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Interviewed by Benji Nichols
(Benji’s note: It is impossible in one page to summarize the incredible depth of knowledge and love that Phyllis Leseth has for Decorah and the surrounding area. In a short two-hour chat with her, it became apparent that Phyllis should really be the subject of a book, not a single page, but we’ll do our best to represent her amazing accomplishments here!)
“My Mother always said I was one of the first babies born at the old hospital,” says Phyllis Leseth from the heart of her historic home on Rural Avenue in Decorah. Speaking with her, it is apparent that this charming woman has more stories than one can imagine. At 92, Phyllis speaks eloquently about her experiences being among the first group of women to attend Luther College (class of ’39) – where she earned a degree in English and History – and of being one of the first females to work on the Luther Newspaper & News Bureau. Through a fascinating life of teaching, writing (including a stint at the CR Gazette!), volunteering, and raising a family – it’s the history that she has thrived on throughout the decades. It is also timely to note that Phyllis was a part of the very first organizing committee for Nordic Fest in Decorah in 1966. At that time project leaders from the local J.C.’s including Jerry Aulwes, Mike Dahly, Harry Olson, Darrell Pierce and Gary Svenson enlisted the help of Vesterheim Director Marion Nelson and Phyllis Leseth to help launch the first annual Nordic Fest – which has since brought over 1.5 million visitors to Decorah over 43 years.
What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
My Father was the youngest in a large family, and was a very self-made man. He had great respect for education and was the only one in his family to go to High School. He always had the feeling that you were only as good as your word. “Remember to always tell the truth, and if you ever promise to do something – do it.”
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Growing up on Washington Street in Decorah we had a great bunch of neighbors and friends, and the schools and teachers were wonderful. I was lucky enough to attend Luther as one of the first female students – and with my interests in writing and history I think teaching seemed natural. I did teach for a short time in Western Iowa before I was married, and then went on to write for the Gazette amongst other things. (Phyllis also spent a short time working at Quaker Oats in Cedar Rapids during The War.)
If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?
Oh I would want a stack of books as I read all the time, and a GOOD pair of shoes. And I suppose I do love a good cake – nothing better!
Tell us about…
Your wedding day:
Hubert and I were married at Decorah Lutheran Church – the old church. All of our high school gang was there and I had five of my good friends as bridesmaids. I remember my dad walking me down the isle and stopping to ask me, “Are you sure you want to go through with this?” He was joking of course – he had a wonderful sense of humor. Hubert worked for A&P in Decorah for many years and then went to the main offices in Des Moines and eventually we moved back to Decorah and he managed the office at Peter Johnson & Sons.
Your favorite memory:
I have so many wonderful memories of my life here in Decorah and beyond. I feel so blessed to have had such great parents – they set very high standards for us. My mother was a graduate of the Northwestern School of Music and taught before she was married. She sang at many occasions around the area through her life. I give my parents a lot of credit for making education so important in our lives. I went to Luther as one of the first Women to do so, and during depression times, so it really is something else. My family, of course, has just been wonderful and both my daughters became teachers and are in Decorah. (Cam Ford, and Adrianne Coffeen.) I have also enjoyed volunteering at the Vesterheim Museum for many years – History is really my thing, and it has been for years –and it still is!
PHOTO NOTES:
Black & White: Phyllis Leseth with Marion Nelson (past Vesterheim Museum Director) and the Leseth’s Rosemaled ’56 Chevy. Laura Hoeg painted the original design and updated the date annually.
Color: Phyllis Leseth at home, Spring, 2009
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Mary Gaitskill, “Don’t Cry”: Searching, gorgeous views of women’s lives
Nam Le, “The Boat”: Vietnamese-American: great writing, beyond the hyphen
Wells Tower, “Everything Ravaged”: Deceptively casual, funny, poignant
Antonya Nelson “Nothing Right”: Modern life, seen sideways
By Amy Weldon
Writer Charles d’Ambrosio says, “With a short story, from the first line you’re in the process of shutting it down. It’s got to be efficient – if it’s not efficient, it’s a novel.” A story is a challenge and opportunity in terms of craft – it has to work by sheer force of language, striking a note at the beginning and expanding its small world at the same time it’s shooting toward its conclusion. Writers love stories, citing the grand American tradition of John Cheever, Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, Raymond Carver, Tobias Wolff. Readers seem doubtful, preferring the lose-yourself sprawl of a novel (at worst, the mass-market Grisham SparksKing McVampire genre). Any writer with a story collection to sell (including me) hears the same thing from editors and agents: “We can’t sell stories now… are you working on a novel?” Stories are in danger of becoming creatures of small literary journals and small presses, with the exception of those who can ride a “New Yorker” publication to a book contract and valiant websites like theshortreview.com.
But just when it seems like the whole world is down on stories, along comes a book – or better yet, four – to remind us why this form has persisted so long. Readers say they crave the immersion of a novel, as opposed to the quick dip into a story’s world (a false choice); publishers claim this consumer preference makes stories a bad risk. But in light of four stellar new collections – Mary Gaitskill’s “Don’t Cry,” Nam Le’s “The Boat,” Wells Tower’s “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned,” and Antonya Nelson’s “Nothing Right” – these attitudes aren’t just timid but willfully blind. Each collection immerses readers in a series of sharply etched, suggestive worlds, as immediate and refreshing as a dip into Decorah’s Dunning’s Spring on an August day. Take a break and go on a trip – fifteen minutes at a time.
