- The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.

♪ ♪ - Coming up on Wisconsin Life : A musician in tune with his Menominee roots.

Clever dogs showing off new tricks.

A couple helping incarcerated artists find their voice.

And we'll find out where the rubber ducks meet the road.

It's all ahead on Wisconsin Life!

♪ ♪ - Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, American Transmission Company, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.

- Hi, I'm Angela Fitzgerald.

I'm at the Paine Arts Center, visiting the beautiful blossoms and pathways of their botanical gardens.

Just under 15 acres, this scenic lot in Oshkosh was once the intended home of Nathan and Jessie Paine.

Mirroring the museum home, the surrounding landscape was designed with outdoor rooms.

Creating a garden inspired by the romance of the English country, the gardens have evolved today to feature hardy Wisconsin perennials with a variety of bright annuals planted throughout the year.

This newly constructed formal garden offers water features for visitors to wander around and enjoy.

It's a beautiful collection of plants that welcome you at each turn.

Let's see what sprouts up as we dig into our first look at life in Wisconsin.

We head to McFarland, where some very good dogs are learning new tricks.

[birds chirping] - Sharon Page: Who wants to play Frisbees?

[Dash barks in response] - Go, [snaps fingers] take it!

- Angela Fitzgerald: Sharon Page's love for dogs started at a young age.

- Sharon: Good boy.

We got our first family dog when I was just two.

[Dash whimpers excitedly] Even before that, my first word had been "doggy."

I said "doggy" before I said "mama."

[Sharon laughs and claps] Come on, Dash!

I was absolutely enthralled by dogs my entire life.

[Sharon snaps fingers, Dash barks] - It was that early enthusiasm that led Sharon down a tricky path.

- Nice catch.

[snaps fingers, applauds] - She decided she wanted to become an official circus trick dog trainer, and at the age of twelve, got her first dog.

- The first tricks that I ever taught were tricks I would never ever recommend anybody teach.

Remember that I was twelve.

[flipping page] I taught my first dog, a Springer Spaniel, to jump up and grab cigarettes out of people's mouths because I really hated smoking.

And I taught him to jump up and bite my wrist so that I would drop a toy gun.

I thought he'd be great at disarming a criminal someday [laughs] if I needed him to do that.

I don't recommend that you teach dogs [laughing] to bite or jump up into people's faces for their, for their tricks.

- Sharon's dogs have won 113 titles, certificates, and versatility awards.

She's lived and worked all over the world.

She even competed on the reality show Turkey's Got Talent.

- We auditioned and got onto season one.

Of the thirty acts that were on for our week, we won the phone vote with over a million people called in to vote for us and went straight to the semi-finals, where we performed a pirate routine.

- Although Sharon might be the ringmaster, it's her four-legged stars that steal the show.

[opening doors] - Sharon: Okay, Dash.

- Meet Dash, an enthusiastic papillon who loves to entertain.

- Go in your suitcase.

[Dash whimpers] He is the Energizer Bunny of dogs.

Lie down.

Doughnut.

Doughnut, doughnut, doughnut.

doughnut, doughnut.

I could literally train him for hours, and he would never give up interest or get bored.

That's all he wants to do is work.

Good boy!

Play the basketball again.

Good boy.

Come on.

Get the phone.

- Dash is one of Sharon's most honored dogs.

- Good hold.

He has the highest titles in the two governing bodies for the sport of trick dog.

He has a "Trick Dog Champion" title, and then, he has the "Trick Dog Elite Performer" title.

He's one of only 150 dogs to have the second title, and that's from all of the US and Canada.

- Not to be undone, Copper joined the act in 2017.

- Copper, jump up.

- Having been rescued from a local shelter in Wisconsin.

- Ready?

Push.

Good girl, push.

She had about a 10-second attention span and then she was done.

It's okay, come on.

Good girl, come on.

Luckily, she's also the fastest learning dog I've ever had in my life and she's also very unusual for a dog.

She can learn to do tricks by watching another dog do them.

- Copper, like Dash, is also a "Trick Dog Elite Performer."

- Copper four in, stay.

- The highest title you can get from the American Kennel Club.

- Copper, jump up.

She's just spectacular.

- Although Sharon, Dash, and Copper continue to compete at national competitions, some of their favorite shows are actually booked a little closer to home.

[applause] - Who's ready to meet the first dog?

Alright.

- Bringing their circus to local libraries.

[child squeals in delight] - Sharon: They are a blast.

Yes, attaboy.

