Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Lakeland Public Television presents Common Ground brought to you by the
Minnesota Art and Cultural Heritage Fundppand the citizens of Minnesota.
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
? ?
Welcome to Common Ground.
I'm John Parsons. In this episode we meet the man who
painted the mural on the wall behind me and we explore some of the concepts
contained within that mural.
I'm Mike Meyer, sign painter from
Mazeppa, Minnesota. I do murals and signs all over the country
and the world. The process of doing the mural
in Crosby/Ironton was
first was research. They gave me
a mountain of books which they had on the great museum there.
It had to do with a lot of multiple things but I didn't realize
I just knew the iron range. Well when I went there and
they showed me all these books. Wow, what are we going to put on there?
This is so much. I think we started the mural with a big
photo album and just flipped page after page. But we wanted
to capture some of the elements of the history but we really wanted
to have faces. Well then I picked out a few things.
And once I got what I thought would be good
then I scanned it and I painted it on a small
drawing and then I sent it through email to the
committee. They looked at it. Yeah that's PPgood but how about changingppthis and that.
It went through 3 or 4 changes but it wasn't anything out of the normal.
And then from there I take it and make my artwork
on transparencies, put it on projector,
prepare my surface which is aluminum sheets and sand them all down.
When I project it on there and then I'm ready to paint.
You can get pretty accurate and you don't have to have it dark.
So I rely on this a lot. When I do my murals like
the ones that I did in Crosby/Ironton. This is kind of how
I did it. They gave me the pictures like of
Munchy Perpich and other people from town, the Halletts.
So I could make it exact and then you just paint it. Put your own
blending in there where the lights coming from, the darks and the lights.
A lot of these projectors are even old school
sign painters. Were you can't go into office places and get them anymore. Schools are even
getting rid of them. Cause everything is going to the technology,
digital computers and what not.
Here is the work horses right here. That's all I need.
I can do this anywhere, any country around the world and I have done it.
These are squirrel hair quills.
I keep them in mineral oil
Kerrie Erikstrup who has
painted signs in the community. Has been talking to us about the
Waldog for years like I'll say a decade. She's been talking
about this organization. Much like the
Minnesota Design Team. They come into a community. They reside within the residents
homes. They come in and they paint like 10 -12 walls.
Murals on walls. And when they leave that town has been
reshaped again. So Mike our muralist is part of the
Waldog. Has gone into other communities and talked to her
about what he has witnessed. So she knew
the first person to call when it's time to look for a muralist. Kerrie she does fantastic
signs but she knew this was more my forte so she called me.
Sure I'd love to this and I'm doing it more and more around the country.
But in my own state. Yeah.
Let's do this.
Birds chirping
I'm Johnna Johnson and I'm the co-coordinator of Project Revive.
Project Revive is committed to honoring the rich heritage of
the Cuyuana Lakes and creating a family friendly environment for tourism.
and economic development. We have a park that we are building
vacated lot where cars were parking.
It was great for parking, people enjoyed having close parking.
to the businesses. But now I think they will enjoy even more having a place
to sit, relax. Hopefully at Christmas timeppwe'll have a Christmas tree.
We'll have game tables, there will be a water station.
But we want to continue this history into the park in different themes.
There will be a bike wash station, fountain
so that the bikers can come go to the bathroom
rest if they need to. But there will also be places just to walk
and learn about our community. Through research from the than city
administrator. He started to learn about this group
They're rural architects, urban planners, architectural designers
planters, master gardeners.
They pick about 4 places a year that they go to. They visit
for 3 or 4 days. They get a tour. They get to meet the community
and they came in April of 2010. When they came they gave us
a wish list. It was a 25 page wish list. If you could
paint this town in any way shape of form, PPhere is what we would suggestppyou do.
From that the Project Revive group prioritized.
This project really needed a buy in from the city of Crosby.
And thankfully with their support they went and bought that lot and now we've been
able to fundraise to get the mural done.PPAll the under ground work isppdone.
But it is really a hope that we will be able to spread
this kind of standard of what we would like to see our Main Street
look like throughout the community. So we're building from the
bottom up. But we are hoping that other PPpeople would take notice. Weppknew that
E W Hallett and his wife Jessie Fern were probably the two most
integral. They are also helping with the fundraising and
right off the bat were able to write a check and help out with
first phase of our fundraising. We wanted ppto make sure we had E W
and his wife Jessie Fern Hallett both depicted on this.
Now E W started many businesses in the community and his wife
wasn't one of the wives that just sat PPat home and doted on herpphusband.
She started many things as well. We have the library to thank for her and the church
to thank for her. So we wanted to make sure they were both there as a couple.