These writers are celebrities even beyond the buzz these books have raised: Gaitskill famous for her dark, lovely tales of female psychology, Le a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Nelson known for her witty, deliberately inconclusive tales of modern life, Tower famous for his immersion journalism (including undercover stints as a circus carnie and Bush/Cheney 2004 volunteer.) But the first thing you’ll notice is the writing. A story has to make its mark quickly and indelibly, bending language to defamiliarize the world and make us see it anew, and these books sing. Tower’s stories bristle with deft, offhand descriptions: “his face was nearly all cheek, with small crooked features that looked like they’d been stuck on in a hurry.” Le’s sinuous sentence mimics his character’s waking from a dream: “Like a shape in smoke, the poem blurred, then dissolved into this new, cold, strange reality: a windblown, rain-strafed parking lot; a dark room almost entirely taken up by my bed; the small body of my father dripping water onto hardwood floors.”
In contrast to the old cliché that art’s removed from the world, these stories are engaged with our lives, insightful about our realities. The narrator of Nelson’s “We and They” observes wryly, “Every four years a new Democratic candidate’s name would replace the faded name of the last loser we’d promoted on our vehicles and in our yard.” But in her title story, she finds the redemptive heart of a situation few parents would choose – Hannah’s surly fifteen-year-old son, Leo, becomes a father. “[W]hen Hannah dropped him off at the restaurant every afternoon,” she writes, “he never failed to lean through the back window and kiss his son on the forehead.” The baby himself is wonderfully rendered: “His nose was slender, his neck and elbows and hands refined, dexterous and bony as an older child’s, and he rarely smiled, as if the world had taught him to challenge its charms.” Gaitskill’s narrator has a similar moment of clarity when her friend adopts an Ethiopian child, Sonny, considering unseen ties between the Third World and the First: “who or what is the birth mother to him? Is she the earth of Sonny, the sky? The unseeable place the child walks when he sleeps?” Thinking of a girl she’s seen in a market, the narrator thinks of faith: “This word has meaning, I thought. Whatever it has faithlessly been made to mean, it has actual meaning. But it was very little to hold on to: the image of a graceful girl in a dirty store in a hungering, wounded country – so small, so light, so surrounded by darkness.”
These stories also bring the past into the present. Le’s “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” traces a Vietnamese-American writer’s struggle to set down his immigrant father’s story, which the father refuses to yield. “‘They will read and clap their hands and forget,’” the father demurs. “For once, he was not smiling. ‘Sometimes it’s better to forget, no?’” Tower’s title story – rendered in the pitch-perfect speech of a 21st-century dude – follows a band of Viking raiders: “Just as we were all getting back into the mainland domestic groove, somebody started in with dragons and crop blights from across the North Sea… Some individuals three weeks’ boat ride off were messing up our summer and would probably need their asses whipped over it.” Despite its humor, the story is morally serious, fresh and compassionate. “I wished Gnut would go ahead and own up to the fact that his life out here was making him lonely and miserable instead of laying on with this warrior-man routine,” says the narrator, Harald. “I could tell just to look at him that most days he was thinking of walking into the water and not bothering to turn back.”
If you’re looking for a great read this summer, give these collections a try. Like novels, they’ll seep through your imagination and into your vision, coloring the way you see the world long after you put them down.
Amy Weldon, an Alabama native, teaches creative writing, literature, and Paideia at Luther College, as well as a class at Decorah’s ArtHaus this June and July entitled “Turning Life Into Fiction.”
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By Jason Stonerook
“Together Through Life” - by Bob Dylan
Dylan’s latest sounds like a slow-burning fire devouring an old oak, ring by ring, from the inside out. Most situate Mr. Zimmerman within the tumult of the 1960s, but Dylan fancies himself an avatar from a vanished pre-rock and roll landscape of borderland cantinas, wily bluesmen, and sideshow freaks. Like any folk song, his music is a conduit to an eternal past, and Dylan is a fortune teller who believes past is prologue. If songs like “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’” and “It’s All Good” are harbingers of things to come, then this republic faces hard times.
“21st Century Breakdown” – by Green Day
If you hadn’t heard, Green Day didn’t think much of the George W./ Cheney administration. Now that we’ve bid them good riddance, why is Green Day still obsessed with excoriating the irresponsible, faith-based warriors who handed Generation Y the keys to a brokedown nation? Because the band wants every kid to remember what happened over the past eight to – oh, I don’t know – forty years. Sure, it’s not as heroic as “American Idiot.” Lazy symbolism abounds. And the Who, the Clash, and Springsteen have covered this ground before. But that’s the point: Why must every generation remake this record?
“Fortress Round My Heart” – by Ida Maria
A fine slice of museum-quality Scandinavian pop-punk, the gem here is “I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked.” The verses are propelled by skittish guitars and drums that nicotine can’t tame. Before long, the lead singer and her FWB are shedding their clothes on the way up to her flat. The guy helps Ida chant the chorus: “I like you so much better when you’re naked,” followed by the kicker, “I like me so much better when you’re naked.” Dr. Drew says it’s unhealthy to work out self-esteem issues via sex. True, but what if you’re just horny?
“Art Brut vs. Satan” – by Art Brut
He’s been up all night. He’s made mistakes. He hides it well, but doesn’t feel great. His band thinks they’re recording a Guy Ritchie soundtrack, but whatever: He’s the film’s narrator, a hung-over street philosopher who dodges bullets while cracking jokes. He tells it like it is. He’s 29, still reads Aquaman comics, and drinks chocolate milk. He hates U2, is indifferent to the Beatles, has just discovered the Replacements. (Really?) And he thinks your record collection sucks. He’s Eddie Argos, lead singer of Art Brut, an unabashed hooligan. So who’s Satan?
