-Hello.

I'm Bob Ross, and I'd like to welcome you to "The Joy of Painting."

-I remember being in seventh grade, and I went over to a buddy's house, and the three of us turned on Bob Ross.

-My first memory of Bob Ross was, like many, watching him on PBS.

-When I was younger, I never really watched Bob Ross, but I always knew of him.

-Everybody knows Bob Ross, even people who weren't alive when he was on air.

-I started watching "Joy of Painting" both on Netflix and on YouTube.

-To be honest, I'm gonna be really up front with you.

I used to flip past Bob Ross.

-Like, the way that I remember him the most is in a Chia Pet.

-Saw this fuzzy-haired guy on TV, and you're just captivated.

-In your world, where does your little cloud live?

Let's go right up in here.

Maybe there's a happy little cloud that -- He lives up here and floats around the sky and has fun all day.

-I do remember watching Bob Ross as a child and just remembering how calm he always was.

-Now I see him everywhere.

You walk into any gift store, any shop, and there's Bob Ross stuff.

-As I got older, I started to realize I didn't flip the channel as quickly because there was something really captivating about him.

-He kind of became my go-to for, like, calm, quiet positivity.

-I remember just being in awe.

There's something absolutely amazing about watching it all happen in 30 minutes and thinking, "I could never do something like that."

-When he was here in Muncie, we would always try to meet up at some point, and many times that was an invitation into the studio to stop by while he was filming the series and watch some of the episodes in person.

-When I first found out that Bob Ross had filmed "The Joy of Painting" here on our site, it was said in a meeting.

It was a throwaway comment.

But I was shocked because we were sitting on an incredible story.

And my first thought was, "Why are we not telling this?"

-I interviewed here at Minnetrista, and while we were down in storage looking at our museum collection, it was mentioned offhandedly, "Oh, and we have some paintings by Bob Ross."

And I had a little flag go up in the back of my head because as a curator, I'm always looking for objects that have good stories, that people can connect with, that resonate with them.

The historic Lucius L. Ball house is where WIPB studio was, where "The Joy of Painting" was filmed.

The excitement around the "Bob Ross Experience" as a curator is actually being able to bring those artifacts down into this house, which is an artifact itself, and use that power of place, use that power of object, to really touch people's heartstrings.

-Every location has a story, every space has a story, every room has a story, and so it's like any other room until you know the story, and then it transforms it into something.

So by taking what is just a living room and being able to put the story of "The Joy of Painting" into it, suddenly this space becomes magical.

-This is a house that's been in this spot since sometime between 1875 and 1885.

When the Ball Brothers of Ball Brothers Glass began building their homes here in Muncie, they purchased a large property along the White River.

Part of that was this existing house.

So Lucius L. Ball purchased this home.

Around 1910, they did a really big remodel of it, and it took the form of what it looks like today.

So this house was a family home for decades, and eventually the house became the studio of WIPB.

-Right now, I am sitting in the Bob Ross house.

I'm sitting in the L.L.

Ball house in the Bob Ross studio.

WIPB, right?

And today it's used as classroom space, six weeks out of the year, twice, so 12 weeks total, for students to come in and do school visits.

But we're not talking about WIPB.

We're not talking about painting.

We're not talking about "The Joy of Painting."

We're doing all of our other classroom experiences.

And I've watched people walk into this room, have me tell them the very simple story, "Bob Ross painted here," and they look around like they're seeing it completely new for the first time.

I've seen people cry.

I've seen people laugh.

I've seen people grab the hand of the person next to them and say, "Do you even understand what that means?"

It's so important to put the story back into this house.

So my vision for the space is that this becomes an experience at Minnetrista that is year-round, that moves us closer to reaching our vision for the community, which is a community that celebrates his accomplishments and aspires to a brighter future.

♪ -As we've been thinking about what this project can look like, I've been really thinking about how we utilize these spaces.

So in the former studio that I'm sitting in right now, I really want people to be able to walk into a re-creation of what that studio looked like.

I want them to see Bob's easel.

I want them to see the cameras that were in the room.

Maybe the flash cards that were the countdown numbers are off to the side.

We know that Bob had reference paintings lined up along the wall.

I want them to be able to get a sense of what that felt like.

-There's the studio, which absolutely must be.

That is the power of place -- We are -- You are in the space where Bob painted, and you can stand where he stood.

And then the living room.

-I'd love people to be able to go into a living room some way and discover what Bob was like from there.

So having some kind of living room set.

-We have to have the living room because that's Bob in context.

So many people experienced Bob through the lens of the camera on the TV set.

And then I think it would be wrong to try to do a Bob Ross experience without allowing them the opportunity to actually put paint on canvas.

-If we're going to give people Bob's inspirational message and story, I really want them to be able to try out something new while they're here.

I want us to give them the tools to take that leap.

-He was on a lot of talk shows.

You know, he went around, he did the circuit.

And one of the things that he did is, he said, "Okay, I'll do that, and you'll paint with me."

I think that's the thing that we need to also be saying to our audiences.

We want to inspire people to feel that fearless creativity and attempt something new in their life, do something that they didn't think they could do.

