Hello, and welcome to the February 2025 edition of Northwest Profiles.

I'm Tom McArthur.

Perhaps you're aware that the late former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, volunteered with an organization called habitat for humanity for more than 35 years.

First up on Northwest Profiles tonight, we'll learn about the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, its vision of homeownership, and hope to put the American Dream within the reach for many brick by brick, house by house.

I never thought I'd own a home.

I always thought I would live in a trailer or an apartment building for the rest of my life.

Habit has a great program.

They've taught me that anybody could own a house.

If you do it the right and correct way.

Housing is a human right.

I'm really proud to live in the community that we live in.

Because there are a lot of people that want to help solve the problem.

Everyone should have that opportunity for homeownership, to have their kids grow up in a stable environment, to have them go to the same school, have the same friends.

It is extremely important that this work continues.

Habitat for Humanity partners with people in Spokane County, and all over the world to help make homeownership a reality for families at home and abroad.

My name is Michelle Girardot, I'm the CEO of the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate.

We serve all of Spokane County.

What is Habitat for Humanity?

Habitat is a home builder.

We are a financer, we provide retail, and we're a general contractor.

But none of those things are really possible without our engine, which is volunteers.

So we'll see anywhere from 7,000 to 10,000 volunteers annually.

We're really lucky to have that kind of support.

That's kind of like the heartbeat.

In order to make us continue making housing achievable for, low income families.

My name is Crystal Mertens.

This is my new house that I am getting through the habitat program.

Before I got involved with Habitat for Humanity, I was in a two bedroom small apartment.

I have been in that apartment since my daughter was in first grade.

We've actually never lived in a house that's always been a trailer or apartment or something small.

My aunt and uncle told me about the Habitat for Humanity program and then told the whole family, and we all just got involved.

I was excited.

I was so excited to be accepted into the habitat program.

We've never had anywhere that's been ours.

Once someone is accepted into the Habitat for Humanity Home Ownership Program, they are responsible for completing partnership hours.

This includes attending classes that teaches habitat homeowners the basics on home ownership, finances, and home maintenance.

It also requires them to volunteer on the job site, where not only do they learn new skills and important safety information, but they get hands on experience building homes from the ground up.

Habitat homeowners are also responsible for things like saving for a down payment and closing costs.

So, families get all of those tools.

In addition to an affordable mortgage, no more than 30% of their income.

They're stepping into a more prepared life, a more prepared future.

I really like being out on the build site.

You get to talk with the workers that have worked for habitat for a long time.

You learn a lot about safety.

You actually learn a lot about the insides of your home, like what's inside the walls, what's under the floors.

You learn how to use tools.

Habitat for Humanity actually was born out of a radically inclusive farm in Americus, Georgia.

Clarence Jordan, a pastor, who saw the inequities that his community was facing and thought, well, why can't generationally black families own land?

Why are we not solving for this problem?

From there, Jordan and Habitat's eventual founders, Millard and Linda Fuller, developed the concept of partnership housing, with homes being built at no profit.

In 1973, the Fullers took their concept to Zaire, Africa.

Now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

After three years of hard work, they returned to the U.S. and in 1976, Habitat for Humanity International was founded.

And it came here, to Spokane.

It started in 1987.

A small group of volunteers in the basement of Saint Mark's Church on the South Hill, said, okay, we're doing it.

The next year, they sold their first habitat home, and today we have over 430 homes, that we've sold.

And that number just keeps rising.

My name is Eric Lyons.

I'm the Chief Operations Officer for Habitat for Humanity Spokane We do everything.

We frame the walls, we roll the trusses, we sheet the house, we put in cabinets, we put in flooring.

Every volunteer hour that somebody comes out and serves, that's a cost that I don't have to spend to hire a contractor.

And that's a more affordable mortgage at the end of the day.

We need partners.

We need volunteers.

We need donations.

Those donations we sell here at the store.

And we use those donations to help with home building.

We see that challenge of just the incredible need that is out there.

When we are able to come together and really focus on just that human connection, that basic need of we all want a safe place to live.

We all want to be able to contribute to our society.

We all want to make sure that we are leaving a legacy behind for our kids.

Having a stable, safe home for me and my family means the world to me.

What I would want someone to know about habitat is they help you make your dreams come true.

