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Weaving Community: Mary Beth Magyar’s Multicultural Textile Art Project

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A colorful handwoven textile wall hanging with multiple horizontal bands of vibrant colors including blue, red, purple, green, yellow, and white. The weaving features different weaving techniques and textures throughout. The bottom portion has long silvery-gray fringe with small colorful beads or ornaments attached to the ends.
The finished “Textile Art: A Multicultural Tapestry” work.

When SEMAC Individual Artist grant recipient Mary Beth Magyar began her journey with the Intercultural Mutual Assistance Association (IMAA) in June 2024, she carried with her a vision inspired by UC Berkeley professor Ronald Takaki’s concept of America. Not as a melting pot, but as a tapestry—where each culture contributes its unique color and texture without disappearing into the whole.

“Each culture brings a color and texture and weaves in among the other colors and textures—it doesn’t disappear,” Mary Beth explains, describing Takaki’s vision that sparked her project.

As summer unfolded, Mary Beth worked closely with IMAA’s Associate Director Susan Haskamp to align the project with IMAA’s 40th anniversary celebration. Together, they expanded the concept beyond weaving to include large beads that participants could glaze, offering many avenues for community members to leave their artistic mark.

As with any project, it did not come without challenges. With a laugh, Mary Beth recalls her first lesson early in the process: “I immediately learned that I was calling it a tapestry and it was not a tapestry. Whoops!” A tapestry, she discovered, typically features an image, while her project was technically a textile—a rag rug to be exact.

Undeterred by this minor hiccup, she built a mini loom to practice on during those early summer days, spending warm afternoons getting comfortable with the technique. When a weaving class she had hoped to take was already full, she turned to online tutorials instead.

Mary Beth began building the community support momentum. Community-requested fabric donations began pouring in so generously that Mary Beth enlisted her mother’s help to cut the growing mounds of material into usable strips. Thinking of accessibility, she created “big chunky yarn pieces so that people who would find weaving too difficult could easily do the ‘over under weave’ as I called it.”

The June IMAA Walk Around the World event—where Mary Beth planned to debut her interactive fabric-weaving to the community—hit a snag when weather conditions forced IMAA organizers to reschedule from Saturday to Sunday. “I was worried we wouldn’t get enough people,” Mary Beth admits, her concerns understandable after weeks of preparation.

An outdoor weaving demonstration where several people are gathered around a small tabletop loom with blue warp threads. A woman in a red apron labeled "Mary Beth" wearing a white and blue cap is teaching participants how to weave. A young girl with glasses and several other people are watching and participating in the weaving process. The scene takes place under a white tent canopy at what appears to be a community arts event.
Mary Beth guides community members through the weaving process

Her first participant that Sunday—a child—completed their contribution and then asked for a treat, momentarily catching Mary Beth off-guard. Unlike other booths, she hadn’t planned rewards. “I panicked for a few minutes,” she confesses, “but thought, well too late to change so I just plodded on.”

Those initial worries quickly dissolved as the day progressed. By day’s end, over 80 community members had contributed to the textile. “I never had another person ask for a ‘treat,'” she notes. “In fact, a parent told me they were glad their child just got the experience and that was its own reward.”

Many IMAA staff were working during the event, so in the following months, Mary Beth brought the loom directly to their offices, ensuring everyone had an opportunity to participate before the project’s October completion date. The bead glazing component became popular throughout this period, offering an alternative for those not comfortable with weaving.

One particularly meaningful moment came during an autumn visit to the IMAA offices. A group of Somali women recognized the weaving technique as the same one their grandmothers had used. “It was comforting to hear that we literally do the same thing as another group of people so far away,” Mary Beth reflects. “We just use different words to describe it.”

As the women worked the familiar patterns, memories surfaced—stories of grandmothers, distant homelands, and childhood lessons. The women demonstrated how their mothers and grandmothers had taught them to braid by wrapping yarn around their toes. These braided pieces were later incorporated into the textile’s front, adding both depth and cultural significance to the work before its October completion.

The connections formed during the project have lasted well beyond its conclusion. “IMAA is an incredible organization and I have met so many new people and heard so much about other places in the world,” Mary Beth shares. Their partnership continued into the new year, with Mary Beth leading an art project at IMAA’s staff retreat in February 2025.