And if you don't think you can paint a painting in 30 minutes, okay, but try.

-Just like Bob says at the beginning of every episode, you know, this is your bravery test.

Just put that brush on the canvas and give it a try.

So those are the things I'm thinking about.

And we have to figure out how to bring them together, how to get them to work.

But I think once we get there, we're gonna have something really special.

-Just gently blend your cloud.

That'll soften it and put it right into the sky.

[ Chuckles ] Isn't that a sneaky little way to make clouds?

And you can do it.

You really can do it.

-We've taken that big idea of what we're trying to accomplish, and we've got a very clear vision of what we're trying to go for.

But to get there, that's where the logistics comes into play.

-We knew that we needed to bring on a partner to help us get this done.

So we put out a request for qualifications several months ago.

And throughout that process, we met Taylor Studios.

Taylor Studios is headquartered in Rantoul, Illinois, and they've been doing this kind of work for almost 30 years at this point.

And when we sat down with them, it was almost an instant connection of they understood our project, we understood how they worked.

And it just seemed to click.

-When we went and interviewed to hopefully win the project, there was just a comfort level there, like we were talking with people we already knew.

And that was great.

We left feeling very good about that conversation.

I just remember thinking, "Oh, yeah, I think we -- I think we've got it.

I think we're gonna get to work on this."

And it's just been that way throughout.

-The whole company is really excited about the project.

So we're good storytellers.

And a lot of our staff has been inspired by Bob Ross because there's a lot of artists here.

You know, having a group of artists help tell an artist's story.

Plus, we're storytellers in ourselves.

We're just really excited and grateful to be a part of this project.

-Today's gonna be a fun day.

Taylor Studios is coming over from Rantoul, and we're gonna take them on a tour around campus, really show them what Minnetrista is, what we do here.

And it's gonna be the first time they go down to the Lucius L. Ball house.

So I'm excited to see what they think of that space and what they think they can do with it.

[ Indistinct conversations ] ♪ So this is the L.L.

Ball house, where WIPB's studio was.

Come on in.

-This room is the actual studio.

Today this is classroom space and very soon to be used as "Bob Ross Experience."

-I'm the interpretive planner at Taylor Studios.

I do lots of different things.

I write copy.

I do the research for the exhibits.

I help the clients or the museums that we work with come up with the theme or the big idea behind their exhibit, and are really always thinking about, "What do we hope the visitor gets out of this?"

-In this space, they would do the setup down here, and Bob would have his easel.

He would have a trash can underneath it.

He would have stacked up tons of clean brushes.

-This project excites me because it's the room that he painted in.

That's such an authentic experience that you can't take away from this room.

And so it's like, you could be doing a Bob Ross exhibit anywhere else and it won't have that element.

And that's, like, gold.

You know?

-Bob thanks his viewers for allowing them to come into his home because... -I'm the creative director here at Taylor Studios.

I work with both the design department and the fabrication department in directing all aspects of the creative that we do.

I was pretty adamant that I be a little more involved in this one, given the subject matter, just because I'm a big Bob Ross fan, and learning how a lot of the things that I grew up remembering about Bob Ross is the same with everybody.

-We all get excited, but I overly get super-excited, because I grew up with, like, watching "The Joy of Painting," and then as an adult, since it got hype again -- you know, it's on Netflix now -- I started watching it again.

It's, like, my background show.

-People can paint along with Bob.

Do we want to give each easel a space?

-I've always liked the combination of science and art that exhibit design offers.

The content is always different.

The style is always different.

The budget's always different.

So it's new challenges every day.

-This project had actually already kicked off by the time that I started here.

I'm a design project coordinator.

They saw this workshop as a training opportunity for me.

It's really cool to be able to actually work on a project where I sort of know the subject matter quite a bit more and I feel like I, like, know Bob Ross' story.

So it's really cool to have that kind of personal connection to it, and it set the bar really high for clients because Jessica and George are just amazing to work with.

-So we just finished up the tour, and it was exciting, right, to see Taylor in the space, to see them interested, to see them as excited as they were.

They did what everybody does.

You know, they went to the "X."

They had their picture taken.

And a little nerve-racking because it's a small space.

And so trying to figure out how to get this big story inside this little studio, I'm interested to see how they do it.

-We've arrived in Virginia, and we are headed to Bob Ross, Incorporated's, offices.

-And it should be right around here somewhere.

-Keep going.

We're gonna be looking to hang a right.

-Is there, like, a great big painting brush over it so I'll know where it is?

-I hope.

We're making a trip to meet with Joan Kawalski, the C.E.O.

at Bob Ross, Incorporated.

They're donating several new artifacts to our museum collection.

Oh, there's no brush.

But this is it right here.

-Is it right here?

Here we go.

-Joan knew Bob.

Her parents knew Bob.

And so I'm really looking for finding out what that personal connection is and really being able to tease out Bob as the person and how he, you know, interacted with those things that were in his life daily that meant so much to him.

-Yay!

Hi!

-Hi, Joan.

-How are you?

-Oh.

