Four years ago, some 200 people, many of them Dakota, gathered to celebrate the removal of the controversial "Scaffold" from the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. The sculpture included design elements from the gallows used to hang 38 Dakota men in 1862. Its presence on Dakota land angered protesters who set up a camp around the garden until Scaffold was gone.

This weekend a new piece, created by Dakota artist Angela Two Stars, will open to the public in the same space. The structure, called "Okciyapi" is designed as a gathering place and a celebration of the Dakota language. 

Just yards from the iconic Spoon Bridge and Cherry, water spills out from the center of Okciyapi. It's a bubbling dome of liquid about 3 feet across, surrounded by concentric rings designed to be many things: a labyrinth, somewhere for children to climb, maybe an informal language classroom. It’s a place that Two Stars, a member of the Wahpeton Sisseton Dakota, hopes will welcome visitors to come, sit, and think a while. 

"The word Minnesota in Dakota is ‘Mni Sota Makoce,’ “ said Two Stars: “'The land where the water reflects the sky.’”

A rendering of "Okciyapi" by Angela Two Stars.

Courtesy of Urban Ecosystems

"Okciyapi" (pronounced OH-key-YUP-ee) was inspired by Two Stars’ late grandfather Orson Bernard, a noted scholar of the Dakota language who worked for years to keep it alive. 

This whole piece is infused with the Dakota language, history and tradition. The seats are inscribed with Dakota value words. Visitors can use their phones to hear tribal elders tell stories in English and Dakota. 

The gravel around the structure absorbs daylight, and glows blue in the dark, giving a sense of surrounding "Okciyapi” with water. Even the plants around the perimeter have meaning.

"There's Prairie Dropseed, and also sage," said Two Stars. "So it's like the whole piece is surrounded by medicines, as I consider the Dakota language to be a medicine that acts as healing for the people that enter the space."

Two Stars says when she conceived "Okciyapi" she originally made no connection to the Scaffold controversy. It was only later that she realized her piece might offer help after a challenging time. 

Darlene St. Clair is also hoping for healing. 

"It was hard to see that piece and I am glad that it didn't stay,” she said.

Originally from the Lower Sioux Reservation, St. Clair is a professor at St Cloud State, where she teaches Native arts and cultural expressions. When she first heard about Scaffold, and its references to the mass hanging of 1862, she says the fact it was designed to be climbed upon by visitors, maybe even as a picnic site, added to the horror felt in the Indigenous community.

“What I think was more upsetting was that so few people were going to have the sort of the visceral, physical, emotional response that Dakota and other Native people were having to that piece," she said.

"We want to look forward," says Walker executive director Mary Ceruti. "But we can't move forward until we acknowledge and reflect upon and address what has happened in the past." 

Ceruti took over at the Walker in 2019, two years after Scaffold's removal. The museum oversees the sculpture in the garden.

"The way that that work was acquired and installed and ultimately dismantled was traumatic for everyone involved. Obviously for our Indigenous community and neighbors, but also for Walker staff and people in the Twin Cities in general," she said.

Ceruti says the Walker is examining its institutional history through the lens of recent events, and reconsidering how to better represent Native voices. 

St. Clair was on the Indigenous Committee created to help select Okciyapi. She likes how its concentric circles represent water rippling outward from a drop, a form inspired by the way Two Stars’ grandfather’s Dakota language teachings rippled through the community. St. Clair thinks it's a beautiful metaphor that will connect with many people. 

“Thinking about even their own ancestors, or their own descendants, what might they do that makes a ripple?” she said.

One final ripple: the title of the piece comes from Orson Bernard. It’s the advice he gave to those trying to learn the Dakota language: "Okciyapi," he would say. "Help each other."

Citation:

Kerr, E. (2021, October 8). 'Okciyapi' celebrates Dakota language and brings some healing. MPR News. Retrieved November 6, 2021, from https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/10/07/okciyapi-celebrates-dakota-language-and-bring-some-healing.

See More Here:

https://walkerart.org/press-releases/2021/angela-two-stars

https://www.fox9.com/news/new-piece-okciyapi-welcomed-to-minneapolis-sculpture-garden

https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-lifestyle/walker-art-center-reveals-first-sneak-peek-at-new-sculpture-garden-addition

The Outstanding Partner Award  : Brian Nelson

Brian Nelson of Nelco Landscaping was awarded the Outstanding Partner Award. As the landscaping contractor for the Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families in Oakdale, Brian not only designed and installed a raingarden and pavers for the center, but involved the children and their families in the planting and learning about stormwater, raingardens and plants. He helped the center “become stewards of the landscape.” 

Brian also worked with the Washington Conservation District to design landscape features in their new office in Oakdale, including a pervious green “overflow” parking lot with an adjacent bioretention basin and native plantings.

Brian credited his work experience with Metro Blooms and the influences of his mentor Rusty Schmidt and others in the field with helping him shift his priorities to “working on sustainable projects that have the capacity to reap positive impacts a hundred years down the road from now.” District Permit Coordinator Paige Ahlborg presented the award.

Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District. "2014 Watershed Excellence Awards Recognize Clean Water Heroes." Web log post. Ramsey Washington Metro Watershed District. N.p., 17 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <http://therippleeffectmn.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-watershed-excellence-awards.html>.

By: Joshua Nielsen

Nelco Landscaping staff got the kids from Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families involved with planting native plants in the daycare’s recently completed rain garden in Oakdale. (submitted photo)

Carol Matheys Center for Children and Families has a new rain garden through a grant from the Washington County Conservation District. A rain garden, overflow gardens, and permeable pavers complete the project. (Linda Baumeister/Review)

A project to correct drainage problems turned into a learning experience for some pint-sized kids at a daycare center in Oakdale.

The parking lot at Carol Matheys Center for Children & Families -- located just east of Highway 120 on 43rd Street North -- sits in a low-lying area that was prone to flooding after rainstorms.

Carol Matheys executive director Stacie Penn says she contacted the city last year asking what could be done to mitigate the water issues.  City officials put her in touch with the Washington County Conservation District, which provided a grant to install a rain garden along the eastern edge of the parking lot.

Maplewood-based Nelco Landscaping was hired and recently finished the job. Nelco owner Brian Nelson said it was a challenging project due to the amount of heavy clay soil on the property, but says he’s pleased with the way the rain garden turned out.

In total, some 200 cubic yards of material was excavated for the rain garden that features over 700 native plants.

“You want to use a lot of native plants -- that’s the idea -- to bring it back to what it used to be. Native plants grow better, need less water and compete well against other plant species.”

Another reason native plants are used in rain gardens, Nelson explains, is because of their longer roots, which allow water to percolate into the soil. In contrast, most commonly planted non-native grasses have compact roots that allow water to quickly runoff.

The daycare’s rain garden filled with native plants captures stormwater running through much of the property. The water seeps into the ground and eventually reaches an underground pipe. Nelson says after a period of about 24 hours the water is released through the pipe into a nearby pond after much of the contaminants have been filtered out. A valve system controls the amount of water released from the collection area. 

Nelson also installed over 1,500 square feet of permeable pavers in the parking lot, further adding to the storm water management system.  The porous material keeps the parking lot from flooding, reduces runoff and filters out pollutants and soil.

Kids chip in and learn

Penn says Nelson was eager to share his knowledge of storm water management and native plants with the kids at Carol Matheys.

“He came highly recommended (by the Washington Conservation District),” she says. “He did a great job and his willingness to work with kids was equally great.”

Nelson held small instructional classes so the youngsters could learn about planting and what native plants are and how they are useful in controlling erosion. He said he had fun with the kids.

“They were really fantastic to work with,” he says. “It’s important to get the younger generation interested in learning about the importance of this.”

Penn says every child at the daycare, some as young as 3, were able to plant at least one plant in the rain garden.

“They enjoyed it. Kids love to play in the dirt,” Nelson added.

Gardening has roots at daycare

Discovering the benefits of growing fresh produce are part of the nonprofit daycare’s curriculum of having fun while learning.

“The whole learning process with the rain garden has solidified our gardening program,” Penn says.

She says the daycare started the gardening program for its kids a few years ago, when teacher Rebecca Walzak planted a vegetable garden onsite.

The small edible garden has fruits, vegetables and herbs -- sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, sweet peas, corn, watermelon, dill and pumpkins.

Walzak says it’s an early opportunity to teach young children about nutrition and establish life-long healthy eating habits.

“It also teaches them patience, since it takes a while for the food to grow before they can eat it,” she says. 

Penn says during the summer kids are able to enjoy the garden’s bounty during meals that they help prepare.

The youngsters also learn about responsibility. The plants need regular attention, from the initial planting, to weeding and watering.

Walzak says while most kids enjoy the garden, there are around “20 green thumbs” that like helping out with most of the planting and maintenance.

“They’ve all gotten good at not picking the flowers,” she says with a laugh.

Another plus, Walzak says, is that during harvest season kids get to bring home some of the fresh foods they help grow to share with their families. 

Joshua Nielsen can be reached at jnielsen@lillienews.com or 651-748-7824.

Nielsen, Joshua. "Rain Garden at Daycare Halts Flooding, Prompts Learning." Web log post. Rain Garden at Daycare Halts Flooding, Prompts Learning. Lillie News, 7 Sept. 2014. Web. 21 Feb. 2015. <http://lillienews.com/articles/2014/07/09/rain-garden-daycare-halts-flooding-prompts-learning#.VOjj5y4XF10>.

“There goes the neighborhood,” someone surely thought when cars began to pull in and park on the lawn in front of the building. After years of driving through cornfields while visiting with farmers, maybe the conservation district staff forgot how to park between the lines like the rest of the world. Later that summer, a large swath of turf grass north of the building disappeared, giving way to gentle hills where young prairie grasses grow. A phone call was made to the lawn care company, “This won’t be business as usual, you know.”