They help you with what you think is impossible, becoming possible.

Habitat for Humanity always welcomes those willing to volunteer or donate.

To learn more, please visit its website at habitat-spokane.org.

With no brushes or traditional art supplies, artist Christina Deubels fingertips become instruments through which she expresses emotion, texture and color by crafting vibrant paintings of wildlife and nature.

Let's meet her now.

I am Christina Deubel.

Im a finger painter fine artist from Spokane, Washington.

I'm primarily known for my wildlife and animals, and I use really vibrant colors and bold shapes to convey emotion.

So I painted with brushes for ten years, and... one day I had a big six foot canvas.

And I had my son at the time was eight.

And, wanted him to be included in the process.

So we just got our hands dirty and covered that canvas in color.

And that became my very first, uh, finger painted painting.

And I still went back to my brushes.

So it was probably maybe another six years And then once I revisited it, it was just... this is it.

I found my voice.

My artwork instantly got better, instantly felt like there was no barrier between me and what I was creating.

And I haven't looked back.

(laughs) I primarily actually use one finger, which is this one.

Um.

Obviously can't get a fine line with my fingertip.

And some people have asked, do you do it with your fingernail or something?

And I don't.

I will make a bigger line and then come in on top of that to kind of erase part of the bigger smooch that I've already made.

So... something big like the background for this big six foot piece I'm using both hands and really getting in there.

But when I'm doing detail work, it's just one finger and it's the same finger every time.

One of my favorite things about finger painting is I can almost dance with my canvas and it's my whole body and I'm moving around and, I think when I used to use traditional tools, I was more focused on, what the image was.

So I tried to tell the story with the image, and now I'm able to tell the story with the colors.

So, I choose my colors purely on my emotions that day.

So you can kind of see where I'm at the moment that I paint based off of my palette that moment.

And so it's a totally different mindset for me.

I'm able to really release.

I don't have to think it becomes almost like meditation for me to release pieces.

So, I used to have a gallery in the Perry District and I have a lot of artists come in that didn't want to really let go of their pieces.

And I've never really felt that way.

And I think it is because these are like emotional expressions for me.

So once I've gotten that expression out through my fingertips, I'm done with it.

I can release it.

There have been a few that I'm like, ooh, that one turned out so good.

And so honestly, I just pick my price point based on.

I really love this one, so it might be three times more.

And when the person that really loves it that much buys it, then it's meant for them.

So I, honestly try to finish a piece in one sitting because Im in that zone with that piece and can really connect to it.

And I find oftentimes if I have to come back to it, even the next day, I'm like, oh, I don't I'm not in that mindset.

I don't know how to return to that mindset.

So, it's actually a little bit deceptive.

Sometimes the smaller pieces I have a really hard time with because, I can't do fine detail like you would with brushwork.

So, spmetimes the really big pieces I can maybe crank out in a couple of hours where something small might torture me for months.

I think kind of my entire life style, the, the way that I function in the world, I try to focus on play.

I try to focus on joy.

I mean, my whole studio is an expression of play.

And I think we lose that a lot as adults.

And so, for me, to be able to come in here and dancing with my canvas, it's all emotion.

It's all fun.

It's all play.

Learn more about Christina and her latest projects by following her on Instagram.

The Spokane International Film Festival turns 26 this year.

The festival offers something for everyone interested in the world of cinema, with over 300 submissions this year.

Learn what it takes to make a film festival run.

Im Pete Porter and I teach film and digital media at Eastern Washington University.

I'm also the director of the film program and the chair of Fine and Performing Arts.

I've been involved with Smith since 2006.

Our mission really is to bring films to Spokane in the Inland Northwest that will not come here if they are not shown by SpiFF.

We had this year, I believe, a little over 300 submissions, and we were programing 63 films.

So that's usually about where we are.

We're usually accepting some somewhere between 10 and 20%.

Most of those are short films.

And so this year we have two special event features.

And then we have eight features that we have found through the submission process.

Or asking filmmakers if we can show their films.

We have a whole army of volunteers actually.

They look into open submissions.

Basically, we just put a call for submissions that goes out onto the service that we use, and then all of the volunteers do kind of what we call screening or first tier programing, and they give it a green or a red or yellow.