Mary Beth wearing a white cap with blue trim, sunglasses, white shirt and red apron stands smiling under a blue canopy tent at an outdoor event. They are holding a small colorful woven textile piece made with blue, red, white and multicolored yarn. Signs visible include "Weave & Paint!" and another sign about tapestry. Other attendees and vendor booths can be seen in the background.
Mary Beth with community completed work

The connections continue to branch outward—through IMAA, Mary Beth has finally connected with Pamoja, a local group she had been hoping to work with, and they’ve scheduled collaborative projects for summer 2025. “My favorite part of my job is meeting new people, making new connections, and learning a new skill,” Mary Beth says, “and this project really accomplished all of those things.”

Mary Beth continues creating community-centered art projects. She’s currently working on a self-portrait project at Franklin Elementary in Rochester, inspired by a Yale Medical School study about representation in institutional spaces. The project will feature clay self-portraits from all 590 students, along with staff and teachers, arranged to form a giant portrait of the school. “All the people will be up there to see,” Mary Beth explains, “and visually signals to anyone that these are the faces that matter.”

She also runs smallärt, a mini gallery public art project that changes monthly, and maintains a website called All of the Artists which provides free resources on diverse, contemporary Minnesota artists.

Just like the textile project that evolved from summer to fall 2024, Mary Beth’s work continues to weave together art, education, and community—creating works that honor and celebrate each individual contributor.

This project was funded by the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) and took place from June to October 2024.

Learn more about Mary Beth and her work on her website. Follow Mary Beth Magyar on Instagram @marybethmagyar and smallärt at @smallartgallerymn. 

 

There Is No Ground: Explorations in Music & Movement – Martha Larson

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AA black and white photograph showing three people in a music or rehearsal space with wooden paneled walls. One person sits on the floor in a split position looking at papers, while two others sit nearby. The room contains musical equipment including a drum set, piano, and an amplifier.
The ensemble reflect on their first gathering.

For years, Martha Larson had felt the constraints of classical music traditions. As a cellist trained primarily in classical and jazz, she was accustomed to performances where musicians remain seated, audiences stay silent, and expression is largely cerebral rather than physical. 

“Music is generally performed from a seated position with very little movement aside from the motion required of arms and fingers to play the instrument,” Martha observes.

 

But she envisioned something different—a performance where musicians and audience alike could immerse themselves fully in sound and movement, breaking free from these long-established boundaries.

With help from a 2024 SEMAC Individual Artist grant, “There Is No Ground” emerged as Martha’s answer to this creative challenge. Collaborating with choreographer Shari Setchell and fellow musicians Wendy Placko and Brian Johnson, Martha set out to incorporate dance and embodied movement into live, improvised music performance. Their goal wasn’t merely to add movement to music but to fundamentally reimagine the relationship between sound, body, and space.

 

Four musicians performing in a bright interior space with cream-colored walls. A woman in a white dress plays cello, another musician plays a wind instrument, and a man with a backward cap plays acoustic guitar. All performers are dressed in white or light-colored clothing in what appears to be a small concert or recording session.
Opening number with the whole ensemble.

The creative process began with Shari’s guidance through warm-up exercises that taught the ensemble a shared physical vocabulary. These sessions introduced basic somatic movement concepts that would become the foundation for their original compositions. The process of translating these concepts into actual performance pieces didn’t come without unexpected complexities. “Some of the challenges were physical,” Martha explains, “as each musician figured out the logistics of what movements we could or couldn’t do with our instruments strapped to our bodies.” Others were emotional, as the performers navigated the vulnerability of moving in unfamiliar ways while building trust as an ensemble.

Despite these challenges—or perhaps because of them—moments of genuine connection emerged. When the group found their groove, both physically and emotionally, the experience was rewarding. They were creating something that transcended traditional performance categories, something that existed in the space between concert and dance.

The project extended its collaborative spirit beyond the ensemble to include the wider community. At Northfield’s Big Woods Movement Collective Annual Canopy Jam (https://www.bigwoodscollective.org/about), Martha and her collaborators rolled out a large canvas and invited festival attendees to contribute. People splattered, spilled, brushed, and stamped paint across the surface.  During the capstone performance two weeks later on August 3rd, 2024, this community-created artwork was displayed in the center aisle of the Northfield Depot, serving as both décor and a symbolic invitation to active participation.

