>> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: >> The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car or other vehicle make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted and pick up can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts.

Individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members.

Committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!

♪ >> Today on "Journey Indiana," we're taking a trip to Muncie.

Go behind the scenes at the Minnetrista Museum.

>> One of the things that we really look for with artifacts being added to our collection, we really look to make sure this piece has a full story.

>> Throw down at a local pottery studio.

>> Pottery, to me, is really kind of fascinating because, first of all, I never thought I would be playing in mud.

>> Learn the ups and downs of a soaring hobby.

>> Your modeling experience is really a journey through aircraft, whatever type it is.

And typically, it starts at your local model flying field.

You go out to the flying field, and I bring my airplane, and there's 20 other guys and they've got all kinds of different stuff.

>> And tour a floral sanctuary.

>> An orchid is one of the most ancient species of flowering plants that we have.

>> That's coming up on this episode of "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> First, let's tour the collections at one of Muncie's finest cultural institutions, the Minnetrista Museum.

♪ >> At the Minnetrista Museum, physical objects are put to good use to help tell the story of Muncie and the surrounding region.

>> The fascinating thing that three-dimensional objects tell us that documents don't often do is a physical presence of history.

They tell us what actually happened, as opposed to what was designed and what was planned.

So if I'm thinking of an exhibition, and here is the story that I'm looking to tell, but objects tell a slightly different story, it's going to add a new chapter to an already exciting exhibition.

>> And there are plenty of chapters waiting to be added.

>> So we are about to head into object storage.

>> Here in the basement of Minnetrista, the Heritage Collection is home to more than 18,000 objects, many dating back to the founding of Muncie in the mid-19th century.

>> One of the things that we really look for with artifacts being added to our collection, we really look to make sure this piece has a full story.

>> All of these objects' stories tie back to the area in some way.

Many were manufactured here.

>> So what we have here are a number of items made by or collected by Ball Corporation.

>> The Ball Corporation produced their iconic canning jars in Muncie for decades starting in the late 1800s, and Minnetrista has a wide variety of unique and unusual Ball memorabilia.

>> Sometimes people preserved their beloved pets.

In this jar is a canary from about the 1920s.

>> Minnetrista also has many objects related to the beloved PBS painter Bob Ross.

>> Right here, these are Bob Ross' overalls, which you might recognize from the intro scene of "The Joy of Painting."

>> That classic art instruction show was produced right here in Muncie by WIPB from 1983 to 1994.

The former studio is now a popular site on Minnetrista's grounds.

>> One of my favorites is we have a very large copper pan that he painted when he was stationed in Alaska in the '70s.

It's just so different from everything else, and it's from his personal collection, which makes it really special.

>> A number of the objects were everyday items.

>> This is called a Pandiculator, and it was supposed to give you the ultimate stretch.

It is really important to still be able to tell the story of Muncie and what people were doing here throughout time.

You know, we don't want to lose the story of the everyday person.

>> And so, whether it's a utilitarian item, a work of art, or an everyday object, they are right here, waiting to tell their stories.

>> This job is a great way to look at everyday items a little bit differently.

It certainly makes me question, you know, is this item something that I want to hold on to?

Does this have a story that I want to live on beyond me, even if it seems simple, maybe someone else will think it's a treasure, and that's really exciting.

♪ >> Next up, let's meet Eugene Boyd, a passionate pottery artist and proprietor of Boyd's Pottery.

♪ >> When I was working in the factory, I was just a number.

I mean, all they cared about is, okay, what did I get out?

Did I get out what I was supposed to get out?

Now, I'm an individual, I'm known for being me.

I mean, people when they buy my product, when they talk to me, they want to know things about it.

They want to know how I feel about it, what made me make them things.

I mean, how did I feel making it.

Having a business like Boyd's Pottery has helped me bring out the fullness of me as an individual, where in the factory, I was just a number.

Pottery, to me, is really kind of fascinating, because first of all, I never thought I'd be playing in mud.

And it's such rewarding.

It's kind of mystifying in a way, because I'm still putting together, in my mind, the value it has.

And I know that it's a lot, because my interest and my desire.

And I really think it's helped weave together some things that I'm not even conscious of.

Being at Cornerstone, where I teach at -- and I also teach at another place called Made in Muncie downtown, and that's a -- that's a whole different kind of situation.

