Nancy Edmonds Hanson
hansonnanc@gmail.com

“I love to paint, but there’s a lot of pressure with facing that canvas – making Art with a capital A,” says Moorhead’s Maggie Christie. “I came across this on Facebook and thought, ‘Cool!’ There’s no pressure, and whenever someone sees one, it brightens their day.”
“This” is the blossoming practice of painting plain old rocks with bright colors, wacky art and sweet, encouraging messages. It’s already exploding across much of the country, fueled by a passion for fun, low-stress activities and the urge to brighten others’ days in small but significant doses. It’s moving from a phenomenon mostly on the coasts into Middle America … arriving in Fargo-Moorhead two years ago.
Paula Schnieder, who lives in Oakes, and Maggie wield two of the paintbrushes whose handiwork has been turning up in area parks and public venues, from the Center Mall to Little Free Libraries around the community.
“I noticed a rock in a rest area when we were on the way to Vancouver,” Paula reports. “I thought, ‘Oh, some child lost his pet rock,’ and put it back. But I did notice a web address painted on the back. Long afterwards, I looked it up and discovered a whole world out there.” Google the words “painted rocks,” and you’ll find it, too – the search engine comes up with roughly 89 million results, surely a harbinger of a trend.
Paula began searching for smooth stones, embellishing them and leaving them to be discovered around her home town and virtually everywhere she went. Maggie picked up on the practice, thanks to Facebook. Since then, she’s become perhaps the leading local proponent, spreading the hobby hither and yon. She often paints at Junkyard Brewing. She’s put together painting parties for young and old with a variety of organizations. When she hosted a booth at last year’s Slug Run, she reports it was the second most popular of the whole event: “Number one was the guy who made balloon animals, and absolutely no one can top balloon animals.”
Paula, Maggie and their disciples use acrylic paints and brushes or paint pens, coating the finished work with acrylic spray to protect against the notorious Minnesota weather. On their bottoms, most of their rocks direct the finders to the Facebook page “FargoMoorhead Rocks” for an explanation. There’s also an invitation to post a photo of the lucky “detective” who found the tiny prize. At that point, some put them back and walk on, smiling. Some carry them along to hide in a new location. Others, though, keep them – especially the ones with messages of kindness and encouragement.
The artists don’t often discover the fate of their little masterpieces, but some stories do filter back. Maggie’s favorite involves three bee-themed rocks she tucked into the Heritage Garden near Woodlawn Park: “Be strong.” “Be brave.” “Just bee.” A girl found them and gave them to her father, who took them along to the Mayo Clinic. When the nurse prepping him for surgery questioned the weight of his pockets, he told her, “These are very special. They’re my inspiration rocks.”
While Paula favors smooth, waterworn stones, Maggie goes for rough, jagged prairie rocks from her parents’ home near Dunvilla. Others actually buy their unpainted stock from Amazon. Regardless, they’re an eye-catching message of easy good will. “I think of this as abandoned art. It’s just for fun,” Maggie reflects. “Kindness rocks. Everybody gets a little boost when someone tells you that you matter.”