- This week on "Wisconsin Life:"
Meet artists who find empowerment through creation,
the owner of a mobile farmers market,
the director of one of Wisconsin's oldest choirs,
and a trail blazer beautifying the shores of Lake Michigan.
It's all ahead on "Wisconsin Life!"
* *
- Funding for "Wisconsin Life"
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
- Hello, I'm your host, Angela Fitzgerald,
and this is "Wisconsin Life."
Today, I'm in the southeastern part of the state
exploring arts and culture
within the walls of the Racine Business Center.
This distinctive building
is located in the south side of Racine.
The owner believes it to be
the first business incubator in the nation.
[lightbulb switches on]
An incubator allows small organizations
the space and resources to grow into thriving businesses.
Which is exactly what happened here for over 100 years.
Today, the Racine Business Center
houses several artists' studios,
eclectic shops,
and even a manufacturing company on the first floor.
We'll meet some of the talented artists and residents here
later in the show.
But first we head to Hayward
where a set of artists
use their creative talent
as a way to connect with the outside world.
* *
- Hayward artist Shannon Kocka
draws inspiration from her daydreams.
They take flight in the form
of fantasy and science fiction.
- You get to use your imagination more.
You get to explore these little worlds in your head.
- Creating art takes courage to try new things.
That's especially challenging for Shannon.
She was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder
as a child.
- I was really antisocial.
I didn't want to do things different.
I sometimes screamed and cried a lot
for no reason at all.
- Trying new things and socializing
are often more difficult for people on the spectrum.
Giizhik Klawiter was diagnosed with autism at age 5.
Ten years later, his mother says
his peers still struggle to accept him.
- Pam Miller: My hope
is that people one day
understand autism
and accept autism.
They have an ability that we don't have.
Giizhik has a photographic memory.
And so I think that's what makes him so good with his artistry.
- Giizhik and Shannon are both members of See My Art,
or SMART,
a non-profit organization
created by Drummond artist Sara Balbin.
It provides support and guidance
for people with disabilities through art.
- Sara Balbin: Oh, I see it.
Raccoon, bear.
It's a good way to give
what I've been given.
And I have mentors,
and now, I'm mentoring.
- That is awesome. Nice colors.
- The SMART organization offers artists
a platform to showcase their work online.
Sara's also formed relationships
with several Northwoods businesses
to give gallery space
to SMART artists.
- Sara Balbin: They've become artists.
They've become professional artists.
* *
- Giizhik's passion is painting.
* *
- Giizhik Klawiter: Painting animals that
you would locally see here in the wild,
or in the region.
This is a type of bear
that is locally seen in Wisconsin.
You can see that it's full of berries over there.
- He also loves to spread
Christmas cheer.
- I really like Christmas.
One of my favorite things about Christmas
was snowmen with top hats.
I really like top hats.
- It led to his biggest brush with notoriety.
- Mom had this idea of turning them into cards.
* *
- For the past decade,
Giizhik's sold holiday cards across Sawyer County
to raise money for autism research.
The proceeds go to the Waisman Center
at UW-Madison.
- We've raised over $18,000.
- Giizhik Klawiter: And I think
it was a pretty neat thing.
- Pam Miller: He has difficulty with the notoriety
because people recognize him
and he has difficulty with that social interaction.
He is very proud that his cards help other people.
- Sara Balbin: He wants to make a difference.
And isn't that wonderful?
Fifteen years old and wanting to make a difference.
You have to love it.
- While Giizhik crafted cards,
Shannon scripted her own story.
In 2017, she published her first book,
titled Wings.
- Shannon Kocka: The main character is Irving.
He has no memory of where he came from.
He's different from the other dragons
because he's got butterfly patterns on his wings
like you see on the cover.
He's separated from his people
so he's got to try and find the courage within himself
and try and find them again.
- It sparked Shannon's writing career.
- There were star sprites everywhere
migrating in a massive cyclone above him,
illuminating the jungle in all colors
like thousands of tiny rainbows.
A feeling overcame Irving
one he could only describe as sheer happiness.
There were tears in his eyes,
but he couldn't wipe them away.
He didn't want to miss this beautiful sight.
Well, first I want to make a trilogy out of this first book
and I already have a couple ideas for future books.
Most of them involve dragons.
I'm definitely going to be a fantasy writer.
- She's also working on her social skills.