-Good.

How are you?

-I'm so glad to see you!

-Once again.

Hi, Joan.

-Yay!

Yay!

-Great to meet you.

-Yay!

Come in.

Come in.

We got a call from The Washington Post, and they wanted to come and do a story on Bob Ross in our offices.

And we said to them, "You know, it's too soon.

We've just moved into our facility.

There's boxes everywhere.

We don't want you to come.

Can you come later?"

And her answer was, "But we need Bob now."

And we're like, "Okay, you can come."

I mean, Bob Ross skis.

Look on the back.

-That's ridiculous.

-No.

-Is that a mess?

So when you're on the ski lift.

-So great.

-Aren't they great?

Yeah.

Yeah.

-All right.

Do you guys need water or coffee or anything?

"We need Bob now" is sort of why we want to tell this story.

There's something that Bob is triggering in people that makes them want to even, you know, put down their cellphones, you know, close their laptop, and just start enjoying the things around them, maybe even put a brush to a canvas.

Simplicity.

Genuine positive feelings about people and about yourself.

These are all sort of things that people are really looking for right now.

-Okay, so what I have is temporary receipt.

I've listed everything that you had already e-mailed me about.

We'll add anything else.

-So we've got the Bob Ross bobblehead.

This is from a Cincinnati Reds game.

This paint was in his camo box and along with these brushes.

-And you told me this one was taped so it wouldn't shine on camera.

-Shine on camera.

Exactly.

He did that with his brushes.

-Do you know from which-ish, like, maybe year range these were made?

-Let's say late '80s.

-Okay.

-Late '80s.

[ Camera shutter clicks ] Yes.

-You're gonna share some of these with me, right?

-Yes.

-You're just gonna keep all the photos for yourself.

-All the photos.

Right.

It's really just for me and my wife to be, like, "Look at this."

-Oh, my God, that's so funny.

All right, then we have Bob Ross socks.

These are -- Like, guys wear them.

Exactly.

-Just for you today.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes.

Like, you know, businessmen wear them.

-Yes.

-You know, it's like... -They need to have a little fun.

-Yes.

-You know, party in the back or whatever that... -Business in the front, party in the socks.

-On the feet.

Party on the feet.

All right.

And then you've got your standard Pez, of course.

These are what they would put in their press kits back before the Internet.

WIPB would put together paper folders with all the stuff in it because it was a new -- new series coming out and it was very exciting.

And then, of course, the Chia Pet, 'cause who doesn't know about a Chia Pet?

-Everyone.

♪ Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia -Yep.

The page then opens up with the card.

He always put his favorite painting there because he felt like a book would just naturally open to where the bind-in card is.

-That makes sense.

-So if you ever want to know Bob's favorite paintings, they're number seven of every single book.

-That is such a great inside story.

-Isn't it?

We got a little worried we were getting away from ourselves.

It's a toaster with Bob's face!

And actually we brought this in, and we all made toast one day, and we're like, "Oh, my God, his face is really on the bread, people."

So, you know, we found Bob's easel... -Yes.

-...down in Florida.

-Yes.

-Ready for you.

We'll send a truck down and send it up.

And then the last thing I have... until you tell me what else is on the list that I've forgotten is Bob's palette.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I decided to give you guys the one that had a little smidge of paint.

-No, I love that.

-'Cause that's kind of making me really -- That's making me feel very sentimental.

-Yes.

-So maybe he was in a hurry -- I don't know -- or something, but there's something about it that makes it a little magic.

So number 14.

I'll tell you what date that was.

Series 14.

-Mm-hmm.

Yep.

Series 14, Episode 7.

1988.

-Got it.

Oh.

Really?

-1988.

-Oh, this one?

Or this one?

-No.

For that one.

-How do you know that?

-Series 12, 13, and 14 are 1988.

-She's... -That's the year that WIPB moved their station.

They moved station in October.

-That's why I refer all dates.

-You just stick with... -That's right.

I don't have the memory for the dates.

-She's getting to be one of those people.

-Joan's gonna be like, "I can't talk to Jessica anymore."

-Oh, no.

She knows too much.

You know what size shoe I wear, don't you?

-You can talk the creative stuff.

-We'll leave the stats and stuff to Jessica.

-One of the most encouraging parts of this experience has been actually working with Bob Ross, Inc.

They are so excited about this.

We had an idea.

We thought it was a good idea.

Bringing it to Bob Ross, Inc., and having them be so excited about it just ignited it for us.

-I hung up the phone, and I went straight into my dad's office.

Even though he's 90, he still comes to work every day.

And I told him, "Something cool is getting ready to happen.

We're going to open up a little museum, a little experience in Muncie, where Bob filmed all the programs."

And he loved it.

-In October 2020, when we finally open this, this house will once again be made whole with the story that grew in it.

-I mean, the idea that some people can now come to kind of where it all began, where Bob felt like he was with family, where he pretty much laid out his legacy in that spot -- We should have been doing this a long time ago.

-Years ago, we were working on the interpretive plan for Minnetrista, and we came up with two big ideas.

