ARTS & CULTURE

Eckels Pottery and Fine Craft Gallery

arts From painters, jewelers, potters, sculptors to woodworkers and performers, Bayfield’s high quality art scene is worth celebrating. Join us in Bayfield on September 10 and 11, 2022 for the annual

Festival of the Arts and Gallery Tour. The event kicks off Art Escape, a nine-day celebration of "all things art" across Bayfield

County and Madeline Island.

Experience the arts through demonstrations, open houses, and create your own masterpiece through a class.

Come see why so many are inspired by the natural beauty of Lake Superior and create your own Art Escape during this week long art extravaganza.

The fresh scenery Lake Superior provides has allowed the Bayfield Peninsula to become a hub for artisans near and far. It’s why Bayfield is home to the oldest pottery in Wisconsin, Eckels Pottery and Fine Craft Gallery. It was first known as the ‘Pot Shop’ when Bob Eckels opened the doors in 1960. He took on apprentices, started the art department at Northland College in Ashland, helped start Bayfield Artist Guild and tri-state Art Fair while promoting many local artists. Now, his daughter Dede is carrying on her father’s legacy by making functional and one of a kind handmade pottery with her husband Pete. The studio is open for visitors to watch the pottery process and features at least 30 local and regional artists in the gallery.

Lissa Flemming of Silverwaves Jewelry opened her jewelry gallery along historic Rittenhouse Avenue in Downtown Bayfield in 2016. In 2021 she moved to a much bigger location along Bayfield’s Main Corridor, with even bigger plans. Now, she’s hosting jewelry making classes for the community in her new Workshop 46.8° N with the goal of building the arts community by offering classes and connecting with other artists and local businesses near and far. If you are an artist interested in teaching a class, please contact Lissa Flemming at info@silverwaves.net.

Three miles north of Bayfield the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will welcome you to Miskwaabekong (Red Cliff). It’s known for its red cliffs along the shores of Gitchigami (Lake Superior) and as a fishing community. A stop at the Red Cliff Fish Company will show you why. Their variety of the fresh fish such as whitefish, lake trout, walleye and lake herring all caught in Lake Superior will give you a taste. Take a hike through the Frog Bay Tribal National Park, the first tribal national park in the United States. The rare boreal forest ecotype, coastal wetlands and underdeveloped sand beach is an unequaled wilderness experience on the Bayfield Peninsula. You can see five of the Apostle Islands from the park, Oak Island, Hermit Island, Stockton Island, Bear Island, and Michigan Island. The 1.7 mile rustic trail system, interpretive signs and bridges will leave you feeling

more connected with nature and the Red Cliff community. Be immersed in Anishinaabe culture Gaa-Miskwaabikaangculture the first weekend of July at the Red Cliff Annual Pow Wow. The celebration is free, and open to the public and features educational cultural demonstrations and booths, singing and dancing, canoe races and dinghy races, and traditional games such as the moccasin game. Stay right where all the action is at Legendary

Waters Resort and

Casino, and be sure to try a locally distilled cocktail at Copper Crow Distillery, the first Native American owned distillery in the United States. There’s something to do in every season.