You know I don't think he ever really PPknew how much money he reallypphad.
I think he knew it was a lot, but he didn't know how much.
Cause some strange things happened along the
way which indicated to me that he didn't really know.
They created these trusts and one
of the things he was going to do was to fund give the library entrust
in Crosby $250 a year to run the library.
The next year he goes out and he
builds a library there and a half a million
dollar structure whatever it was. Which was requiring
over $100,000 a year to operate it. And we were going to give them $250.
The city of Crosby had no
way to support such a thing. He turned it over to the city
and so my working with a couple other people
we got him to change some of his
instruments, agreements to fund the
more of the library. At the time I said
I don't think he really has any idea how much he really has because he knows
you can't run a library on $250 a yearppand that type of thing.
So I think that was kind of ungrain that he had a lot
more dollars than he realized. He had 22
operating companies at one time at leastPPwhen I was first involved withpphim.
The nice thing is that there is evidencePPof their contribution. MainppStreet
has buildings with their name up on top of the building.
what year it was made. We know that theyPPwere here and we know thatppthey started
this stake and planted their roots here. He had many
businesses from casket making to
he made rocking chairs and beautiful furniture and then progressed
into paving the roadways. I am Francis
Butorac Vidmar.
I did work for Mr Hallett for 27 1/2 years.
And I see the big picture of them uptown now on that building.
I'm so glad they did
that because he was, they both were such nice people.
The Halletts it was your basic
1950's kind of portrait that people get together.
Company comes in and they've got the background
and your doing your think like that. But I enjoyed painting it
that way because that it was most of the people remember
them as. Seeing their name on buildings ppand such in the community
rightful so they should be on there.
for what they've given. Even though I didn't know them you can tell
who is this, this name comes up a lot. This person must of been
pretty caring of the community.
So to get that one almost picture perfect was important.
He was very
helpful to people.
He still is even if he is dead.
He was Mr Crosby really. They could almost
call that place Hallettville. Cause we fund a lot of things today
with .... But he started out very very strong in that town.
He put a big bunch of money into the first hospital
but when they remodeled, rebuilt and redid the hospital.
He was a big pusher behind that. He owned this hardware store on Main St.
and contributed a lot that way. He had a mortuary
for a while that he got rid of and turned over to some other people.
He did an awful lot things in this town and in the area there.
Funding different camps for young people
and that type of thing in the area there. So we
we have more or less perpetuated that whole project of his.
Cuyler was first he was here
pre 1900 in Deerwood.
It was a homestead. His homestead was in Deerwood. I love the story
of Cuyler Adams and his dog Una
and how the name became Cuyuna.
Even that it itself looking at that research
that's awesome! You don't really have a lot of places like
that. Here in southern Minnesota you've got Hayfield
and Plainview. There is nothing there.PPYou've got to come up withppsomething else.
Like my town here Mazeppa everybody thinks it's an indian name.
It's actually a Ukrianian Cossack chief.
But there really isn't history about it. That's why, hat's off to
Crosby/Ironton to do this about the history. Culyer up here
with his dog Una are our namesake.
So Cuyler and Una would go out prospecting every morning.
Cuyler's wife would say there goes Cuy and Una.
Cuyuna that's how we got our name.
They would do that and he looked for ore
from Deerwood, many of the surrounding areas. He looked for ore
even as far... closer to Brainerd. He ended up finding
right here. The first mine being out by Cuyuna.
We don't live know how long Una lived.PPI'm sure one of the historiansppcould tell you.
if Una lived a life of longevity or not.
We're glad that Una was there so that the name could be created.
There was a picture of Culyer and Una that I painted but it was very
vague. I knew that he had a big white mustache.
Really wasn't much. The first one I did
I kind of did by my own recollection
of what a guy in that period would be like. Kind of like a lumber
baron if you will but it would be a miner.ppBut they said no we want
it more like him. I said well can you send me another picture.
They only really had one other one and it was fairly generic
with a big white mustache and all that but I think I captured that from
the other pictures. And then his dog who I guess was very loyal
and with him all the time. Una was pretty much
they didn't have really have a good picture of the dog either. So I just
researched that for a Saint Bernard.
Did one version of it and then we kind of PPturned him another way. Alrightpplet's do this.
I think it tied in pretty well.
The miners came. This picture really does show underground mining.
We wanted to make sure and the bottom picture is trying to show pit mining.
We did have both. There wasn't really
a whole lot of research for those four miners on the mural.
on the picture all it said was
the foreman the boss
which he's in the picture in his way over to the
far right. And I didn't have him on there because he's not
really looking at the photographer. You can tell
he's the boss because he's looking at them like you're not going to be
posing for this picture very long. Get down and let's get to work.
