By Emily Miller

REXBURG—Were you one of those kids who collected rocks everywhere you went? Do your kids hoard rocks in their bedrooms as though they’re precious jewels, like mine do?

This weekend, as part of Rexburg’s fall festival, “Harvest: Stories, Songs and Spuds,” rock artist Patti Rokus will share her work and teach her methods at free workshops on Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. at the Rexburg Tabernacle Civic Center at 51 N. Center Street. All ages are invited.

Rokus is one of those rock-collecting people, and has been since she was a kid, as she estimates probably 80% of kids are.

“What is it about rocks?” she asks. “They’re just so compelling.”

Patti Rokus and her books of rock art, “A Savior is Born,” and “He is Risen.”

Rokus, who is best known for being featured on a “Friend to Friend” broadcast from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in February 2021, doesn’t consider herself an artist in any other genre. She says she can’t draw to save her life, but she discovered her own method of creating art by telling stories with rocks.

During a nature walk to relieve stress from a busy life, Rokus found herself extra drawn to certain rocks and began collecting them.

“Mystified by the rock shapes that looked to her like people and messages, she returned home to find how seemingly-random rocks fit together like God-breathed biblical puzzles,” her website bio says.

That experience was just the beginning of what would become a passion for Rokus—telling stories by building beautiful pieces of art with rocks.

Saturday’s workshops are free and all are invited. Rocks will be provided, or you can bring your own. Rokus will show how to tell the story of your family through arranging and gluing down rocks in artistic ways. She’ll teach what kinds of shapes to look for, for certain purposes.

“I always tell the kids, when we’re first starting out, to go rock hunting for circles,” she says. “But you don’t want a real circle, you want it to be oblong,” because nothing in life is a perfect circle.

“Long rocks make great bodies and people and cars,” she says. “If I find a rock that’s a half-inch (tall) but it’s long and skinny, oh my gosh, that’s a treasure.”

Rokus says her goal in teaching workshops and camps is inspiring joy in the heart, mind, and body. She says it’s an activity that’s good for all ages, and for families to enjoy together.

“You don’t have to be an artist because the rocks do the drawing for you,” she says. “It’s such a neat activity for grandparents and kids or parents and kids.”

Rocks can be purchased at landscaping or craft stores, Rokus says, but collecting them in nature is part of what she enjoys the most.

“Collecting the rocks is an excellent way to meditate,” she says. “Your mind lets go of the problem and you’re just looking for these shapes. You can get the rocks for a buck at the dollar store and they’ll work just fine, but you miss out on half the fun of being out in nature.”

Rokus has created many works of rock art—enough to fill the pages of two books published by Harper Collins (“A Savior is Born” and “He is Risen”)—but her very favorite piece is “Garden of Gethsamane.”

“I wanted to have this huge volume of rocks,” she says. “The way that picture came together—that is by far my best piece I will ever do, both in meaning and in beauty. I love that piece.”

As for her workshops Saturday, Rokus hopes she can give participants ”a way to connect with nature and with God and yourself. It’s more than play and fun for me. It’s really a way to be peaceful again, in a world that’s just so chaotic. What we want for the world is to inspire joyful play, to build self worth and inner peace in kids.”

Rokus is offering 50% off the purchase of the first of one of her online rock art camps, making the price only $10 to try it out. Use the code HARVEST50 at rockartcamp.com to sign up for an online camp.

According to Rokus, Rock Art Camp for kids is a series of interactive art classes and mindfulness play with nature’s pebbles & sticks, creating feelings of joy, connection and wonder. Children learn a unique art form that encourages imagination, self-care, service and the freedom to choose how to be in the world today.