Throughout the August 3rd capstone performance, audience members were encouraged to engage with the music in ways rarely permitted in traditional concerts. The culmination came with the final piece, which began with a slow, reflective rendition of “You Are My Sunshine” on bassoon before transforming into an up-tempo celebration. The musicians led the audience in a New Orleans-style “second line” procession around the performance space, dissolving the boundary between performer and observer. “The whole audience joined in singing three or four part harmonies,” Martha recalls, “which was a delightful and uplifting finish to the show.”

An aisle covered with a white canvas displaying colorful collaborative artwork with vibrant paint splashes in blues, oranges, purples, and greens. The table is surrounded by empty white folding chairs in what appears to be a community room or workshop space with a wooden floor.
At the capstone performance, a colorful runner painted by the community

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Many attendees commented they had “never seen anything like this before” or “hadn’t seen anything this captivating and creative for a very long time.” 

For Martha, “There Is No Ground” represents just the beginning of a new artistic direction. The project has reinforced her commitment to exploring non-traditional approaches to cello performance and collaborative creation. She plans to continue working with these artists to further develop the innovative intersection of music and movement they’ve begun to map together.

In the end, the project’s title became its most powerful metaphor—when there is no ground, artists can discover a world of pure creative potential.

Through Collaboration and Community: Rick Swanson Examines Anti-Intellectualism in Minnesota

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In a time when social media feeds overflow with conflicting claims and community meetings spark heated debates about everything from education to public health, Rochester photographer Rick Swanson saw an opportunity to explore how we understand truth and knowledge. His “Photoessay: Anti-Intellectualism in Minnesota” uses a unique artistic approach – black and white photographs developed using coffee – to capture the complex ways we think and interact as a society. What started as documentation of anti-science attitudes evolved into something deeper – carefully crafted photographs that reveal the subtle ways these beliefs shape our daily lives, from coffee shop conversations to city council meetings.

A black and white photograph of a dam or weir structure spanning a river. Water cascades over the concrete barrier creating a waterfall effect. The structure has several metal or wooden supports protruding along its length. The scene includes a curved architectural element on the left side and a building structure on the right, with calm water visible in the background.
“Dam Thing” Rick Swanson

After acquiring support from a SEMAC Individual Artist grant, Rick’s concept evolved into two meaningful partnerships, including a collaboration with internationally renowned poet Joe Kidd, whose narratives about conflicting perspectives on truth provided inspiration for a subset of the photographs. The project then grew into a partnership with PossAbilities, a Rochester non-profit organization supporting adults with disabilities. The artists there became active collaborators, contributing their perspectives and experiences of confronting irrational attitudes in their daily lives to Rick’s artistic narrative. For example, in one piece, an artist from PossAbilities worked with Rick to challenge the common misconception that living with a disability means being fragile – expanding the project’s examination of societal assumptions.

Rick’s project impacts then extended beyond the initial partnerships to the broader community. Rick was able to share the work with a wider audience via email updates and social media, and the choice to host the main exhibition at PossAbilities brought attention to both the artwork and the organization’s vital work in the community. Rick strengthened this connection by contributing a portion of the project funds back to PossAbilities’ mission.

The momentum continues to build, particularly as debates about science, education, and truth intensify in our community spaces and social media feeds. With more powerful images waiting to be shared, Rick is planning a photography book that will pair images with poetry to document and respond to these challenging dynamics. Through crowdfunding, he hopes to create something that not only captures these attitudes but helps facilitate constructive dialogue about how we can better understand each other despite our differences.

A black and white photograph of a person in a wheelchair wearing protective gear including what appears to be a waterproof poncho or protective suit. The individual has a beard and is seated against a background of horizontal siding or paneling. They appear to be wearing shorts and the image shows their prosthetic or artificial legs.
“Not Fragile” Rick Swanson

This project shows what can happen when artistic vision meets community support at a time when we desperately need new ways to talk about difficult subjects. Through careful observation and collaborative spirit, Rick’s work invites us all to examine how we form our beliefs and consider perspectives that often go unheard, offering a creative pathway toward mutual understanding in our divided times.

