News

New garden makes individuals independent

By Scott Wagar

10/07/2014

For Michele Anderson it was a life-long dream, a dream to create a painting that symbolizes life for all to enjoy and become empowered by, which she did through a mural that is located in downtown Bottineau that gives immortality to one’s mind and heart.

This past summer, Anderson has worked on a project called “The Conceptual Garden” for Independence, Inc., an organization out of Minot, which has an office in Bottineau, that provides individuals with disabilities the opportunity to have independence within their lives.

Anderson, who is employed with Independence, Inc. as an independent living specialist, created the idea of the Conceptual Garden which consists of raised garden beds that grants individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities the opportunity to grow and raise edible gardens.

“When I interviewed for the position of independent living specialist with Independence, Inc., I was asked a question that was preceded by a statement,” Anderson said. “The statement had to do with the fact that despite legislation and millions of dollars having and being pumped into service provision and resources for people living with disabilities, people with disabilities still are marginalized in society and tend to be isolated in their communities.

“I was then asked if I were to be offered the position with Independence, Inc. what I would do to change the aforementioned. In other words, how would I effect change in the communities I would serve in encouraging persons with disabilities to become more involved in their communities. The question was daunting and thought provoking,” Anderson added.

“I thought about that question a lot. An idea that came to mind was to create a project that persons with any kind of disability could at some level participate in or with. The idea for such a project was that of building a raised bed garden.”

Once the position was offered to Anderson, she quickly began writing a plan for her Conceptual Garden, which was widely accepted by those within the Bottineau community.

“People, organizations and businesses began to donate to this project and the donations were varied and included such things as effort, time, labor, materials, equipment, money, consultation and support,” Anderson said.

“We needed a space and we were offered a 16 by 74 foot strip of land owned by Brian Boppre, which was being used as a parking lot to the east of the Bergman building.

“Brian’s request in exchange for using this piece of ground was that we beautify the space for the community to enjoy,” Anderson continued.

When it came to beautifying the space where the raised gardens would be located, Anderson came up with an idea of painting a mural, which had been a life-long dream of hers since the first day she sat in an art class.

“Before I even finished my first class on the first day of school I had the idea I wanted to paint a mural,” Anderson said. “With this project, my chance to paint a mural came along.”

With the idea in her mind, she first spoke with Ron Bergman, owner of the building where the Blues art gallery is located, and requested from Bergman if she could utilize the wall on the east side of his building to paint her mural, which Bergman readily agreed to and more.

“Ron was not only open to this idea and provided the wall for free, but offered to buy the primer and some paint supplies,” Anderson said. “This created a space and a way to paint a mural but it couldn’t be done alone.

“Many people contributed to this project, so many that it is with regret that everyone cannot be acknowledged by name,” Anderson added. “It is because of everyone’s contributions throughout the process that enabled this project to grow, and as it grew it become a real community collaboration and one in which persons with disabilities were involved with throughout the process.”

One individual that was a primary contributor to the mural project was Dr. Lori Witteman, DDS, who is not only a dentist, but an artist with remarkable painting skills.

After Anderson asked Witteman to be part of the project, which she agreed to, Anderson and Witteman started to paint the mural together.

Anderson’s concept for the mural was to paint a sunflower motif, and she quickly came up with her conception of a sunflower that is now painted on Bergman’s wall.

Anderson stated that her mural has some of her favorite artists’ techniques along with her own and Witteman’s own methods.
If you look at the mural, Anderson said you can see Georgia O’Keeffe, Vincent van Gogh and George Seurat’s styles in the painting. If individuals look at the mural they will see O’Keeffe’s large and close-up formats of blossoms, van Gogh’s bold colors and Seurat’s pointillism, all created out of the hands and minds of Anderson and Witteman.

For three weeks, through hot and cold days, rainy weather and large numbers of swarming mosquitoes, Anderson painted the inner head of the flower through pointillism.

Pointilism is a technique where an artist creates a picture by applying distinct dots in a pattern with pure colors to form an image.

Through her talents as an artist, Anderson created a priceless piece that from a distance appears to have skillful layers of paint that makes up the inner head of the sunflower, but close up you can see thousands of distinct dots that creates the inner beauty of the sunflower.

Although there is a lot of symbolism within the painting, there is also one symbol that represents power that can be seen in the inner part of the sunflower with a line that continues to encircle around itself, which comes from the folklore of the Hopi Indians of Arizona.

Anderson placed the symbol in the painting to show that all people have the power to live independently.  

Added to the sunflower are the northern lights made up of the color of purple rain (due to the fact that Anderson is a huge fan of the musician Prince) which dances gracefully and eloquently across the mural wall.

“The sunflower image was painted with intention of giving our community something bright and beautiful to view,” Anderson said.

“It is an image that holds within its creation, all the people who participated in its formation and transformation, a reflection of our community as being one that values inclusivity and the power of collaboration.”

With the painting and garden completed, Anderson, who is always gracious in heart for the love of others, is eternally grateful to all who brought the project to life.    

“On behalf of Independence, Inc., thank you to all of you who were and are part of this process and project,” Anderson said.
“The words of Helen Keller ring true with this mural and garden; and that is, ‘Together we are more’; and, we are.”