Transcripts

CATHERINE WINTER: On a sunny afternoon, sixth graders in the Iron Range town of Coleraine line up outside a semi trailer in the school parking lot. The trailer's exterior is brightly painted with fields and clouds. Steps lead inside where instead of a typical truck interior, the students find a long, narrow gallery. It's surprisingly pleasant, with carpeting, and track lighting, and two dozen paintings, drawings, photographs, and prints. Coordinator Kelly Carley lets the kids look for a few minutes, then asks them to sit on the floor.

KELLY CARLEY: My name is Kelly, like I told you outside. This is the Rolling Plains Art Gallery, and it travels around North Dakota in the fall for 10 weeks. And then it travels around Minnesota in the spring. And the museum in Fargo that it belongs to is called the Plains Art Museum. And all of the artwork that you see here on the walls belongs to that museum. It's part of their collection of artwork of regional artists. What's a region? What would that mean, regional artist?

CATHERINE WINTER: Carley talks to the children about the difference between realistic and abstract art, about how a print is made, about how an artist attaches canvas to a frame. Then she sets them loose to look at the artwork again.

SPEAKER 1: It's pretty neat in here.

SPEAKER 2: Some of these pictures look really real.

SPEAKER 3: It looks like something that would be in the future or something.

SPEAKER 1: Look like they put much effort into it.

KELLY CARLEY: How it looks. Because it just looks like they painted some there and painted some there, then they're done with it in a week.

SPEAKER 3: I think they're really nice. And some of them are really creative.

CATHERINE WINTER: Most of the kids say they've never been in a gallery before. Elementary art teacher Linda Wangsness says the kids were excited about seeing the gallery, and so was she. She says it's harder to teach kids about art when you only have pictures in a book.

LINDA WANGSNESS: It's a slick surface in a book. And on a print, it is too. When they see the actual artwork, they can't believe it. It's got texture. It's got a thickness. They want to touch. And I go, uh-uh. You cannot touch it.

CATHERINE WINTER: But the Rolling Plains Gallery has one painting children are allowed to touch, to find out what oil on a canvas feels like. Coordinator Kelly Carley says adults are welcome too. She makes sure the gallery is open to the public at some point during each stop.

KELLY CARLEY: The public really does seem to turn out, especially in these small towns. You'd be surprised at the percentage of people that come out when something like this comes into town. There are so many small towns, especially in these two states, farming states that do not have access. They don't have time to hop on a bus with 40 kids and drag them all the way to Fargo or Minneapolis. And so we brought the art to them. That's definitely the philosophy behind this exhibit.

CATHERINE WINTER: Carley says kids seem to get a bang out of the fact that the gallery is in a trailer. They often ask her if she drives the truck. She doesn't. A trucking company comes and picks up the trailer and moves it to the next town. Carley follows in her car.

KELLY CARLEY: The driver for the semi and I sort of caravan to the next site. So it's kind of neat. I get to meet all these semi drivers too and sometimes have lunch together and stuff. And I know more about semi trucks now than I ever thought I would. [LAUGHS]

CATHERINE WINTER: The Rolling Plains Gallery makes 10 stops in North Dakota each fall and 10 in Minnesota each spring. The stop in Badger is the last one scheduled on this spring's tour. And it's not clear whether there will be a tour next fall. The Plains Art Museum has run short of money. And unless it can find a sponsor, the trailer will be parked next fall. I'm Catherine Winter. Main Street radio.