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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.
VERN NORTHRUP: Growing up in Sawyer, the woods were a part of you, and you were a part of the woods. Everything around you was about living in the woods. You would examine those plants. You would examine the geography around you.
HOST: That early closeness with nature gave Vern Northrup an appreciation for the area around Fond du Lac, the Great Lakes, his home.
VERN NORTHRUP: In my later life, I traveled extensively around the United States and been to some of the most beautiful places but most of the time they were on fire.
HOST: He made a career as a wildland firefighter. Somewhere along the way, he started bringing a camera to work with him. He loved to photograph fire.
VERN NORTHRUP: Because of the way the camera can stop the motion of all that energy and freeze it, the patterns of smoke and the light that's coming through, whether it's the sunlight in the background or the light from the fire on the smoke.
HOST: After he retired, he transitioned to using his phone to document the natural world. He posted the images online. And that's how a director of an organization spotted his work and asked if he wanted to do an exhibit. He said he took photographs, but he wasn't a photographer.
VERN NORTHRUP: And she said, “Well, we'll have your photos developed. You can have an exhibit, and we'll have food and music.” And I'm like, wow, somebody likes my stuff.
HOST: Even after exhibits and books and articles and interviews, Vern Northrop still finds it surprising to consider himself a photographer.
VERN NORTHRUP: I'm just someone who loves the outdoors, who loves this beauty that we have all around us, and sadly we don't take the time to look at it or look for it.
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.