Jessica Morgan, Author at Perfect Duluth Day

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Jessica Morgan Posts

Selective Focus: Dunedinville

Dec 16, 2024 No Comments

A few families in the Hunters Park neighborhood created Dunedinville during the pandemic when the only way to roam Bentleyville was by car. This past weekend, they gathered for the fifth year in a row, celebrating the holiday season in multiple yards. The gathering has grown since its first iteration and now includes its own website, podcast, origin story, board game, theme songs, live music and a comic book. The celebration is “famous for its killer sled tracks, fueled by in-house ice and snow-making capabilities.” Check out some of their slick slopes, light fixtures and moments from this year.

Random Christmas, Hunters Park, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Boubville 2024

Dec 14, 2024 No Comments

Boubville — not at all to be confused with Bentlyville; that would never happen — is a winter celebration that takes place on a property in Duluth’s Central Hillside neighborhood. In addition to the musicians performing, some of the artistic experiences this year include an interactive phonebooth called “Bent-to-Boub InterOpterative Phones” by Swertyman, “Ghosts of Dinners Past” by Annmarie Genuisz, “Silent Crude” projections by Allen Killian-Moore, a gift shop to peruse, a blacklight forest, an interactive electronic instrument made by Digetic and Ginger Juel, and more. Collected here are some snapshots captured by Jess Morgan at the first two nights of the 2025 spectacle.

Art, Photos Annmarie Geniusz, Blacklight, Boubville, Christmas, Daniel Benoit, Jess Morgan, Joy and Melancholy, Judas Bardon, Sabrina Wertman, Selective Focus, Seven Seeds Inc, Swertyman, The Quilz, Whispered the Rabbit

Selective Focus: Swerty’s Visual Art

Dec 03, 2024 No Comments

Behind the scenes putting together the layout of Duluth-based zines and poetry collections is a visual artist creating works in several mediums. Sabrina Wertman, or Swerty, has paintings and other artwork available at Alt Creative, The Loch Cafe and Games, and recently had a display up at Wussow’s Concert Cafe. They created the poster for the 2024 Boubville event, where attendees can interact with a new art installation they’re curating. Their visual art can continuously be found in issues of On the Record, a local arts zine that they contribute comics and complete the layout process for. Photos of their artwork and an interview with Swerty can be found below.

Art Boubville, Comics and Cartoons, Duluth Poetry Chapter, On the Record, Sabrina Wertman, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Clowns, Jesters and Mimes

Nov 21, 2024 No Comments

A group of clowns at Cherry Koch’s clown karaoke birthday celebration at The Embassy. Photo by Jess Morgan.

Various arts experiences featuring clowns, mimes, jesters and circus-inspired shenanigans are having a moment in the Twin Ports arts scene. Some of those fools happen to be on the payroll at Perfect Duluth Day, which makes it the perfect journalistic inside-job for a feature marking the 10-year anniversary of PDD’s Selective Focus arts feature.

Art Clowning, LGBTQIA2S+, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Aaron Reichow’s Duluth Music Scene Photos

Apr 25, 2024 No Comments

Self portrait of Aaron Reichow, shot in a mirror at the Blush nightclub in 2022.

Aaron Reichow started taking photos of the Duluth music scene around 2014 when one of his favorite bands, Low, was doing a residency at Fitger’s Brewhouse. The band’s music got him through “a lot of periods of my life,” Reichow said. Low was set to play all of their songs in a random order across several Thursdays around the same time Reichow’s youngest child was starting to sleep through the night. “In my marriage, I did most of the child care, all the bedtimes,” he described. “And when they started to get older, I thought ‘well, I can go out again without feeling guilty.’” A practice in photography helped him reclaim the intention of going out again. And with time, his hobby turned into a professional art form. Read more about his work in the interview below.

Music, Photos Aaron Reichow, Photographers, Selective Focus

Screaming at Lake Superior

Apr 01, 2024 No Comments

Last year, Duluthians gathered behind Leif Erickson Park to scream at Lake Superior. The April Fools’ Day screaming session was initiated by Ryan Glenn. “I originally posted the event […] to be sort of a joke, so in case it flopped it was on April 1,” they said.

Videos Lake Superior

Selective Focus: Masha Conner’s Character Drawings & Pro-Choice Art

Nov 09, 2023 No Comments

When Masha Conner isn’t working as a nurse at WE Health clinic, she can be found pouring her passion for abortion access, drag shows and cosplay into her character designs. A collection of her drawings and a recent interview can be read below:

Art HOTDISH Militia, Masha Conner, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Maelo Cruz’s Comics and Paintings

Nov 01, 2023 No Comments

Photo by Jess Morgan

A few years after moving to Minnesota, Maelo Cruz self-published a 64-page comic called “Part Timer,” about a character who “dreams of being a full time artist while working a regular job that sucks the life right out of them.” His artwork is primarily autobiographical and self-reflective, giving viewers a glimpse of his experience living and growing up in Puerto Rico and fatherhood. View and learn more about his comics, below.