At Sara's encouragement, Shannon was the keynote speaker
at the 2018
See My Art annual gala event.
- She will open doors for others
to realize that
it's okay to be like who you were born to be.
Becoming an artist,
an author takes the term "autism" and "Asperger's" away.
Now you are an author.
You're a writer.
You're a creative person.
- I'm still hesitant to try
new things and do things differently
but at least I'm still trying
and there are still people supporting me for it.
- I am so, so happy for you. - Thank you.
- Shannon says living with autism
has its ups and downs,
but ask her if she'd change a thing and she'd say...
- I'd say 'no' 'cause it made me who I am.
And without it,
I'd probably be a very boring person
and being boring is not fun.
- Spoken like an artist who's learned to follow her daydreams.
- Sometimes you'll listen to that voice in your head
and you'll just sit and do nothing,
but other times you get to push through
and you accomplish something.
- Speaking of ambitions,
we travel to Madison
where a farmer works to preserve
his ancestry through
the seeds he plants
and truck he drives.
[soft guitar]
- For Dan Cornelius,
food has always been an important influence in his life.
As a member of the Oneida Nation,
Dan developed a strong connection
with Native American food and culture.
- For me, why I was drawn
to food and to agriculture
is food is at the core of life, of survival.
It touches on all aspects of life.
- It was that interest that led Dan to realize
there was an opportunity for Native Americans in Wisconsin
to honor their agricultural history
and sell their goods.
- You know, the historic economy of Wisconsin
was really centered on food
and in agriculture
and a lot of people today
don't even think of Indians, Native Americans, and tribes
engaging in agriculture,
but you look historically,
and we had extensive fields as far as the eye could see
of corn with pumpkins and squash
and beans and sunflowers and Amaranth
all mixed in.
What I saw in the region here
is that we were really lacking infrastructure and support
for a coordinated transportation and distribution
and marketing of our foods.
- Dan partnered with the Intertribal Agriculture Council
and the Mobile Farmers Market was born.
The market provides access to Native American-produced goods
like beans, corn, and wild rice
at farmers markets and food summits
across Wisconsin.
And as Dan explains,
the market does more than just provide a production outlet.
- It addresses our land issues and provides opportunities
for sustainable economic development
at the same time as improving community health.
- The way in which food is prepared
is often just as important to health
as the food itself.
Dan says that
looking back to how food was traditionally prepared
is one way in which healthier practices can be re-introduced.
- That's one of the fascinating things with looking at
the history of how foods were used.
And the knowledge that our ancestors had
is really amazing.
These are a Haudenosaunee blue sweet corn
and they just started coming up
in the past two, three days.
This is a Haudenosaunee.
This is a white and purple calico corn.
It's flour corn.
- Response from Native American communities to indigenous foods
and the Mobile Farmers Market has been positive
and Dan says it helps establish open dialogues
and ignite action.
- It's a great opportunity as a conversation starter
and getting a pulse on a community,
and where folks are coming from.
And I think it also helps to inspire people
and just to think of what can they be doing.
Generally when people see all those foods,
they get pretty excited.
- In his own life,
Dan experienced the communal connection
that came from cooking traditional foods.
- I just remember growing up,
my grandma would bring down corn, corn soup at the holidays.
And I just loved eating corn soup.
- By making traditional foods more available,
Dan hopes to instill that same excitement
and love of cooking and food in others.
- Whether indigenous foods or not,
just getting families,
getting our younger generations into the kitchen,
and cooking again
and reconnecting those relationships with food
and making it at home.
That's important from both a health perspective
but also just from a community perspective as well.
- I'm at the Racine Business Center,
getting to know the community of artists
who call this building home.
The story is part of a long legacy of entrepreneurs
in Racine.
An exhibit here on the second floor tells that story.
The Racine Arts & Business Center is aptly named,
literally bringing the arts
to the heart of the city's downtown business district.
The center's building was originally constructed in 1865
by the Racine Wagon and Carriage Company for manufacturing.
When cars became popular many years later,
the owners decided to rent out space to start-ups,
many of which became success businesses.
The tenants that occupy this building now
continue to build on that success
with studio galleries, shops, and even a small café.
One of those tenants is Tony Macies,
a ceramic artist who found success in the space.
He balances the importance of owning a business
while still maintaining his creative drive.
- I mainly work in ceramics.
