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- South Dakota is so much more than a flyover state known as much for the places as it is its faces.

It boasts an abundance of creative influence in Rapid City.

The Pines of the Black Hills provide just the inspiration for practical use.

Cutting boards.

- I've always enjoyed projects and making something that can be handed down as a keepsake.

As an heirloom.

My name's Tom Iverson.

We're here in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Step into my studio.

I take logs and make them into keepsakes.

My first log came to me via my son Steve in college.

He had a friend that cut firewood working with a landscaper, and he came across an ash tree and I took that down to the local Sawyer with a band saw Mill, and he slab it into two inch thick slabs.

I dried it for a couple years and I used that making my initial cutting boards.

I've given them all the people, I think they can use them every day and perhaps have something to hand down to the next generation, just a little keepsake.

It was a hobby, I think work as a pharmacist.

The job is fairly intensive.

This was just a way for me to back off and relax and be in a quiet time and yet produce a dramatic piece of a cutting board.

I've made bed sets and kitchen cabinets and things like that, coffee tables, but you can only make so many of those.

The downside is These materials have to air dry.

I don't have a kiln, so it takes one or two years before I can utilize this material.

So as you can see a log to a roughed piece that you can use for your cutting boards.

This is a piece of ash.

This is white ash.

Green ash is my favorite.

I don't have any of that left.

This is Russian olive and this is walnut.

The latest style of cutting boards that I've trying are random patterns.

You can use up little pieces, scrap pieces, planks like this are made you'll, and then cut in two inch pieces and then stacked and glued.

And so you end up with a inch and a half by inch and a half block like this.

These happen to be smaller pieces, but if you're dealing with a a larger tree trunk, you can have a mill, right, mill it out a lot more effectively.

But these are just smaller branches off of this tree.

I split 'em, let them dry, and then cut the edges off so that I can take it over to the joiner and get a good flat surface such that I can take it to the table, saw and cut my two by two squares out.

Now this one I might get two, probably just one.

The rest of it can then go to somebody to can burn it in a fire pit.

All too often this size material gets burned in the fireplace or the fire pit.

So I've hopefully I've salvaged a little out of this tree to make something meaningful for somebody that can use it on a daily basis.

Each of these logs, once you open them up, we'll show you what they endured through their life.

You never know what you're going to get.

It's like a book you can't see inside the book without opening the pages.

And every tree is different.

Every tree has a different grain pattern.

Every tree has a different coloration.

Was that an insect infestation?

Was that just the, the normal growth?

I don't know, but it makes for a very interesting piece.

Species is one thing here.

Our soft hardwoods, soft maple coloration, there's anything from a yellow, brown, butterscotch or white.

You can utilize the color scheme when you're trying to lay out the pattern for the cutting board.

But even within the tree, there's variations, the straighter the piece without branches, and it has to be about five to six feet long with no branches.

That way the mill right can handle it on his bed for his band saw.

Otherwise, the smaller pieces I have to mill here and it's labor intensive.

And when you factor in, you have to wait another year or two to utilize the piece.

It's time constraint.

These three are all ash, but yet you can see the grain on the end is quite different and unique, but the flat grain is quite plain.

These are, these are different types.

This is, this is a walnut, black walnut.

This is a green ash.

This is a white ash.

One thing that does have to be mentioned, we need to be good stewards to our trees in our land.

Really not a good idea to be bringing logs that are from other parts of the state or other states unless they've been milled out into lumber.

So harvest your logs locally after all your pieces are assembled and the pattern is what you want.

These are all glued together, sanded and more sanding.

A drum sander comes in very handy.

And then I soak my boards in food grade mineral oil and then finish 'em off with a bees wax, mineral oil paste.

That needs to be applied periodically during the life of the board.

I don't use any stain.

I use oil and that darkens and somewhat waterproofs the wood, but I let the wood talk for itself.

It's more on taking the material that we have the trees in the logs and making 'em into something that's meaningful - Downstream.

In Vermilion, we find that the journey really is the destination.

- It's the infinite amount of possibilities of things that you can create with wood makes you feel so connected just to nature and, and to trees and, and other people.

And I, I think it crosses like gender and culture and all kinds of boundaries.

People start creating with what?

It's very forgiving.