And then one of the more senior programmers looks and says, this should not be a red or this should not be a yellow.

And we kind of do shuffle some from time to time.

There was one film this year that had been given a red, and someone was like, this is really good.

So sometimes it's a question of taste or a question of interest.

If I were the only programmer, there would not be very many horror films in the lineup because usually I get five minutes in and I'm like, this is not for me.

I would say probably something like 7 or 8 years ago, where we created a new category that was northwest films, and ever since then that just kind of puts people on the radar.

Oh, they're going to really pay attention to northwest films.

And so we've had the best in the northwest, and we've had Pacific Northwest filmmakers as well.

You can't program everything all the time.

So you have to make some choices.

My name is Tom Dineen, and I studied film in college and afterwards worked in TV shows, some feature films, all of those shot here in the Spokane area and have basically just been working in the film TV industry off and on.

And with the Spokane International Film Festival this year, I took on the role as the director.

We do receive a lot of submissions from local film makers.

This year, we actually have two films that we're going to be screening, one from a filmmaker named Caden Butera, who way back when we started the 50 hour Slam, it was one of the first places where he was entering films, and now he's going to be our opening film.

Recollection.

At our opening night on March 7th.

I need you to tell me, what do you remember?

And then we have another local filmmaker with a feature film that will be screening on Saturday night.

If God actually exists then I'm out.

Later everybody!

But there are a lot of challenges for putting on an international film festival.

One of those keys is it's an international film festival, so we have to collect these films and preparing them to screen in the various venues, organizing when the events are going to be and where they're going to be.

And then on top of that, we need to organize the venues.

We need to figure out a marketing plan, how to engage in the public.

And then, of course, the most important thing the party planning.

Kind of guiding the board along as we prepare for the event itself.

We're an all volunteer board helping in specific areas.

Somehow, as an international, person moving to Spokane, it was really a good fit for me to to be part of spiff one day.

So my role is to put some, all the the marketing materials, the ad in the Inlander as an example and the postcards announcement, any, any ancillary material that we need for marketing as well as, collaborating with top designers in the area to create, posters for the movie that we're going to show to be provided with a script, a mini trailer and some, a marketing, material.

That is very basic.

But it's a fun challenge just because there's not really a lot of restrictions other than time.

I would say that we're a really intimate film festival where you can meet the filmmakers.

If you come to the best of the northwest, you'll get to see the variety of films that are being made here, and also, again, to meet the filmmakers who made them and discuss their work and say, what are you doing next?

We're kind of in an age of social media, but you can also reverse that in a way like media social, kind of like film festival like a media social, like it's not just about the media, it's also about the social piece.

So coming in, meeting other film festival goers, talking about the films, but also meeting the film festival curators and creators.

No one has a closer view of what's going on in the industry than the people who are making independent and international films.

What I love most about spiff, I see it as a very valuable cultural event for our community.

It's like performance art.

I'm just waiting for the cameras to pop out.

Actually, when I think about spiff today, I think that, okay, of course it's Spokane International Film Festival, but it's also Spokane Independent Film Festival.

It's also a Spokane Indigenous film Festival, and it's also Spokane Inland Northwest Film Festival.

The Spokane International Film Festival runs March 7th through ninth.

Check out spokanefilmfestival.org for all the info.

Have you ever been steamed at something?

Did that go well?

Next up we meet a local craftsman who creates beautiful objects with a constructive use of steam.

You may be wondering how steam can play a role in creating something impressive, even beautiful.

Well, in the case of drum maker Micah Doering, it pays to get steamed.

So how do you get wood to do that?

If you ask Micah Doering, you have to get steamed at it.

Not with anger, but with encouragement.

This wood is on its way to becoming a drum.

The old fashioned way, with steam.

Mica makes round drums from straight materials and knows just how to bend them to his will.

He turned serious in making custom handmade steam bent drums in 2011, under his company Cask Drum Craft.

Mica uses his own techniques and processes not only for his own finished drums, but for drum companies around the world.

>>I do try to do about 10% of my business custom work, because that's really where I started was all custom drum building and through that kind of got into the market of OEM raw drum shells.

When I first started this, the first one I built, it inspired me to keep going.

But I got to say, when I built my first steam bent drum, there was something about it and I don't know what it was.