- Can you tell me about the pieces
on display on the table?
- This one is very simple.
It's called pit firing.
So, it's taking the ceramic piece
and putting it into a bucket of combustible stuff,
lighting the top and just letting it burn down.
And that's where
these different, cool little marks show up.
Then, once the piece is finished,
usually it's waxed to give it a little bit of a shine.
The darks sort of pop out a little bit more.
These three pieces and that piece are raku.
The raku process and this process, to me,
are very visceral.
They're the fastest processes that exist in ceramics.
So I always say that it helps feed
my short attention span and instant gratification issues
because in about an hour and a half,
I'll can pull a piece out of the kiln and it's ready.
- Tony's ceramic business may feature
the fastest art process at the center,
but Erin Manders soap business is certainly
the best smelling set-up.
So, tell us what you make here at Perennial Soaps?
- I make bar soap, liquid soap, roll-on perfume,
body spray, and bath balms.
- Pretty much everything for the body and skin.
- Yup.
- What's your favorite product to make?
- Probably bar soap. - What's that process like?
- Take about an hour to mix the soap and pour it into the mold.
Sits overnight
and then has to cure for about four to six weeks.
- Wow, that long? I had no idea.
What makes this space so special to you?
- It's good for me because I can choose
a small amount of retail hours
and then keep the space mainly for manufacturing.
- Sounds perfect for an entrepreneur like yourself?
- Mm-hmm.
- Spend a few hours
walking through the Arts & Business Center
and you'll see many examples
of creative entrepreneurship.
Part of a long tradition of business enterprise in Racine
that goes all the way back to the 1800s
in this historic spot.
[upbeat jazz music]
There are a lot of impressive things being crafted here.
Next, we connect with
a choir director in Madison
who helps to preserve
a music tradition
dating back more than 150 years.
- Let's do flowers. Can we go on...
* Poppy, petunia, poppy, petunia, gladiola *
[singing in a higher pitch] - children: * Poppy, petunia, poppy, petunia, gladiola *
- Not too bad.
And for your last warm up, can I have--
Let's do "Danny Boy."
- At Jefferson Middle School in Madison,
Garrett Debbink leads the after-school choir.
- Here we go!
[plays piano accompaniment of "We Found Love"]
- Nice and loud.
- * Yellow diamonds in the light *
- I started it when I got here six years ago.
It's called Loud and Clear.
We always do the pop stuff, the newer stuff.
A cappella has a little bit more of a draw
and it's what the kids are into.
- From modern pop...
- * Can you feel that? *
* We're playing with love tonight *
- ...to more old school.
[choir singing in German]
* Es wird schon gleich dunkel es wird ja schon Nacht *
- Lots of energy first tenors.
Don't lose that pitch.
- Garrett also directs the Madison Maennerchor.
[Choir singing "Ein Prosit" in German]
* Ein Prosit der Gemüatlichkeit *
- Being able to be a director
for a choir that's been around for 165 years
is really something special.
* * Cool, that'll be good.
- A choir founded in 1852 to be exact
by German immigrants,
four years after Wisconsin became a state.
- They would go to work and then they would go to the bar.
And this was their entertainment.
They would have a couple drinks and sing songs.
I think it's a really interesting history
that we've kind of lost.
- The men's choir originally
came to the New World with Old World ways
and forged a rich tradition
around the state and in Madison.
- Most of it is four-part men's choral music.
So it's tenor one, tenor two, baritone, bass.
- When Grover Cleveland
visited Wisconsin in 1887,
it was the Madison Maennerchor
that serenaded the U.S. president...
...in German.
Today, the songs are still sung in German.
- Announcer: Please welcome Madison Maennerchor.
[applause]
* * [tuning note]
* Ein prosit alle hier sind *
* That's you and you and you *
* Lebe, Liebe, Lache *
* Freu dich auf der Welt *
- My German is actually very rough.
I've been learning, but it's not a prerequisite at all.
["O Tannenbaum"] * In dem Baum In dem Baum *
* Wo es schallt *
So, I'm looking at measure five, second verse.
* Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit *
It was extremely intimidating.
Some of these guys have been singing these songs
longer than I've been alive.
And to then show up and be like,
"I know how these songs go."
Eventually, I did kind of step into the role
as someone with music and choral and directing background.
* [singing a sustained note] *
Everyone take a seat.