And they were that the Ball legacy, the Ball family legacy in Muncie, Indiana, really is a question of, "What can we accomplish together?"

and, "I can do a version of this."

And we came up with that idea sitting upstairs in the offices in this building.

And when we started talking about the Bob Ross story and realized that Bob's life, legacy, and life story and life philosophy really is, "I can do a version of this," and, "What can you accomplish?"

it sent chills down my spine.

This story is a Minnetrista story.

It carries our vision forward for this community.

♪ -I'll tell you what.

So often, we avoid this large brush because of its size, but it'll do fantastic things for you.

Give it a chance, practice with it.

Let's go up here and load this brush.

-In 1991, WIPB and Minnetrista hosted the first Bob Ross Paint-in just down the way here.

I was the first one here, front row, to paint along with Bob.

He signed the painting with me, which, we're told, is one of the rare times you've seen, like, Bob sign someone else's work.

You know, he painted some trees in it with me, which was awesome.

From the first time that I met Bob in person, his encouragement in, you know, my skills and me as a person to continue painting and continue being creative led to this relationship and this friendship.

I didn't realize how special that was at the time, but I certainly do now.

I'm just extremely grateful for that.

-So what I'm really excited about with this project is that it's not this traditional museum format where you have panels on the walls and objects in glass cases -- It's this restoration of the studio where they filmed "The Joy of Painting," and then also kind of our little re-creation of a 1980s living room where you might have sat to watch Bob Ross.

And in those two spaces, almost everything is going to be touchable or is going to be a discoverable.

So you can literally walk in and sit on the couch, and you look next to you, and, you know, there's a can of soda on a coaster, and you could pick up that can of soda and maybe look at the coaster.

And there's a little fact on that coaster.

So it's kind of like putting together this big puzzle because we're not telling the story in a linear way whatsoever.

We're telling it in a very object-based way.

And we're trying to tell it in a way where you can still understand the big ideas of who Bob Ross was and what he meant to Muncie and what "The Joy of Painting" meant to people and all of that without reading everything or seeing everything.

The whole point is that you're not supposed to see everything on your first time there.

You're supposed to gradually discover it.

And that's okay.

-There's a few challenges to this project.

One of them is space.

It's a small house.

And we're trying to do a lot in it.

So we're trying to take advantage of as much of the space as we can.

And every corner is valuable.

-We want to deliver and show a lot in the space, and the space is, I would say, kind of limited.

So we've kind of tried to be more creative in how we want to convey the message by using a lot of different elements in exhibit, like graphics, objects, and how we even put object labels and stuff like that.

We want to be as creative as we can without taking the experience of, like, this is where he stood and painted in that episode.

So we don't want to take away that from the visitor.

So we want it to be as natural as it can be for a visitor when they walk in, and also, still, it's an exhibit.

-Since we are trying to re-create his studio, as well as, like, a 1980s living room, we have to hunt down decor from the '80s, as well as some of the cameras and things that they used while they were filming and any other stuff that was in the room.

And then with, like, the '80s decor, we have to basically look for, in a way, vintage pieces that will stand up to visitors, because it's a unique exhibit in that it's not gonna be a traditional museum setting, where you're not supposed to touch things.

Most people go into an exhibit, and they know that they should stay away from objects, or they shouldn't lift things off wherever they are.

But this one will be set up where we are wanting people to open up the cabinets and look at what's on the shelves.

And there will be graphics on the ceiling and behind curtains and on the windows and places where you wouldn't necessarily expect them to be.

So you have to interact with the space.

And so that's a challenge just because it's something where things might get damaged or there's a chance that something could be taken.

But that's, I think, a risk that we and the client want to take just for the payoff of it being an authentic experience.

-This is an exhibit space, obviously, and we want it to be educational and informational and to tell Bob Ross' story.

But George and Jessica at Minnetrista told us the crew of "Joy of Painting" walked into the house, and they were like, "Wow, this feels like a home."

And I think that feeling is what we're really trying to inject into the space.

So finding that balance between warm and welcoming and encouraging and inspirational and then also including all of that information about Bob and WIPB and all of that -- That's the balance that we're finding.

-The coolest part about this exhibit is actually not anything that we will do, that Taylor Studios will do.

The coolest part about this exhibit is that you're in the room that he stood in and he painted in.

You can't replicate that experience anywhere, that just sort of, like, sense of someone having been in there and that's where they've done the work.

And you get to stand exactly where he stood.

That's probably gonna be the coolest part about this experience.

Whether or not you know too much about Bob Ross, you probably know of him.

Maybe you're, like, a diehard fan.

But you'll be able to just see how he's, like, created this world that so many people love.

And then from an exhibit standpoint, we're just gonna kind of try to share his philosophy on life and happy little accidents, as opposed to mistakes, and just being inspired to potentially paint or maybe take out some art supplies when they get home.

Basically the next time -- I hope the next time someone is like, "Oh, I can't draw," they think, "Oh, no, I should just try."

And also just the way that they look at failure, that they'll walk away thinking of failure as something different than when they walked into the room.