But there faces I thought I've got to capture that somehow.
you can tell it's a thankless job
They've got to go down in the hole and do this stuff.
They're dirty and sure let's clown it up for the camera because
we got to go down to some hard work.
I think I sent it back and they were trying to find out if there was
who they were if they were related to anybody still in town.
Actually everyone here has an actual photo that was kind of replicated.
The picture of the miners we did have one name scratched on
the back of the photo so we could tell who the one miner is. We looked around
and weren't able to find out the namesPPon the others. Hopefully withppmore
time we're able to say these minors belonged to so and so and be able to have their name
marked up there. Working with the committee was great. It was usually Kerrie saying
they liked this could you change that. Like the vehicle the mining vehicle,
We had it turned a different way but then we had it more
side and the guys with the shovel. And the more you looked at pictures you could
have did it a hundred different ways but let's just make one and
then I though let's make it where it's ground level
so kids could come up and here's what that vehicle would be like.
There wasn't a lot that you could put of detail PPin there because there reallyppwasn't much.
It's digging this big hole in the ground. And there it is.
Even those you can put a little bit of your own imagination into.
So in the beginning it's a matter of research but once that is
done and then everything is cleared away. PPOkay we're going to do thispppart.
Then from what we had on there we agreed to. .. Let's have some
thing modern of modern day.
With color and let's fade it down to the origins
with sepia tone black and white. Which actually turned out
pretty good. One of the ideas that I had afterPPlooking through the researchppwas
I've seen the brochures and everythingPPand they're great. But howppabout
a catch phrase or something real simple?ppAnd they still might use this
and my idea was ore to oar.
Plus steel to wheel.
The mines which I discovered
are very deep and that was over, so
it was filled with water. And here was all this beautiful
stuff that is used now for kayaking, canoeing,
and fishing. And now the mountain bikes and trails up there.
The mining really paved the way for the whole community to be born.
Then there was a lull about a twenty year lull of nothing going on
in the mining area. In 1994 it was
reclaimed and later named the Cuyuna Country State Recreation Area.
It became the first recreation area in thePPstate of MInnesota. There areppstate parks
but this is a state recreation area. So then it
in subsequent years there was efforts made to keep it
restored and keep it safe. Scuba diving has been going on
in the rec area for several years. Kayaking, mountain
biking has occurred out there but just not
organized. In the last 3 - 4 years we have really taken
notice that tourists are coming specifically for those reasons
We started funding many different avenues
to be able to build a recreation park for their needs. One of the trails
that was designed. It's two hills over here is
called Sandhog and again all the names of the trails reflect the mining history.
So you show respect for that historical, cultural
contribution that this all made to America. Sandhog
last fall was named at the International Mountain Bike
International Summit in Utah as
one of the first of this honor. This new honor is
flow trail. Flow is where the design...
The top 5 flow trails in the world were named the first 5
in the world. 2 in Europe, 3 in North America and Sandhog
was one of the five. You know that's
just flabbergasted us. Even the designers were kind of like what.
But it shows how new and how innovative what we
was created here and that was entirely because we had
this resource that you provided to be able to do it at that level.
And that is what makes the difference, becausePPof that reputation, we've hadpppeople come here
from all over the country. I rode with somebody PPfrom Wyoming this weekend. Justpphappened
to meet them on the trail. It's because that's what they hear.
Where's Sandhog? How do I get to Sandhog? ppI get that asked all the time.
And of course they've looked at all kinds ofPPvideos. They know what itpplooks like from
satellite cause that is how they researched it.
They've looked at the facebook films of PPpeople riding it. They've readppthe reviews.
So it's a very sophisticated consumer that comes out here
for this recreation. Given being from South Dakota
it's nice terrain, the technicality doesn't fall into the more
difficult description of the trail. It fits it perfectly.
Being like tight technical, little bitPPof flowy trails. It's a greatpptrail to ride.
Miner's Mountain. Then recreationally
I was telling the folks on the way out I ran into 5 guys
boys weekend out who had ridden mountain bike for 2 days and went diving the 3rd day.
It's a national destination for diving
because the people who need to be certified in deep water diving.
which they have to do to have their license. If they are doing
come from all over the United States to do their training here.
Think about what you can do with a town located
exactly in the middle of the state of Minnesota. Two hours from a large population center.
