ELY – After several years of subdued activity, Ely Greenstone Public Art organization is going through renewal and regeneration in 2022.
Founded in the late 1990s, the arts group was involved in producing several public art murals around the community and supported the installation of a greenstone art piece in Whiteside Park, along with sponsoring summer camps and a juried art show.
“Things kind of fell apart with the leadership,” said Judy Fredrickson. “They had a name change to the Ely Arts and Heritage Board to incorporate both the history and the arts in Ely, and continued with summer art camps and juried art shows until COVID hit. About a year ago they were looking for somebody to take over leadership, and I ended up taking over that role.”
The group of artists and supporters have been meeting in recent months developing a renewed list of events.
“We decided that it would be better for the arts (in the Ely area) to break off and have our own organization separate from the Ely Art and Heritage Board,” she said. “We organized into our own non-profit entity, and are working in conjunction with the Art and Heritage Board but are separate.”
The group is now known as Greenstone Arts.
The Greenstone Arts mission “is to enhance the quality of life in the Ely area by the creation of art, to provide educational opportunities for the benefit of the general public, and by fueling children’s interest in art.  We will create an environment encouraging our community of artists to utilize their talents to their fullest extent. “
Board members include: Sandy Brandley – chair; Scott King -vice chair; Claire Taylor – secretary; Judy Fredrickson – treasurer; John Weidemann - general maintenance; Muffin Nelson - Youth Art Camp Director; Sue Syverson- Youth Art Camp Director; and Cecilia Rolando and Barb Berglund as consultants.
“All of these people were at one time on the board of Ely Greenstone Public Arts, except for Cecilia, who was the director of Northern Lakes Arts Association,” Fredrickson noted.
Greenstone Arts activities planned for this summer at the Miners Dry building, located on the shore of Miner’s Lake across Pioneer Road from the Grand Ely Lodge, include the original Kids Art Camp with a new Teen Art Camp added (see separate story on Page 2).
The Ely Watercolor Club will host a show and sale at the Miner’s Dry building on July 20. 
Also in July, coinciding with the Ely Blueberry Art/Festival, Greenstone Arts will host a Fine Arts Show, featuring master arts painters Laura Ahola Young, Andy Messerschmidt, and Scott King, that will be held July 26-Aug. 3, featuring “Fine Art Paintings on Flat Surfaces,” “Meticulous Mark Making,” and “Shrines to Ornamental Ephemera.”
In September, coinciding with the Ely Harvest Moon Festival, Greenstone Arts will host their “Pottery, Pics and Poetry Show and Sale,” Sept. 7-14.
“Provocative photographs paired with pottery and evocative poems and prose to expand your understanding of our surrounding world,” Fredrickson said.
She said Greenstone Arts is looking to expand on the idea from the Ely Chamber of Commerce to add more arts activities around town in conjunction with the community’s major summer festivals.
“We hope to make Ely more of an arts destination,” Fredrickson said. “I think we have a good footing and are starting out slowly this summer to see how things go. We would like to do more workshops to expand the arts here.”