-I think going through the process of designing this exhibit, we put ourself a lot in the mind of the audience to see, how are we going to make sure that the audience, the visitors later on, will get the same experience that we're trying to design here?

Experiencing the legacy of Bob Ross, basically, so they can either learn a lot from what they see in the exhibit.

Also having some sort of, like, a piece of Bob Ross when they walk out of the exhibit.

-It's pretty exciting just because he's pretty well known.

And so it can be fun to have a project where you're able to tell people and they know what you're working on, versus just, "Oh, we're gonna do this cool exhibit about trees," which is still exciting for me.

But being able to say, "Oh, we're doing an exhibit about Bob Ross," and they're like, "Oh, I know Bob Ross.

Like, that's really cool," and being able to, like, share that with people.

-I'm just excited for this project.

Like, this is the first one where I've, like, told all my friends and family that I'm working on it and I'm so excited and we're all gonna go see the opening together.

So it's really cool that this is a little bit more of a universal attraction.

-I bought my first pair of Bob Ross socks for this exhibit, and I wear them a lot now.

[ Laughs ] And they're cool.

♪ -Today we're at Taylor Studios in Rantoul, Illinois, and we're dropping off the television cameras.

-Yeah, just a couple days ago, I drove out to Rhode Island and picked up all this really cool stuff from the Museum of Broadcast Technology.

And they are working with us to get real-life cameras like what were used to film "The Joy of Painting" in the house.

♪ -Grab this side here.

-Gotcha.

♪ -Where are we staging this?

♪ -There we go.

♪ ♪ -Let's put these together.

George, come here.

The first thing to go on are these.

-Okay.

-This is the tilt head.

♪ I'm glad you've got yours on.

Yeah.

♪ Oh.

-There we go.

-There it is.

-Yep.

-So the top... -It's all, like, super-, super-intuitive.

♪ Hand-tighten.

Fact fact -- These two cameras were used to film "Entertainment Tonight."

-Over here.

-Yep.

Really give it a good -- Yep, there you go.

So it's facing front here.

♪ -Drop cable?

-Drop cable.

Okay.

Yep.

There it goes.

-There it goes.

-The camera probably would have been in the up position.

There you go.

Okay.

-ay, real camera!

-Cover them all up.

-Those are really awesome.

-So they don't get dusty.

-All right.

There you go.

That's it.

-They're gonna cover it up and make sure that it's good before we are able to go and... inspect it.

-Enjoy.

Thank you so much.

Yeah.

-Thank you.

-Thank you for rolling it back off the truck.

-TSI Studio Television.

-And maybe there's another happy little cloud.

Maybe this big cloud's got a friend that lives right there.

Right there.

-When I was able to watch Bob in the studio, I was just there as a guest or a friend of Bob.

And it's kind of ironic in a way, because that's what I went into as a career, too, in terms of production and TV.

So to be in the studio and watch Richard Collins, and at the time Bill Bryant was working on that show, and many others who have kind of mentored or I've worked with post then, but as a student, you know, sitting in the studio was just strictly because Bob was like, "Come down and visit when you get a chance."

And I would just go in, pull up a chair, sit in the back, and just watch.

And after one of those class sessions, I spent the afternoon with Bob, and there was one of those rare hiccups, rare, when something went wrong or there was a technical issue or he wanted to do something different.

But he didn't finish a painting.

It was pretty much, I would say, 2/3 of the way finished.

And they were gonna start again.

And this is so vivid.

Like, I remember him taking it off the easel and just walking it over.

And he was like, "Here, take this.

You finish it."

You know, when you look at it now, my love for art and creativity and what I'm doing professionally was kind of blended in that moment.

And who would have known where it would have led?

[ Laughs ] I joke because when you see the value of Bob's paintings now, had I not signed that painting or finished it, it probably would have been worth a lot more than me finishing it.

[ Laughs ] -We completed our crowdfunding, but we only raised about 10% of our total funds we were trying to raise, so that meant we had to go back to the drawing board.

We were looking at whether or not we could find other sources of funding or if we needed to cut parts of the project, and we found other sources of funding.

So great opportunity.

We are actually gonna expand the project, and we're gonna triple its size.

So, before, we had the studio space and the living room space both in the same room, here in the original studio where Bob filmed, and now we're gonna make that space just the studio.

It'll give people a lot more room to actually stand where Bob stood.

We'll have room for the cameras now, and it'll be a much greater experience.

I'll show you the other spaces.

The introduction space, which is the main lobby area -- That's gonna stay about the same.

So we don't really need to change anything here.

We are gonna have more space to be able to talk about WIPB and about Ed Ball, our founder, and his work with PBS, though.

So we're excited about that.

So that means that the floor plan we had is gone.

So the studio and the living room is now the studio and the living room, and that painting workshop is being moved somewhere else.

So...we have a new floor plan.

This room was going to be the workshop space, but with the changes, we're gonna actually do something different in here.

We're still gonna do a workshop.

Just not in here.

That means we're gonna take the living room that was over there and we're gonna bring it here.

And that's gonna give us more space to talk about the context of the world that Bob painted in back in the '80s.