That has one half of it's town dedicatedppto green space which includes
14 lakes, which are crystal clear, that are world class diving
which has world class mountain biking.ppWhich has all kinds of
complimentary high quality sports like kayaking, canoeing and
now stand up boarding. Well that's what PPwe're building and now you areppseeing
the downtown respond by doing something with the plaza. Now we went from the
past up through the history. You'll see the picturesPPchange from black and white toppcolor.
This is where we believe where our future is going. And we hope that there will be
additional murals in the future that will kind of take these points
and broaden the idea. A mural like this in a town like this
it's not a sign. It becomes
part of the communities personality. And it becomes
what I call landmark.
This corner that everything is being down at. It isn't just a mural there
They are doing the cement and the gazebo
and all this stuff. That's going to beppgreat and there is much more
history to be added with a bigger wall or other walls there.
But I like I said, this is what I want to be a part PPof and I'm glad Kerrie calledppme up there
to do that.
Hi I'm Shannon and you're at Shannon's Art and Soul.
Shannon's Art & Soul is a gift shop. It's a boutique.
It's a classroom. Kind of a little bit of everything. We represent a lot of local artists
We teach classes mostly by me some by some of
other artists. We buy and sell stuff that's fair trade.
Always looking for something that is new andPPunique and a little bit fun.ppYou know I really enjoy
having a lot of local artists in town but also in our store.
We have so much talent in the area. So many people have to go outside of Bemidji
to find a place to sell their stuff. That I think that a lot of residents don't
even understanding the depth of talentppwe have available here.
Hey this is great because so many people that we sell their stuff for is lots of fun
really talented and all very original. It's a joy to be able to
to be able to sell stuff for people that you know. People that you have fun with and that you enjoy
and get to know on a regular basis. Well when you come into Shannon's Art & Soul there is a lot
of wall art. We have paintings and photography. We have
collages and drawings. We have clothing and jewelry. We have
handmade baskets and pottery. We also have a line of clothing
scarves, and that sort of thing. We have a lot of PPaccessories as well. We areppkind of trying to be
a little bit of everything. Variety is key I think to keep things interesting
and lots of fun. Our whole goal is actually to have things that
have a purpose and meaning are fun. That is kind of my whole
Art & Soul is that we want it to be an uplifting happy place to be.
We have works from John Theroux who does our chainmaille.
Angela Shogren does our water colors. Kelly Schultz does the fascinators.
We have some pottery from Donna Carlson and Tom Daly.
I do a number of the baskets and the jewelry making some of that sort of thing.
Ticha Hartness does some phenomenal bead work.
Max Kelsey's charcoals are really beautiful.
So we have just a whole bunch of people. Some people everyone knows and some that they don't.
That's kind of part of the fun I think. I think having a store like
ours can benefit the community in a lot of different. We are first of all on
and foremost downtown, which is really the heartPPand soul, the personality andppthe foundation
of our community. We have just a phenomenal neighborhood. Everyone is friendly
and sends people back and forth and kind of knows who's got what.
That's probably 90% of our customers are either here visiting
from out of town or have come based solely on word of mouth which is pretty awesome.
I think we are building a lot sharing with
each other kind of what's available, what we can find in town.
Kind of changing the perception that it has to
be a really basic necessity sort of thing and we can have a little bit more fun
in what we are doing, what we're selling andPPwhat we're shopping for. Andppthat we can look
for a little more personality in some of our stuff. Our local
artists get a lot more exposure I think by having first of all a place that
you can do art shows. I do some work with some of those things as well. But to have
a permanent location where they can tell people go on downtown and check out
Shannon's, see what we've got there. Not only give
other people, but people from out of town,PPlocals, They know where to goppand what
they'd fine. So artists can not only direct people to us. but
it can be discovered from people from all overPPthe country who happen to bepphere to visit.
We have people this week from Texas, and Illinois , Germany. So I think
people are getting a lot exposure and that is really awesome.
Now I think Shannon's is awesome becausePPliterally when you walk in youppget local
you get Bemidji. My family is all local
you see kids on rollerblades or helping atPPthe cash register. Maybe momppstops by
and helps when I ran out someplace. It is really a family, Bemidji sort of place to be.
We do workshops here all the time. I teach a lot of them.
We also rent out the space for other people to do workshops from.
Then I have a couple of my artists that teach classes here as well.
Thanks for watching. Join me again next time for another episode of
Common Ground. If you have an idea for a Common Ground piece that
pertains to north central Minnesota, Email us at legacy@lptv.org.
or call us 218-333-3022.
To view any episode of Common Ground
online visit us at lptv.org
? ?
? ?
? ?
To order individual segments
or entire episodes of Common Ground please call 218-333-3020.
? ?
Common Ground is brought to you by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund
with money from the vote of the peopleppon the 4th of November 2008.