“Outer South” – by Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
When last we left Mr. Oberst, he’d ditched the folksy Bright Eyes and made an album of country rock under his own name. Turns out the band he recorded with was all right, so they get credit this time ‘round. Since I’m not fond of epic folk albums, I like this new direction, even if it rarely becomes more than a Sunday drive down Highway 61. “Air Mattress” (a sweet ditty about love) and the political rant “Roosevelt Room” are highlights, although Oberst’s dewy voice seems to restrain the band elsewhere. He sounds more at home on the spare folk tracks. [Shrug shoulders.]
“Swoon” – by Silversun Pickups
I suppose it’s around that time when pop culture kicks its 80s obsession and begins paying homage to the 1990s, that era of recession, Newt, and alternative angst, which all got swept under the rug by Bubba’s tech boom. Silversun Pickups is a sign of sounds to come, resurrecting the ghost of Smashing Pumpkins via…wait, who is that, Linkin Park? That doesn’t count! See, you can’t get nostalgic about the era you’re still in. Hillary lost that fight a year ago. Be the change, ‘cause Silversun Pickups ain’t.
“The Airborne Toxic Event”
The Airborne Toxic Event relates tales of hopeless romantics searching for true love inside the disposable glitz of L.A.’s clubs. For them, it’s a postmodern dilemma. (How do we know? Because they found their name in a Don DeLillo novel.) Will TATE morph into a literate synthesis of the Strokes, the Smiths, and U2? Or will we hear their songs during CW dramas as tragically beautiful O.C. teens behold a Pacific sunset and wonder if they’ll someday graduate from the local mall to the boutiques of Rodeo Drive? Ah, postmodernism…
“Fantasy Ride” – by Ciara
Her voice is as thin Janet Jackson’s, so she’s no Beyonce, (which may not be a bad thing, since I think Ms. B. over-sings,) so like Michael’s little sister, Ciara will need to rely on hooks. Roughly half the songs have them, none better than “Love Sex Magic,” a funky, sensual duet with Justin Timberlake. It recalls Prince at his peak, and if you also hear shadings of Stevie, then Ciara has pretty much out-Wondered everything Alicia Keys has aspired to throughout her career.
CLASSIC REVIEW:
“Electric Music for the Mind and Body” - by Country Joe and the Fish (1967)
Perhaps best known for the anti-war “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag,” the Bay Area’s Country Joe and the Fish should also be remembered for recording – drip-for-drip – the best psychedelic album of the 1960s. All the hallmarks are here: Bluesy guitars on the edge of fuzzed-out distortion, spooky circus organs, mindbending imagery, half-jive vocals one step removed from 50s-era R&B and rockabilly, campy 60s beats, and vaguely eastern textures straight from the garage. And the songs are short, so there’s no mindless noodling. (Take that, Garcia.) It’s a trip. Gimme an F!
Jason Stonerook is the author of Rock ‘N’ Politics: A State of the Union Address. He wrote these reviews using enhanced listening techniques.
A little sonic experimentation leads to an 80’s style sound that is right at home in 2009.
By Jason Hettinger
Hot off the heels of 2005’s “Playing the Angel” – unquestionably their best album since 1990’s “Violator” – Depeche Mode enjoyed one of their most successful tours in the band’s three-decade history. However, it is very difficult for a band that has been around as long as Depeche Mode (specializing in what many feel is the outdated music genre of electro-pop) to not become complete caricatures of themselves. So when it came time to get back in the studio for a new album, Depeche Mode decided to bring back all the elements that made “Playing the Angel” so wildly successful and popular, and combine the attributes that made them famous almost 30 years ago. The result is an album that is far better than an “80s dance-rock” band should be making on its twelfth attempt.
On their new album “Sounds of the Universe,” Depeche Mode impressively returns to the sounds and textures of its early 80s work, while simultaneously reworking the older sounds to fit the band’s current, more mature, songwriting/singing techniques. There is plenty of sonic experimentation, attempts to conjure up the “Sounds of the Universe” image that the album derives its name…and it all works very well.
Lead-singer Dave Gahan has always been one of the best vocalists (outside of Nashville anyway) when it comes to songs of pain and suffering, and he is in top form here. The central theme of “Sounds” is somewhat similar to “Playing the Angel” – many songs about heartbreak, and anguish, but the songs on “Sounds” are songs of inner struggle and contemplation, almost verging on spiritualism…almost like a kind of gospel-techno.
Tracks like “Little Soul,” “Peace,” “Fragile Tension,” and “In Sympathy” are a far cry from the expectations of Depeche Mode’s usual work. The instrumentation definitely harkens back to the early 80s, certainly reminiscent of the band’s industrial pop phase. But as the band has aged, we are now treated to a slightly kinder, gentler Depeche Mode. The angst is still there, but certainly more reserved and reigned-in. Gahan is able to pull off some really beautiful vocal work -– work that the singer would not have been able to pull off or even embrace years ago.
But not every song is spiritual or mellow. The album eerily kicks off with “In Chains,” which sets the tone for the album nicely, featuring a hushed keyboard introduction, some funky out-of-character guitar blasts, and some of Gahan’s most croon-worthy falsetto work of his career. The lead-single, “Wrong,” is very much angry and confrontational, fully expressing an excessive amount of self-frustration. The final track on “Sounds” is a hollow, almost downright evilly lavish groove called “Corrupt” which fully embraces the nature of emotional pain and passing it on to others as an unavoidable occurrence.