So we needed a place to put the painting workshop, and we found it.

We're gonna use the second floor of this building.

So that means that we're gonna go upstairs and we're gonna use the space as both a painting workshop and as an art gallery so we can see more Bob Ross paintings.

Now, there are some staff up there now, but we're gonna put them somewhere else.

And that is just fine because that means we have a bigger and better experience.

-We drove over here to Rantoul, Illinois, today to see where our production was at 50%.

So at this point, you know, they've been working on the design.

They've been starting to acquire the props that we'll need for the space to really flesh out the exhibit spaces around the TV studio, around that living room, to really get at Bob's story.

So we're excited to see what's gonna happen and excited to see what they've been able to get their hands on so far to really, you know, bring this story of Bob and his message to life in our space.

Look at this.

It's cool.

Yeah.

[ Indistinct conversations ] -This is the lobby?

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Lobby, studio... -Mm-hmm.

-...living room.

-Yep.

-Okay.

-This TV tray is fabulously ugly and amazing.

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-We can sit on this?

-Yes.

-We can sit on this.

-Here's your nice blanket.

-Oh, yeah.

Solidly '80s.

-We did reinforce the chair.

-Okay.

-So it's a little more sturdy.

-Awesome.

But they're not gonna be able to just walk up and... -No, it didn't come off that easy.

It does require a little bit of effort.

A little bit of effort.

We've built some custom bookcases that are gonna have places for props to be mounted, photographs to be mounted.

We have a lot of props that were purchased that we're gonna have to modify in regards to electronics or making them durable to withstand client interaction.

-A lot of the smaller items like the hair pick and everything, we're trying to purchase multiples so it lasts you guys awhile.

-Cool.

Thank you.

-This is a prop-heavy job.

Typically, we do a lot of construction, and there's -- Comparatively to other jobs, there's not a whole lot to be built.

There's a whole lot to be modified.

So I noticed there was a few things that were fold-out and getting paint splattered.

So we're gonna salvage this paint.

We're gonna squirt it off into a bottle, and then we're gonna fill it back up with epoxy resin so that it's hard, and it'll look like it's had some wear and use.

-But it will not explode plant everywhere.

-But it will not -- Yeah, it won't turn into this.

Yeah.

[ Laughter ] But, yeah, we're gonna save this paint to use to do... -That's great.

-...any splattering that needs to be put on anything.

-Fantastic.

-Those will go in the studio.

-So how ridiculous of a project is this for you to work on?

-[ Laughs ] I spent a lot of time on Etsy.

-Uh-huh.

-And in my parents' basement.

[ Laughter ] -It's a unique job compared to others because we're trying to re-create an era.

So we're prop hunting a lot of these things.

Going to antique shops, secondhand stores, Grandma's house, garage sales.

-This is great.

It's big, but I thought it would give a good snapshot of the time.

-Oh, yeah.

-This is your curtain mater-- No, this is your curtain material.

And this is the material that I'd like to put over the windows.

-Yeah, no, I think that that's great.

-Rolls really nice.

-Cool.

This is great.

No, this is all really, really great.

I think you nailed what we were going for.

-Totally.

-So thank you for asking for feedback, like, a thousand times.

-So we came out to see where we were at 50%.

And it's great.

Like, so we've got an '80s living room.

They found exactly the couch we needed.

They found a great afghan.

They found the props that we definitely needed to kind of bring to life Bob's '80s living room.

It was great to see it all start to come to life.

-Angle my brush, get a little green, a little yellow.

And we can go right up in here, and maybe there's a happy bush.

He lives right here.

Slight upward push.

-I've kept in contact through the years with folks in the Bob Ross, Inc., and Company a few times.

But this really came as a result of... being local to Muncie and an artist in Muncie with this unique connection to Bob Ross.

So Jessica Jenkins here at Minnetrista, you know, reached out, we had several meetings together.

And I was asked to paint six reference paintings.

So every episode of "The Joy of Painting," Bob had a reference painting in the studio that he would refer to, you know, for timing and different things.

[ Chuckles ] Very, very nerve-racking and very -- I did several to get them right, or at least right for me.

But, man, it was just like, "How did this happen?"

Like, you know, it feels so right.

And from meeting him many years ago to now being a part of this here.

Just humbled.

-Bob Ross, when he was on camera, he might have been showing people how to paint and teaching them techniques of how to do this brushstroke, what to do with this palette knife.

But at the core of all of it, what he was saying was, take risks, try something new, enjoy life.

-His whole philosophy is just, like, try and do it.

And if you make a mistake, it's not really a mistake, and just keep going, and everybody can, you know, be creative and try something new.

Life is hard sometimes, and it doesn't have to be.

You can, you know, take your mistakes and turn them into something else.

-He was able to show that you can inspire people through art.

You can encourage them.

No matter how many times you mess up, it's no big deal.

Just dust yourself off and try again.

And I think that sends a pretty big message to people.

It's -- because that's something that's really hard to get, is that failure is okay.

And I think he did it so well.

-For us with the "Bob Ross Experience," it's really, really simple.

