(relaxed music) - [Narrator] Coming up on the next "Off 90," we visit the Marine Art Museum in Winona, explore the history of a big rock near Austin, check out a photography studio in Albert Lea, and learn about a Rochester chess club.

It's all just ahead on the next "Off 90."

(inspiring music) (inspiring music continues) (bright music) (animated music) (animated music continues) - The Seasonal Saturday is our signature arts access program.

It was created to break down any barriers that people have for accessing the fine arts and accessing the museum, whether that's financial.

So, admission today is only $1 instead of $12.

It's really welcoming for everybody and anyone.

So, if you are on your own, you're welcome here.

If you're with a family, you're welcome here.

With friends.

We really just try to create a very welcoming environment that everybody feels good in on these day.

Radical hospitality.

So, with a lot of volunteers.

We have a ton of staff here just to meet people where they're at and introduce them to the museum.

(animated music) So today, we have a ton of things going on.

There is live music at 11:00 AM and 3:00 PM.

We will be turning the grand panorama.

The last scene of this one-year exhibition will be happening today at 2:30 PM.

We have guided tours on the hour every hour.

There's art-making going on from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

Just a wealth of things happening today, really aimed at bringing as many people in as possible and giving people a lot of different entry points to the museum.

(animated music) So, we are in our eighth year of Seasonal Saturdays.

We've tried a few different iterations over the years.

It started with a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to create this program, and we called it Second Saturdays, and we did it the second Saturday of every month, and then over the years, we sort of refined the program and decided that four times a year is a perfect amount for both our staff capacity and for people in the area visiting the museum.

So, we offer it four times a year, once a quarter.

Poof of the day today is for the love of the arts.

We really like to tailor each Seasonal Saturday to a different theme, maybe inspired by an exhibition or something happening, so today's Valentine's Day, so it's for the love of the arts, and we're giving a lot of our visitors red hearts that they can walk around and put it in front of a piece of art that really speaks to them that they really love and just show their love of the arts and for the museum.

(animated music) All our galleries are open, so we have three new exhibitions.

That is really exciting.

Our new Literary Arts Gallery by Eric Carle, Museum of Picture Book Art, includes original works by Eric Carle, but many others as well.

We're standing right here in Water Craft, which is a new exhibition that we just opened, and then we have new works by Robert Gonzalez as well.

(animated music) A highlight for a lot of people on Seasonal Saturdays is taking a guided tour.

So, we offer tours on the hour every hour.

Some of them are led by our volunteer docents, our tour guides.

We also offer curator-led tours from our curator of exhibitions and collections, Jon Swanson, as well as our executive director, Scott Pollock, does a tour sort of telling people where the museum is headed, so it's sort of a really nice insight to get more information on an exhibition or hear about something from the director, executive director, or from a curator.

So, another part of these days is we really like to offer artist demonstrations and really give people an insight to how artwork is created, so today we have a loom-weaving demonstration by Lauren Oland, and so Lauren's doing demonstration today.

A zero-waste form of weaving, also inspired by this exhibition here that I'm standing in, Water Craft.

Well, in the art room today, they're doing monoprinting, and that is so much fun.

We really try to gear our art-making projects for all ages and abilities, and today they are making monoprints, and it's really fun to see a 4-year-old and an 84-year-old sitting next to each other and both very focused and working on their artwork and to see what they come up with.

(animated music) Gallery bingo or bingo overboard is a fan-favorite for sure.

We always offer it at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, but on Seasonal Saturdays it's a little extra special 'cause we have special prizes.

It's sort of like a search and find.

It's fun for all ages, we say from 2 to 102, and kids and adults are welcome to pick their bingo card and then they walk through the museum and try to identify things and then pick their prize at the end, so it's a really nice way to engage those kiddos with the galleries and everything that we have going on here.

(spirited music) (spirited music continues) Another really lovely part of our Seasonal Saturdays is live music in the galleries.

We always offer two sets of live music, usually from 11:00 to noon and then 3:00 to 4:00 PM, and there's something really special about walking through an exhibition and hearing live music while you're looking at art and also being immersed in music.

