DULUTH — About 15 years ago, Brian Bluhm had an idea. He invited his friends to a haunted art party on Halloween.
"We played music and made art, and it was pretty good time," Bluhm said. "And I thought this would be really fun to do as an official thing, like have a haunted house where different rooms in the house are made haunted by different artists."
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Bluhm took his idea to the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council and the St. Louis County Depot last year. He started small with one room in the Lake Superior Railroad Museum for the first iteration of "North Shorror."
This year he received more funding and included over 30 artists to create the second North Shorror event, which looks more like his haunted art house idea.
"Nine different artists received stipends through the grant and created these big immersive displays," Bluhm said. "But altogether over 30 regional artists have contributed work that is either new or inspired by something spooky in their lives.
"It's not necessarily Halloween-themed, or full-on scary, but the ideas behind what we're trying to show here are the darker side of life and having fun with it," he said.
The show has taken over the fifth floor of the Depot with a handful of rooms and hallways decked out in spooky artwork. A couple rooms have interactive art pieces that visitors can touch or contribute to. Bluhm said he wanted to ensure a variety of art was showcased.
"We've got things like a local dancer up in a space sometimes and she set up constantly running TVs for when she's not there," Bluhm said. "And we've got some stations where people can make their own art and be part of the show. It's meant to be a participatory thing."
The themes of the immersive pieces range from the horror of constant surveillance and the feeling of being watched to the horrors of technology to a series of films centered on witchy themes. Bluhm said he kept the theme wide open this year, but, if the show continues next year as he hopes, he might consider adopting a theme for the show.
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"There's a lot of potential ideas we could pursue," Bluhm said. "Last year when we just had one room, it was very focused on things you'd find in a haunted house. But in the future, we could do just about anything, as long as people are willing to keep it going."
Mediums in the show include traditional oil or acrylic paintings, balloons, found objects, cardboard, ink, blacklights and UV paints.
"I'm very impressed with what the artists have done here and I hope we can keep it going," Bluhm said.
"North Shorror" opened Oct. 11 with a spooky opening ball. It's open every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Saturday. The show is set up in a public space and funded by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, so it's free to everyone.
"We wanted to have it up in a space that's easily accessible and open to everyone," Bluhm said. "You can come up in either elevator and go through it from the back or forwards and you'll get a different experience."
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