When the Washington Conservation District moved into a new building in Oakdale three years ago, it immediately recognized the opportunity to demonstrate new ways of managing a commercial landscape. The Washington Conservation Center — shared with the Brown’s Creek Watershed District, Middle St. Croix Watershed Management Organization and several staff from Washington County’s public works department — is located in a traditional business park in Oakdale northeast of the Highway 94 and 694 interchange.

There is a small wetland behind the building with condominiums on the other side. The office buildings are mostly nondescript and each comes with a small parking lot, a wide perimeter of turf grass, and a smattering of accent plants near the parking lot entrance and building foundation. Because of the crisscrossing freeways, you can no longer tell that the surrounding wetlands connect in a chain, with water flowing through culverts and pipes under roads until it reaches Battle Creek Lake on the southwest corner of the interchange. From there, the water flows on to Battle Creek and eventually the Mississippi River.

With an appraising eye, conservation district staff walked their new property, looking for opportunities to treat storm water runoff, protect the wetland and downstream water resources and create habitat for birds and pollinators. They settled on a retrofit design that includes a permeable parking lot, a large rain garden near the wetland, 5,000 square feet of native prairie and native plantings along the building foundation and parking lot entrance. Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District provided $100,000 in funding to make the demonstration project possible.

Perhaps the most unique component of Washington Conservation Center’s new landscaping is the 15,325 square-foot overflow parking area in front of the building, which features permeable paver stones, as well as parking stalls planted with grass. When it rains, water soaks through the grass and paver stones into a gravel bed that can hold 783 cubic feet of water — the equivalent of 0.6 inches of rain. The system effectively treats runoff from small storms, which would otherwise wash dirt, grit and oil off of the pavement and into the wetland. During larger rainstorms, water overflows through a buried underdrain and into a swale that flows round the prairie to the wetland.

Though the grassy-pave looks like a lawn from a distance, it is actually a structural system, designed to withstand the weight of cars and trucks without compacting the soil beneath. The process for installation consisted of excavating the ground to create a shallow, square-shaped bowl, 18 inches deep, which was filled with layers of gravel and sand. Two different brands of planting frames — EcoGrid e50 by TerraFirm Enterprises and PG-45 grids by Green Innovations — were laid on top of the gravel bed in rows, and then sod and soil were pressed into the frames. Paver stones were used instead of grass between the two rows of parking stalls. The system was designed by Washington Conservation District and installed by Nelco Landscaping.

District designer Tara Kline hopes that the Conservation Center’s demonstration project will get more business owners thinking about the ways they can modify their parking lots and landscapes to create habitat and protect water resources.

“If you’re planning to fix up your parking lot, it’s a great opportunity to reach out to your local watershed district for advice and assistance,” she said. “Often there are grants to incorporate water-friendly features such as rain gardens, native plantings, and porous pavement, and they can help provide a design as well.”

To learn more about storm water management on commercial properties, contact the Washington Conservation District at mnwcd.org or 651-330-8220 ext. 35. If you come to visit the office, be sure to park on the grass.

Angie Hong is an educator for East Metro Water, mnwcd.org/emwrep. Contact her at 651-330-8220 ext. 35 or angie.hong@mnwcd.org.

Citation:

Hong, Angie. "Column: Park on the Grass, Please." Stillwater Gazette. Stillwater Gazette, 31 May 2016. Web. 01 June 2016.

Urban Ecosystems / Nelco Landscaping

This Corporate Office landscape keeps wild nature front and center.  The Client’s Company embraces modern design that is built to last and never goes out of style.  Their commitment to sustainability, natural materials, and environmental protection was a driving force in making this landscape.  Our team developed the landscape master plan for the major renovation of this 12 acre site.  Our process considered the diverse species and microclimates present on site and developed custom plant communities that look beautiful, low-input, and provide habitats for people and wildlife.  These communities are described in more detail in the attached planting typology document. Within this master plan, we developed a new approach to creating natural meadows that outperform traditional prairie restoration methods.  Our team oversaw their installation, establishment, and maintenance.   

Urban meadows replace sprawling lawns with seeded flower meadows.  The urban meadow is a designed plant community that produces season long flower displays that are beautiful to people and attract pollinators. The seed mix contains 87 different flowering perennial and annual forbs with a maximum height of 36”.  This is seeded into a clear germination media to minimize early establishment competition from weeds.  The diverse planting of native, cultivar, and non-native flowering species produces a dynamic array of color, texture, and contrast that persist throughout the growing season.

The master plan also improved the entry experience to both entrances by creating formal groves and border plantings to draw visitors and employees into the building.  The parking lot and stormwater areas were re-wilded through the addition of native grasses and shrubs.  Likewise, to improve the health of the surrounding forests, wetlands, and meadows, the client committed to ongoing invasive species control.

Best Practices

This project features a host of sustainable site elements such as stormwater infiltration areas, invasive species management programs, local materials, smart irrigation techniques, and urban meadows. The project was awarded LEED gold certification and shows our passion for plants, wildlife, and the living parts of our landscape. The performance of the landscape is described in the attached case study.

Citation:

“MNLA Landscape Awards.” Minnesota Nursery and Landscape Association, mnla.secure-platform.com/a/gallery/rounds/14/details/1295.