My name's Dawn Olson and we are at Four Winds Boat Shop and Woodcraft, and I'd like you to step into my studio.

Started way back when I was young.

I always wanted to build things and I was always piddling with trying to make things.

But as far as building canoes, it started when I was out canoe camping and went to a museum.

There was a workshop there where they were building cedar strip boats.

There was a win, a big window into a workshop that other people were attending.

And I had never even, I don't think, seen a cedar strip canoe before.

I had aluminum canoes at the time, and I thought, wow, they're just beautiful and people are building them.

And then they were, we went to the gift shop before we left, and there was a book there about how the construction process works.

And I picked that up and after I read it, I think I, I said I to myself, I think I understand this well enough to at least try it and see what happens.

Couldn't stop.

I just followed every page of the book and just did each step that they said to do something that, you know, if you're working on it and something unintended happens, you can usually work with that.

And I think when people realize like, it's not that intimidating, just get your hands on it and start doing it and then find out, you know, well, this isn't what I want.

I'm like, it's okay.

Just we work with what we have.

And it ends up being just usually people are very surprised how well things turn out for them when they have no woodworking experience.

The western red cedars typically the wood that most boat builders use, it's very lightweight, works fairly well, and it's beautiful to look at of course.

And when we usually add, a lot of people wanna add accent colors, and those are typically a hardwood of some kind, but try not to use too much of that because it adds weight to the boat.

And I like to keep 'em around 50 pounds if I can.

The canoes lightweight, which is kind the whole point.

I look for the boards that have the least knots.

I bring them home, I rip them into a quarter inch strips on the table saw, and then they go through a router table so that they have a little beading cove on 'em.

There's just like a little kind of fits together, like tongue and groove flooring.

The strips kind of nest inside of each other with glue, and then they're built around these molds.

The idea is you want everything to be really well balanced and symmetrical from side to side.

And, and so the mold is designed so that when you start working, you're essentially, you're building it the gunnels first, that shear line.

They call this the shear line.

When I set up the molds, I have a level across for that very first strip that I can make sure that they're both an equal distance on either side of the hull.

And then the same on the molds, there's a, a mark that just defines where your water line is from side to side, and your center line is, those reference marks are on there so that you can put your strips so that they will lay, so that your boat turns out the way that the designer intended.

I think the most popular misconception about the Cedar strip boat is that it's just wood and that you have to take such extreme care and it's just so flimsy.

I mean, it looks flimsy, right?

But this hull is actually completely covered with fiberglass inside and outside.

So really it's more of a fiberglass boat.

It's just that the wood, you don't see the fiberglass once that process is completed.

So the wood is all protected inside of that, and it's kind of a composite.

And so they're very durable.

I love building and, and I, I wanna keep building things, but at the same time it's like I, I really want other people to know that they can, if they want to.

If you really, really want to do something, you should pursue that.

And the joy and the satisfaction that people feel when they complete it is just, I mean, that's priceless.

It's kinda like having children like you, you raise and you, you form them and you take care of them.

And, and when you're working with a, a person or a couple too, you just, you you're working so closely together that those people are kind of come like an extended family.

And so when they leave, I take a little moment by myself and put their boat name on the strong back, and then I just think about them and I wonder, you know, are, I know they're out paddling, they send me pictures, but, but yeah, it's, it, you know, I miss them.

I, I love seeing their boats on the water.

I just love the memories that I've made when I've worked with people.

So can't imagine doing anything else - North to Sioux Falls.

We see firsthand how relentless creativity brings canvas to life and cultures together.

- I think as an artist, I have the luxury of picking the content that I wanna paint, like whether it be for, for profit or for pleasure, but regardless of that part of it, I paint whatever I want whenever I want.

And I'm very lucky.

I mean, very, very fortunate that people appreciate what I do, but I think it, the passion that I put on canvas, people can feel, people gravitate toward it.

It speaks to them.

The fun part is getting color on it.

Sometimes I'll dream about color or I'll dream about a specific subject.

Those are, those days are always good that, that, those are days where I know I'm gonna create something beautiful, but under normal circumstances, fill it with color.

And it's like looking at the clouds and finding shape.

It's fun.

I stand very committed to my art.

I mean, if I weren't painting every day, I don't, I honestly don't know what I'd be doing with my life.

I mean, it found me.

And it's nice to be able to grow and have people grow with you in your, in your process.