Art Comics and Cartoons, Maelo Cruz, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Kathryne Ford’s Paintings, Prints and Visual Art

Oct 27, 2023 No Comments

Photo by Nia Sayler.

Duluthians who love the local music scene may have stumbled across Kathryne Ford dancing with her acrylics while live painting. Ford performs most Tuesdays at the Rathskeller with jazz group the Hot Club of Duluth. A collection of Ford’s work called “See the Bloom” is on display at Wussow’s Concert Cafe through the end of October. Below is a recent interview and some snapshots of her artwork.

Art Kathryne Ford, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Brittany Plachecki

Oct 10, 2023 No Comments

Applying their studies in art history, excitement for horror and queer theory, Brittany Plachecki creates colorful character designs. One of their most recent projects was co-founding Pride Walks Superior, a collaborative initiative to get LGBTQIA2S+ youth involved in an affirming, creative, and kid-friendly-setting. Pride Walks also helped introduce young artists to the process of doing gallery shows, documenting their work, and selling it. Brittany’s pieces are perfect for getting into the spirit of fall and spooky season. View photos of their art and a recent interview about their work below:

Art Brittany Plachecki, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Friends of the Light

Feb 11, 2023 No Comments

An animated projection project called Friends of the Light centers around visual art created by Emily Koch and Tara Austin. Their brush strokes were recorded, animated and enhanced by Daniel Benoit to be displayed at Bayfront Festival Park’s ice rink. The projection display, which skaters can view as they access the warming shelter for free, was organized with the support of the Duluth Public Arts Commission, and Duluth’s City Parks and Recreation Department. Below is an interview with Benoit, as well as photos of the process and first night of the event.

Art Cherry Koch, Daniel Benoit, Ice Skating, Projections, Tara Austin, Visual Art

Selective Focus: Boubville 2022

Dec 16, 2022 No Comments

Ollie Morris (left) helped curate the tree (behind) that’s spoofing the one found at Bentleyville. (Photo by Jess Morgan)

Described as a “punk version of Bentleyville,” Boubville is a winter celebration centered around connection and play between artists as they imitate the light displays found the Bentlyville “Tour of Lights.” The event is also functioning as a fundraiser for the Embassy art collective. Despite the recent blizzard, Duluthians looking to connect and dance still made it over to the first night of Boubville.

Art Aaron Reichow, Bentleyville, Boubville, Christmas, Daniel Benoit, Sadkin, Selective Focus, The Embassy

Selective Focus: Mana Bear Bolton’s Paintings and Murals

Dec 09, 2022 No Comments

Mana Bear Bolton live painting on Tower Avenue in Superior in August 2021. (Photo by Jess Morgan)

Between colorful murals, acrylic paintings of beloved pets, playful watercolors and flow arts, Mana Bear has been making the Twin Ports region and beyond more beautiful for nearly a decade. Learn more about Mana’s work in the interview below.

Art Mana Bear Bolton, Murals, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: Murals and Art by Taylor Rose

Nov 20, 2022 No Comments

Taylor Rose has attended more than 100 art festivals and his murals can be found spread out in the Duluth area, througuout the United States and in Brazil. Working with a variety of mediums, he has been creating pieces since he “was old enough to hold a pencil,” starting out by drawing Pokémon and cartoons in the flavor of Calvin and Hobbes. He can be reached at rose_oner98 @ gmail.com, with his art found at divergingrosedesigns.com, on Instgram at both @rose_oner and @divergingrose, and on TikTok @drosedesigns. Rose occasionally accepts commissions, continuously seeking to do work he finds “inspiring and lets me have creative freedom.” His clothing, prints, stickers, canvas and more can be found for sale on his website. Below are words from a recent interview with Rose and some of his work.

Art Murals, Selective Focus

Selective Focus: The Chief Buffalo Memorial Mural

Sep 13, 2022 No Comments

The Chief Buffalo Mural Project is a collaboration between project manager and artist Moira Villiard alongside lead artists Michelle Defoe, Awanagiizhik Bruce, and Sylvia Houle, the Duluth Indigenous Commission, Zeitgeist Center for Arts, American Indian Movement Twin Ports Support Group, and descendants of Chief Buffalo.

An unveiling of the project is scheduled in Gichi-ode’ Akiing (formerly Lake Place Park) along the Duluth Lakewalk from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14, complete with food and an opportunity to meet the artists.

We’ve asked Villiard to share more about the project:

Art Moira Villiard, Murals, Selective Focus