Ondine Clark-Bonk

I am part of a homeschool group called Knot Work, a micro-school based in a studio in a converted warehouse called SOMA Studios in south Marquette.

It has been active for three years, with a program for both kids and adults. This is run by my mom, who based it on a unique school in San Francisco called Brightworks.

The school does arcs over the span of a few months, with themed programs with things like water and nature.

My mom based Knot Work’s arcs on themes as well, but in shorter periods of time, usually seven weeks, or, for what we call mini arcs, four weeks.

Some arcs we’ve done include a play, a local environment, a podcast, around the world and Rube Goldberg. For our current arc, we are working on local history.

For most arcs, you are given the freedom to pair up with someone, make a larger group or go solo, but one of my favorites was the film arc, where the whole group collectively filmed and edited a movie entitled “Yours, Marquette,” which is about the culture around our town and the Knot Workers’ experience living here.

It is roughly 10 minutes long, and we filmed it while out and about town and in our studio over the course of eight weeks last fall during the Fresh Coast Film Festival. While we were not able to get it into the film fest, we thought it would be fun to show it around the same time at our expo, the day when we showcase to friends and family whatever we’ve been working on.

It was all in all a super fun couple of weeks.

Recently, my mom received an email from the organizers of the film festival, saying they would love to see our film in one of their blocks. Of course, my mom responded that we would love to.

The group of kids who participated in the movie — some 8-18 Media kids, like Edith and Graceyn Kitchel, Charlotte Lester, and Iris and Eleanor Dohrenwend — are all going to the premiere at noon on Friday, Oct. 17, in The Heritage Room at the Peter White Public Library. After the film, the group will hold a short question-and-answer period to explain the filming process and share personal experiences and information about Knot Work in general.

The movie will also be showing at noon the next day at Honorable Distillery on West Washington Street in Marquette as well. Some kids are not currently part of the group, but were when the film was made, and will be coming to be part of the exciting experience of watching your movie be part of a legit film festival.

I encourage you to attend our 10-minute adventure to support creative exploration for kids. To support the amazing festival that made this possible, go see other films that interest you. To find the tickets, featured films, times, and locations, go online to freshcoastfilm.com.

As I mentioned before, the current arc that Knot Work is working on is history, all focused on local history, whether that be the mining industry, Native American history, hockey history, the history of glaciers, or anything else.

Our expo will be held at 3 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23 at the Knot Work studio at 1221 Division St. in Marquette, if you want to learn more about our local history and support these super cool kids.