It's a skill.

And to be able to use your brain and your heart and your hands in fluid motion, I find the color creates the subject opposed to the other way around.

I paint quickly.

And it took me a lot of time to learn how to do that.

I never go in with the intention of creating something or ending something.

It, it just, it happens.

I don't wanna dwell on our past as like Indian people.

I think the future's way brighter and way more important.

But You have to acknowledge the work and like the fortitude that our ancestors had to keep us here.

Like there's no reason for us to be here at all.

None.

My personal take on all of my work is really culturally significant.

But I think more people want to learn about it and see it in such a different way.

I'm, I appreciate that they want to know, but it's totally selfish.

It's mine.

It's mine.

You can look at it, you can enjoy it.

But there are, there's humor and there's passion in my work that non-native people just will never understand.

I think native artists are by far the purest form of who we are.

Culturally.

What we learn and what we teach our children is the purest form of storytelling by native people and women.

Women have had their children ripped away from them.

Children, their husbands taken away, gone to prison, and women are holding it down.

And I think we have done that forever, forever.

But empowered native women, empowered native women artists, they're like, you unicorns, you know, I mean, when you run into something like that, you, you know, it hits you like a, ugh.

It's like running into a wall.

They're so forceful, they're so powerful.

And to meet someone like that, especially women, you know, they're just so powerful and you can feel like all of the energy around them is because people want them to succeed.

Women are complex creatures to begin with, but there's nothing more beautiful than an empowered native woman.

This inner generation trauma that native people have or people of color have.

I've been tuning into that.

Like how can I express that?

How can I, and the future's very important and, but like, don't forget, we come from really hardcore strong people and we're still here.

And we wouldn't be here without them.

We need to do better.

We need to do better.

And not for anybody else, don't let anybody define us.

We get to do that.

Sometimes I take it for granted how special it is to be an Indian.

I appreciate the simple parts of who we are as South Dakotans.

I mean, we're very focused.

We're very, very real people.

But in that, there's so many layers of cowboy and Indian history that takes a little bit of finesse to be able to maneuver your way through conversations.

Especially when it comes to my work.

You know, I mean, sometimes I'm saying some pretty powerful things and it can be offensive, but South Dakota is just that way.

You know, it, it's good.

We can be wild, wild west.

We can save whatever we want, you know, but it also means we have to live in that environment too.

And it can be rough, a little stifling from time to time.

There's something very healing about art.

And when people get to relate to that part of who I am as like a mom and a wife and a woman feels good.

So yeah, I think it's a very reciprocal situation.

The, the work I produce is what's the, like the aftermath of that incredible moment of being covered in paint and you know, getting messy and having a good time.

And I think that The art is the process of me making it.

You get what's left over.

It means so much more when the artist has something to say good, bad or otherwise.

In my art, the dots represent like my children, like we're like the stars.

I have six, so I'll be here for a long time.

And like the stripes represent humility.

And then the star quilt of course is my grandmother.

She was a quilter.

The women of course, my grandma's, aunts, mother, sisters, nieces, all of 'em.

I don't paint men that often.

I'm a woman.

I don't need to paint men, but I, I do represent men in my buffalo and my horse pieces.

So they are there, but not very often.

I like seeing women looking grand, looking like royalty and nothing is sacred.

You can always paint over it, always.

And there are no, no mistakes when you're face to face with any decision you make is bright.

It's very cool.

- Here we can also see how the historical practice of stringed instrument assembly gives new life to music of all kinds.

- Reminds me of the good old days in my garage.

- If you have musicians in the community, they need a place to have things repaired.

So I've always kind of looked at this to some extent as a community service.

There's always been a need for that.

My name is Josh Rick step into my studio.

Luthier is somebody who builds or repairs stringed instruments.

So it could be violins, guitars, but the, the name originates from loot maker to build a guitar.

You know, the very first thing is to, to make some decisions about the, what sound you're going for and what style of music you're gonna be played, because that will inform the size of the instrument and also your wood selection.

So after that you thickness the wood to where you need it, get the sides bent, install a rosette in the top, cut out a sound hole, brace the top and back, add all the reinforcements to the sides that are needed after voicing the top, trying to, to dictate the resonance of the top and get the bracing to a point that it's, it's just stiff enough to let the top move without any structural failures.