I grew up in libraries.

So, being able to go do a library show and get kids enthusiastic about reading is totally up my alley.

[circus music] - They even add some theatrics to the tricks.

- So, we did his skit called "Circus Story," which is about a dog that was too little to join the circus.

He applied for a job and they said he was too small.

So, he decided that he would have to work out and prove to the circus that he was worthy of joining them.

And then, in the end, he becomes a tight rope walker.

Yay!

[applause] - When she started doing these shows, Sharon didn't know exactly what to expect at first.

- Oops!

[laughing] I thought I was gonna be having to corral toddlers all the time and the parents, the librarians, and the kids themselves are just so well-mannered and eager to make the experience fun for everyone.

I can't imagine anything not to like about doing a library show.

And that is the end of our program.

Thank you, guys, for coming.

- For Sharon, dogs have had a huge impact on her life, even pushing her to learn a few new tricks of her own.

- Because of dogs, I've learned how to do so many different things.

I was interested in dog behavior so I even went back to graduate school to study animal behavior.

- And along the way, forming bonds and relationships that you just can't teach otherwise.

- No matter how friendly and wonderful the other people in your life are, there's something so accepting about a dog.

They're so non-judgmental, always happy to see you.

[playful music] ♪ ♪ - Next, let's meet an award-winning Keshena musician telling tribal stories through song.

[Wade Fernandez strumming guitar] - Sometimes people say, "Well, what kind of artist are you?

Are you a rock player, a blues player, [plays a riff] a country, a folk, a jazz, flamenco?"

"Well, I dabble with it all."

My name is Wade Fernandez, Wiciwen Apis-Mahwaew.

It sort of translates to "Walks With The Black Wolf."

I'm from the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin.

I'm a musician and also an educator.

♪ ♪ That's my career, and I travel around the world doing it.

[playing Native American flute] A lot of my music has a strong thread of growing up on the Menominee Reservation and being part of the Menominee culture.

["Cry of the Wolf"] ♪ You hear it in the mountains ♪ ♪ The cold wind calls your name ♪ As soon as I get my hands on an instrument, it's like a song wants to come out.

["Cry of the Wolf"] ♪ You're burning down the forest ♪ ♪ With your selfish pride ♪ ♪ Kill until your fears are pacified ♪ When you're writing something, sometimes you don't even know where it's coming from.

That's what songwriting is.

♪ Listen to the wolf as he cries ♪ You feel that faucet starting to drip, and you think, "Well, let me just open it up a little more and let it flow."

♪ [vocalizing soulfully] ♪ And then, the song comes out.

♪ [vocalizing] ♪ ♪ ♪ [cheers and applause] [performing "Commodity Cheese Blues"] ♪ I Went downtown to get my commodities ♪ ♪ I Went downtown to get my commodities ♪ I love to perform.

I love to travel.

I love seeing the world.

♪ Tell me please when I'll get my commod cheese ♪ It could be a solo acoustic, a singer-songwriter type of stuff, or folk kind of stuff, or it could be a duo with my son.

♪ Mmm... commod cheese ♪ ♪ You keep me filled ♪ ♪ My cheese on my fry bread ♪ He's been touring with me since he's 11, and now he's 16.

I love stepping onto the stage and just feeling what is needed in that moment.

It's a special thing to share that with your children.

What's really gratifying to me is to be able to share everything that you are, your ancestors, your culture, the music that flows through you because we are a combination of everything that came before us and everything that's around us in the present still.

I had a teacher once that told me, "After two years with you, you still sound like Wade Fernandez."

And he was very angry.

And then I, and I was kind of hurt, but then I started to think, "Maybe that's who I'm supposed to sound like.

Maybe that's who I'm supposed to be."

["Cry of the Wolf"] ♪ Listen to the wolf as he cries ♪ That's all we can be in life is to be ourselves.

And if we can do that with a lot of conviction and some hard work, it's the ultimate life to me.

♪ [vocalizing during "Cry of the Wolf"] ♪ [cheers and applause] - I'm exploring the horticultural happenings of the Paine Arts Center and Gardens and it's a feast for the eyes.

These gorgeous gardens surround the Paine Mansion near the Fox River in Oshkosh.

It's a beautiful place to view a variety of plants, enjoy nature and play a little music, too.

Sheila Glaske creates these stunning displays.

So, tell us about your role here at the Paine Arts Center and Gardens.

- I'm the curator of horticulture and my role is to design and install different plants throughout these four acres.