One of the things that helps keep the band fresh after all these years is the introduction of Gahan as one of the principal songwriters of the group. Since the band’s inception, guitarist Martin Gore has been the principal songwriter, occasionally taking the reigns as lead vocalist as well. “Sounds of the Universe” features three songs co-written by Gahan and a few non-Depeche Mode songwriters, and Gore lends his considerable hauntingly melodic tenor as the lead singer on the track “Jezebel,” probably the closest song to a ballad that you will hear from Depeche Mode. These experimentations pay off dividends in helping to keep the band from becoming stale, and consistently exploring new avenues to freshen their sound.
It’s crazy to think that Depeche Mode has even been able to survive since 1990. Many of the band’s electro-pop peers became extinct, possibly even exiled. But somehow, Depeche Mode has been one of the precious few to escape a similar fate, and you can certainly chalk it up to the willingness of the band to explore new sounds, and alter their older sound to match their current songwriting styles. And judging by the band’s last two albums – two of the best albums the band has produced – I believe we are in the midst of a full-fledged Depeche Mode comeback.
Jason is a 23-year-old music lover who is proud to say that he works at KDEC-FM 100.5 as an “Ad-Guy.” You can also catch Jason on-air on FM 100.5 weekend afternoons or sometimes filling in for Tim or Jeni on the Morning Show. Jason will be spending the majority of his summer happily in rehearsals for the New Minowa Players Summer Musical: “Anne of Green Gables” which will be performed at DHS in late June.
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Editor’s (long freaking) note: I’ve got two sisters and a brother. They all make me extremely proud and happy: my brother is headed with his wife to Florida State to study statistics on a full scholarship (statistics, really? I know. The crazy guy loves it!), one is a mother-of-two, Army Reserves Sergeant who is currently (wo)maning her work, family, and home single-handedly while her husband is in Iraq, and the third is also a mother-of-two and a Sergeant of a sort – the mommy kind. She raises her own kids, other people’s kids through childcare – she even birthed another parents’ child through surrogacy. (Remember the story I wrote about her in our very first issue of Inspire(d) almost two years ago?) A woman who has this much interaction with children has got to have more than a few things to say. Within the last year, she’s found a way to say them. She’s started blogging. And she’s good at it. And funny. Visit her blog at: antisupermom.com.
Social media are taking their stance in journalism, and I don’t think they’re going anywhere any time soon. So in honor of the launch of our newly designed website and my own future blog (yep, I’m joining the masses – check it out on our blog page), I contacted my enthusiastic, bloggy sister, Beth. I asked her to explain the blogging world to those who might not be too familiar (hi mom and dad), and to introduce herself and her blog to those who are. And apparently I told her she could write up to 2000 words (which really is a lot). I don’t remember this number, but she certainly did.
Posted by Anti Supermom (re: by Beth Knudsvig)
Aryn asked me to write something about being a blogger (and fellow bloggers, before you get your undies in a bunch over having more readers on your blog than mine: I know. I am not the authority on all things blog-related. I am not an expert at blogging – although I do consider myself an expert at one thing, the one-handed diaper change – but it’s simple: she’s my sister. I have an ‘in’ and her name is Aryn. Un-bunched yet?).
She asked me to keep it under 2000 words. (Turns out 2000 words is a lot for me, so don’t skip over this, I promise to keep it interesting. Okay semi-interesting. Forget it, I’m not making any promises I can’t keep.) (Plus, I’m a horrible typer. 2000 words would take me forever. In high school typing class, before it was called “keyboarding,” us students were considered lucky if we got one of the typewriters that you got to plug in so you could listen to the pleasant typewriter hum instead of the teacher commanding “semi-colon, period, semi-colon, period…”. Those days rocked!)
But I digress. She also told me that she couldn’t pay me to write (to this I said: forget it). Then I remembered that she’s my sister. She’d probably give me a kidney or at least let me borrow a pair of shoes. So I agreed.
So here I am, standing proudly (actually I’m sitting, but whatever), to admit that I’m a blogger, even worse, I’m one of those cliché Mommy Bloggers.
And here’s a promise I can keep: if you don’t have a blog already, you should. It will change your life.
I blog like it’s my online diary, but it’s so much more than any childhood diary could be (cue the image of me, wearing pigtails, writing in my pink, padlocked little book). See, I stay home with my two boys and blogging provides for me a feeling like I have peers, co-workers standing beside me at this virtual water-cooler as I laugh, cry, scream through blogging about my own personal little bosses, my children. It’s like that ‘once career’ outside my home, where I was putting something out there, some written ‘project’ that would be judged, criticized, accepted or rejected, find success in or feel failure.
And boy, do I feel accepted. I’ve met some of the greatest moms out there (and I use the term ‘met’ as in never having face-to-face connection, funny huh?). I’ve laughed with Amanda, a first-time mom, about her daughter coined ‘Beans’ and all the life changes that come to this teacher-turned-stay-at-home-mom. I’ve cheered on Lisa with her four children whom she home-schools and cooks organic meals for and am amazed that she manages to still be up at 4:30 am for workout Boot Camp. I cried when I learned Emilie had passed away from cancer leaving behind her two little boys, the littlest one being the reason she found her cancer in the first place. To these women (and the occasional man) I am the Anti Supermom. Why? Because being a supermom to me means doing everything – working, mothering, cooking, cleaning, loving – and doing it all just right. But I don’t think that’s real and I have no desire to try to make it a reality. And I know that if I worried about all those things being perfect, I would miss out on the things that absolutely are. I blog about those moments, the perfect ones. And my blogging friends get it.