Then you can close the box, you know, put the top and back on.

Then you have to build the neck, which you know, means fretting a fingerboard, making a head plate, installing a truss rod, then fit the neck joint.

It needs to be done just right so that you have a really good mated surface.

And also the neck angle is right at the center line is right.

And then once you can install the neck, then you can make a bridge that will hold the strings on the body.

Once you have all that done, then you can get into finish work.

But after the finish work is done, then you can string up the guitar for the first time and, and see what you got.

I think the, the playing informs the, the building 'cause it gives you a good baseline understanding of what instruments both should sound like and also can, can do physically.

You know, it helps to understand the ergonomics and like what problem areas people have.

The Dakota was a new model that I made just recently here.

It's, it's a dread knot guitar.

The dread knot is a particular size and shape of instrument that was developed by Martin.

And any custom builder for the most part will kind of reimagine the curves essentially, you know, so I took that basic shape and kind of redrew it the way that I wanted to see it.

And I called it the Dakota because it's a, it's a big and flat kind of guitar and it tends to be a little more square than, than some other other shapes of instruments.

So I thought a Dakota was an apt name for somebody who's, you know, raised here.

I think I'm building for what I want to hear out of an instrument.

I mostly build to order.

So I'm usually working with a customer.

But in the instances where I am building just for, you know, to get an instrument out there, I'll definitely, you know, kind of pick a target audience and, and build to that goal.

You know, is it a big guitar that you're gonna be strumming chords and singing over or is it something that you're gonna, you know, sit on your couch and, and finger pick, you know, softly to yourself?

'cause that big guitar needs to be able to hold up to a lot more force and, and have a clear sound at a higher volume.

Not smaller guitar needs to be like full energy right away when you're playing softly.

And what I've found sometimes is that what I think a guitar can do is not necessarily what someone else thinks it can do.

You know, so they'll take an idea that I had and show me that, no, it can do this too.

And that's, that's great, you know, 'cause everybody's got a different touch and a different style.

And also everybody wants to hear something different.

There's no like, standard of what makes a good guitar or a great guitar.

There's some things that will make any guitar, you know, a less good guitar.

But as far as like what is, what is good to me and good to you could be two entirely different things.

That's one of the great things about it is there's, and you know, why guitar players will have so many instruments because they all do sound different and they'll make you play different because of that.

I've dedicated my career to this, you know, I've been doing it for almost 20 years.

Sioux Falls especially has been extremely supportive to, to me and, and my craft.

I moved down here at a time when I was able to, to step into having a pretty substantial repair clientele immediately.

And I've also, you know, had a bunch of people locally commission instruments and yeah, it's been a, a very supportive community for, for my work grown up through junior high and high school.

I was always taking like as much visual art as I could, so, you know, whether it was painting or ceramics or whatever, but I'd been playing guitar as long as I can remember.

My mom had a, a guitar when I was a little kid and I, you know, have memories of like, it was too big for me to physically hold so I'd have it on my lap playing with it, you know, so like that, that music has run all the way through it.

And specifically I will, I I seem to always have been interested in the instrument itself, but with the visual arts and the music, the joy of the craft, you know, there's this, when you can actually dig in and focus on it, you know, it's get into that flow state, you know, like for anybody that's, those are your, you know, most rewarding kind of work moments.

And I guess I found that easier working on instruments and building instruments than I have in, in any other thing I've ever done.

The repair and restoration side, there's, there's a lot of reward in, in those stories.

I suppose there might come a point where I make some instrument that is, you know, such an ornate piece or something like, it's kind of weird in this because essentially I am making functional art and I, in some circles, you know, functional art is looked down on maybe or, or whatever.

But like at the end of the day I'm making a, a tool, but we're doing it in a way that's supposed to elevate the object as well.

But to me at this point in my career, the biggest compliment I could get is to see one of my guitars come back and be used.

You know, 'cause that's why I made it like, yeah, I hope it looks cool and I hope you appreciate the aesthetics of it, but it's meant to be played.

That's like the, the best thing to have it come back and, and see that it's been played used, not abused.

- These are just a few of the faces behind the art that give the towns in between you and your destination, the possibility of becoming a new favorite.

Stop if you take the time to look.

Thank you for taking this detour with us.

We'll see you down the road.