(spirited music) (spirited music continues) (spirited music continues) Really, it's just inspiring to have a day where people are involved in the museum, where they're here and enjoying themselves, spending time with family and friends, and really sparking joy, and our vision at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum is to create a more connected and passionate world for all and I really feel like these days help us accomplish that.

(spirited music) A big part of this too is getting feedback from our audience and our visitors to figure out what they really like, what they really love, and maybe what we could work on, so we also offer surveys at all of our Seasonal Saturday events and over time have sort of tweaked the program to really lean into what works well and what people enjoy and try to improve where we can, and we also offer a cookie if they take the survey, which is always, people enjoy that.

(laughs) Another part of our Seasonal Saturdays is we often work with a community partner.

This month, we are working with the River Arts Alliance, so we welcome in a nonprofit in our area who maybe goes along with our theme for the month, and they meet our visitors, maybe do a project, and talk about what they do as a nonprofit organization.

So today, River Arts Alliance is here and are talking about all the great work that they do in the Winona area.

Like, Seasonal Saturdays have really tied us to our community in a way that we weren't before.

It's such a welcoming space.

It feels unpretentious and welcoming to everyone, and I really think that it creates a nice entry point if you've never been here, or a new experience if you have been here, because there's so many ways to engage with the museum, so I really feel like this is an important part of our work.

Our mission here is to create meaningful experiences that explore our relationship with water and I really feel like our Seasonal Saturday program helps us move our mission forward.

It is a program that we will continue to offer here and it's a really important program for the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, and I think one of the best things that we do.

(spirited music) (audience applauds) (inspiring music) (thrilling music) (thrilling music continues) - So, we celebrated the 40th anniversary last year of the big rock being moved to the nature center here.

It was originally at Todd Park around that area.

It was brought there by a glacier actually around half a million years ago.

We know that because we can look at the rock's composition and the rock's composition does not match any other, like, of the bedrock composition here in this area, so you can look at how it matches in the Minnesota River Valley rock composition, so that's how we know that it's a metamorphic rock from that area, and years and years of uplift and erosion exposed the rock, so it was formed deep in the ground with heat and pressure, and then these years of uplift and erosion lifted it up off the ground, and then a glacier came around and pulled it down here.

They definitely are capable of moving quite a lot of weight.

This rock is 125 tons estimated.

Can't really completely weigh it, but it's quite big.

So, it's called a glacial erratic.

There's lots of glacial erratics in this area.

They can be little pebbles or big boulders like this, and it was very common for when settlers were coming here and farming, they would have to remove big rocks in their fields and they would utilize them for fencing, things like that, but it was kind of cumbersome process to get rid of some of these bigger boulders that are here from glaciers.

It took an excavating service to move the boulder in 1985 to this spot, and it was done in the winter, December, so they used the makeshift road of ice to help move it.

This is the biggest rock that we know of in this area that's at least above the ground.

It had to be taken up out of the ground, so there might be that we don't see that are deep in the ground that would kind of be like an iceberg, where you just see the tip of it, but this is kind of an exception for this area.

So, it would've been formed in the Minnesota River Valley 3.6 billion years ago, and then billions of years of erosion and uplift would've exposed it for the glacier to come through and move it to this area, and so if you touch it, if you come visit the rock, it's probably the oldest thing you'll ever encounter.

Kids climb on it for sure.

People also get married in front of this rock and take pictures in front of this rock.

It's definitely an important part of the community here, with events and things like that.

And a tradition we have here at the Nature Center with kids is to try and push it.

We haven't moved it yet, but we'll see.

(gentle music) (gentle music ends) (inspiring music) (gentle music) - Sarah Williams and I am the owner of Studio Onyx Photography Studio, and I also own my photography business, Sarah Marschall Photo.

I offer wedding photography.

I shoot families, couples, newborns, engagements.

Kind of a little bit of everything.

