(musical flourish plays) - On this episode of postcards.

- I think it's important to be really into what you're doing.

And it's important to be generous with the information.

- I grew up in Proctor, graduated from Proctor.

My mom graduated from Proctor.

I never knew there was a Titanic survivor, in Proctor until we purchased this house.

- I'm pleased to share with you my short film, Hugo, a piece that was created out of grief, following the loss of a family member.

(gentle music plays) (series theme music playing) - [Narrator] Postcards is made possible by: the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by: Margaret A Cargill philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a Prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota, on the web@shalomhillfarm.org, Alexandria, Minnesota, a year round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events, more information @explorealex.com, the Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar and Arts and Cultural Heritage funded digital calendar, showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central, Minnesota, on the web @lracfourcalendar.org, playing today's new music plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online @ninetysixsevenkram.com.

(hammer tapping) - It's tough to teach class in this when there was another class in the same room, especially when you had like three boats going at the same time.

You know, it was, unfortunate to have to share that space with knitters or something.

(hammer tapping) I think it's important to be really into what you're doing, whatever you're going to teach.

You gotta be interested in it.

You have to be, and it's important to be generous with the information and, and to try to offer as much as information as you possibly can.

And it's also important to find out why your student is interested in this.

You know, what's the intent here?

What, why is this so important?

And, and what do you want to get out of it?

You know, (acoustic stringed instrument plays) When North House got started, I had a lot of people who wanted to apprentice with me.

And so I taught a couple of classes at, at the community at, Grand Marais, During the last class I taught there, the Forest Service moved to the top of the hill, and they were wondering what to do with those, with those buildings.

Pretty nice property down there, right on the lakefront and whatnot.

And they, they gave North House the nod on that property.

The first summer was, it worked.

People came, people started getting interested in what was going on.

- So when I was, when I was, first had this idea of a folk school, I talked to a lot of people, that knew something about folk schools, and what I heard over and over again from, from these people was, well, what's your story?

What is your story?

(music begins playing) - I was always busy working with my hands as a kid.

I was always doing something that was, that was, involved in making things.

Something really pleasurable about it; a nice, sharp blade, going through wood, got a nice sound to it, got a nice texture to the sound.

I mean, my father was a Norwegian Lutheran pastor, and they didn't make any money back in those days.

I think the family motto was, "Why buy, when you can make?"

My mom, made like 700 sweaters in her life.

She was always knitting.

And my dad had tools.

He made bird feeders, the Cardinal Bird Feeder Company, was a way to make some extra money.

So he had tools and I was free to use the tools.

And so I would, I would make things.

Yeah, this is, this is a little Viking ship I made, in the fourth grade, 'cause I was really interested in Vikings.

Very proud of the Norwegian heritage.

I didn't get too much detail on the dragon head, but, well, I guess this was good enough.

Oh yeah and I had, there was a little side mounted rudder, that's gone missing.

So yeah.

It's like Vikings, you know?

Our ancestors, big deal, better make a Viking ship.

Huh?

(laughs) That's kind of how I got started in building, and then just continued with it, because I was having success and fun with it and I could get lost in it.

Then next I started making all kinds of different stuff, boats, and saunas, and stilts.

It's a little serving tray.

And then skis, that's another thing that I've, I've made quite a few skis.

People who make skis, they're an a mission from God.

I learned how to make skis from Marvin (indistinct), who was a fellow whose father was a master ski maker in Finland.

That's pretty close let's do the other side.

I would stay in his sauna, and spend evenings with him, making skis.

And you know, you can make them just out of a small six inch tree.

You can cut that and you can make two skis.

You just have to make sure that one ski is on the west side of the tree and the other one on the east side of the tree, because they get the same amount of sunlight.

You make one, the one side's south, one side's north, Well, the north side doesn't get as much sunlight.

So that grain is different.

And so there's a lot to it.

And then I started teaching that and enjoyed it, had just a great time.

Boy, that's, Danny, who made that one?

Did you make that?

- No, this is the one from, was it four years ago?

- Okay.

- That Lindy, and Nate, and, you know, built?

- That's right, yeah.

Sweet.

- I think the first, the first boat I made was in, between fourth and fifth grade, I think.

It was a little punt that I got the, the lines for out of popular mechanics magazine.

They always have plans, that you could get, you know, you get in the library, and you know, draw that out and measure it up and make a little model and make a little model out of cardboard or something.

And then you can go, "Okay, I know what I need now."

And then this is the six hour canoe.

Boy, we made a whole bunch of those with kids.

It's, it's sold as a six hour canoe.

I suppose, if you really put your mind to it, you could make it in six hours.

Yeah.

(guitar plays softly) I like building work boats, whether it's a canoe or a kayak, the boats that are our work boats are built to get your home.