I call Made in Muncie an introduction, because I'm doing 90% of the work.

Your hands is on the product, but I'm guiding your hands, and I make sure you don't fail.

You don't get a chance to fail, you know?

So -- and that's a fun thing because you make something and get to come back and you glaze it and everything.

And it's a nice rewarding experience, but I wouldn't call that really teaching.

I call that an introduction, you know, to just see if you like the material growing through your hands, see if you like seeing how it -- when you pull it up, how it move.

I find most people don't understand the way clay has to be moved.

You know, I mean, it has to be moved a certain way.

I mean, you just can't do anything that you want to it, and it happens, I mean, certain ways.

And so the amount of pressure you have to put on it and don't.

So basically, we just let you mess with it.

Then when you stumble, we come and pick you up.

Let you mess with it, when you stumble, come and pick you up, yeah.

So that's kind of our approach there.

I mean, we don't just sit there and stand over you, you know, and have a timeline on anything.

And if you decide you want to change -- like say you said I want to do the wheel, but then you say the wheel is too much and you want to go hand build, that's fine.

So we don't really dog you out as far as making you learn one form over another.

I had a lady that's been with us, before COVID, and she left the class Monday, and they found her dead Tuesday morning.

But do you know what she was doing?

Ceramics.

I mean, I don't want to see her pass, but I know she was doing what she loved, and I was a part of it.

I was a part of that.

That's a good feeling, to know that I had -- I have given her something to do, that that was the last thing she had done.

Here's the steps that I learned when we're making something.

So here we go.

So here's a box of clay that we already purchased.

So you go in there, and you get you the amount of clay you want.

And most time, I weigh it out to know how much clay I'm getting.

So then you wedge it up.

And wedging up is a process that we use to make sure it's deaired and make sure the clay is loosened.

So it's almost like kneading bread, but it's the opposite.

Kneading bread, you're folding it over, you're adding air.

Wedging, you are deairing it, and you're getting the clay to move it.

So I have to do that.

And then I like to go put it on the wheel.

So then the wheel is spinning around.

You get it set on the wheel.

And the first thing you have to do is get what's called centering.

Okay?

And so we center the clay.

The next thing you know, you are opening it up, and you are pulling it up, and you are pulling it up, and you are pulling it up.

And it keeps going.

And you be like, man, that was one of my best pulls!

And then after that, then we make the shape we want, and then we have a finished product.

Now, when it's finished there, it's not finished.

It's just the first step because some things are kind of finished where they dry and they're done.

Some things you let almost dry, and then you do what we call trimming.

So like if you made a big bowl, you would trim it.

There's a lot of things you trim, some things you don't.

So then you would trim it, and then you would let it finish drying.

After it's finished drying, it has to go into the kiln the first time.

And that's the first time it goes in the kiln, it comes back like this one.

So if -- if I took this before it went in the kiln and done that, it would probably be cracked because when it dries, at the first stage, it's real, real fragile.

And then this stage, in this stage, we glaze it.

Then as -- there's several ways to apply your glaze.

You can take it with a brush, put it on the brush.

You can take it like some of us do and just dip it in a bucket of glaze, or you can add little things to it, with different colored glazes.

Then after you glaze it, it goes back in the kiln another time, and then it comes out with a finished product.

So here in Muncie Pottery, I encourage people to come out and try our ceramics class.

See if you can like being in a muddy situation.

>> Next, let's head up to the International Aeromodeling Cente to meet Tony Stillman.

Each year, Tony and his fellow hobbyists meet up to show what these magnificent miniatures can do.

♪ >> It's just a feeling of freedom, just being able to be free in the air and do what I wanted to do.

And, of course, I didn't know how to do what I wanted to do, but it was a start.

Yeah, it was a really cool feeling.

As a kid, my dad worked at the naval air station in Pensacola, Florida, as an E&E, an electronics repairman.

We went to an air show one year, and there were some RC models flying at the air show, which was really cool.

And, I, you know, just really loved that stuff.

The big thing for modelers, especially the folks that have been in it for a little while, you kind of have -- your modeling experience is really a journey through aircraft, whatever type it is.

And typically, it starts at your local model flying field.

