North Shore Blue

How do you feel when you are near the lake? What people connect you to the lake and the North Shore? What secrets does Lake Superior hold for you?

These are the questions that Duluth-born, Twin Cities-based international artist Anne Labovitz is driven to answer through the North Shore Blue artworks. The artist was inspired by the vast sky and intense natural light found on the north shore of Lake Superior. All of the artworks were created specifically for the Holiday Center. For North Shore Blue Labovitz looked inward to draw upon her own feelings, memories, and impressions of growing up near Lake Superior, the north shore, and the City of Duluth.

The painted Tyvek® soars overhead, drawing the eye up. Labovitz aims to create a sense of awe and calm with this artwork. The up and down motion of the painted Tyvek® scrolls mimic waves. The colors represent feelings of comfort inspired by the lake, the night sky and the morning sunrise. A series of words, names, places, and fragments of childhood memories are incorporated into the artwork reflecting Labovitz’s Lake Superior stories.

North Shore Blue – Clouds

This is the first time she used the cloud technique. It is inspired by the vast sky and changing light found on the North Shore, with its intense lights and darks. North Shore Blue – Sky 5 x 21 feet Artwork printed on Vinyl Located adjacent to the Lyric Kitchen and Bar just above the entrance to Great Lakes Ballroom, these works are inspired by Labovitz’s series of Under the Night Sky paintings first created as a part of 122 Conversations. This artwork was created originally as an acrylic on Tyvek® painting.

North Shore Blue – Horizon (outside)

Artwork printed on Vinyl The outdoor window mural was first painted in watercolor on paper, then scanned and realized in vinyl for the outdoor windows of the Lyric Kitchen Bar. The artist has been captivated with the horizon ever since she can remember. Labovitz enjoys imagining Lake Superior beyond every hill she descends, even when she lived in the desert of New Mexico. The artworks shown in the atrium build on Labovitz’s previous, Duluth-based project 122 Conversations: Person to Person, Art Beyond Borders. The six-year project was organized by the Tweed Museum of Art and was a collaboration with the Duluth Sister Cities International and the University of Minnesota – Duluth, School of Fine Arts. It traveled to Duluth’s five Sister Cities Rania, Iraqi Kurdistan, Växjö, Sweden, Petrozavodsk, Russia, Thunder Bay, Canada and Ohara Isumi- City, Japan and is currently on display at the Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport. Labovitz hopes to provide delight and inspiration while evoking the vastness of Lake Superior and the north shore through these artworks. Labovitz utilizes color, light, and scale in her artwork to express her love of Lake Superior. This artwork was commissioned by the Holiday Center. The project was curated by Dr. Megan Arney Johnston.

Here is a little video of the Installation