We sang this one on Friday
and it sounded great.
So, same thing.
If you weren't--
If you weren't there on Friday,
don't muck it up for us.
[laughter]
- German choir culture in Wisconsin
has withstood the test of time.
* In der Wald mit Hiya und TraLa *
* Trinke Bier *
[applause]
- I think it's one of the more unique things about this choir.
It was a tradition back in Germany.
As time has gone on,
this tradition,
a four-part male choir singing, has actually,
to my knowledge, mostly disappeared
and has really stayed alive
with the descendants of German immigrants here in the states.
- * Schon gleich dunkel *
- Here in Madison, it could also disappear.
This is the oldest German men's choir
in the state.
Old in two ways.
* In a one-horse open sleigh Oh! *
Most of the guys are old enough
to be my grandpa's or at least my dad's age.
I'm pretty sure I'm actually the youngest person in the choir.
The choir's not getting younger.
[Choir singing in German]
- Garrett's goal is to grow the choir
and strike a chord in finding that balance
between the old and new
through singing, socializing, sausage, and Sheepshead.
- I think that's one of my favorite things.
No matter who you are, there's a place
on Thursdays from 8:00 to 9:30
that you can show up.
It is creating that sense of community
where people feel welcome,
where people have fun.
I get to do that for a living.
And I think that's one of the best things.
[Choir singing] * And du *
[applause]
- Our last story takes us to Manitowoc
to meet a trailblazer
who brings blooms
to a path
along Lake Michigan.
* *
- Mariners Trail is a recreational trail
that runs between Manitowoc and Two Rivers,
five-and-a-half miles.
It's right along Lake Michigan.
[waves whoosh]
It's a beautiful place to be.
- It's a place where you will often find Judy Corrado.
- We were disappointed
there were some berms that had been planted at one time
and were not taken care of.
The next thing we said was,
"What if we got some gardeners to volunteer?"
- An interesting concept coming from Judy
* *
because ask her what she knows about gardening
and she'll give you an unexpected answer.
- Zero.
Oh, my goodness, no formal training
and not very much knowledge.
I don't know a lot about plants, but I'm learning.
- Judy's idea for volunteers
blossomed into the Mariners Trail public gardens.
- In that first year, we got 18 people interested in gardening
and then it just grew and grew.
We have 50 gardens along the trail
all taken care of by volunteers.
I think our oldest volunteer retired last year and he was 92.
We've seen little kids working on the gardens.
- Along the trail, Judy is a familiar face
tending to her own adopted garden
and with little or no experience,
she oversees 49 others.
- Oh, it's just so much fun.
Why not do it?
I'm retired. I have the time.
My garden is a really nice site.
It's real close to the wayside.
We call it Woodland Drive Wayside.
I'm not a gardener by nature or by anything
except I love flowers.
And I jokingly say my garden theme is
if there's an empty spot, put color and I do.
I'm passionate about Mariners Trail.
- Judy and her husband, Larry,
have shown a passion for the trail
since it first opened in 2004.
And belong to the group Friends of Mariners Trail.
- It's an important part of my life
and the gardens have just made it that much better.
It's fun to see people
sharing what they love with the community.
Those gardeners have been there for three years.
I don't know how they heard about Mariners Trail.
I don't know how they got to be gardeners.
But they've put a lot of work into it
and it really is, really is nice.
- Judy's enthusiasm has resulted in what some now describe
as the "Jewel along the Lake Michigan coast."
- It is absolutely beautiful.
People love using Mariners Trail
and the flower beds are just a bonus.
They're a freebie.
I just feel so fortunate to live on Lake Michigan
and have this opportunity.
I think a lot of people do identify Judy Corrado
and Mariners Trail flower beds.
I think that would be a pretty good legacy, actually.
* *
- It's great to meet the entrepreneurs and artists
working to build a creative community right here in Racine.
If you'd like to learn more
about the Racine Arts & Business Center
or the stories you've seen today,
visit WisconsinLife.org.
As always, we'd love to hear about your "Wisconsin Life."
So send us your ideas at WisconsinLife@wpt.org.
That'll wrap it up.
I'm your host, Angela Fitzgerald,
and this is our "Wisconsin Life."
Bye.
* *
- Funding for "Wisconsin Life"
is provided in part
by Alliant Energy,
Lowell and Mary Peterson,
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.