=R1UxQVRSamt4Z1RNaGhXemR1NjVKZz09
Meeting ID: 862 6375 8101; Passcode: 580108

 

Marquette City Band: Home is Where the Music Is
Presque Isle Park Band Shell (1 Peter White Dr.), Thursday 7:30pm

As part of their 2023 Concert Season, the Marquette City Band presents Home is Where the Music Is, a special Art Week concert at the Presque Isle Bandshell.

 

FRIDAY, June 23rd

End of the work week and we’ll be celebrating near the New Piers in the Founders Landing neighborhood. Experience art en plein air with poetry on the pier, heART & music at the yacht club, a Hiawatha Music Co-Op concert at Father Marquette/Lions Lakeside park and the kickoff to the Fresh Coast Plein Air Painting Festival!

Cultural Conversation: Past, Present, and Future
Father Marquette Park (501 S Front St.), Friday 12:00pm

Dave Stensaas (City Planner) and Dan Truckey (Historian) discuss the development of the downtown shoreline.

 

Sailing Home with heART & music
Marquette Yacht Club (201 Main St.), Friday 2:00pm – 7:00pm

Art activities and live music hosted by The Gallery-MQT and the Marquette Yacht Club.

 

See My Heart, High Above My Home? Spirit Kite Workshop with Gene Bertram
Marquette Yacht Club (201 Main St.), Friday 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Go fly a spirit kite! Local artist Gene Bertram will lead a kite-making workshop, incorporating the painted colors and symbols of the individual spirit. We send our spirits high above our hometown so all can see who we are, what makes us unique, and what we love about our hometown.

 

Poetry on the Pier
New Piers (S Lakeshore Blvd.), Friday 5:30pm-6:30pm

Dylan Trost plays a set of original songs and provides a musical background for the poetry of Russell Thorburn, the first UP Poet Laureate. This hour-long performance will be the first of its kind on the newly built south pier next to the Lower Harbor Ore Dock and behind the Hampton Inn, and also feature poetry and the percussive styling of Gary Schils of Petoskey, a former Marquette resident.

 

The Way Back Home
Lions Lakeside/Father Marquette Park (102 E Baraga), Friday 7:00pm-9:00pm

To celebrate their home, the Hiawatha Music Co-op is presenting a concert by three local folk groups with Marquette Harbor as the backdrop. The evening’s show will feature folk-grass stalwarts The Union Suits, the duo of John Gillette and Sarah Mittlefehldt and singer-songwriter Daniel Truckey. Bring a blanket, lawn chairs and a picnic and enjoy the tunes.

 

Fresh Coast Plein Air Painting Festival
Headquartered at Provisions (401 S Lakeshore Blvd.), Friday 5:00pm-10:00pm

On the evening of Friday, June 23, “Dusk to Dark” will be held. Artists who choose
to participate in Dusk to Dark must register and get their canvases stamped that evening at
Provisions MQT. Once completed, pieces must be turned in that evening by 10:00 pm.
Emphasis should be placed on capturing the evening light, sunset, nighttime cityscapes, etc.
Paintings will be safely stored inside Provisions.

For entry details click HERE

 

SATURDAY, June 24th

The final day of Art Week will be hosted at Marquette’s most impressive and cherished piece of natural art: Presque Isle Park. We invite you out to the island to experience an art fair, music, art installations and more. Take a walk around the trails or explore the inner park, filled with dramatic scapes and tiny beauties, dwell in the gratitude that we get to call this place home.

awakening: Art Installation
Presque Isle Park Band Shell Lawn, Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm

A wire and thread art installation by Kristine Granger.

 

SSA Chamber Players: Nidification
Presque Isle Park (Near the Ice Cream store), Saturday 11:00am-11:45pm

Superior String Alliance Chamber Players improvise a musical soundtrack to the notion of nest building. A nest is a home that many different animals build for themselves and their young. Birds, insects, mammals, amphibians, and reptiles have a distinctive style of nest building that incorporates using organic materials in their immediate environment, the most common material being plant matter. Nest building reinforces social behavior, allowing for larger populations in small spaces to increase the carrying capacity of an environment.

 

Mapping Home
Presque Isle Ice Cream Store Pavilion (1 Peter White Dr.), Saturday 11:00am-3:00pm

Liberty Children’s Art Project invites kids to draw an architectural schematic of their home. Laid out with how children view their own home, or perhaps rooms they wish were part of their home, City Planners can learn how children perceive and value the types of homes in which the kids live.