You go out to the flying field, and I bring my airplane and there's 20 other guys, and they've got all kind of different stuff, helicopters, jets, sailplanes, all kinds of different stuff, and you get exposed to this thing that maybe you saw online or you saw somewhere, and now you actually get to see it fly.

And then, you know, it's pretty cool.

I like that.

And you just see different things.

And my journey started with just learning to fly.

My club had an activity where they reached out to two other clubs.

I was Pensacola, Florida, at the time, and all three clubs had an event each month.

And so one month, it would be at my club.

One month, it would be at Fort Walton Beach.

The next month, it would be over in Mobile.

And we would just go from, you know, event to event, and go fly these competitions.

And I kind of got into the -- I was a very competitive person.

I liked to play football and baseball and all that good stuff, basketball.

So once I got into competition, I really liked that, and it kind of drove you to be better.

You found out what equipment was better, and then you saw other guys that were doing something better than you were.

And you kind of emulating what they were doing and tried to figure out how I can get better, and that drives your -- your future in the whole process, either building or buying certain types of equipment.

I was hired on in 1974, in the summer of '74, to a model airplane kit company, and I was doing woodworking in high school.

I love woodworking, but the chance to actually work for a company doing woodworking that was model airplanes, it was, like, I don't think it can get any better than that, you know.

And I'm making, you know, $1.25 an hour, but it's awesome, you know, so who cares?

So, yeah, I got to do that.

Well, the kit company I worked for was a competition aerobatics company.

And the guys that owned it were national champions and built some of the airplanes that we manufactured and moved to that.

And I spent 35, 40 years flying competition.

This event that I'm running is called Air Power Over the IAC.

It's in Muncie, Indiana.

It's usually always Labor Day weekend, the Thursday, Friday, Saturday before Labor Day weekend.

And that event has been going on for a while.

It's kind of the -- the Warbird and Classic Alliance kind of want this to be their signature event or their focal event, I guess is to say.

It's not the biggest event.

We had 52 pilots there last year.

I've already -- I've already surpassed that amount in preregistration.

So I'm probably going to be in the 60, 70 size, and that's a good-sized event.

It's not too hard to manage.

But that event has always been a well-attended event, and a lot of spectators come and watch that.

And my wife has been involved with seniors groups for quite a bit, and she wants to, and I want to, get more involved in, like, seniors homes where we could get veterans out there to see some of the military stuff that they might be more aware of.

We play a lot of '40s and '50s music from warbird times and war times, and we also do World War I stuff.

So I think the portion of that is just continuing this legacy of what's happened at that event and making it continue to go on, but also providing events for people to go to.

I put on a competition for 35 years, an event that I ran for 35 years straight, and that was my giving back to that aerobatics community so they had an event to go to.

And those folks would put on events at their club.

And so it's my -- this is kind of my way to provide a place for these folks to come.

I think it's special to me because of the history that it already has.

It's been going on for more than 20 years, but as things go on, people pass the torch along to the next group to continue that.

For that to continue, you had to have people be passionate and carry the torch on to the next group.

Getting our next generation of folks interested in aviation, I think, is important.

We do a lot of things, AMA does a lot of things to try to interest youth.

Doing whatever you can do at your local area, I think is vital that you -- that you reach out to kids, get them involved.

Not only does our government need it, our industries need it, you know, airline industries and all that, whether you are a pilot or an engineer or, you know, whatever.

Inspiring the next generation is a very important part of what all modelers should be doing.

>> Finally, let's check out the Rinard Orchid Greenhouse and their fabulous collection of rare and endangered plants.

>> This small, unassuming greenhouse, just on the edge of the Ball State campus is more than meets the eye.

The Rinard Orchid Greenhouse is home to a thriving collection of exceptional proportions.

>> We are one of the largest collegiate orchid collections here in the United States.

We have about 2,000 different species of orchid throughout the greenhouse.

Some are rare and endangered.

>> It's a refuge for those rare and endangered plants that have been confiscated from the environmentally devastating illegal orchid trade.

>> So we're one of 80 places in the United States that if an illegal orchid was brought over international lines, we could get a call to get that orchid to help rehabilitate it and conserve it for future study and research.

>> Walking through the collection puts you up close and personal with a lot of plants, carnivorous plants, edible plants, but mostly the stars of the show here are orchids.

Across three rooms, that range from warm rain forest to cool cloud forest, you can find a dizzying variety of orchids, each uniquely adapted to its environment.

