(woman) Welcome to... a patchwork of stories about the arts, culture, and history in our region.

Hi, I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien.

On this edition of Prairie Mosaic, we'll visit a space where creativity and talent flourish, watch stained glass complement nature, and listen to a regional band perform their own style of reggae music.

♪ And do it for the family ♪ You might think of a printing press as a big, bulky piece of equipment, but NDSU's School of Design, the Chahinkapa Zoo in Wahpeton and the North Dakota Council on the Arts, have come together to create the Tiny Print Press a technologically friendly and fun device used by elders and school children to create an endangered species field guide.

[bass & percussion play in bright rhythm] (Troy Geist) The Tiny Printing Press is related to a project we did previously which is, we developed a Tiny Printing Press with activity guides that were then distributed to over 200 schools in the state.

The thought was that for those care facilities and the schools that have a penpal program, for instance, they could print postcards off of the Tiny Print Press and be in touch with one another.

It goes ri ght here.

This was a model that was done in Europe, developing these Tiny Print Presses which are made by 3-D printers.

So they're very inexpensively made but very durable.

What we did with the school, NDSU is we worked with their department and said okay some of the people we work with have physical limitations.

How can we change the design of the Tiny Print Press to make it more accessible to be able to be used effectively with people who have mobility issues?

I love the design of these presses.

Part of what I love about it is that it's absolutely a functional item So the first step is, we will get the hardware, different components 3-D printed.

Then I will assemble components in stages.

[guitar & drums play rock] ♪ ♪ ♪ And everybody, when they first see the Tiny Press, everyone has to turn the handle because it's such an engaging piece of technology.

We first started working with the North Dakota Council on the Arts and the Art for Life program through a project that used the Tiny Press as a way to move through different folk art curriculum.

Then what we would do is take that curriculum that we developed, move it into eldercare facilities and schools as a way of both teaching that as an art form, also working with printmaking.

There was also an intergenerational component where we would think about how can we use this as an object that can bring people together?

The endangered species field guide is a fun twist on the project because it allows us to play with something that is almost like a collection process where visitors to zoos or people who engage with the field notes, They get to go and see some of those animals then use the press as a way to engage with something like a pawprint or go ahead and print a version of that animal or a sketch of that animal.

We identified the endangered species at each of the four zoos.

So I reached out to the other zoo directors, we have four zoos in North Dakota, they were happy to give their list of endangered species, then we sent that to those helping with this little guide, and wanted to showcase some things-- sometimes people don't think that North Dakota has these species.

It's just a wonderful way to involve everyone in this fabulous project Today was the Tiny Printing Press with the endangered species.

We had the zoo come in and talk about the different animals at the zoo and some of the endangered ones, then NDSU explained the Tiny Printing Press.

Then the kids and the tenants got to operate the printing press.

The interaction between the student and the tenant was great.

The intergenerational learning between the two is phenomenal.

You have the residents that when they start talking their eyes light up, they start to smile.

Some people who are withdrawn, when they see a kid and the kids start interacting, they come out of their shell and they express their feelings and communicate better with the kids than they do with say, you or I.

Who doesn't love working with or seeing animals?

When you bring together art that is then also connected to animal presentation and interaction with animals and interaction between elders and kids, the room just lights up.

The residents have become our friends through the years.

It's more than just visiting and talking about the zoo or giving enrichment.

We always say that if the seniors and the kids get half as much out of it as we do, it's a win.

To bring that full circle when those kids came in, sat at the tables with the seniors right away, didn't hesitate, very friendly both ways, and to watch the seniors and the children work together with the Tiny Printing Press, with the animal plates in there and making cards and making pictures and smiling and laughing.

We keep finding that with this funny little object we can move into these different settings, it's really flexible.

All it is is a tool that makes prints, but when you start to imagine it as a tool to engage people and a tool that can be used to help form connections, all of a sudden this application becomes really broad.

Well I think this project really has the potential to become a model, not just in our state but in many other states.

North Dakota is seen as a national model for art in creative aging, but you also see the children like we did today helping the elder and asking advice for the elder.

It shows, thank goodness, I think that interaction between generations For 30 years, Sherri Kruger-Kukowski has been creating mosaic art from her studio in Badger, Minnesota.

Her primary medium is stained glass, and she loves to incorporate natural materials like driftwood and rocks to add texture.

She strives to evoke emotion and inspire the viewer in each intricate creation.

[keyboard plays melodic chordal music] (Sherri) I am a stained glass mosaic artist but I also dabble in multimedia mosaics.

I have been a mosaic artist for approximately 30 years.

It started with seeing a steppingstone in a wayside rest.

Stained glass is the type of glass that you see in your church windows, so it allows light inside.

But the very cool thing about stained glass is, it will also reflect light to you.

[loud cracking sound] So the process is making all kinds of little itty bitty pieces and putting them all back together again into a pattern or design or imagery.

I like to use stained glass as my primary medium, but then I also bring in natural items such as rock, driftwood, seashells, just different things to give it some texture.

