Art Connection

Follow the Stars

We head to London, Ohio where fiber artist Karen Mulier is using her long-practiced sewing skills and love of alpacas to make the world a warmer place. We explore that land and skies with artist Bill Gilbert. Creole Jazz musician and composer Don Vappie performs and describes his love of music and we head to Sacramento to take a look at permanent display for local artists.

For All

Cal Morris is a violinist and cancer survivor. We head to Florida to meet the artist and learn how family and music gave him the strength he needed during his battle with cancer. The Nevada Department of Transportation’s Landscape and Aesthetics program strives to decorate the state’s highways with public art. Working with architects and designers, the team renders roadside sculptures. Multidisciplinary artist Sri Prabha’s artwork encompasses a variety of mediums such as video, sound, light, and painting. We travel to the Orlando Museum of Art in Florida to see one of his vivid installations. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Thom McCain has performed concerts from his porch in Columbus, Ohio. With his autoharp in hand, he sings and plays music for all to hear.

Forward

Frank Hurley’s photographs of the imperial Trans-Antarctic expedition undertaken by renowned explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and his crew remains one of the greatest ever photographic records of human survival. With 60 years between them, most would assume that Heather Bryant and Lorraine Fink would find very little in common. But, the similarities between the two aren't just in their work, but also in their whimsical personalities. Healing trauma with a laugh track, Anthony Ramirez enlisted a diverse cast and creative team to produce a sitcom called The Anthony Project, which draws from Ramirez’s own experiences as a rape survivor.Singer/Songwriter Olivia Millerschin sings with her soul as she talks about her newest album Look Both Ways.

Fostering Art

Follow children in inner-city Baltimore who take part in OrchKids, an after-school music program, and watch them progress from day-to-day practice to a professional-level performance. Jackson Walker loves bringing the state's history to life, one painted image at a time. From paper to prints, bindings to broadsides, the Minnesota Center for Book Arts celebrates the art of making books. The non-profit  is the largest center of its kind in the world. Alexandria artists Janet and Carl Ahrens aren't afraid to tackle any project; no matter how large or small, from a wooden full scale  horse, to over-size concrete human heads and flashy ceramic plates.

Foundations

Sojourner Truth was an advocate for abolition and women’s rights, and her legacy is being honored in Akron, Ohio with a statue designed by artist Woodrow Nash. We visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan to find out more about “New York Art Worlds, 1870-1890.” With some 50 works on display, the exhibit explores what it was like to be an artist in New York City during this period. We head to Nevada to hear about Reno painted rocks. This facebook group encourages people to spread kindness by painting rocks. Combining a 19th century photographic process with a 1970s toy camera, artist Carol Munder is able to create her own world with her images.

Fragments

"The Art of Gaman" exhibit at Holocaust Museum Houston highlights art made by internees at the Japanese Internment Camps in the Western US during WWII. Learn how the Carmelite Sisters of Reno, Nevada design and create charming cards for every occasion from start to finish at their monastery, with help from their very own printmaking shop. Carl Peters was a WPA artist during the '30s and '40s working in Rochester, New York. The Memorial Art Gallery teams up with students at a local high school to study these murals and carry on the tradition. Sam Hundley adores junk and the rejected debris left behind when function is gone from an object. Scrap metal left outside to decay holds an artless beauty for him. No longer garbage, they now live to tell a new story.

Free to Create

With a career spanning 52 years and accolades that include 22 Grammys, Jazz legend Chick Corea offers insight into his creative process, his career and his life in Tampa Bay, Florida. The Waukesha Art Crawl features arts and entertainment on display in over 20 galleries with original works by over 100 artists. Butterflies, dinosaurs, flowers, oh my! Meet a couple of friends from Reno, Nevada, who fell in love with the world of balloon animals and learn how they honed the skills that delight all ages. A US veteran combats his PTSD by using his welding talents to create wonderful metal art sculptures as his therapy.

From the Ashes

Meet the two artists who wish to revitalize an area once thriving with a wealth of African American culture in Houston, Texas. Take a look at the glitz and glamour of the upper crust society of New York during the time of Downton Abbey. We’ll talk with Michael Cina, an award-winning graphic designer and we take an in-depth look at Heimrad Backer’s body of work documenting the remnants of Nazism and the Holocaust.

From The Page to the Stage

Owner and lead sculptor of Sculpted Ice Works, Mark Crouthamel, shows off his ice carving skills. We speak with Phyllis Magidson about the attire of the elite of the Gilded Age and what it takes to design period costume pieces. Get to know the touring company of Wicked and we follow Zeb Andrews, a man who likes the bare basics of photography.

From Traditional to Digital

We visit the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and travel through its grand opening. Multi-media artist Tony Carosella embeds QR codes into portraits to combine traditional photography with digital media. We talk with the sculptor who brought the creatures to life on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway carousel and we explore the International quilt festival.