The point is I know some of my blogging friends better than I know some of my friends in real life (in blog-land we say IRL – “in real life.”). It doesn’t matter that we may never meet IRL.
Are we at 2000 words yet?
So…have I lost some of the generation ‘W’ – as in older than generation ‘X’ – out there? Are you saying “blog?” What’s that? Then let me start at the beginning.
What is a blog? (No, it’s not some new word for constipation, ‘Man, I’m feeling blogged down today!’ Nope, but it’s fun to pretend.) A blog is a website where an individual (or sometimes an organization or business) can write, video, photograph, sketch thoughts, ideas, information, and more to be shared in a public forum. The individual controlling the blog can post about anything they want – I personally choose to blog about my life and family – and then pretty much anyone out there can go to the blog, read/see what’s there, and even make comments.
Yes, blogging is the best form of voyeurism out there. (It’s the new reality television, umm screen time.) Want to know what irks me about my children this week? Read my blog. Want to see pictures of my son wearing his pants backwards? Read my blog. Sharing a blog allows people to keep in touch with you and your family. It’s the easiest way I’ve found to do so (and I’m lazy, I look for the easiest-anything). I’m also cheap so if you’re thinking there’s a subscription cost for something oh-so-wonderful, no. It’s free.
Surely we’re at 2000 words by now.
I’m not saying blogging will be great for everyone. Maybe you’ll hate it. But at least now you know a little about an Anti Supermom and her creative outlet. For me it’s more fun than television, it’s juicier than tabloids, it’s more useful than email. It’s real. IRL.
Beth likes long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners… who are we kidding? She’s a wife, a mother, a childcare provider and volunteer; her sanity holds on by a thread daily. Visit her at www.antisupermom.com to feed her ego.
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Designer, painter, and public artist, Jeremiah Johnson is truly passionate about art.
Inspire(d) gets a look at the world through his eyes.
By Michelle Pettit
I first met Decorah artist Jeremiah Johnson at an art retreat. He was in discovery mode and his enthusiasm transferred to the rest of us. Jeremiah came up with a tree-installation project that everyone worked on together. Then he shared found-art treasures: twisted-up wires, multi-colored shotgun shells in an array of rainbow colors, and finally a small tin box with pieces of torn-up photos inside. At first I thought this was an ironic joke of some kind. But when I got into an accepting mind, I saw the real point. This was interesting, just to move the colors of these photos around again and again, creating interesting shapes and endless combinations. We were piecing together a puzzle that never gets entirely solved.
There’s always a mix of things going on in Jeremiah’s works. Sometimes things may seem obvious, but then things are not only what they seem. Usually when I think I’ve figured something out about his art, I’m surprised again.
There is a definite constant though – Jeremiah is always enthusiastic about connecting people and ideas. There is a fresh and celebratory feeling to his devotion to art. He works on a variety of projects in his studio located behind Fancy Pants Clothing Boutique in Decorah. There you will find his nymph paintings, found object art, nature photographs, t-shirts and sculptures, and lots of raw materials for creating new works. Jeremiah took some time away from creating to talk about art as a meaningful quest.
I. Is there a theme or subject you would say you’re most drawn to in your art?
J. The main theme I like is living biology, plants, and growth, mind, and body.
I. Would you tell us about your one-man company, Big Bang.
J. I came up with the idea of “Big Bang” when I made a spiky papier-mache sculpture that reminded me of an explosion. It was inspired by the earth, with red and yellow fire and spirals of blue water. It was the idea of a beginning, a Genesis, creation.
The initial idea for my one-man company “Big Bang” was putting together a way to collaborate with people for celebrations, parties, and weddings; to help people get their ideas across, their vision and to meld it with mine in order to design an atmosphere for their event. A few years ago the idea snowballed, and like the Big Bang, started expanding. I was gathering ideas and being inspired by everything, mostly people. “Big Bang” is now an encompassing title for everything I do. I apply it to many things: to my art shows and to anything that happens in the studio; all my avenues – t-shirts, photography, sculpture, found-art, painting, and designing.
I. I read recently that an objective in life is to act with innocence and you will experience the unexpected, the exceptional, and the unpredictable. This is innocence as natural and unforced awareness. It seems you create spontaneously with this kind of innocence. How would you describe what happens when you feel your art is working?
J. When I silence my inner critic and let the images come, something develops I didn’t plan or expect. As I paint, the meaning evolves. I like a natural, spontaneous way of looking at things. I like my art to bleed into my life. I like art and life to merge. I want to see things in a new way – and live it.
I. What is your process of painting?
J. I just made a painting last night. Once it was done I realized how long it had been conceptualizing in me. Now that’s it done I see people who influenced me in it and things that inspired me. I can see StoryPeople friends in this painting; they’ve influenced me and I see them in my work.
This painting is one of my nymphs, a Honey Nymph. There is a mythology to the nymphs. In the Honey Nymph’s case, it started with her surrendering fears which allowed her to live. Once she did, flowers grew around her head and the bees came to pollinate the flowers and make the honey and she became the honeycomb and the cycle was complete. It is a nature story. I love to create stories about the nymphs. They’re nature incarnate and they have themes everyone can relate to – nurturing, love and surrender.
When we become who we are, we don’t have to put on masks. We are content and free. Free of labels and boundaries. I don’t think there really are boundaries. That’s why I like things big and to come off the canvas.
