Theme: ARTiculate

ARTiculate recognizes art’s ability to build strong communities, elevate ideas, and cultivate education. This theme celebrates the voicing of ideas and utilization of each person’s passions.

7500 University Drive
Bismarck, North Dakota, 58503
United States

Cindy Neff

Speech Language Pathologist

Cindy Neff is a speech-language pathologist with a special interest in serving the pediatric population. She has been employed by Sanford Health for 24 years. She has served children with communication disorders for 23 years, under contract, at the Scottish Rite Speech Therapy Center for Children. She is the clinic director of the Center, as well. Cindy has served children in both Bismarck and Mandan Public Schools and Manchester House. Cindy has been a member of the Bismarck Cleft Lip and Palate Team for many years. Cindy has a Master of Science Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Minot State University and is licensed through the North Dakota State Board of Examiners on Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology. She is a University of Mary speech pathology advisory board member. Cindy is married to Mike Neff. They have three children: David, Daniel, and Rachel. She is originally from Mandan, ND.

Dagny Knutson

Professional Athlete

Dagny Knutson has numerous ND state high school championship titles, and multiple national high school records; Dagny formerly holds the American Record in the 400 yard Individual Medley event. She has represented Team USA on the junior national and senior national level. In 2009, Dagny was part of the Rome World Championship team, earning a silver medal in the 4×200 freestyle relay, and became a World Championship gold medalist in the same event at the Shanghai World Championships in 2011. Dagny grew up in Minot, ND where the majority of her swimming career took place. She graduated high school in 2010 from Minot High School and is graduating college this month with a major in Sports Management and minor in entrepreneurial studies from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Az. She plans to earn her master’s degree in professional mental health counseling and will continue to be an advocate for athletes’ mental health awareness.

Dayna Del Val

Executive Director at the Arts Partnership

Dayna Del Val has been the executive director of The Arts Partnership since 2010. She writes a monthly column on the arts for the Fargo Forum as well as maintaining an active social media presence. She is currently board chair of Arts North Dakota, a statewide arts organization, as well as being on the Women’s Fund committee through the Fargo-Moorhead Area Foundation and the Art and Culture Commission for the City of Fargo. Additionally, she is a professional stage and commercial actor who can be seen and heard in local, regional and national ads. She is a freelance writer, currently writing the reflections section in Inspired Home Magazine. Dayna lives in Fargo with her Plant Cell Wall Biochemist Irish husband and their exuberant golden retriever and looks forward to when their college-aged son is home on breaks.

Rusty Gillette

Rusty is Arikara and Hidatsa from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. His Indian name is "Hooves" and he is a member of the Dead Grass Society in White Shield, North Dakota. Rusty had been a grass dance his whole life and traveled to powwows throughout the United States and Canada. He has also danced in France, Italy and the 1996 Summer Olympics. Rusty is proud to be drug and alcohol-free his whole life. Rusty's ancestry and heritage make him the ideal person to ARTiculate the "Fight for humanity".

Shane Balkowitsch

Wet Plate Photography

Shane Balkowitsch was born and raised in Bismarck, North Dakota. In August, 2012, he saw an image online that he found very intriguing and did some research and realized the image was a wet plate photograph. He has never formally studied photography or been formally trained. Shane made his first wet plate on October 4, 2012. Chad, his brother, was his first subject. Since then, he has shot over 1700 portrait plates of family, friends and complete strangers. Shane’s goal is to document and photograph as many different people as he possibly can in silver on glass. He is the only wet plate photographer in North Dakota at this time is very proud to continue to represent this historic process in his home state. Wet plate photography was such an important medium for expression in the past and he want it to continue to be today. It has been said that “you do not take a wet plate photograph, it is given to you.”

Shannon Wiedman

UI/UX Designer

Shannon Wiedman works as a UI/UX Design Lead at CoSchedule. CoSchedule is an editorial calendar for content marketers that schedules, organizes, and manages content all in one place. Shannon is a web designer turned front-end developer and believes that web design is more than what something looks like, it is about how it functions for the user. She knows that creativity needs to go beyond pretty pictures, great design also lies within the code. While working in this industry Shannon has realized the lack of women web developers and programmers. Her curiosity led her to get involved with a non-profit organization called Girl Develop It where she is now the co-leader of the Fargo chapter.