DULUTH — If you search the internet for "en plein air painting," you'll see lots of images of fields, trees and streams. Maybe you'll spot an occasional dock, or shed. Grace Borell has done landscapes like that, but the French term simply means "painting out of doors.
" That was exactly what Borell was doing Thursday afternoon as she set up a small easel next to Duluth's pro-Palestine encampment. Borell continued to paint as she spoke with a reporter, mixing oil colors to capture an orange-yellow tent and a red canopy under which a couple people were sitting in the shade. "One of my main goals is storytelling," she said, "and obviously, there's a really major story to tell here.
" The camp has grown since May 1, when organizers erected tents in Priley Circle near Duluth City Hall and other government buildings, with another group planting stakes at the Rose Garden in Leif Erikson Park. The protesters are calling on elected officials at all levels of government to stand against Israel's ongoing invasion of Gaza. "You can see in the paintings," Borell pointed out, "it started out as just a couple tents on the yard, and it's grown to this.
" ADVERTISEMENT Organizer Keitin Schmitz said that as of last week, about 60 people were participating in the demonstration, with around 20 staying overnight on any given night. Among numerous such demonstrations across the country, said Schmitz, the Duluth encampment stands out for its proximity to the center of local decision-making. "There was one that started in L.
A. outside of the City Hall there, but that got swept — which is, forcibly removed by law enforcement — before the first night even came to conclusion," said Schmitz. One of Borell's paintings features a protester sitting near a tent in front of the county courthouse and the sculpture "Patriotism Guards the Flag," a knight overlooking Priley Fountain.
"I wanted the narrative to be, the (county) building in the background and the presence of the camp with this government presence," said Borell. Borell, who described the protester in that painting as "a fellow ally," is unambiguously in solidarity with the demonstration's goals. "It is in line with my humanitarian needs and my artistic vision," she said about her work documenting the encampment.
The demonstration began three days before Borell's graduation from the Great Lakes Academy of Fine Art, where she completed a four-year classical training program. The academy stands across Mesaba Avenue from the Civic Center, just a 15-minute walk. "The camp caught my attention," said Borell.
"I just started painting, got involved and started developing relationships with people here." Schmitz said that Borell's paintings, and the attention they've drawn, have helped the demonstrators to break out of the media "echo chambers" in which people only encounter political views they already align with. "It makes (our message) harder for people to ignore," said Schmitz.
ADVERTISEMENT Borell has completed somewhere between several and a dozen paintings of the encampment, depending on who you ask. Schmitz guessed higher than the artist, who said she only tends to count "the ones I like, versus the ones I don't like." The artist works quickly.
"Because of the nature of the way I'm painting, I only have a couple hours to capture something before the light fades," she explained. "There have been some paintings I've taken back into my home studio and developed a little bit more," using a photo of the scene as a reference. Borell's goal is to keep her encampment paintings together, rather than selling or otherwise parting with them individually.
"It's a collection," she said. "It's the story." She does, however, plan to make prints of some of the pieces to sell at Falastin, Duluth's new Palestinian deli.
"I'm really hoping those profits end up going to people in Gaza," Borell said. "Long after they remove the encampment, the paintings are going to be around," reflected Schmitz, who said the response to Borell's work among the protesters has been "overwhelmingly good. .
.. It's definitely inspired more people to come around.
" Borell, who is originally from St. Paul and has moved back to the Twin Cities since finishing her program of study, still returns to Duluth frequently to participate in the demonstration and continue her painting there. "I want it to be a story of hope and perseverance," she said.
"There's a lot of people that care, even though it doesn't always seem like it, and that's why this camp is still standing: because people care." Another of Borell's paintings features a "one way" traffic sign in the foreground, juxtaposed with a protest sign designating a "liberated zone." ADVERTISEMENT "There's this sense that there's this binary in the world, and there's only one way to do things," Borell explained.
"I think that this stands for a different way to do things." The artist said she's glad she decided to come to study in Duluth straight after high school graduation. "I'm really grateful that I got to learn what I've learned," she said as she painted.
"I wouldn't be here right now if I didn't have that." Borell isn't sure what her next steps will be professionally, but she's launched a Facebook page, Art By Grace, where she'll be sharing her upcoming projects. "I'd love to be able to keep doing stuff like this and capturing these stories," said Borell.
Whatever she paints next, "it's not going to be just, like, a pretty vase of flowers. Nothing against that. .
.. It just doesn't capture my eye.
".