To follow Rick’s ongoing work and future projects, you can find him on Facebook and Instagram at @rpswansonphotography and @foxswanarts, where he shares his unique photographic perspectives and upcoming exhibitions.

Thank You for Helping Shape the Future of Arts in Southeastern Minnesota

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We are deeply grateful to the 223 members of our arts community who took the time to participate in SEMAC’s recent Needs Assessment Survey. Your thoughtful responses and candid feedback are an important part of our ongoing dialogue with the arts community and will help inform SEMAC’s understanding of needs throughout our eleven-county region.

We are currently reviewing all of the valuable feedback you’ve provided and look forward to sharing how it will shape our services and programs in the coming months. Your insights will help us continue to grow and evolve in ways that best serve the arts community of southeastern Minnesota.

If you’d like to review the complete survey results, you can find them here: SEMAC 2024 Assessment Survey.

Thank you again for your participation and ongoing support. Together, we can continue building a vibrant arts community that serves all of southeastern Minnesota.

Your partners in the arts,
The SEMAC Team

Hand-Shaping New Perspectives: Delia Bell’s Slab-Built Pottery Journey

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Since discovering ceramics in 2019 and apprenticing with Seven Bridges Pottery, Delia Bell of Lanesboro, MN has mostly focused on wheel-thrown stoneware. However, in the spring of 2023, a SEMAC Individual Artist grant launched her into unexplored territory: the world of slab-built vessels.

While wheel-throwing demands physical coordination and muscle memory to center and shape clay consistently, slab building presents different challenges. Delia spent the year mastering spatial planning, precise measuring, and structural understanding of slab pottery to ensure her vessels wouldn’t collapse or crack during drying and firing. Each piece required careful construction – considering how corners would meet, how weight would be distributed, and how function would marry with form.

The year-long project reshaped Delia’s understanding of functional pottery. As she mastered slab construction, she discovered how sharp angles and geometric shapes could bring fresh perspective to everyday vessels. Each challenge in construction led to new discoveries that would inform the design of her future work. “The angular nature of these pieces made me appreciate the simplicity of circular vessels in a new way,” she reflects.

The culminating exhibition at Lanesboro Arts in March 2024 displayed Bell’s artistic exploration. Each piece told a story of experimentation and growth, drawing strong community interest. “The grant gave me freedom to experiment and play with clay in ways that I otherwise might not have,” she shares, recognizing SEMAC’s role in advancing her creative development.

Now preparing for the Bluff Country Studio Art Tour (April 25-27, 2025), Bell has also applied for a Minnesota State Arts Board grant to explore combining poetry with clay, carrying forward the same spirit of growth and experimentation that SEMAC proudly supports.

We look forward to following Delia’s future work. To see more of her work and follow her future projects, find Delia on Instagram at @delialbell.

Hidden Worlds: Art Reveals the Secret Life of Minnesota Waters

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Samantha stands in a green jumpsuit and black long-sleeve shirt smiling in Lake City art gallery. Behind her on a white wall are three framed circular artworks of her microscopic illustrations - one featuring yellow-green organisms, one in blue tones, and one with green dots on a textured white background. Track lighting illuminates the artwork
Samantha on the night of her February 2024 exhibit open – Photo courtesy of Lake City Area Arts

While most admire Minnesota’s lakes and rivers from above, artist Samantha Reiter-Johnson explores what hides beneath – an entire microscopic universe teeming with life. Through her project “Beyond the Surface: Biological Art of Minnesota,” Samantha brings this hidden world into focus, one illustration at a time.

“Art will always be a powerful tool for telling scientific stories and engaging the public,” Samantha explains. The project, funded by a SEMAC Individual Artist grant, allowed her to collect samples from waterways in every county in southeastern Minnesota, rendering microscopic observations into art illustrations that educate and inspire.

The project rippled through the community. Her February 2024 artist reception at Lake City Area Arts drew over 50 attendees, with many more viewing the exhibition during its run. Visitors were both amazed and occasionally terrified to learn about the organisms they’d been swimming alongside for years. Through her art, the community gained a deeper appreciation for protecting our natural waters and understanding the delicate balance of our local watersheds.

