North Shore Hwy 61

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are coming to the Cross River Heritage Center—in paint, at least. Eight different paintings of the famous red-jacketed law enforcement officers created by Arnold Friberg will be on exhibit at the Cross River Heritage Center starting May 28. The opening reception is June 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The exhibit of the paintings, which are owned by the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth, is a real coup for the organization, said Suzan From, director, and it all started when a board member asked her if it might be possible to have a show of the famous paintings for summer visitors.

Arnold Friberg's 1964 painting, Mid-Day Thirst, from the Tweed Museum's collection of mountie calendar art and paintings gifted from the Potlatch Corporation will be on exhibit at the Cross River Heritage Center.

“We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have that here?’ so we called and asked them,” she said.

The Tweed doesn’t loan out any of the paintings from its collection easily, but they were intrigued by the request, said Camille Doran, registrar. So she visited the Heritage Center to look at the space and see if it was suitable. It was.

“It looks like a good fit,” she said. “We think it’s really great that they’re going to be there. The Mounties are a huge draw in the summer. I know the Canadians will love it.”

From agrees. She has already made contact with the Thunder Bay Historical Society and they will be working together to promote the show. The paintings were actually created as illustrations for an advertising campaign for the Northwest Paper division of the Potlatch Corporation, a paper-making company previously based in Cloquet, Minn., said Peter Spooner, curator at the Tweed.

From said the Mountie exhibit will include a variety of other related items from the Tweed that will be sold in their gift shop. They also plan to hang a banner outside the building to announce the show.

Potlatch used the Mountie images to advertise their printing papers. It was a very successful campaign and continued for more than 50 years. Beginning in 1931, the Northwest Paper Company commissioned more than 400 paintings and illustrations. Potlatch donated 380 of these images to the Tweed in 1981 and the museum organizes an exhibit of its collection every year. That show opens at the Tweed May 25 and runs through Sept. 12.

Best advice? Check out the collection at the Cross River Heritage Post this summer and then plan a trip to the Tweed in Duluth to see lots more.