- Wow, that sounds like an intense job for the amount of space that you're responsible for.

- It is.

It's a really fun job, you know, and we have such great gardens here.

You know, we have the great 30,000-square-foot mansion, and then, around the gardens, we have such great architecture.

So, it makes it really easy to do some landscape design.

So, we have 20 different rooms and so every space has a different feel.

So, our herb garden is full of vegetables and herbs and just fun things.

We've actually grown some leaks and we let 'em flower and they look really great with a little ball on top.

- By rooms, they're literally, like, outdoor spaces people can kind of transition through and experience when they visit the garden.

- That's right.

So, some of our rooms are, like, the herb garden, the rose garden, we have a shade garden.

And, you know, one of our specialties is that we just do a lot of annual displays and so we have a lot of beds with annual displays through the summer.

♪ ♪ So, I design based on feeling.

And so, when I'm in a space, I wanna know how that space feels and how, how people feel in it.

- Beautiful, and is there like one spot you would highlight as your absolute favorite space, if you could pick just one?

- You know, it changes daily.

Yeah, it totally changes daily and it just depends on the inspiration and what I'm looking at.

You know, so sometimes, you know, I look at different things to get inspired.

So, sometimes, it's fabrics or patterns or just plants.

- And so, what can visitors come to expect?

If they are hearing about the gardens and art center for the first time, what should they expect when they arrive?

- Well, you know, one of my favorite things is when visitors come and they see a plant that they have never seen before or they see it used or they haven't ever seen before.

Like, is that, is that okra?

Is that okra in their gardens?

And, hopefully, they look at the gardens and take something home with them as far as ideas.

- I think the Paines would be proud at all the planning and work that goes into making these gardens fruitful each year.

Now, let's meet someone else who takes pride in what they do.

Let's go to La Crosse, where husband and wife are giving incarcerated artists an outlet to express themselves.

[slow paced instrumental] - Keri White: Today, we're in La Crosse, Wisconsin putting up 40 pieces in the County Administration Building.

- Chad and Keri White are hanging an art collection.

- Chad White: So, having acquired all of these different pieces of artwork.

- I personally really like this one.

- Chad: We started to see that they were, you know, sitting in a closet in a tote.

- Keri: Okay?

[laughs] - Chad: And we realized it would be really nice to be able to have those out and display them.

- Each of the eclectic works has one thing in common.

They were all created by current or former prisoners.

- It is an honor to give that gift to someone of a voice.

[somber guitar] - That voice comes through a one-of-a-kind magazine called The Pen Project.

- We want it to rival any other mainstream art magazine.

You know, like I want it to have that same feel.

- Chad and Keri run the magazine out of their architecture and design firm in Eau Claire.

- Producing a magazine is really fun.

I appreciate the nostalgia of art and writing on plain old paper, not on a screen.

It's easier on the eyes.

[Keri laughs] - The work is by prisoners to share with fellow inmates and the wider world.

- Chad: Prisons are on the edges of cities.

It's pretty rare that someone would drive by and wonder how things are going in there today.

And they're human beings and many of them are hurt and have experienced some pretty difficult things in their lives that led them to be there.

- Chad and Keri first learned about prison life while playing with "Five Thirteen Free," a band that performed for inmates as a form of ministry.

- Chad: Some of the inmates started asking for copies of the lyric sheets so they could sing along.

They started presenting some of their lyric sheets of songs that they had written.

And then that led to creative writings and then, artwork as well.

I was actually pretty surprised at the quality of the artwork.

Some of it was phenomenal.

- The experience inspired the idea of producing a bound volume of works by inmates at Jackson Correctional Institute in Black River Falls.

- Anthony: Something like The Pen Project comes along and it starts to, like, give you maybe a little hope, a little voice, a little purpose, like, "I can do something with my time here that maybe counts."

- Anthony Schofield saw firsthand the impact the project had on his fellow inmates.

- The look and the hope on some of these guys' faces, to have something, like, printed in a magazine.

It was, like, life changing.

- Now out of prison, he still makes art in his free time.

- Anthony: I do a lot of visualization, like, in my mind, but I just actually recently started a new piece.

- While Anthony continues to contribute, the reach of The Pen Projects magazine has expanded greatly.

- Chad: The publication just continues to grow.

Starting out, you know, in one facility, and then today, being at 55 different facilities in 12 different states.

- Much of The Pen Project's content reflects the spirit of its Christian mission, but it's not a requirement.

