A passion for art, music and trout
Harvey Rancour draws her favorite character she made, Martin Gills, a 25-year-old fish in the Rainbow Trout Cult who plays a banjo even though he lacks fingers. He has anxiety and, though he is married to a woman, is gay. Photo by Nicole Wadkins.
By Nicole Wadkins
Staff Reporter
Bancroft, Michigan, a village of about 500 people, is where Harvey Rancour grew up before finding her place at Lansing Community College. “It was the closest college that I could get into, other than MSU [Michigan State University], but I didn't really want to go to MSU,” said Rancour. “And I heard the music program was good, so I pulled up.”
At LCC, Rancour is currently majoring in graphic design but has been thinking about changing her major into general art. “I kind of want to be an art teacher maybe,” said Rancour. “It's a new thought that's been stewing.”
Outside of class, art has shaped almost all of Rancour’s life. She spend nights painting murals on their wall—“like a deranged Rapunzel, with a paper plate and a dream” —and playing on a piano whenever the opportunity arises. Music has also played a key role in her life. Ever since she was five years old, Rancour decided to learn how to play songs she liked when she heard them on TV. “I got, like, possessed by Mozart when I was five,” Rancour said. “Music theory is my first language.”
Her passion for music has carried her far, as she has even won $300 for a piano performance. But Rancour does not want to make a living out of it. “Everybody’s like, ‘Be a pianist.’ No. I don’t want to lose the passion,” she said.
When she isn’t painting or playing the piano, Rancour pours her creative energy into another passion project of hers: The Trout Cult. What started off as joke in her ARTS 102 class has spiraled into a project of hers, with characters, lore, and even a website domain.
The story revolves around a rainbow trout who worships a fisherman and then a bear, because the Trouts believed them to be divine beings. This project has many sketches, stories, and even an alternative universe where the Trouts resemble “reverse mermaids,” as they have fish heads with human legs.
“It makes me more motivated to do things if I don’t know what to do,” Rancour said. “Art-wise, I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I can just build on this’ because why not?” So far, Rancour has included her trout in art projects for her 2D design and Photoshop class.
But Rancour is quick to draw the line between an art project and real life. “Humans are not allowed in the cult,” Rancour said with a laugh. “Please don’t start a cult around my cult. That would be horrifying.” Even Rancour is not a member of the cult but acts as the storyteller and leaves the “membership” strictly to the fish. “If you know a rainbow trout nearby that wants to be part of an organized religion, hit me up,” Rancour said. “I’ll get him in contact.”
In Harvey’s Photoshop class, she had to make an “about me” collage and decided to include a trout due to being known as the “Trout guy”. Photo courtesy of Rancour.
Another project Harvey did for her ARTS 120 class was creating a propaganda poster for her Trout cult. Photo courtesy of Rancour.
Rancour has already purchased the domain name for her project, prophetsofhim.org, although the site is not yet live. The name comes from the Trouts referring to the bears as “HIM,” in all caps. “But yeah, website coming soon—once I figure out how to build a website,” Rancour admitted.
As for the future, Rancour hopes to one day host an art installation creating paintings inspired by medieval religious paintings. “But it’s trout or a bear,” Rancour said. “I want to do some stuff like that because it’s going to be funny.” She also wants to have at least three cats and to own a piano, and maybe even buy the piano at Zehnder’s in Frankenmuth so that she can play it whenever she wants.
But for now, all of her projects, from music to the fish cult, are currently “cooking.” Rancour cannot wait to see how far her passion will be able to take her.
Sponsors