It began as a hobby and kind of, right when the world was shutting down back in 2020, I decided to dive further into that hobby, which a lot of people did back then, and a business just kinda naturally came out of it.

I started learning more and more about photography as much as I could and I just became obsessed with it and wanted to make something out of it.

At the start, I didn't know what I wanted to do with it quite yet.

I just wanted to learn more and more about it, and I started practicing on my newborn baby that I just had that fall, and then during that winter, I just kept taking pictures of him, and he was a good little target practice there, and kinda learned more, and so I just kept going and going and I wanted to eventually do something with it, and a business just came with it.

So, I didn't have anything set in mind, but things just kinda happened naturally as time went.

There's no physical displays of anything, but everyone can find me online.

I got my Instagram full, Facebook full of all my work that everyone can go check out.

The website is sarahmarschallphoto.com and my socials are the same thing, Sarah Marschall Photo.

So, this building, the Broadway, I think, started as a bank way back in the day, and it was empty for quite a few years.

I think in 2024, if I'm not mistaken, a set of new owners came in and decided to redo it from the ground up, so they started with the bottom floor, which is half of it an event center and the other half a restaurant cafe, and the second floor is now being currently filled with different businesses.

Like, there's a hairstylist, a massage therapist, insurance, a law office, a tanning salon.

Like, it's just kinda filled with a modgepodge of different businesses.

Well, last fall, I heard of spaces on this floor needing to be leased out and I just wanted to take a look at one of 'em, and I came across this corner unit and I just loved it and I saw the potential of a studio, and so I jumped on it, and I always wanted to have a studio of my own someday 'cause I had rented previous studios in other towns and they worked for the time being, but I knew I wanted my own someday, and I thought the opportunity came up and I took it.

I think having an indoor studio option is very important for a lot of photographers during the winter months of when it's too cold outside or if it gets, you know, a little cloudy or even for newborn sessions, you just kinda want a indoor space to use that has great light, that can be versatile for whatever you may need, and so I sought an empty space in the area for photographers and creatives that I wanted to create that space to be used by anybody who needs it.

Everything started back in September of last year.

However, the whole floor was still under construction so I wasn't ready to move in quite yet, so the whole fall and early part of winter, construction was finishing up, and this January, I started moving stuff in and I started advertising the space for others to use, and I think everyone else down the hall kinda slowly started moving in as well, and I think there's just still a couple other spaces that are open yet, but everything's still pretty recent for everyone in the building.

Yeah, so when people come into the space, they can bring in their own furniture, props, anything like that, but I also provide lots of different couch options, stools.

There's the air mattress for if you wanna throw the kids on there, if you wanna have 'em play.

A wide open just white mat.

Just, there's a lot of options of what people can shoot here, and at different angles, and so people don't really need to bring all that much.

The goal is to try to provide everything for them so they can come in and just do their thing.

Well, for myself, I love just being able to come here whenever I need it, and I can design it the way I want to.

I designed it very much my style: neutrals, simple, clean, classic, and with that style, I think it's easy to use for other photographers too.

They can bring in their own props or furniture, but I have stuff that other people can use as well that's very neutral and can fit any anyone's style, and so I think it's just a benefit for anyone, any photographer or creative in the area that it's an easy access place, right Downtown Albert Lea, and they can bring their clients.

They can do their own content, shoots, whatever they may need, and I think it's a good addition to the industry of what was empty in the area.

It's just, I would love to get the word out about it so other photographers and creatives in the area can use it, and it's not just for photographers.

Like, if anyone of any business needs a space to shoot any content or anything like that, it's a great space for that as well.

(gentle music) (inspiring music) (relaxed music) - Well, chess is a very old game.

The game that we know today is about 400 to 500 years old.

(relaxed music) And it's come out of Europe.

Chuck Handlon.

I'm a retired chemistry teacher and I have been the Century High School chess coach for 26 years.

The Rochester Area Scholastic Chess League is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest high school leagues in the state 'cause we've existed since the year 2000/2001.

There are seven teams in the league.

Those include Lourdes, Mayo High School, the STEM Academy, Byron, a homeschool team.