I. What is coming up for you?
J. I have a design project in June to make a backdrop for a wedding.I’d like to do more 3D work, more sculptural. I am selling prints now at www.fostergraphs.com/default.php. I’ll have a summer show and will be participating in DRAC’s Art Walk. I’m also going to do a project in the former Sabor Latino building. I’m going to paint a mural on the elevator doors. I love working on big projects and on a big scale.
Whatever I do, I want to keep collaborating. I want others to be inspired to create.
To see samples of or purchase some of Jeremiah’s work, visit: www.fostergraphs.com/default.php. Some of his work will also be on display in the windows of Happy Joe’s through the Decorah Regional Arts Council’s Art Walk June 18 through July 6. See more information at: www.decoraharts.wordpress.com.
Michele Pettit graduated from Luther in 1992 as an English major; and took plenty of theater and art classes because she loved them. She’s been Library Director at McGregor Public Library since 1999, where she started a weekly writers group (which still meets every Wednesday). She enjoys journaling, looking for symbols in dreams and in waking life, writing poetry, painting, and reading.
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By Dan Bellrichard
On any dry day, if you’re heading northbound out of Decorah on College Drive, you are likely to see several groups of all ages and skill levels playing disc golf on the Luther College campus. For those of you not familiar, disc golf is a sport just like “ball” golf, except instead of hitting balls into holes you throw Frisbee-like discs into chain baskets. Most are surprised to discover the sport has been around since the late 60s, and now many are thrilled it has hit Northeast Iowa.
Courses are typically in parks and around campuses with the natural surroundings providing fairways and obstacles. According to the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) there are nearly 3,000 courses in the U.S. alone. Iowa ranks number two with 143 courses and Minnesota and Wisconsin follow, ranking three and five, respectively.
With the recent addition of a nine-hole course in Waukon, there are currently three good courses (and soon to be four!) in this corner of Northeast Iowa. Upper Iowa University in Fayette has an 18-hole course, Luther College has a nine-hole course, and NICC in Calmar is installing nine holes later this summer. Several other courses can be found in the tri-state area including Cresco, New Hampton, Hokah (MN), and Sparta (WI). Many leagues are popping up in the region as well, including a community league at Luther College that meets at 1 pm on Sundays throughout the academic year.
Disc golf has become a popular recreational activity in recent years for many reasons. For starters, it’s cheap and easy to play. Courses are typically free or low-cost to play and discs cost in the range of $10-$15 each – and you only need one to start. Disc golf courses typically use natural surroundings and obstacles to create fairways and holes. This also lends the sport a very healthy and environmentally friendly nature. Games tend to move quickly with a nine-hole round taking about 45 minutes depending on the number of players. It’s great exercise to get out and walk in a natural setting and because of the type of activity involved there is low risk for injury – anyone can enjoy a game from grandparents to young kids. That said, there is plenty of mastery to be achieved. The disc type, wind conditions, throwing speed, footwork and angle of release all change the flight of the disc – and mastering all of those skills can be a challenge!
So go ahead, grab a disc, and start throwing. Playing is like a walk in the park…only so much better!
Dan Bellrichard lives in Decorah and loves to disc golf! He is the creator of www.discgolfdan.com. Check out his site to learn about the rules, discs, throwing techniques, and strategies of disc golf. Also view and download photos, info, maps, directions and scorecards for area courses.
Regional course locations:
Luther College Campus – 9 holes
Waukon City Park – 9 holes
Upper Iowa University – 18 holes
Cresco – 9 holes
Additional courses in New Hampton, Hokah, Sparta, La Crosse, and Lanesboro.
Find details at www.discgolfdan.com.
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Discover Winneshiek County’s Lake Meyer Plus New Trails in Decorah
By Lauren Kraus
Originally published in Inspire(d)’s June/July 2009 issue
Hello, Summer! As each day begins and every heavy rain passes, the trees and vegetation bring a bright green glow to Northeast Iowa. That fresh glow has been buried in snow for too long and now is the time to get out and play. The late sunsets, colorful flowers, and green leaves are intoxicating – you just can’t help but feel happy in the presence of summer! For me, this constant beckoning to be outside means tromping around in the woods and exploring area trails. I am excited to keep surveying the region’s greatness and continue the trail series featured in Inspire(d) last spring, summer, and fall. We checked out some pretty prime spots, and if you need a refresher, see the complete series of trails articles in the main “read” section. Whatever your mode – hike, bike, run, or walk – make sure you take advantage of the fantastic natural setting that is the Driftless region.
Know of Lake Meyer? No, no, not to be mistaken with Michael Myers, the fictional character from the “Halloween” slasher series. Winneshiek’s Meyer is much better and not scary. (Although, summer is definitely a great time to stay up late and watch horror movies or tell ghost stories.) Lake Meyer is a hidden gem that sits on 33 acres of rolling, rugged woodlands nestled just three miles southwest of Calmar off Highway 24. It’s not the land of 10,000 lakes here in Iowa, so a body of water surrounded with great hiking trails like Lake Meyer is unique and not to be missed. Home of the Winneshiek County Conservation Board, Lake Meyer Park not only has beautiful trails with a few rustic bridges (including a hidden draw bridge) to enjoy, but boasts a campground and nature center that is open for outdoor education and regular events such as the Women’s Canoe Workshop that happened this June.
In the mood for bluegill, largemouth bass, or channel catfish? Lake Meyer also has great fishing. So get out the picnic basket, pull out those fishing poles and brush off the old Eureka tent, ‘cause Lake Meyer Park has it all. For more information and specific event dates, check out www.winneshiekcounty.org/winncon.
