When Jane Johnson painted her office magenta, her colleagues had to wonder. There was talk of never letting her wield a paintbrush again. Now, however, the hue seems fitting. It’s as bright as the future of the Grand Marais Art Colony.

In her two years as executive director, Johnson has applied her business know-how to grow Minnesota’s oldest art colony. Membership and course enrollment is up and a $180,000, 3,065 square-foot expansion more than doubled functional studio space in June. “Right now we’re just rocking,” says Johnson.

The Illinois native was a part-time Grand Marais resident until she moved north for good five years ago. She served as an art colony volunteer and board member for three years before the staff position opened. Her background is in business and real estate appraisal, though lately she’s acquired new skills. As the colony’s only paid employee, she assumes the role of receptionist and custodian, budget strategist and marketing director. The colony has a 12-member board, and she works with its treasurer to plan the $80,000 per year budget.

Johnson is at the helm of a new era for the art colony, one that, to be fully appreciated, must be seen in the context of its history.

A look back

Bernie Quick, a faculty member at the Minneapolis School of Art, founded the Grand Marais Art Colony in 1947. He grew up in Proctor and Duluth, where he graduated from Denfeld High School in 1930 and later taught at The College of St. Scholastica. Enamored with the northern landscape, Quick proposed the Minneapolis school offer a summer painting retreat in Grand Marais.

Though the art colony was regarded as a success, the Minneapolis school pulled its funding in 1958, as it focused efforts on becoming an accredited college. (Today, it operates as the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.)

Rather than see it close, Quick and his colleague and friend Byron Bradley stepped in and privatized the art colony. They ran it as a business, charging tuition for summer art classes to cover expenses. After 1958, the Minneapolis school still allowed students to earn credit at the colony and occasionally donated equipment.

After stints in the old town hall building and Maple Hill School, the colony found a permanent home in 1963. Quick and Bradley purchased the former St. John’s Catholic Church, which was an ideal studio with its large windows and good northern light. The colony remains there today.

Quick died in 1981. Bradley and Quick’s wife Marion tried to keep the colony going but were overwhelmed. To keep the colony alive, Quick’s friends and the Grand Marais community helped organize nonprofit Grand Marais Arts, Inc. to manage the colony and be eligible for grants.

According to Johnson, the art colony has helped define Grand Marais’ identity, speculating the thriving fine arts community there is the result of the colony. She isn’t alone in that opinion.

University of Minnesota scholar Colleen Sheehy examined the colony’s past in a 1997 article in Minnesota History, writing: “Grand Marais probably has more original art per capita than any other town in Minnesota … The art colony has helped reshape Grand Marais as a place where artists live year round.”

Still evolving

This year marks some exciting changes at the art colony, including new facilities and expanded class offerings.

In June, students got a look at the new studio building for the first time. Ground was broken for the project on Nov. 15, 2004, on the colony’s property behind the church. The board of directors had discussed expansion for nearly a decade, but only got serious about it in fall 2003.

Working with an architect and studio consultants, board members helped design the building. The first floor houses fused glass and ceramic studios. The second floor has a general meeting area and a nontoxic printmaking studio. The third floor, with its spectacular view and slanted skylights, was built without a specific function. The art colony knew it was the time to “build up” if they ever needed more space. Potential plans for the space included renting it as artist studios or as an apartment for artists-in-residence.

A bequest from a former colony artist and a grant from the McKnight Foundation funded part of the project. A small mortgage covered the rest.

The studios will require equipment, including kilns, pottery wheels and a printing press. They already have some items, and Johnson hopes to be fully equipped in three years.

A timely donation by the family of a former student brought them closer to that goal. James Rhude donated more than $16,000 in memory of Muriel Shirey for an etching press. The purchase has enabled the colony to open its nontoxic studio ahead of schedule.

Another generous contribution has helped the art colony pay for the completion of the third floor. The family of C.C. Graham donated $23,000 and had the space named for her. Graham, now deceased, used to travel to Grand Marais for workshops each summer.

The additional space has helped to boost this summer’s schedule to 37 workshops from 12 last year. Johnson says workshop enrollment is up 40 percent from last year and membership has nearly doubled to about 300.

Most workshops are week-long; average cost is $350 (less for art colony members), though some have additional supply costs. Class offerings include oil and watercolor painting, fused and stained glass, illustration, printmaking, ceramics and beading. Children’s classes feature kid-friendly projects such as making mosaics or mobiles. Average class size is 12 and students are responsible for their own housing.

Arna Rennan, Kelly Dupre and Hazel Belvo are just a few of the established artists teaching this summer. Their students represent an eclectic group of amateurs and professionals from all over the region. For most it’s a retreat; others earn college credit.

In addition to classes, the colony sponsors two annual summer events. The Grand Marais Arts Festival (July 9-10) is a juried art fair featuring regional artwork for sale. In late summer, the Annual Pleine Aire Competition (Sept. 6-10) sends artists out into nature to paint. The artwork is judged then put on display, much of it for sale. In its third year, the competition continues to grow in popularity among both spectators and artists.

The art ‘colonists’

The art colony’s roster of former instructors and students reads like a “Who’s Who” in northern Minnesota art: George Morrison, Howard and Liz Sivertson, Betsy Bowen, Tom McCann … the list goes on. But it’s not the names and reputations that keep students returning - it’s the deeply personal way artists connect to the art colony and to Grand Marais.

For Duluth artist Lisa Stauffer Steinke, a trip to the colony each summer was a childhood tradition. When her mother Donna Stauffer took classes, the whole family accompanied her on the trip north from Minneapolis.

Steinke enrolled in kid-oriented classes. Later, she and her mother had the privilege of taking a pleine aire watercolor course from founder Bernie Quick.

Stauffer was a “lifetime devotee” of the art colony, says Steinke. When Stauffer died in November 2003, family and friends gathered in the main studio of the art colony for her memorial service. Her art hung on the walls of the former church, surrounding the mourners.

“(The art colony) has a huge and committed following. People just love the place,” Steinke says.

And with the recent addition, there is more to love. Johnson aims to sustain the growth she’s seen in membership and enrollment. She has a capital campaign underway and hopes for grant money to help equip the new building and keep things running. Without a large industrial and business base in Cook County, she says the art colony misses the local corporate support that other arts organizations enjoy. It’s only with such dedicated members that the colony has survived and thrived, she says.

Julia Durst is a Duluth freelance writer.

Grand Marais Art Colony

Grand Marais

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