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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula May 3, 2005  Updated May 24, 2005 Text and photos on this page © 2005 Michele Anderson.

Calumet's Historic Vertin Building exhibits local art

By Michele Anderson

CALUMET -- Calumet's Historic Vertin Building, formerly a department store dating back to the copper boom era, recently celebrated its 120th birthday. On Friday, Apr. 29, the Vertin Gallery held a reception for local artist Phyllis Fredendall, instructor for the Finlandia University International School of Art and Design, and her students -- creators of an art installation titled "Stories and Place, a Celebration." At an Open House on Saturday, Apr. 30, and Sunday, May 1, the Gallery welcomed the public to view the work of several local artists, photographers and  writers, some of whom now have studios in the building.

The Finlandia art installation explores stories, maps and the relationship of place to memory. Fredendall  invited visitors to the Gallery and other local residents to share their own stories relating to Calumet, the Vertin Building, or the Lake Superior shore so that these personal memories could be collected in written form and "woven" into the exhibit. She hopes, eventually, to incorporate them into a publication.

Local Artist Phyllis Fredendall, left, and two of her students from the Finlandia University International School of Art and Design, Victor Harrington of Chassell and Lizzie Walkonen of Laurium, collected stories about  the Vertin Building and the local area, written on strips of cloth and hung from the ceiling of the Vertin Gallery for its recent Open House. The installation is titled "Stories and Place, a Celebration." (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)***

Just before the Open House weekend, Lizzie Walkonen of Laurium, one of Fredendall's art students, took some strips of cloth to Still Waters Assisted Living Community in Calumet and invited the senior citizens there to contribute their stories for the art installation.

"Once they got on a roll, the stories just kept flowing," Walkonen said.

She noted a story by Still Waters resident Lucille Nadeau, 96, who remembered getting into trouble when she rode the Vertin Building's man-operated elevator up and down. Another resident recounted being fascinated by the vacuum tubes that transported the money within the store.

"Several people have talked about the ghosts in the building," Walkonen added.

In fact, during the reception, visitor Nancy Sprague of Ripley commented, "I feel the spirits of the people wandering around this building, and they're smiling."

Betsi Arend of Eagle River, a student of fiber arts working under Fredendall at Finlandia, displayed her sculpture, "A 'Different' Nature," which depicts flowers without their petals.

Finlandia student of fiber arts, Betsi Arend of Eagle River, displays her final sculpture project, "A 'Different' Nature," which depicts flowers without their petals. Arend is also a gardener, who says her flowers are "willful little creatures with minds of their own." (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

The idea behind her sculpture project, Arend said, is the question, "What is our idea of beauty? Would flowers still be beautiful without their petals?"

In her humorous Artist's Statement for the exhibit, Arend says she is a gardener who is challenged by the behavior of her flowers and seeks to understand "their secret little lives to which, so far, [she is] not privy." The result is her creation of flowers without petals.

"When you take the petals away, they're kind of architectural. They have their own architecture, and we don't see that (because of the petals)," she explained as she pointed out examples of this in her exhibit.

Fredendall exhibited several of her own felt art works, including a large piece she calls "A Memory Map for the Community Church of Calumet." Its images were inspired by stories gathered through conversations with members of the church this winter. 

"I am grateful to them for their openness and their shared history," Fredendall writes in her description of the work, which summarizes the individual stories.

Exhibited in the Vertin Gallery is Phyllis Fredendall's felt "Memory Map for the Community Church of Calumet," which tells stories such as Grace Ivey's about moving to a house with a picket fence, Dale Yeo's recent discovery of the guitar as a source of joy and inspiration and Betty Boorman's account of her mother's birth in the 9th Street train depot. (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

Exhibited on the same wall with this large work are some small felt pieces, which are "Fissure Studies" of cracks in bedrock on the northeastern shore of Lake Superior and "Aerial Studies" conceived, Fredendall writes in her description, "while craning my neck to look out of airplane windows onto the ground below." She challenges visitors to determine which of the pieces are "Fissure Studies" and which are "Aerial Studies."

During the Apr. 29 reception and Open House in the Vertin Gallery, Ed Fisher of Lake Linden examines Phyllis Fredendall's felt pieces, "Fissure Studies" and  "Aerial Studies." (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

The felt pieces are made from wool fleece and handspun wool with silk yarns. 

"The felting process requires hot, soapy water and direct pressure and friction applied by hand. I learned this Scandinavian method in Kuopio, Finland, in 1997," Fredendall writes in her description.

During the reception, potter Ed Gray -- whose studio is on the second floor along with those of Abbey Green, stained glass artist, and painter Jack Oyler -- welcomed the public and talked about his work.

"This is where my ancestors were from," Gray said. "My grandfather moved here in 1840, and the family stayed here until 1919. This is like coming home for me."

During the reception and Open House in the Vertin Gallery on April 29, 2005, potter Ed Gray, left, chats with Mark Jindrich, Calumet resident. Gray's pottery is displayed in background. (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

On his Web site, Gray explains that his great-grandmother was Norwegian and his great-grandfather, Golden Hawk, was full-blooded Native American (an Ojibway from the Great Lakes Basin) who worked in both the native copper pits and the European-owned mines of the Keweenaw Peninsula.

"It was in 1964 that Chief Little Elk, Mount Pleasant, Michigan, gave me my native name, Jikiwe (my friend), so it is with that name that I sign my work in remembrance of who I am and where I came from," Gray notes on his site.*

The Gallery also displayed a number of books related to art from Artis Books in Calumet and publications of the new Vertin Press, including the award-winning Cliff Soundings, edited by Ed Gray and Calumet poet t kilgore splake. 

Built as a two-story structure in 1885, the Vertin Building added two more floors in 1900 during Calumet's copper boom era. During its days as a large department store, it offered everything from groceries, wallpaper, ready-to-wear and millinery to furniture, bedding and appliances. The building was vacant for many years after Vertin Bros. & Co. closed in the 1980s. The studio space opened in 2004.

Visitor Diane Sprague of Ripley summed up the mood of many visitors at the reception: "It's absolutely wonderful to see this great old building being used for something again, and I can't think of a better use than this." 

Current exhibitors include Sunny Anderson, Gordon Borsvold, Frank Dyl, Peter Fulayter, Ed Gray, Abbey Green, Jan Manniko, Edith Marshall, Jack Oyler, Adria Simpson, Splake, Fredi Taddeucci, Ellen Torola, Steve Uren, Vertin Press, Jane Van Evera, Dave Walli, Eric Munch and Kanak B. Nanavati.

Sculpture by Calumet artist Gordon Borsvold is on display in the Vertin Gallery. Borsvold makes most of his sculpture with recycled items.** (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

The Historic Vertin Building, with its Gallery, is located at 220 Sixth Street (on the corner of Sixth and Oak streets) in Calumet. Regular Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is closed Mondays.

The Historic Vertin Building's large windows display works of several local artists, some of whom have their studios in the building. (Photo © 2005 Michele Anderson)

For information about artist studio rentals in the Vertin Building, call Tim Lyons at 906-337-5224. 

Editor's Notes: *For more information about Ed Gray, his pottery, classes and workshops, visit his Web site.

** See Charlotte Templin's review of Gordon Borsvold's sculpture, published Oct. 7, 2004, on Keweenaw Now.

***See more photos of the Finlandia students' art installation on page 2.

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