And we spent a lot of time thinking about it.

But it really boiled down to coming back to what Bob's life philosophy was, because he wasn't teaching painting.

He was teaching a very clear life philosophy.

And so if we're successful, we're gonna reframe the way people think about their mistakes, their creativity, and their self-expression through the story of Bob Ross in the house and the community, he painted in.

-I can barely imagine how people will feel when they see where Bob filmed his programs.

To me, that is... [ Sighs ] I can't even describe what it must be like.

And I think that people will -- Just everything will just melt away being in that spot.

♪ -We're back at Taylor Studios.

They are 90% completed.

We've got a lot to look at today.

We've got props.

Graphics are printed out.

It's really coming together.

-I love these pillows!

-And, of course, the TV.

-The TV.

Yes.

-We're working on getting the new background... -Yeah.

-...created.

-What ultimately led to Bob... -And you'll have a little remote, too, that'll control it.

The lampshades haven't come in yet, but they're just gonna be the plain old '80s... -Yeah.

♪ This is fantastic.

I am so glad we did it this way.

-I was working on it, and I do scrapbooks myself, and I always do black paper with white text because I think it looks nicer even if it doesn't look that nice.

And I was like, "Oh, what if I make a mistake?"

Then I was like, "You know what?

If I made a mistake, Bob would be like, "It's great.

Just leave it in there.

You don't need to redo it."

-Can I walk on your cardboard and come over so I can see them not upside down?

-So this is the graphic that will go in front of that podium.

-All of these are paintings from the handbook.

♪ -And these are for the backs of the canvases.

-This is gonna look so good.

♪ Yeah.

-This TV doesn't do anything, but there is the remote.

-Oh, cool.

-It will not come off without hardware.

-There's a button on the top if you wanted to change the video.

-Mm-hmm.

-Right here.

You can change it.

[ Ross speaking indistinctly ] -Whoo-hoo!

This is, like, exactly what we wanted.

Plus, it's like when I used to work at the grocery store in high school, and people would come in and tell me they needed -- "I need four packs of Marlboros."

Man, you guys are nailing it.

-Yeah.

-And I think this one might be from my parents' basement.

-That's awesome.

-"The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking."

I just thought that would be in someone's house that watched Bob Ross.

[ Laughter ] -In my head.

-"Alaska."

-In my head.

-This is great.

-Yes.

-"I Heart Flowers."

-This book.

Rug making.

Barbecue.

-Fondue.

-Fondue.

-I have that book.

[ Laughter ] -Come on, George.

-I might have three fondue pots that were my parents'.

-I'm so glad that we went with the '80s brown motif.

-That's absolutely the right choice.

How many bottles of Vicks did you have to buy?

-Oh, there's still Vicks in there.

-There's three.

-There's still Vicks.

-That's exactly it.

-Exactly what we're going for.

-I cannot wait to see them in the space.

-Yes.

-I think it's all gonna come together.

-I think it is going to transform the space in such a cool way.

This is fantastic.

[ Tapping ] -[ Laughs ] That's absolutely the most fun part of this whole technique.

I get letters from people who don't paint.

They just buy a brush and beat it, take out their frustrations.

[ Tapping ] See?

It's a lot of fun.

-I strive to be as happy as Bob Ross when he is cleaning his brush.

That's, like, the kind of thing, like...

So I think that when we actually watched Bob Ross at home, it was, like, either I'm off at home, sick on a sick day.

So I'll, like, just start bundling up myself and, like, have a hot, really warm bowl of soup and just watch Bob Ross because it's, like, comforting.

-When I think about Bob Ross, it's just his voice and how calming it is and how it's a very positive message with Bob and just how comforting that he would make me feel watching his show and watching him paint and how I see that in watching my children, who also watch his show.

He just embodies calm and understanding and "you can do this."

And so, you know, that's really what I think about when I think about Bob Ross.

And to be able to create exhibits and, you know, interpret that for the masses and for the local community there in Muncie, it's just -- That's really cool to be part of that.

-I was very excited when I was told that I was given the project because it was very exciting to be a part of that, being able to help tell his story to future generations.

-To be able to sort of take his words and his teachings and put it out into the world in a different, creative way is really, really exciting for me.

-And I think it's really important that we share messages of love and kindness.

I think that these days we really need somebody like that.

-I just remember how, like, always positive he was and, like, encouraging me, you know.

What you saw on television is what Bob was as a person.

And I think everyone will tell you that.

-He loved going and filming his programs.

I think he would have just been thrilled.

He loved Muncie.

He loved the people that he worked with there.

And now we'll all be able to sort of go and see what he enjoyed while he was there, and, you know, the work that he put in was there, and we'll be able to enjoy it.

-I'm really excited about this project, and I really can't wait for it to be completed so that I can be one of the visitors, walk in the space, and really experience the whole thing.

-I can't wait.

I can't wait.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -Well, it is October 5, 2020, and we have been working on this for quite a while, but today Taylor Studios is set to arrive here any minute.

They'll be showing up with their box truck with the exhibit elements and components.

And we're gonna get installation under way here in the L.L.