A hand in a blue sleeve holds a clear glass jar while collecting a water sample from a rocky stream or spring. Small yellow wildflowers and green vegetation grow between the rocks at the water's edge. The water's surface reflects rippled patterns, and stones of various sizes are visible beneath the shallow water
Samantha collects her samples from MN waterways.

For Samantha, the grant provided more than just financial support – it offered the freedom to fully immerse herself in research and exploration. “As an artist, it can sometimes be difficult to focus your efforts on a new and innovative project due to time and financial constraints,” she shares. The funding enabled her to invest in quality materials to preserve her work and dedicate time to perfecting her craft.

The success of this project has carved new channels of opportunity. Samantha has recently been awarded another SEMAC Individual Artist grant to continue exploring the intersection of science and art with an upcoming 2025 project focusing on bee vision and native plants at Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester.Building on her experience as a grantee, SEMAC welcomes Samantha’s insights to SEMAC’s Arts Advisory Panel as one of our newest panelists.

To follow Samantha’s future projects and explorations, find her on Instagram: @chlorocreations.

Lydia Hansen’s Sensory Sculpture Garden – A “Touching” Art Experience

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A vibrant, three-dimensional textile art sculpture sitting on a wooden floor. The sculpture is composed of a densely packed array of crocheted and knitted elements in a wide variety of colors, textures, and shapes. It includes flowers, spirals, pom-poms, and abstract forms, creating a riot of colors including reds, blues, yellows, greens, purples, and oranges. The overall shape is roughly cylindrical or column-like, standing about waist-high.
Lydia Hansen’s “Bloom”

In a world where art galleries often come with “do not touch” signs, one artist is breaking boundaries and inviting visitors to engage with her creations in a whole new way. Lydia Hansen’s Sensory Sculpture Garden is reimagining how we interact with art, making it more accessible and engaging for everyone, including those with visual impairments or sensory-processing differences.

The heart of this project lies in its five-part soft sculpture series. Each piece is a highly textured crochet creation, meticulously crafted to engage not just the eyes but also the sense of touch. Lydia spent six months at the beginning of 2023 bringing these unique sculptures to life, experimenting with various textures, shapes, sizes, and even color arrangements to create distinct patterns within each piece.

What sets this exhibition apart is its invitation to touch. Visitors are encouraged to explore the sculptures with their hands, feeling the intricate textures and experiencing the art in a more immersive way. This approach opens up new possibilities for art appreciation, especially for those who might find traditional visual art experiences challenging or less engaging.

The project’s impact extends beyond the final exhibition. During the creation process, Lydia collaborated with individuals from the ArtAbilities program at PossAbilities in Rochester, MN, and conducted pop-up workshops near Wykoff, MN. These collaborations allowed people of all ages to contribute textures to one of the sculptures, providing early validation for the concept and generating excitement about the project.

Lydia’s efforts were supported by a SEMAC Individual Artist Grant that allowed for dedicated creative time and necessary materials. This financial freedom resulted in Lydia’s first solo exhibition and has since opened doors to other opportunities, including an upcoming exhibition at Pump House Arts in La Crosse, WI, September 11 through November 2, 2024.

A close-up view of colorful yarn strands hanging vertically. The strands are in black, red, and various shades of blue. Some strands are straight while others are twisted or curled. There are also pom-poms in red and light blue attached to some of the strands. The overall effect is of a vibrant, textured textile art piece or decoration
Get up close and personal with a Lydia Hansen sensory sculpture

The Sensory Sculpture Garden has struck a chord with many visitors. One particularly poignant comment captured the essence of the project: “This scratches the itch in my neurodivergent brain – there should be more art like this!!” Another visitor expressed their engagement by saying, “I just want to hug it! Every time I look at it, there’s something new I need to feel.” These reactions underscore the project’s success in creating art that resonates on a deeper, more personal level with its audience.

The sculpture garden continues to grow and evolve. Lydia has plans to add new sculptures, exploring additional sensory ideas. The project has taken on a life of its own as a traveling, rotating art experience, with pop-up exhibitions showcasing various combinations of sculptures.

In addition to the ongoing development of the Sensory Sculpture Garden, the artist has embarked on a new project: The Lost Creek Fungi Hunt. This yearlong public art installation near Chatfield, MN, features 15 crochet mushrooms based on fungi native to Southeast Minnesota, placed along a trail to encourage exploration and observation.

