Finding Minnesota: Wildlife Artist Creates Pieces Of Minnesota's History

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Wildlife of all shapes and sizes are a big part of Minnesota's history, as well as our country's history.

And a Victoria man is trying to tell their story in a very unique way.

From a distance, they look like beautiful pieces of artwork. But up close, you'll see there's a message.

"I wanted to do something that had that story and depth built into it," Erik Fremstad said.

Erik has always found inspiration close to home.

"This was taken in Shakopee near the Renaissance Festival," said Fremstad while looking at a picture he took of deer in the woods.

Photography meant being in the right place at the right time. But a couple years ago he decided to turn in his camera for a pencil.

"All of the sudden I thought what if those line drawings, what if those lines were words and those words were telling the history of bison," Fremstad said.

From a distance, it's a beautiful piece of artwork. But up close you see that the bison, wolf, and grizzly bear are built by words -- thousands of them.

"These are all pages of notes and the highlights mean I essentially used them in the wolf piece," said Fremstad while holding a series of notebooks.

He'll begin by researching each animal for six months or more.

"Then I have to write it all in pencil once because it turns out I mess up a lot," Fremstad said.

It's also because he wants to get it right. The bison piece shows how their numbers went from 30 million down to about 300, and the impact that had on Native Americans and wildlife.

"Sometimes it's not the most uplifting on a Monday to read some of this stuff," Fremstad said. "It does touch on the Endangered Species Act and how we've come around to protect these animals."

When the story is finally told, Fremstad traces the words with an archival pen, then he adds water colors. Those steps add another three months to the process.

"All in all, I'm thinking each one is going to take me about a year. Just because there is so much attention to detail," Fremstad said.

A time-lapse tells the tale as he's writing the story.

He also has fans. Like at "Your Art's Desire" gallery in Minnetonka.

"As a piece of art it's just great to look at. But then when you go deeper and deeper into the writing and the research that he's done, it makes it really, really quite unique," said co-owner Ken Herren.

When his grizzly bear is complete, sea turtles, bumblebees, and polar bears are in his future. Each one a piece of a puzzle with the goal of inspiring and educating.

"The overall goal is keeping people in tune with protecting wildlife and nature and not letting it get lost," Fremstad said. "I think for me this is one of the things that I'm proudest of in my life."

Fremstad calls this the "unnatural selection project."

He keeps the pieces in a storage unit, and he donates much of his sales to wildlife organizations and non-profits.