Mike Scholtz Posts

Minnesota Historia: Hunting for Ancient Agates

What is it about agates that cause such an obsession? Let the experts in Moose Lake, the Agate Capital of the World and home of the Agate Stampede, fill you in.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Minnesota Historia: The Root Beer Lady

Dorothy Molter was the last permanent resident of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. She sold candy bars and homemade soft drinks to paddlers for decades. But there’s so much more to her story than root beer.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Minnesota Historia: Superior Shipwrecks

Everybody knows the story of the Edmund Fitzgerald, the most famous shipwreck on Lake Superior. But what are the next five most fascinating shipwreck stories on the big lake called Gitchi Gumee? And is the #2 shipwreck story the scariest thing you’ll ever hear?

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Minnesota Historia: The Legend of St. Urho

As the patron saint of Finland, St. Urho is famous for casting the grasshoppers out of the country and saving their grapes. Except, of course, none of that ever happened. St. Urho was invented out of thin air in the 1950s by the manager of a department store in Virginia, Minn.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part WDSE-TV web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Minnesota Historia: Duluth’s Doomed Olympics Bid

WDSE-TV presents the story of an Olympics that never happened in a city that never stopped dreaming.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Tiny Titanic

A Proctor family uncovered a surprising connection when buying a house — it had belonged to Anna Larsen, a survivor of the Titanic disaster. Jason and Kim Seguin’s son Jaxson was obsessed with the Titanic and so Jason, an experienced metalworker, decided to build his own scale model of the ship and put it in their front yard.

This feature was produced and edited by Silver Brook Township’s Mike Scholtz for the southwestern Minnesota Pioneer PBS series Postcards. It aired Feb. 17

The Life and Times of Ignatius Donnelly

Silver Brook Township’s Mike Scholtz has a new documentary, produced for the southwestern Minnesota Pioneer PBS series Postcards.

The subject is Ignatius Donnelly, an American congressman, populist writer and amateur scientist known for his writings about the lost continent of Atlantis. The story begins near the town of Donnelly, roughly 200 miles southwest of Duluth, and takes viewers on a wild ride exploring the amazing legacy of the man.

Duluth actor Jody Kujawa plays the role of Donnolly in reenactment scenes.

Creating Apart: Adam Swanson

The pandemic gave Adam Swanson time to complete 14 paintings of endangered animals. But it also gave him time to think. In this short documentary by filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Adam wrestles with the importance of art, and art openings, in our lives.

Creating Apart: Aaron Kloss

When the pandemic started, painter Aaron Kloss decided to create a new painting every day and post it on his Facebook page. Six months later, he’s still going strong. In this short documentary by filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Aaron talks about why he paints and shows off some of his work.

Creating Apart: Lyz Jaakola

Lyz Jaakola is a musician and teacher from Cloquet, Minnesota. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Lyz talks about how her family responded to the pandemic with music.

Creating Apart: Karen Savage-Blue

Karen Savage-Blue is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Karen talks about a painting she created as a direct response to the pandemic.

Creating Apart: Joe Klander

Joe Klander is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” He’s an artist and ophthalmology tech at St. Luke’s Hospital. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Joe talks about how the pandemic gave him time to work on one of his dream projects.

Creating Apart: Brian Barber

Brian Barber is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” He’s an illustrator, animator and filmmaker. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Brian talks about how the pandemic gave him time to work on a series of instructional draw-along videos.

Creating Apart: Moira Villiard

Moira Villiard is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” She loves to organize community-wide mural projects. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Moira talks about the future of painting with large crowds of people.

Creating Apart: Sarah Brokke

Sarah Brokke is one of the artists featured in the Tweed Museum of Art’s upcoming exhibition, “Creating Apart: Local Artists Respond to a Global Pandemic.” She’s a painter and an associate professor at the College of St. Scholastica. In this video by documentary filmmaker Mike Scholtz, Sarah talks about her work and how the pandemic is like an expanding bubble that’s pushing longstanding issues to the surface in our society.