(waves swelling and splashing) I've gone to Norway and Greenland, where I've studied the construction of kayaks and lapstrake boats of Norway.

Oh gosh.

There's all kinds of little things you can pick up.

Over there, they soak all their lumber, in salt water.

It's a way to pickle the lumber.

Making pine tar is definitely an invention of the Vikings.

Well, this Norse pram is, is an invention of the Vikings.

And it's a very special design: it's known as the floating wheelbarrow.

This is an extremely stable boat.

I mean, you'd see a boat like this way out in the North Sea.

It was used for picking nets, hauling a goat, or, or they make them larger.

I could, walk a cow in there because by the time this thing actually hits the shore, there's a third of the boat that's hanging over the waterline, of the shoreline, rather.

And so it's just an easy step off the boat.

And it sails well, and it's just a safe.

It's going to be good as I go into my older age.

I like that, but.

Yeah, that'll fit.

So this will be steamed here.

It will drop into place, already bent, pre-bent, before it's been dried and so it'll go right in.

Maybe just touch, touch it up here and there?

Well, so that's my son, Dan, and that's Wendy.

That's my wife, my wife and son.

My son has spinal muscle atrophy, but it was the saddest day of my life when I heard about his diagnosis.

I remember, you know, your whole world falls apart, and somehow you get through it.

The shop was sort of like a sanctuary for me, where I could just work and get lost in what I was doing.

But it's my therapy as well, so.

Oh, here's the book.

I autographed this one.

There is Daniel's van, where they fit it out.

It's brought us all closer, and we're over there every day, helping him.

And that's not always like you plan, but you know, we, you you'd just bungle along.

- Yeah.

(general laughter) - Yeah we don't know how long my son's going to live.

And when you ask him, he'd say it, "Well, I'm still here."

He doesn't want to go.

He's not ready to go.

That's his boat.

And his ashes will be put in that, so.

There'll be a lid that'll be put over the top of that, and that's where his ashes will lie.

He's way into the Viking, Norse mythology and all that stuff, big time.

And then is that buried?

Is that set on fire?

(laughs) Rolling out into the, into Lakes Superior, I don't know, you're not supposed to put ashes in Lake Superior, DNI won't allow it.

Interesting though, (chuckles) a little known, fun fact there!

(tools rattle on bench) People say, "Where does the time go?"

Well, actually I can tell you where the time goes.

You know, I, you know, I made these doors, I made this shop, I made this, I, you know, and it's just kind of nice to know where your time goes.

I mean, life is short, so.

A lot of people come to North House realizing well, maybe they're not going to be the president, or maybe they're not going to be making gobs of money, or whatever.

And so, they're looking at success in a little different way.

People get sparked up, when they see that they've made something, It's a tangible thing that, they could feel really proud of, you know, and, and my job was to guide them through so it would be successful.

It's the road to enlightenment, really.

You have to awaken, need to awaken, before you can, you can find enlightenment.

(mysterious music begins playing) - So a lot of people ask me, why didn't you build the whole ship?

That'll give me, a little bit of grief because I didn't build the whole ship.

And they say, I took the easy way out.

But, I say, we wouldn't be discussing Titanic unless there was one event that happened.

And that was Titanic is known to sink.

And I think it's only fitting, that that's the way it's displayed.

I'm Jason, - And I'm Kim, (chuckling) I'll answer, this part of it.

There is a Titanic in our yard because, we live in a Titanic survivors home.

- I grew up in Proctor, graduated from Proctor.

My mom graduated from Proctor.

I never knew there was a Titanic survivor, in Proctor, until we purchased this house.

I mean, to think, that was almost 30 years ago that I graduated from school and I never knew, for 40 some years, that there was a Titanic survivor in Proctor.

So.

(old time jazz music playing) - Yeah.

So she was moving here, to actually meet up with her sister.

And her sister lived in Minnesota.

(jazz combo playing) - [Jason] Everybody thought, this is going to be the fastest ship, the best ship, unsinkable, and, on its maiden voyage, it went down.

You know, they were so proud of this thing and they, and man thought he could outsmart nature then I believe Titanic would have sailed off into history unknown or pretty much forgotten about, if it hadn't been for, for the tragedy.

And I think that's what draws a lot of people to it.

- [Kim] That was the last collapsible, lifeboat seat that she was on, just amazing that she was on there, so.

- [Jason] The idea, came to me before we actually, lived in this house, and Jackson, our son, had a obsession with Titanic.

- I guess we first got introduced to it in elementary school and I, just like, latched on to it.

- So our son has Asperger's, which people with Asperger's tend to find a subject and they learn as much as possible about that subject.

- So Jackson was, three or four I really think, when he started liking the idea of tragic, things that happened.

- His first big thing was Mount Vesuvius.

He held onto that, for a while, and then it was Titanic, everything.