Itching for a new trail to check out or need a reminder of the sweet, sweet tromping grounds in Decorah? You asked for it. The folks of Decorah Human Powered Trails (DHPT) as well as several volunteers kept their momentum going – even after the flood damage last June – to build virtually one mile of new trail in the Dunnings Spring Park above Ice Cave Road. Deke Gosen of Decorah’s Oneota River Cycles expressed his excitement about the success in making this new trail a great loop with little elevation differential and a better entrance off Ice Cave Road. This is open to all types of bikers, runners, and hikers with varied skill level. To access this new trail, called “Mother’s Day,” head east on Ice Cave Road and keep a lookout for a trailhead on the north side (your left) of the road. You will notice a small, brown Decorah Parks and Rec. sign with a little hiker on it well after the entrance to Dunning’s Spring but before the Ice Cave. This is the older trail. Keep going about 100 yards and look for another trailhead. It is clearly tracked out, but not marked with a sign. Note the most recent, updated map included for a visual. Head up and enjoy the lush, thick forest!
If you love the trails in Decorah and are looking for opportunity to have a little organized fun on them, the DHPT hosts a variety of events each summer, competitive and non-competitive.
For information, dates, and contacts check out bikedecorah.com. Get outside! Summer is in full swing and now is the time to take advantage of the awesome landscape of Winneshiek County. Soak in that sun and fresh air and check back in August for more fantastic locales to explore.
Lauren Kraus loves sleeping under the stars, enjoys eating food cooked over a fire in the woods and gets antsy when inside for an extended period of time. Does this surprise you? Unfortunately, she did not find one morel mushroom this season. She has a lot to learn.
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By Aryn Henning Nichols
THE 8TH ANNUAL DOWN ON THE FARM POUR IS JUNE 15-19, 2011
Sculpture artist Kelly Ludeking loves metal. Pretty much all kinds of it. And while he originally started with bronze and aluminum, it was an iron pour that really pulled him in. For Kelly, pouring iron is about community. It’s about learning and teaching, and it was this aspect that really sealed his path and passion.
Born in Decorah, Iowa, Kelly attended the local high school, and like many small town teens, was involved in essentially every extracurricular activity that he had any interest in. Mostly art-related things: band, drama, painting, sculpture, etc.
“It kind of amazed me to look back and see how much art I dabbled in to find my niche,” he says.
That niche was eventually found at the Minnesota College of Art and Design where he was studying metal work. Kelly and some friends were invited to an iron pour – their first – and they watched as nearly a dozen people worked together as a team to feed a fire, melt iron, and pour it into molds to make each person’s individual art works.
“It was more of a production,” Kelly says. “It was such an incredible event.”
After, Kelly and friends went back to their college, inspired. They wanted to build their own furnace. And with help from the school, they did. Amazingly, they hosted their very own iron pour later that year. That furnace lived on at the Minnesota College of Art and Design for several years until it was donated to a sculpture park. It’s still used today, and in fact, was recently done so by Kelly.
You see, this is what Kelly does. He is an artist. He’s only just relocated with his wife to Madison, Wisconsin, from the Twin Cities, and he’s already got a gallery showing lined up. He is doing it. He travels around the Midwest and nation to be a guest artist, speaker, or participant in iron pours and events. He was invited to three pours this spring alone, and even spoke at the National Conference on Cast Iron Art in Birmingham, Alabama. The goal was to help students realize there is “casting after college.”
“The conference helps teach the next generation,” says Kelly. “We want them to know that once they leave college, they can continue to cast. Through businesses and institutions, they can make a living at it.”
There are a lot of inventive ways to cast post-graduation, he says. One is to set up your own event, like the sixth annual Down on the Farm Iron Pour Kelly hosted on his family’s farm this past July. The whole thing started on a whim – after organizing more than a decade of pours elsewhere, Kelly was living in Decorah helping his family and decided to bring an event here.
“I figured I could show my family what I do and not have to leave the farm,” he says. “And this way I have control of things. My dad’s very cool about it, we can build a bigger furnace and I know there will be enough room for everyone. And from the sounds of it, it’s going to be quite a bit larger than it’s been in the past. It’s looking like 50 artists are coming.”
People of all experience levels will stay in rural Decorah out at the Ron Ludeking farm and cast and teach and learn from each other. They come here from a variety of locales –Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin – for this “Down on the Farm” pour. Artists are beginning to look forward to the annual event, even recognizing the barn in the promo posters before they even know Kelly.
“I have a t-shirt with the barn on it and people say, ‘You’re that guy,’” Kelly says. “It’s growing. People are coming from all over to play at my farm. For some ‘weekend warrior’ kind of artists, this is their get-away. This is their time to make art.”
The entire four-day event is organized by Kelly’s company, Ironhead Sculptural Services, and is open to the public each day from noon until 7 pm. Visitors can come watch artists in the process of creating patterns and molds. Then on Saturday, June 27, at roughly 5 pm, Kelly and his crew of artists fired up the furnace and poured molten metal into the molds they’d been working on throughout the event.
After, DJ Efraim Santiago from White Bear Lake, Minnesota, fired up the tunes and mixed music for the annual iron pour party.
Kelly also taught classes at the farm June 24 through Decorah’s ArtHaus.
“I especially enjoy teaching kids, because they seem to be getting away from hands-on learning – tactile stuff. There’s so much virtual work,” he says. “Hands-on building is something so different from building on a computer. I think it’s just a good learning experience for them. And for the adults too.”
