At Fresh Produce, we delight in creativity to fuel our work. So, in 2022, when a unique opportunity to live and share our value of supporting arts in the Sioux Falls area revealed itself in a capital campaign for McCrossan Boys Ranch, something about it just stuck. A non-profit on Sioux Falls’ northwest side, McCrossan dedicates itself to equipping boys who have experienced conflict by working on values, goals, education, and life skills that prepare them to live a balanced life outside the ranch. It’s a 90-acre community with a chapel, housing, and an accredited high school, plus an outdoor recreation field, a riding arena, and a livestock barn.
A ranch, an art room, and a mostly typical ad agency
By Fresh Produce
While the school buildings first met McCrossan’s needs when they were built, the population has nearly doubled since. Seventy students were learning in a space built for forty, and art teacher Roberta Ruud’s room was cramped. Sometimes, just getting supplies out of storage meant asking students to move.
“Before, when we would do painting in the classroom, there was no place to set the projects to dry, because our rooms were used interchangeably,” said Ruud. Work time was also more difficult, and the space didn’t allow for involved art like pottery or oil painting. “We did what we could, but there wasn’t even elbow room for the kids to work.”
“At Fresh Produce, one of our core mystic truths is that everything connects to ideas. Ideas and creative expression are at the center of everything we do, so when we have the chance to support our community—especially in ways that give young people space to explore their creativity—we’re all in,” said Fresh Produce director of operations Katrina Lehr-McKinney. “Arts education is a vital part of every child’s development. We know that engaging in artistic work not only fuels learning but also boosts grades and supports emotional growth. That’s why we were so delighted to be a supporter that helped make a bigger, better art classroom at McCrossan a reality.”
Fresh Produce’s donation contributed to the expansion of McCrossan’s art department. Before renovations, the art room was two rows of narrow tables. Ruud stored her supplies in two metal cabinets and had to carry art supplies to a different room for washing. In the expanded room, Ruud estimates that she has twice as much space as she used to.
“It really does feel like a different school to me,” said Ruud, who’s seen firsthand the impact an expanded art room has made. “It’s success in things other than ‘oh, here’s a 98% on your test,'” she explained, “instead, ‘here’s a blank canvas, and you are going to create from beginning to end and hopefully lose yourself in it for a little bit.”
Some of the young men have never experimented with a paintbrush.
“They embrace the projects,” said Ruud. “Once they figure out they can do this, they’re like, ‘look what I can accomplish!’ And I just love the sense of pride when they’re done.”
And many of her students have been fending for themselves their whole lives.
“McCrossan’s, and this art room in particular, allows kids to be kids,” said Ruud. “They don’t have to keep carrying burdens.”
Instead, the art lessons are windows in the boys’ days to develop and explore their own minds through new mediums. Sketches of tigers and paintings of people ring the walls. On the desks, little mountain ranges of colored pencil points rise towards the drop tile ceiling.
And just as Ipso Gallery welcomes those who enter Fresh Produce, a big and bold color wheel now greets students who enter the new art room at McCrossan’s, along with an invitation to explore ideas and find harmony in a creative space.