As these projects continue to develop and reach new audiences, they serve as a testament to the power of art that engages multiple senses and invites active participation. The Sensory Sculpture Garden and its offshoots are not just exhibitions; they’re experiences that challenge our perceptions of art and accessibility, inviting us all to see – and feel – the world in new ways.

To follow Lydia Hansen and her continued efforts, find her on Instagram @amigurumihorde or visit her website https://www.amigurumihorde.com/.

From Stage to Screen: How Kevin Dobbe’s Individual Artist Grant Transformed “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”

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A performer dressed as Hedwig from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" stands on stage with arms outstretched. They wear an elaborate green costume with ruffles and a large bow. Their face is dramatically made up with heavy eye makeup. The background shows a starry night sky, likely a digital projection. The lighting bathes the scene in a green glow, creating a theatrical and otherworldly atmosphere.

In the world of theater, innovation often emerges from the fusion of traditional art forms with cutting-edge technology. This was precisely the case when Rochester-based artist Kevin Dobbe used a SEMAC Individual Artist Grant for his work on Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Rochester Civic Theatre.

The project’s goal was ambitious: to integrate computer animations seamlessly into the musical, creating a visual spectacle that would both serve the story and stand alone as a work of art. Over six months, Kevin dove deep into the world of 3D animation, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in theatrical set design.

The result? A groundbreaking, reimagined rock musical production that ran from February 8th to 25th, 2024, featuring a blend of Southeastern Minnesota’s regional talent and state-of-the-art technology. The animated set materials brought new life to the already powerful narrative of Hedwig, an East German transgender singer, and enhanced the exploration of the gender identity, love, and self-discovery themes that lie at the heart of the show.

A stage production of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" with performers and musicians on stage. A large American flag is projected on a screen behind them. The lead performer, likely Hedwig, stands to the right wearing a flamboyant white costume with fringe and fur trim, and red boots. Band members in dark clothing are positioned around instruments including a keyboard and drums. The foreground shows old TV sets decorated with small American flags. The setting has brick walls and theatrical lighting.

The project wasn’t without its challenges. As Kevin noted and as our readers can certainly relate, working with contemporary technology always presents obstacles. However, these hurdles ultimately led to artistic growth and a deeply rewarding outcome.

The impact of this project extended far beyond the stage. After several performances, panel discussions were held, opening up conversations about LGBTQ dynamics and broader societal issues. The discussions sparked by the production provided an opportunity for important dialogues within the community.

And the ripple effects of this grant continue to be felt. Inspired by the success of this project, Kevin is now embarking on an even more ambitious venture: an original opera titled Tempus Fugit. This new work will build on the skills and SEMAC-funded technology used in Hedwig, incorporating 3D animated characters as synchronized “actor/singers.”
From sold-out audiences to community conversations, from technological innovation to artistic inspiration, Kevin’s initiative demonstrated the impact that can be achieved when we invest in creative visions. It’s a testament to the power of art to push boundaries, spark dialogue, and pave the way for future innovations.

We’re proud to have played a part in bringing Kevin’s creative vision to life and look forward to seeingwhere these new skills and technology will take him next.

 

 

A stage set for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" musical. On the left, a large blue screen displays a sketch of a face with prominent eyes. Musical instruments are set up in front of it. To the right, two actors stand on a small stage made to look like a trailer or mobile home. One actor, likely portraying Hedwig, wears a blonde wig and sparkly dress. The other has a punk-style mohawk. Props include a guitar and a lawn chair. The backdrop shows exposed brick walls, and theatrical lighting bathes the scene in blue.

Elemental Body: A Dance Film Journey

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Sydney Swanson poses in an expressive dance pose in a sunlit forest.
Photo by Dahli Durley

Sydney Swanson, a dancer and choreographer based in Rochester, MN, recently completed an ambitious new dance film project titled “Elemental Body” with funding from a SEMAC grant. This 12-minute site-specific piece allowed Sydney to build upon her previous experience in dance film while pushing her artistic boundaries.

As the sole performer, Sydney choreographed, directed, and edited “Elemental Body” with the goal of exploring West African spiritual practices centered around the elements of earth, water, fire, nature, and mineral. While much of her prior dance films utilized improvisational work captured on a phone camera, this project required much more extensive planning and coordination.

