"I have been interested in art ever since I can remember," says artist Mahaila Houle. "I was always doodling. I was turning in homework assignments with doodles on the back."
Now those "doodles" are displayed on the cover of the 2026 Homegrown Music Festival Field Guide. The wild nature of the annual Twin Ports festival seems to be a good match for Houle who didn't find a home in art school, but rather likes to freely explore art without abiding by traditional rules. "I went other routes in my career," says Houle who used a mixed media approach to create the cover art.
Homegrown begins on Sunday, and Houle will be attending the festival, sometimes as a music fan and sometimes as a fill-in sound engineer. And if you don't see her around town, you can find the artist as an Easter egg on the Field Guide cover. More about Mahaila Houle and her art can be found on Instagram.
You can hear Community Connection every Tuesday and Thursday at 8am on Northland Morning. Homegrown Music Festival coverage on the North is supported by Music Go Round Duluth and is made possible with funding from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
