Fond du Lac Arts

Jeff Savage shares his experience of quarrying pipestone and making pipes from the red stone that has been used by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.

Creators and Guests

BA
Producer
Britt Aamodt

What is Fond du Lac Arts?

Fond du Lac Arts is a series exploring the stories, creative expression, and craftsmanship of Fond du Lac artists from a range of disciplines.

This project is produced by AMPERS, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities in partnership with WGZS, the Radio Voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

INTRO: You are listening to Fond du Lac Arts: Community through the Creative Arts.

NARRATOR: Jeff Savage has been carving pipes for over half a century. He first started going to the quarries in what is now called Pipestone National Monument in 1971. Music

JEFF SAVAGE: You have to quarry it yourself, and it's a 12-foot hole in the ground, and at the bottom of that hole is the pipestone layer. And there's a solid 9- to 12-foot layer of rock you have to quarry away with sledgehammers, wedges, pry bars, etc, and that's what makes access to the stone so hard.

[sound element: rock being hammered]

NARRATOR: For thousands of years, pipe makers have been working in that same quarry, digging the red stone out of the earth.

SAVAGE: They've found pieces of pipestone and pipestone artifacts down in the Hopewells in Ohio and Illinois. Some of it was even found as far as Florida and the Gulf of Mexico shorelines.

NARRATOR: Sometimes Jeff Savage has devoted 50-60 days to quarrying. Then he brings the stone home, where where he drills and carves the bowl, and where he harvests and cures woods like sumac for the stem. One pipe can take months, beginning to end. Music

JEFF SAVAGE: And so there's not a lot of pipestone artists. Most folks don't realize the amount of work it takes to make a traditional pipe.

OUTRO: Fond du Lac Arts is produced by AMPERS and WGZS, the radio voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.