Ball house of the "Bob Ross Experience."

It's very exciting, and we are looking forward to it.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -This is Bob Ross-authentic.

To make a museum, to make an experience, in this spot where he did his filming, it's just the sort of organic, genuine things that we like to do.

♪ My mother is the one that sort of reviews paintings, and she can tell which ones have been painted by Bob, and she describes it in a way that I think is the same with this project, which is his paintings, you can tell because they're not fiddled with, they're not a lot of, you know, extra touching of the canvas and fiddling around with the brush bristles and that sort of thing.

And I feel like the same thing is happening with this museum.

We just want it simple and genuinely Bob, right down to the -- you know, every single detail, but without contriving things that we wish would have been there or whatever.

It's gonna be very, very realistic and very exact to how it was when he would go.

♪ ♪ -Good afternoon, everyone.

It's a little wet out.

We could look at this as not quite the most beautiful Bob Ross day, or maybe Bob just put a happy little cloud right above us.

And I like to think that's what happened.

I have the pleasure today of sharing with you a few words from Joan Kowalski, president of Bob Ross, Incorporated.

"A year ago, I could only imagine visitors being able to stand in the exact spot where Bob stood for all those years, painting and talking and teaching during hundreds of episodes.

Today that vision has become a reality.

The aptly named "Bob Ross Experience" is a one-of-a-kind venue.

No other place can be exactly this place, no other place in the world.

We now have a heart, a nerve center, a place where people can go and meet and enjoy other friends of Bob Ross.

The astounding phenomenon that is Bob Ross is now coming home."

-One, two, three.

[ Cheers and applause ] ♪ -Now, that's when he painted.

He was living here then.

-Man, they did an awesome job here.

Everything looks legit, Like, they have the old cameras and everything.

This is a really magical moment to come see the man who gave me inspiration to start painting, to come see his workplace and where all the production went down.

-Boy, it's just so weird to be standing in here.

-It's just amazing.

You get to see the studio and all the original artifacts up close and personal.

-This is a great new destination for Bob Ross fans all over and a great new asset to promote for Indiana.

-We've actually been planning this trip for about a year, and we kind of made a vacation out of it.

-We kind of just made this whole year Bob Ross.

Yeah, we visited his grave down in Florida.

-Emotion just overtook me.

And I was crying.

So I might cry in there.

We'll see.

-It's just a great experience.

Any Bob fan would love it.

-Let me find a 1-inch brush.

Put a little paint thinner in it.

[ Both chuckle ] Right through.

-When I walked in for the first time and I saw Bob's paintings on the easel and mine off to the side, it's just this wonderfully unique example of, like, the circle of life.

Right?

What I do now, I teach circular storytelling, and everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

And it all ties together.

And to think that in, you know, the late '80s as a high-school student, I connected with Bob Ross because of art.

And now, you know, 25, 30 years later, my paintings are part of an exhibit honoring Bob Ross and his legacy -- I mean, my mind is still blown, right?

Like, it's just, if it could be scripted any other way, I think it would be scripted this way, that, you know -- that my stuff is in there with him.

And I know he's very happy about that.

-The first time he banged the paintbrush against the easel, and I said, "What's happening?

What is this?"

-No, his easel was right here.

-I remember changing the backlight up over here, though.

-I was on a ladder over here.

-No, it was right back here.

-I have a photo of it set up on this end of the room and a photo of it set up... -Oh, no.

-Seriously, when I worked on the show, it was over here in that corner.

-He is not wrong.

You are both, in fact, right.

-Okay, there we go.

The debate has been settled.

I was right.

-Turn the camera off.

[ Laughter ] -Even when it served as WIPB studios, something that the crew always says about when they filmed and were working in this house is that it was very homey.

It was a family here.

And there's something about that that just seems right.

-Is that Patti Foster?

Nice to see you.

-God bless you, honey.

-Nice to see you.

-This is definitely what Bob would have wanted.

There's something very fabulous about the fact that it's a little house and not just a, you know, big professional TV studio.

I mean, it sort of fits the narrative perfectly.

You know, his hard work and his effort in teaching people how to paint on television is sort of marked there where he did his best work, where he did his good work.

-It looks to me like Minnetrista and Indiana and Muncie and Ball State have done a really terrific job with this museum.

I think it's a fabulous attraction.

And I think that this is gonna be one of those places where fans are going to congregate more than people anticipate.

-I think the "Bob Ross Experience" at Minnetrista is a home for Bob Ross.

We've heard that throughout.

And what I hope happens is, a younger artist, you know, me 30 years ago, has a place to go and still connect with who Bob was.

Right?

When you walk into the studio now and you see his easel and his palette and his paints and his paintings, but you also hear his voice while you're in there, it's just truly special.

Right?

And... if there are young painters out there who are trying to do and wanting to paint like Bob or just be an artist in general, this can kind of be the Mecca to hopefully inspire you to do that.

And you just feel Bob in there.

And I hope others feel Bob, too, and I think they will.

-I look forward to painting with you again.

And from all of us here, happy painting.

God bless.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