>> So an orchid is one of the most ancient species of flowering plants that we have.

They are basically master manipulators of their pollinators.

When a pollinator comes to pollinate it, their big, beautiful display is arranged in a way that it is going to make that pollinator go exactly where that flower wants it to go.

So there's the big labellum, which is the big, really showy petal of the orchid.

That is made intricately to attract the pollinator.

In the lady's slipper orchid specifically, that big pouch, they want bugs to think there's something in there.

So they want the bugs to fall into this landing pad so that they go up, back behind here.

You see these little flaps?

They'll open up for the bug.

That red right there is the pollen.

And under here is the ovule.

So when the bug comes up and out there, it will get that pollen, and it will shove it into the ovule right there.

One of their special adaptations is called mimicry.

So I do have some species in there that will look like the female species of their pollinator and they are basically catfishing the males into interacting with them.

They're all about the manipulation of that pollinator.

>> The collection may focus on orchids, but that's not all.

It's a veritable garden of delights, including some fauna a mongst the flora, and some plants with big appetites.

>> My favorite plant overall -- I like to say that they are the ones that got me this job -- are carnivorous plants.

They naturally grow in very poor nutrient soil, so like bogs or on cliffsides.

They are not getting a lot from their roots.

So they developed the adaptation of being able to eat bugs.

And I also like to come back here because the neotropical pitcher plants are back here.

So these are specialized leaf structures.

They're supposed to hold rainwater as it falls down.

That water -- after I tip it out.

That water is filled with that digestive enzyme.

So any bug that would fall into one of these cups, in here is so slick they would not be able to get out.

So then that water starts eating them, and then it's fed right back to the plant.

So you can kind of think of them as outside stomachs.

>> It's a one-of-a-kind collection, but it's more than just a greenhouse.

It's a place for the next generation of botanists to get their hands dirty.

>> You've got to be careful with them, but you can -- all of those little guys in there are the seeds, and you can just see how densely packed these orchids are.

My name is Peyton Rogers, and I'm one of Ball State's greenhouse attendants, and right now I'm working on mostly just seed extraction, and we're kinda just like scraping these guys out and putting them in this sterilized cup right here, to where we're then storing into our little seed bank that we are trying to establish here.

It's a really fun opportunity to be a part of, and I hope to be here until I graduate, which is about another year.

But we focus on a lot of youth education, because we believe that if we teach the younger generation, we can help promote more conservation efforts in America.

>> And they've built a new space to teach kids about the natural world.

>> We opened the Environmental Education Center in 2022.

It's nicknamed the Nature Lab to be a little more approachable to public and kiddos.

This space houses some hands-on wildlife opportunities for kiddos.

We have Beaker our box turtle.

We have native eastern tiger salamanders, native frogs and toads, and our beehive.

>> And educating the next generation is more important now than ever.

>> We are already losing so many species out in the wild, and because of climate change, habitat destruction and invasive species, we're losing a lot of orchids that are native.

And then over collecting just kind of adds to the issue.

Going out to the wild, taking it, you're actually removing it from an entire fungi network that it needed to survive.

Obviously, it's not going to do as well, and it's most likely not going to make it.

>> Rinard Orchid Greenhouse provides educational opportunities, a sanctuary for endangered plants and a wonderful place to soak in some nature, and perhaps some much needed perspective.

>> The one takeaway that I like to give everybody who visits is that the world is so much bigger and complex than we think.

There's a lot that goes into even a tiny little flower that's less than a half inch.

>> Thanks for coming to Muncie with us.

We'll see next time on "Journey Indiana."

♪ >> Funding for "Journey Indiana" was provided in part by: >> The WTIU Vehicle Donation Program.

Proceeds from accepted donations of a car or other vehicle make this program possible.

Most vehicles are accepted and pick up can be arranged at no cost.

Learn more at WTIU.org/support.

>> Charitable IRA rollover gifts.

Individuals aged 70 and a half or older may make a tax-free charitable distribution from their IRA to WTIU.

Consult your advisor and visit Indianapublicmedia.org/support for more details.

>> WTIU sustaining members.

Committing to regular monthly contributions, providing WFIU and WTIU with reliable ongoing support.

Becoming a sustainer is one of the most effective ways to support public media.

>> And by viewers like you.

Thank you!