Somerset: A Tale of Two Rivers<\/p>\n
The Apple River rushes through Somerset, carving a a canyon bordered by 100-foot limestone bluffs. Just downstream, it flows into the St. Croix, which forms the western border of the town. The rivers were a major inspiration for the city\u2019s Art Bench, explains Bruce Martell, a local carpenter who guided the project \u2013 with help from a local stone company and a bunch of students who don\u2019t often get such opportunities.<\/p>\n
Two limestone pillars stand seven feet above the bench\u2019s surface. They represent the Apple, Martell says, and its towering bluffs. A winding ribbon of blue flows across the bench\u2019s surface, representing the meandering St. Croix.<\/p>\n
Those rivers were the highways that the French settlers who founded Somerset used in the 1850s. Connecting to that heritage was important for Martell, a descendant of Somerset settlers who homesteaded at the confluence of the Apple and the St. Croix in 1855.<\/p>\n
\u2018Everyone has a creative spirit\u2019<\/p>\n
Connecting with the community was an important aspect for the young people involved, recalls Dave Folkert of Somerset School District. \u201cThe Bench Project\u2019s core assumption is that everyone has a creative spirit. This was an opportunity for Somerset residents to better understand how abilities outweigh disabilities,\u201d Folkert says.<\/p>\n
The students involved were all from the district\u2019s alternative or special education programs. They don\u2019t participate in many extracurricular activities because of economic reasons, working parents who are unavailable, or they don\u2019t fit into existing programs.<\/p>\n
But working on the Art Bench gave them a chance to show what they can do, and an opportunity to expand their interpersonal skills.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Somerset: A Tale of Two Rivers The Apple River rushes through Somerset, carving a a canyon bordered by 100-foot limestone bluffs. Just downstream, it flows into the St. Croix, which forms the western border of the town. The rivers were a major inspiration for the city\u2019s Art Bench, explains Bruce Martell, a local carpenter who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-653","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","5":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694,"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/653\/revisions\/694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gregseitz.com\/artbenchtrail\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}