- I didn't want to have a big boundary of, "Well, you believe this, and so you can't participate."

I didn't want that to happen.

- Thank you all for coming.

If I could have your attention.

- After all the works are hung in the County Building, there's an opening reception and presentation.

Keri speaks for an artist who, understandably, can't be present.

- I just wanted to share with you what he wanted to say this evening.

"Art has the power to change moods, "alter opinions, "evoke dreams.

"For me, art is a saving point.

"Art is a moment for thought.

"We all have dreams and we all seek beauty in life.

"Thank you for choosing my art to be presented in this way.

This is a big moment for me."

[applause] - The event is sponsored by La Crosse Jail Ministry and La Crosse County.

- Doug Weidenbach: Because, of course, we run the jail here in La Crosse County.

So, I thought it would just be an excellent fit between things like economics, things like rehabilitation in the jail, and also just pure beautification.

You have excellent artwork that comes out that is just strikingly beautiful.

- It's kind of a cool overlap.

And I think my hope for it being in this County or Government Building is a lot of people walk in through these County doors, and I hope that they take time to look at the art, and read the submissions on the wall, and realize that The Pen Project is out there.

- As long as The Pen Project is out there, Keri and Chad will keep working to humanize people in prison.

- I like breaking down those stereotypes because at the root of it, you have a human with a brain, with a heart, with emotions.

- Emotions and heart that are shared in every issue.

- Chad: There's talented people everywhere, in prisons included.

[gentle instrumental music] - Finally, we visit Madison to meet a woman giving everyone a good reason to quack up.

[duck voices "scatting" to playful jazz music] - I would say 95% of the people that see the car really enjoy it.

It makes them smile.

People honk.

They wave.

And it brings them happiness.

I have had people really just say that it changed their whole day.

My name is Jen Mulder and I created and own the Duckmobile.

The reason why I started the car was to make people happy.

Ducks have always made me happy.

And so, really just wanted to share the funness, the innocence of it with our community.

I've loved ducks since I was little.

Growing up, I had ducky jammies and ducky slippers.

All of my life I've collected rubber ducks.

Once I started sharing my collection on my car, it got much more fun, much more interesting.

Right now, I'm driving version three of the Duckmobile.

The first one started because in 2006 there was a pretty bad hailstorm.

And it was covered in dents.

And it was a 1989 Toyota Camry.

So it didn't really have much value.

So I decided that if I covered it with ducks, nobody would see the hail damage.

And it was really fun.

I got great reactions over creating the car.

Duckmobile number two was a Buick Le Sabre.

A big boat of a car.

And we got a lot of ducks to fit on that car.

So, it's true that not all of the toys on my car are ducks.

You'll find all manner of the, you know, bathtub squirty toys on my car, which includes animals and other sea life.

But there's also Sesame Street characters.

I've had some Sophies on there.

I found some Minion toys that were big enough.

There are over 300 toys on the car.

How many of them are ducks?

I couldn't tell you specifically.

[chuckles] The Duckmobile is my everyday car.

It's very hard for me to go anywhere incognito and that's fine with me.

I will park somewhere and come out and find, like, magic wands or crowns or onion rings as necklaces on-- Like, people add to the art of my duck car.

There are some duck jokes out there that I definitely hear with the car.

I "quack" people up.

"Get your duck outta here," and that sort of thing.

But you know, it's all in fun and jest and it makes people smile.

I really find that being out there with my art and immediate with the community and doing something in a whimsical positive way is important to me.

I don't foresee a time when I won't have an art car.

Life is more fun when you take your toys with you.

["Rubber Duckie"] ♪ Rubber Duckie, you're so fine ♪ [squeak, squeak] ♪ And I'm lucky that you're mine ♪ [squeak, squeak] ♪ Rubber duckie, I'd like a whole pond of ♪ ♪ Rubber duckie, I'm awfully fond of you!

♪ [rubber ducky squeaking] - It's been lovely taking a garden stroll through the Paine Arts Center and Gardens, all while sharing stories from all over Wisconsin.

To discover more, visit our website, Wisconsin Life dot org.

Be sure to connect with us by emailing stories at Wisconsin Life dot org.

That's a wrap.

From these flourishing gardens in Oshkosh, I'm Angela Fitzgerald, and this is our Wisconsin Life.

Bye.

- Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by Lowell and Mary Peterson, Alliant Energy, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, American Transmission Company, Focus Fund for Wisconsin Programs, and Friends of PBS Wisconsin.