If things go as Kelly hopes, the entire Down on the Farm Iron Pour will really be one big learning process. Casting iron for fun and for an art didn’t start until the 60s, Kelly says, and a lot of the original “old dogs” are retiring from pouring and moving on.
“I want to learn as much as possible. It’s cool to be a part of something where the founders are actually still around,” Kelly says. “It hasn’t changed, why we do it. It’s the love of the metal. It’s really key to the process. If you can make iron beautiful and change the way people look at it – that it’s not machinery, it’s not something that’s cold and hard any more – if you can change somebody’s perception about it… that’s art. It’s pretty cool.”
Aryn Henning Nichols thinks molten metal is pretty darn neat. She hopes lots of people visit Kelly’s cool pour.
Down on the Farm Iron Pour: Stay tuned for details on the 7th Annual
According to Kelly: “Completely open to ALL skill levels”
Ron Ludeking Farm, 1421 200th Street, Decorah
To get more information or to be involved, contact Kelly at:
651-280-5744
kelly@ironheadsculptural.com
www.kellyludeking.com
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by Aryn Henning Nichols | photos courtesty Kat Singer
When you think of the Midwest, the word that comes to mind is not usually “diverse.” More often it’s “farm” or even more exact, “corn.” So it is a rare find indeed when a truly diverse group of students and staff from all corners of the country – even the world – actually choose to spend four weeks in some relatively small Lutheran college in the Midwest.
The fact that the purpose of their trip is to study the connection between music and faith makes it an even bigger anomaly. But the Minneapolis-based Lutheran Music Program takes on this rare bird of a task with ease, recruiting upwards of 150 students each summer for the Lutheran Summer Music Acadamy and Festival (LSM).
“Students come from Japan, Alaska, New York City, Florida, Texas…” LSM executive director Beth Burns says, trailing off. “Really all over the place. 12 from California, nine from Iowa, 21 from Minnesota. It’s great because the students get exposed to such diversity while they’re at LSM – some of them come from such homogenous communities that this is the first time they’ve been in an environment like this.”
Leaders in the Lutheran Church founded LSM in Minneapolis in 1982. They were concerned that the younger generation was losing interest in church music and wanted to develop a program that could “pass the guard” essentially, and keep alive this tradition that is so intrinsically tied to Lutheran worship. For the past 27 years, LSM has moved from Lutheran college to Lutheran College around the Midwest in a “program without walls.” The idea is to both expose students to music connected to faith, but also places they could potentially attend college.
LSM will spend the next three summer sessions at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. From June 21 to July 19, students will spend work-packed days immersed in lessons, ensembles, recitals, and study. They’re the hard-working sorts of kids you’d want to have if you were a teacher.
“They’re all pretty serious students,” LSM faculty and Luther professor Spencer Martin says. “They’re bright, talented, and really interested in relating music and church. Exactly the type we’d want to recruit to Luther.”
The students of LSM might have a different story though: they claim no sainthood.
“We’re a pretty rag-tag bunch of kids,” says two-year LSM participant Jaci Wilkinson. “We still need to be whupped into shape.”
But just as Jaci jokes, she’s preparing to finish her sophomore year at Luther College. At age 19, she’s pretty much a year ahead. She’s a music major focusing on cello with a full summer scheduled – you get the feeling she’s pretty “whupped” into shape already. Jaci, originally from Decorah, credits LSM for a lot of her dedication to the cello and music in general.
“I wouldn’t be a music major if it wasn’t for LSM. I can say that pretty confidently,” she says.
One of the reasons Jaci chose LSM – there are a lot of programs out there – was the talented and committed faculty.
“We have 34 faculty members drawn from the best music programs across the county: University of Texas, University of Minnesota, Luther, Ithaca, University of Louisiana… and we retain a lot them. We’ve also retained 40 percent of our students this summer. They enjoy working with the same teachers each year,” says Beth. “Spencer, for example, has practically a fan club of violas across the United States.”
In total, 60 faculty and staff members in addition to the 150 students will be making Luther College their four-week summer home. While the program does rotate semi-regularly – it’s been at St. Olaf, Valparaiso University, Wittenberg University, Augustana in Rock Island and Sioux Falls, Concordia, Augsburg, and Gustavus – Luther has been host more than any other campus. And Decorah is a town LSM staff looks forward to.
“I can say that many of the faculty tell me this is their favorite place to come,” says Spencer. “They think Decorah is such a charming town, and love what the downtown has to offer.”
The feeling really should be mutual. LSM has faculty or student recitals practically every night. From solos to string quartets to jazz ensembles, these are going to be some great hour-long concerts. There is even a proper Bach cantata performed during a worship service. And all these events are free and open to the public. (See sidebar for recital and festival details.)
“We were always so excited when someone came to a recital. It was like, ‘Oh thank goodness, someone is taking advantage of this great music,’” says Jaci.
“You don’t get music like this around here.”
The entire program culminates with festival week July 12 through 19, full of “non-stop music” according to Beth.
“It’s a celebration of the musical gifts of these young people,” says Beth. “And not only are the people from LSM in attendance, but 800 parents come to see their kids perform. There will definitely be some new people around Decorah.”
While the Midwest isn’t known for its diversity, it is known for its hospitality. The faculty and staff look forward to getting involved in life in Decorah and hope the community will do the same.
“We’re always looking for more engagement with our host city,” Beth says. “We’d really like to become part of the Decorah community.”
Aryn Henning Nichols looks forward to a new influx of people in Decorah and lots of great, free music. This is what summer is all about!
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