Filming took place at different sites within the beautiful Quarry Hill Park in Rochester, with Sydney’s younger brother, Bradey Swanson, acting as videographer. Despite challenges like chilly weather, the sibling team’s dedication paid off, including her brother donning waders to capture footage in a stream. Sydney also hired Joni Griffith, a Minneapolis-based singer, multi-instrumentalist, movement artist and sound designer to bring her full vision to life.

The SEMAC grant funding proved invaluable, providing the time, space and resources to create “Elemental Body.” This is Sydney’s second SEMAC grant for a dance film project, which she credits with furthering her skills, artistic career, and recently helping her secure a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.  

Sharing the film with audiences has been both a vulnerable and exciting experience for the choreographer. “One of my favorite parts of the process is hearing feedback from audience members after they view my film. It’s both nerve-wracking and thrilling to share art with an audience and hear how they related to it or didn’t. I find I learn more about the subtleties and synchronicities of my work when I hear what others saw in it…the observations come from this really human experience place,” Swanson remarks. Audience feedback revealed how they related to the “micro-macro, earth/human bodies, nature via layers/time/elements/connection” depicted in the film’s outdoor settings. Comments praised the “fresh and new” perspective on familiar nature paths and the desire to “dance for her and with her!”

Sydney Swanson presents her film "Elemental Body" in front of an audience with a projector screen behind her.
Photo by TLP Photography

Thanks to her Minnesota State Arts Board grant, Sydney will showcase “Elemental Body” in a series of six dance film screening events around southeastern Minnesota from September 2024 through February 2025. The screenings will feature other Minnesota-based dance artists alongside her work at venues like Rochester’s Pop’s Art Theater and the Winona Art Center.

For more information on Sydney and her future screenings and initiatives, visit her website www.insiteartsandhealing.com, or find her on Facebook at Insite Arts & Healing.

Cultural Connections Through Art at Project FINE

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Three posters promoting each workshop event: from left to right, Puerto Rican Bomba Dance, Mexican Corn Husk Dolls, and Hmong Story Cloth
For over three decades, Project FINE has been a beacon of hope and support for refugees and immigrants in Winona County and the surrounding areas of Minnesota. Founded in 1990, this nonprofit organization has dedicated itself to helping newcomers integrate into the community, providing essential services such as foreign language interpretation, education opportunities, and empowerment initiatives.

With a small but dedicated staff, volunteers, interpreters, and extensive collaboration with over 70 local service providers, Project FINE has been instrumental in breaking down cultural and language barriers that often prevent newcomers from accessing critical resources, securing employment, and building a new life in the community.Children dance in a circle with their instructor

One of Project FINE’s most impactful initiatives is the Cultural Arts & Ancestry project, which aims to empower refugees and immigrants to share their artistic skills and heritage with the broader community. Funded by the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC), this program promotes cultural learning and arts experiences while engaging diverse artists.

In 2023, Project FINE’s Cultural Arts and Ancestry Project focused on three fine-art classes: Puerto Rican Bomba Dance, Mexican Corn Husk Dolls, and the Hmong Story Cloth.

Bomba y Plena, a dance style from Puerto Rico, was led by instructor Chalymar Martinez, who moved from Puerto Rico to Winona in 2018. Martinez not only taught these workshops for the community but also formed a small dance troupe that rehearsed and performed at the 2023 capstone event. The troupe’s enthusiasm and dedication were remarkable, and they have continued to rehearse and perform, taking their talents to local events and elementary schools to share their heritage.

Workshop participants assemble corn husk dolls

Project FINE has been offering similar arts programming since 2012, with over 600 participants in workshops and more than 2,200 attendees at their events. The organization’s commitment to fostering cultural connections has remained steadfast, and funding from SEMAC has been instrumental in allowing them to continue their work.

Looking ahead, Project FINE has secured another grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to provide similar workshops and cultural experiences. The organization remains committed to its mission of fostering cultural connections and promoting artistic expression among diverse communities, ensuring that newcomers have a platform to share their talents and traditions.

To learn more about Project FINE’s services and initiatives, visit their website, follow them on Facebook, or reach out to info@ProjectFINE.org.