It was almost like I was kind of living vicariously through somebody else or something.

But I just knew that this method, I've got to keep doing it.

I wouldn't say I've always been able to work with my hands, you know, but having my dad get me going with carpentry young, it really helped.

It kind of instilled in me the way to use your hands and how to craft things and get an end result that's, you know, desirable.

I've been playing drums since I was in sixth grade.

I used to have a band I played with, and we'd play a lot of local venues around here and whatnot, but, you know, I don't do that anymore.

I'm kind of just playing when I can.

My family got me started in the concert band, and I just gravitated towards drums.

And my dad was a drummer.

You know, my parents kind of guided me down the drum path, and, carpentry came with that because I'd play drums and then I'd do carpentry on the side.

With my dad.

To actually build a proper steam bent drum.

The tolerances are plus or minus one hundredth of an inch.

So to a typical machinist, that might not sound like much when you're working with metal, but wood is like a sponge.

It's living and breathing, dependent upon the humidity.

So to actually get wood to stay in a perfect circle, plus or minus one hundredth of an inch is very hard.

>>In today's market.

Michas solid, handmade wood drums compete with mass produced plywood veneer drums.

>>If you ask me, this is how drums should be built.

You know, plywood just doesn't resonate like solid wood does.

So with the steel bent drums and being a solid ply, you get more resonance, You don't have the glue inhibiting that.

As far as a manufacturing process is concerned.

It starts at the wood mill or the lumber mill.

>>By working with sawyers and arborists.

Micah frequently searches locally when he can to procure wood for his creations.

>>A lot of the stuff I work with actually comes from people's backyards, and the glory of that is it's actually wet, and that's ideal.

I don't have to saturate it for the steaming process.

It can go right into the steam box.

It'll be wrapped around a mandrel and steam bent into usually, you know, a 13, 14, 15 inch circle, which is your typical snare drum size.

After it's wrapped into a circle, it'll dry and cure for around two months.

Make sure the moisture content's around 8 to 9%, and then we'll glue it into a perfect circle.

With steam bending, you're usually run about a 25% failure rate and 25%.

That's an average.

Some wood species.

Like the Paduc, Bobinga, the more exotic stuff.

I mean, half of those are going to break, so that's why they're a bit more costly.

And then you got stuff like cherry and walnut and maple.

Almost 100% of those are going to make it through the process.

So you know, originally these drums are so hard to build its because there is a huge loss up front.

And that's probably one of the reasons why, you know, the manufacturing went to plywood over time.

>>The satisfaction in the creation of steam bent drum shells is convincingly one of the reasons Micah has spent long hours perfecting the process and production of his craft.

>>That's the most gratifying part of this job, is something with the cask brand name on it.

There's probably under five in the world that actually have, reputable brand building steam bent drums.

So a lot of people just aren't crazy enough to do it.

There's a science to it.

It doesn't always seem like a science, but I've compiled a lot of notes on how to do it and how to get the success rates much higher than you know they were when I started bending the wood.

>>Micah realizes he has a niche product inside a small marketplace.

Countless hours, coupled with a large amount of ingenuity in perfecting his craft.

Prompts Micah to be somewhat protective of his process.

>>There is a big desire for handmade products and then being educated on how to do that.

And on my social media, I really try and educate as much as possible.

I try and show everything I can without disclosing too much and kind of given all the little secrets I've worked hard for.

But yeah, there is a lot of desire to learn this.

You know, I've had dreams of doing like a drum building course or something where, you know, for one week you have a few people in and they can learn how to do what I do, and maybe that'll be not too far off, but it would be kind of fun to kind of disclose at least some of it.

Micah's process of steaming and bending wood for drums spans nearly 20 years and counting.

He says that at times his job can be stressful, having to manage the number of orders that comes in his door and producing this product in a timely manner.

When that happens, he just pardon me, lets off some steam.

It's always a joy to have you with us as we head out every month to explore the Inland Northwest.

Perhaps you know of someone we should meet, or some place we should explore.

If so, let us know.

You can get in touch with us online anytime at ksps.org.

We'll be coming back to you in April with an all new edition of Northwest Profiles, ready to share with you then.

I'm Tom McArthur.

See you again soon.

Bye for now.