Frontier

Megan Wimberley is a contemporary western artist and the founder of “Cowgirl Artists of America,” an organization that celebrates and supports women artists and makers. Ernest “Mooney” Warther was an esteemed wood carver. Over the course of eighty two years, he hand-sculpted many works, including more than sixty scaled and working representations of steam history. Florida artist Emily Tan creates art across disciplines. From abstract painting to live performance to DJ-ing, she expresses herself in a variety of ways and explores her identity.

F-Stops

Meet Houston artist Wiley Robertson who is using signs, buildings and more to spread his message of love around the city. Artist Gabriela Michanie shares how she found her passion for photography. Sculptor artist Greg Shochko attempts to capture people's attention as well as carbon monoxide fumes with his prototype scooter. And for anyone who has ever dreamed of turning a secret family recipe into a food product for sale in stores, there's a program giving hope and advice on how to do it.

Full of Life

We meet abstract artist Brenden Spivey. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Spivey’s canvases are rich with color, shape, and texture. Each painting he creates is full of life. In 1978, Donn Arden’s production “Hello Hollywood Hello” premiered in Reno, Nevada. It was a massive hit. We hear more about the show and its lasting impact. We take a trip to Florida to experience the immersive exhibition “Seven Solos.” The show includes site-specific works from seven different contemporary artists. Through the power of song and personal storytelling, the musical “She’s Crazy: Mental Health and Other Myths” hopes to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness.

Further

Artist Kristin Skees works in a variety of media. Combining experimental fibers with photography, she approaches art in an imaginative, quirky way that has led to her work being shown in multiple collections. The work of Ohio-based artist David Butler creates conversation. Within the figurative painting tradition, he explores culture and history, and shows the intersection of identity, race, and equality. We travel to Florida to visit the Ignite Broward Art and Light Festival. This week-long event features large-scale projection mapping and an assortment of light sculptures and installations.

Further

“Doctor Atomic” is an opera about the creation of the atomic bomb. We travel to New Mexico to meet one of the artists behind the production, renowned opera director Peter Sellars. Natasha Tsakos is a show maker who combines technology with live performance to create new, dynamic experiences. In her work, she reimagines what theater could be. “Alight on Mars” is a nocturnal exhibition that celebrates the firefly. Walking along the outdoor sculpture path, visitors are able to see artwork that illuminates the night sky. In Reno, Nevada, we hear from Traci Turner, an artist who embraces color and finds inspiration in the human figure and human experience. With her paintings, she expresses emotion and builds connections with her viewer.

Fused

In this episode of Art Connection we sit down with Bonnie Gale, a New York artist, who uses willows to create her living outdoor sculptures. We catch up with Grammy award winning pianist, Billy Childs, who merges classical music with smooth jazz. We go behind the scenes with the creators of a spell bounding adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest and we check out “To The Brink,” an ongoing exhibit at the JFK Library that sheds light on U.S-Soviet Relations during Kennedy’s Administration.

Gathering Community

As a playwright and founder of a performing arts organization, Darius V. Daughtry provides opportunities for members of the community to express themselves. We travel to South Florida to learn more about the important work he is doing. Educator Megan Hallett leads “Family Art Studio,” a free, after school program that allows families to come together to create art in a welcoming environment. Gene Epstein transforms books into works of art by cutting and folding their pages into a variety of shapes and designs. We meet the artist and find out more about her creative process.

Generations

Muzelle is a multi-genre violinist. Although she is classically trained, she works in other genres. We visit the artist during a performance at a contemporary art exhibit and find out more about her creative journey. We meet Jason Glaser, a second-generation metal crafter. After his father passed away, he decided to continue the family business and helps run Jay’s metal crafting, which specializes in creative metal and ironwork. We travel to New York to learn about an exhibit that highlights printmaking among women artists during the experimental and collaborative period between 1960 and 1990. Mallory Feltz is a visual, installation, and performance artist who uses a variety of materials to examine the idea of home. We meet the artist and get an inside look at her process.

Gifted

An arts nonprofit in Washington, D.C. builds community through the art of storytelling.  “Mona Hatoum: Terra Infirma” showcases some of the major sculptures from this world-renowned artist. The Filomen M. D’Agostino Greenberg Music School is the official music school of The Lighthouse Guild, a nonprofit healthcare and service organization for the blind and visually impaired. Cincinnati artist, Terrence Burke, developed an interest in puppets when he was growing up. But it took special encouragement from his daughter to help him realize his childhood dream.

Gifts

Students in Detroit, Michigan learn the trade of media making. Poet Tanaya Winder shares her inspiration. Visit Mark Groaning's gallery in Rochester, New York, and you'll quickly realize that he likes to explore. It isn't often that you come across an artist who is as comfortable with a paint brush as they are with a torch. Stephen Koury is an artist in central Florida, who is known for his paintings of animals.