 

Presque Isle Art Fair
Niik Creative Co. (2905 Island Beach Rd.), Saturday 11:00am-6:00pm

Explore the artist studios and an art fair on the lawn featuring local artists from across the U.P. in a variety of mediums. Live music by local musicians, food trucks, and more!

 

Home, the Pottery Way
Moosewood Nature Center (2 Peter White Dr), 12:00pm – 4:00pm

Local potter Carl Wozniak will have a wheel set up outside of Moosewood Nature Center, offering pottery demonstrations. All ages are welcome to come try their hand at pottery throwing!

 

Cultural Conversation: Time, Place, Memory
Presque Isle Park Sign, Saturday 12:00pm

Installation artist Kristine Granger and Presque Isle Park Sign artist Sherri Loonsfoot-Aldred lead a conversation about the role of art in communicating stories and identity.

 

Nanda-Gikendan Abi (seeking to learn, to be at home)
Presque Isle Park Sign, Saturday 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Keweenaw Bay Indian Community members Sherri Loonsfoot-Aldred and her daughter Aiyana Aldred will have an artists workshop/conversation centered on strengthening familial and cultural connections through language and art.

 

MSO Summer Strings: Home Sweet Music
Presque Isle Park Bandshell, Saturday 7:00pm

The Marquette Symphony Orchestra Summer Strings present a special performance featuring string selections by composers with Marquette connections.

 

INSTALLATIONS & EXHIBITS June 19-24

The final day of Art Week will be hosted at Marquette’s most impressive and cherished piece of natural art: Presque Isle Park. We invite you out to the island to experience an art fair, music, art installations and more. Take a walk around the trails or explore the inner park, filled with dramatic scapes and tiny beauties, dwell in the gratitude that we get to call this place home.

We Make Our City, Our City Makes Us
Deo Gallery, City Arts & Culture Center (217 N Front St.)

“We Make Our City/Our City Makes Us” is an interactive cardboard installation that will be built throughout the month of June by City of Marquette Art Week 2023 Artist in Residence – Amber Dohrenwend. The completed installation will then be on display in July in the City’s Deo Gallery (Marquette Arts & Culture Center on the Lower Level of Peter White Public Library). The sculpture will be built with cardboard strips, cut from bicycle boxes sourced in our community, and staplers will be used to hold the strips together.
Learn more and Participate >>>

 

Home
Rosewood Walkway (215 S Front St.)

Created by artist Audrey Seilheimer, this installation of tiny homes make up a neighborhood that will honor local iconic buildings and tell the history of Marquette.

 

At Our Table, All Are Welcome
Daily Art Week Locations

Gather around the table and connect with your community. The dining set will be relocated each day of Art Week. Each chair and the central table are painted by local artists. Project led by Lynn Buckland Brown.

 

Ore Dock – Painting by Gene Bertram
City of Marquette Arts & Culture Center (217 N Front St.)

The original piece used for the cover of this year’s Art Week Magazine is on display!

 

Art Stroll Community Art Downtown
Art Stroll Participating Businesses

Discover locally made art throughout the downtown district all week long! Find the full list of participating locations HERE

 

awakening: Temporary Art Installation
Presque Isle Park Band Shell Lawn, Saturday 11:00am-10:00pm

Wire and thread art installation by Kristine Granger.

Pieces of Home – Paintings by Gene Bertram
City Hall, (300 W Baraga Ave.)

The art of Gene Bertram is on display at City Hall. Inspired by maritime scenes and the Ore Dock structure, this collection of impressionist technique oil paintings capture glimpses of our home now lost to time.
Gene Bertram is the artist of the work used for the cover of the Art Week Magazine.

 

Mary Biekkola Wright: A Retrospective 1986-2011
Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center, NMU Gries Hall

An artist, activist and believer in the power of public art, Mary led dozens of towns and hundreds of individuals in projects that would transform their communities.

 

HOME
Ore Dock Brewing Co. (114 W Spring St.)

Darn Good Art and Ore Dock Brewing Co. present HOME, a community art exhibit in the ODBC Community Space! This exhibit will be on display from June 19 – June 26. Local artists are encouraged to submit 1-2 pieces for display, all mediums accepted. For more information, visit the call to artists.

 

North of the 45th
DeVos Art Museum, NMU Art & Design Building

An annual juried exhibition of artists living in the geographical area north of the 45th parallel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

 

Exposing Photography: Anything but a Small Business
Marquette Regional History Center, 145 W Spring St.

Follow the development of commercial photography in Michigan’s central Upper Peninsula.

 

Public Gallery Program
Peter White Public Library, 217 N Front St.

June/July Art Exhibits:

Pandemic Hobby Gone Wild – Jody Trost
Pop – Joel Siegel