- He knew how much lettuce was on board, how much beer was on board, just obscure facts, a person with autism or Asperger's, latches on to.

- If you have a kid with special needs, and to see that child find an interest, such an interest in something, and actually like, just really bring his spirit to life.

It really touched me, and it, It gave me a interest in Titanic, just simply because he, my son is in love with this thing and I want to learn about it too.

- He would talk about that all the time before we even moved in, to this house in 2013.

- And we were here for, maybe six months and Kim was out talking to our neighbor and, she found out, through her, that our house was originally owned by a Titanic survivor.

- She just casually mentioned that the person that lived in our house originally, was on Titanic.

My jaw probably dropped, I'm certain of it.

- She come running in the house, all excited and telling me you won't believe what I just heard from Marge.

And she told me, and I didn't believe her.

So I went and I found the deed paperwork for when we purchased her house.

And, sure enough, here it is.

And we just kinda all looked at each other in disbelief.

Like, Titanic has been such a part of our life for years.

How did we end up in this house?

And it was so, it was like meant to be.

That was my inspiration from then and I just went with it.

This is my garage, slash shop, slash Titanic shipyard.

(jazz music begins) - I don't, I don't know really anything about the making of it , other than, he was in the garage a whole lot.

(general laughter) - I'd say between 500 and a thousand.

- Hours, and hours.

- First starting out, I knew I needed some type of frame, to put all the metal on.

I wanted to try to stay true to, ships being built and using individual pieces of metal, riveted together, versus covering it with one solid sheet of metal.

So it's actually made out of, they're appliance boxes, I guess, is the best I can describe them.

I think they were like a 14 by 18 piece of metal and just started cutting them down.

That's it.

I got plenty, to build more.

There were lots of times during that build that I had to look at what I had in my garage to use and come up with a purpose for it.

Well, this is repurposed shelving, wire shelves that I cut down, to make the rail, your little cranes here are just pieces of conduit.

And this is just all thread I had laying around to make the lifts for the boat.

This deck is all lath.

These stacks are all the appliance boxes.

I sell HVAC for a distributor, but I would love to be a full-time artist.

To be honest with you, I think it is just, financially not feasible.

You always hear the starving artist and I would be exactly that, but to be able to use the creative side of my brain is something that I love, I love to be able to do it.

- It's important, I think, to have a passion, and to have that passion for something that your child loves too.

He's not, just like that with Titanic, of course, but hockey for our other son, or whatever it may be.

- I think it actually is, great that he did something like this.

Not necessarily because of me, but more as a tribute.

- He was the driving factor of me starting it, but then the way everything played out over that time and us landing in this house, it really became kind of Anna's story as well.

Now as I say, nobody that I knew, knew she lived in Proctor.

And I knew, putting this in the yard, people were gonna know.

- I'm Justin Ayd, a filmmaker from Minneapolis.

I'm pleased to share with you my short film, Hugo, a piece that was created out of grief, following the loss of a family member.

(radio broadcasting) - "Once we get a handle on this, once we go through the first burn of COVID-19 that now the lessons learned, allow us to have it on the front end, that governors are thinking about that, of how we could work together.

It's an unprecedented challenge for us, but it's one that I truly believe.

And I think I told you earlier, that data showed that Minnesotans have risen to the occasion.

We'll get through this and more information will follow up.

Thank you, Minnesota."

(whispering question) How are you making out?

(waves swell and break on rocks) (very soft whispers) (ethereal music playing) - And so many ways he was saying to me.

- If it should be, that I grow frail and weak, and pain should keep me, from my sleep, and will you do, what must be done, for this, the last battle can't be won.

You will be sad.

I understand.

But don't let grief then, stay your hand.

For on this day, more than the rest, your love and friendship, will stand the test.

We've had so many happy years, what is to come can hold no fears.

You'd not want to make me suffer, so when the time comes please, let me go.

Take me to where my needs they'll tend, and stay with me until the end.

Hold me firm and speak to me, until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you will agree, it is a kindness, you do for me.

Although my tail it's last has waived, from the pain and suffering, I have been saved.

Don't grieve that it must be you who has decided this thing to do.

We've been so close, us four these years, don't let your heart hold any tears.

- Every day you'll be near us in the imprint you left in the walls of our house, in the rooms you occupied through your brother, within us.

We will see you again one day.

(ethereal music continues) (tranquil guitar and piano plays) (violin plays) (theme music playing) - [Narrator] Postcards is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by: Margaret A Cargill philanthropies, Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen, on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a Prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota, on the web @shalomhillfarm.org, Alexandria, Minnesota, a year round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events, more information @explorealex.com, the Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar and Arts and Cultural Heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central, Minnesota, on the web @lracfourcalendar.org, playing today's new music plus your favorite hits 96.7 KRAM, online @ninetysixsevenkram.com.

(theme music plays)