I have a piece on the counter behind me that I've started.

It started with a picture, and I take a piece of tracing paper and lay it over the picture, draw out the main lines of the imagery, then find a copy machine and start blowing it up and making it different sizes.

Sometimes I'll shrink it, sometimes I'll enlarge it, sometimes I'll only enlarge a portion of it, then it's to start picking the glass out of an assortment of colors to try to decide what mood are you trying to create?

Then you start cutting it, scoring, cutting, chipping, then you start putting it back together piece by piece, glueing, finally once everything is in place and that's ready, you may do a final grout, then we just clean it and seal it, frame it if it needs to be framed, and it's ready for your home.

Seems like most of my artwork is around nature.

I'm more comfortable working with nature, I've been really dabbling in a lot of abstracts.

Even the abstracts are based on colors in nature.

One of the pieces that I just finished is 20 little 5 x 7s, "The Seasons."

So it's the colors of the seasons as they transpire from one season into the next.

And that one still is all about the colors of nature.

My favorite part is probably the actual just cutting, and when I get a cut to go just the perfect way, it flows, it comes across the line and it just cracks right down the line where you want it and separates.

Those are probably my favorite moments because it's like, whoo, look at that cut I just did-- that was pretty great!

Everything is hand-cut now, completely, either with a chipper which creates little chips of glass to work with or slivers of glass or will score major shapes.

It's a glass scorer, it creates a little scratch in the glass, then you use a breaking pliers to apply the correct pressure to make it break.

Just depending on what I'm doing that day, how I'm feeling sometimes it breaks really nicely and sometimes you just put all your tools down and you go find something else to do.

I also use a grinder to get some of those shapes, we call them glass boogers, [laughs] these little sharp points or little bumps that you want to take off, we'll use that.

We've also that breaking pliers and running pliers.

There are just a plethora of tools available to try to make sure your edges get to where you need them to be.

I know I've completed a piece of work when one, I'm satisfied with how it looks, but also I always have a size in mind.

I always start with a frame.

I went to Philadelphia on a grant from the Northwoods Arts Council to study public art.

Bonnie Fitzgerald the instructor there said "Start at home."

So I came back to Badger thinking about trying to put together something about the history of our community.

The Heritage Wall in Badger is a 24-foot by 10-foot stained-glass mosaic wall.

We had it inside a building on Main Street, that way the community could come in and they could work on it.

I'd just give them an area and a bucket of already cut glass-- fill this piece, fill this spot in this map.

The mood of my artwork often goes with what mood I'm in or what colors I'm working with.

If you're working with yellows and reds and oranges, it's going to be a much brighter upbeat piece.

The piece I'm working on right now is a dark piece because it was shot at sunset.

So you're working in a lot of dark, dark blues, so it's getting brighter and then down here it's going to get really orange, then it's going to get really dark again When people come to see my art I want them to feel something.

I want them to be able to come away with a, just a calmness or a quirky smile; I like to hide things in my artwork.

It's like the heritage wall, unless you walk up to it, you don't see Otis, that's an inch-and-a-half high sitting below the porch.

Or the little chickens over on the far side.

There's a lot more to it than what you first glance at.

What's interesting at art shows is people will make a quick lap.

Then they'll start circling back.

I like to see the ones that have made 3 or 4 trips past my booth because something has caught their eye.

Then they'll finally engage with you so you can visit with them about the prospects.

The fact that art can be interactive I think is very, very important Bam'idizowigamig Creator's Place is a small manufacturing center in Pine Point Minnesota near the White Earth Nation Reservation.

Founder Jean Kruft shares with us how this facility offers locals employment, on-the-job training and income through manufacturing and artistry.

(Jean) In the Ojibwe language Bam'idizo means support oneself or provide for oneself.

Wigamig is just a house or a place.

So this is a place where people can provide for themselves or support themselves.

I am Jean Kruft, and I am the founder of Bam'idizowigamig Creator's place.

We are in Pine Point, Minnesota, and that is a reservation village on the White Earth Reservation.

Right before the pandemic I had started volunteering out here, and I saw the skills and the enjoyment people were having, and I thought well Pine point needs a place to work, they need a place to be.

There wasn't anything, there wasn't any kind of employment at all.

So I thought it would be good to have a little center for manufacturing, art, whatever people could do, to have a place like that right here in Pine Point.

Of course, I'm a retired educator, and I thought, well, that's a nice idea, however, a week after I had that idea my cousin, Albert Koloski had passed away and had left me $250,000.

I thought well, that's what that's for.

There just wasn't any doubt in my mind.

So I ordered this steel building, created a board of directors, created a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

I don't know that anyone ever thought that I would really build this.

[laughs] However, it did!

And it's an amazing thing, I mean, it's amazing to me that this has come together and actually works.

There are many barriers to people here going out beyond this community to find work.

There is racial prejudice in the outer community.

People often don't have valid drivers licenses or vehicles, there's criminal backgrounds that can look real bad on a resume, if you have the resources to make a resume And childcare, there's no childcare here.