This is called the City Cup Tournament.

Now, Century is the defending City Cup champion and out of the 25 years of the Cup, we've won the Cup about 14 times.

They don't like to give it up and they wanna keep it.

The Cup is a coveted bragging rights for the best team in the city.

(relaxed music) (inquisitive music) - I started from a very young age.

My parents introduced me.

(inquisitive music) I was really drawn to the fact that everything is determined by skill.

There is no element of luck.

There's always an objective right answer, and I think that really resonated with me.

The whole world opened up to me with chess.

- I guess I really started playing, like, when "The Queen's Gambit" came out.

- Tell the readers of "Life" how it feels to be a girl among all those men.

- I don't mind it.

- In, like, seventh grade during quarantine.

I didn't play really consistently until, like, this past summer going into this year.

I like the logic aspect of it.

I mean, there's no luck involved, so any time you're losing or anything, it's all your fault, so I really like that.

I really hate playing board games where it's, like, you have to roll a dice or something.

The depth of it is, I mean, people spend years, like, decades of their life, you know, studying the game and still don't come out on top sometimes.

It's pretty crazy how deep it goes.

(relaxed music) - Century's chess team participated in the state tournament.

Last year's team, which consisted of four freshmen and one sophomore, were co-champions.

They had the same number of points at the end of the tournament as Eden Prairie and Eastview.

It was the first time in the over-60-year history of the state chess tournament that three teams had finished tied.

This year was the 61st annual Minnesota State Chess Association K-12 Championship.

The things that impressed me the most is how motivated they are.

Normally, players just wanna participate in the high school league.

We have the Rochester Area Scholastic Chess League.

These players are motivated to constantly improve their game.

They played in an online league and they took first place this year in the online league, and they just constantly want to play chess.

They just love the game.

(relaxed music) - My goals when it comes to chess is just being better.

Like, being better with, like, tactical play, positional play, like, critical thinking, and yeah, all of that.

- It's a really complex game.

Probably one of the most that people play, and there's so many different ways it can be, like, played.

There's definitely a lot of tournaments that you go to, and now I'd say it's more about, like, learning and becoming the best chess player that I can be.

- This game improves the thinking skills for students.

As a teacher, there are ways that you can develop critical thinking and problem-solving, and chess really does that.

It's a great game, it's fun, and I would hope that the public would encourage their students to play and to support the game because it sort of grows your brain, as the Rochester Chess Club says.

(relaxed music) - The calculation and thinking ahead.

I think that applies to a lot more things than just chess.

Every decision I make nowadays, I can never just think what's happening then.

I always have to think about what that will cause.

- Beforehand, when I played chess, I think I was very narrow-minded.

Like, I didn't really think ahead of, like, what I should do in the future.

Now, I feel like I'm just applying what I know from chess, but into real life.

- I guess it sort of matures you in a way.

I mean, you have to really think, I guess it's kind of built my decision-making skills.

Less impulsive decisions, I guess, 'cause I try to think through my actions a little bit more.

- I like playing stuff that's consistent.

In chess, there's what's called a gambit, where you usually throw away one of your pieces to achieve a better position, but I'm not really into that type of stuff.

I like playing pretty safe, very positional, not giving anything away, but, like, slowly building up an attack over time and playing into what I know and catching my opponents off-guard.

- There can be a lot of work behind the scenes to learn things like openings and strategy.

For, you know, every position at the start, you know, there's, like, 10 moves you can make, and then after that, there's another 10, another 10, and you can't memorize so on and so forth, but to a certain point, you should know exactly what the best moves are and what to do from said position, like, what your idea is going forward, and I have to make sure I'm refreshed on all the different possibilities that can take place you know, at the start.

- We set three goals for ourselves this year.

One was to win the regular season championship, which we have.

The silver Century team, the returning varsity team, finished undefeated, and to defend the City Cup, and now to go on and repeat as state champion.

(relaxed music) (relaxed music continues) (lively music) (lively music continues) (lively music continues) (relaxed music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.