So there are many barriers to going beyond this village to find work.

The idea is that this is kind of a stepping stone.

Each person here has an individual plan, an employment plan that they are working on, and if we identify the barriers that they have and figuring out ways to overcome those barriers while still getting the experience and skills that they need for going on and working someplace else Well, we have 20 people from the Pine Point area.

We have artists, visual artists, we have people that are being trained in woodworking, people are practicing the traditional arts which is the beadwork and moccasin making.

The big things that we can't ship like the picnic tables and the park benches and the patio furniture, those have gone to parks, different individuals have bought picnic tables.

So the big things go in the local area, but the smaller things, anything that we can ship, we put on our Creator's Place Etsy site that is maintained by one of our trainees, Jeremy Mitchell, just amazingly good at figuring out how to do all that between the photography and the marketing and the sales copy and all of that.

We have about 160 items on our Etsy site.

Those things, they go all over the nation, a lot of things to the West Coast and the East Coast.

Our wild rice, it's amazing how much goes to Hawaii!

Who knew!

[laughs] (man) Every day is a blessing to me.

You wake up in the morning.

My name is David Edwards.

I actually I do artwork, I actually draw and paint and help out around the shop whenever it's needed.

We've grown, we've grown a lot in over a year.

A lot of this stuff wasn't here a year ago, But now now I come here.

This is the best thing that could ever happen to all of us native artists, everybody that comes in here and contributes.

This place is something else, it's the best.

I wouldn't trade it for anything.

But it is a dream job.

I see it as doing right what it's doing right now, but being an actual manufacturing center an arts center where people are practicing their art for as many hours a week as what they want to in order to sustain themselves and their families.

There's a dream that we would have land next to this that would have automotive center.

Many many backyard mechanics that are excellent here in the community, so it would be very nice to have a shop where they could have a lift for the vehicles and that kind of thing.

Of course, the real dream is that this will be totally run and operated by people from this community.

So this will be their economic venture.

I'm just amazed that this is-- it's just exactly what I thought it might be, and that doesn't happen a lot in a person's life.

So yeah, I'm just amazed and thankful.

Rootz Within is a talented group of musicians and friends from throughout northwest Minnesota who enjoy sharing their unique island reggae style of music with fans around the country.

We were excited to have them perform for our series, Prairie Musicians.

Hi my name is Jonah Bowe.

I sing and play guitar in Rootz Within.

I'm from Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Ryan our bass player and Anita our hand percussionist also live in Detroit Lakes.

Tyler our other guitarist and singer lives in Rochester, Minnesota and Scott our drummer lives in Chaska.

With the exception of Scott we all have roots in Detroit Lakes, so that's where we all met each other and came together and started playing music.

We took a trip to Hawaii in 2016.

We had been playing a couple of shows together, but we didn't have a name or anything.

We sat down and started throwing out names and different ideas and after a couple hours we came up with Rootz Within.

The idea behind it was that we all have different roots, we all come from different musical places and different places in life.

♪ I'm letting go ♪ ♪ From the depths of my soul I dug my roots into the soil ♪ ♪ This is a song to right my wrongs ♪ ♪ And I'm releasing them today ♪ ♪ To let them go ♪ ♪ Into a positive place so ♪ ♪ ♪ And I can be free ♪ [playing rhythmic reggae rock] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ See what you need to see ♪ ♪ Don't let it go to waste ♪ ♪ When we can come together ♪ ♪ ♪ When all I see is strife ♪ ♪ Though we can make it through this life ♪ ♪ And do it so much better ♪ ♪ If we do it for the earth ♪ ♪ And do it for the birds and do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ ♪ When separation takes its toll ♪ ♪ Well I just want you to know ♪ ♪ Exactly what you're feeling ♪ ♪ ♪ Well and if everyday's the same ♪ ♪ Well than you're letting them go to waste ♪ ♪ When you can make a change ♪ ♪ That's why we do it for the earth ♪ ♪ And do it for the birds and do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ We do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ [guitar solo] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Well see what you need to see ♪ ♪ And don't let it fade away ♪ ♪ When we can love each other ♪ ♪ ♪ Well and I know that we can thrive ♪ ♪ That we can make it through this life ♪ ♪ And live it so much better ♪ ♪ And if we do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ If we do it for the earth ♪ ♪ And do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ Do it for the earth and do it for the birds ♪ ♪ And do it for the family ♪ ♪ If you know of an artist, topic, or organization in our region that you think might make for an interesting segment, please contact us at... (Barb) You can watch this and other episodes of "Prairie Mosaic" on Prairie Public's YouTube channel, and please, follow Prairie Public on social media as well.

I'm Barb Gravel.

And I'm Matt Olien Thank you for joining us for another edition of "Prairie Mosaic."

[guitar, bass, and drums play in bright country rhythm] (Barb) "Prairie Mosaic" is funded by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4th, 2008, the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by the members of Prairie Public.