Art Connection

Celebration of the Past

We travel to Nevada to meet artist Jackie Pias Carlin. Born in Hawaii, she uses various mediums to celebrate where she came from. For 150 years, the Schantz Organ Company has been building distinguished pipe organs. Based in Orrville, Ohio, the company creates quality instruments for a variety of clients. Photographer Nabil Harb captures the local history of his hometown. We visit the South Florida State College Museum of Florida Art and Culture where his work was on view. The Thomas J. Moyer Ohio Judicial Center in Columbus is home to a contemporary art collection. We learn about how this special collection came to be.

Character

In Columbus, Ohio, there is a vibrant roller-skating culture that is alive and well. Members of the community gather together at the rink, hit the floor, and move to the music. We head to Reno, Nevada to find out more about artisan cocktail making. With seasonal ingredients and delightful garnishes, these cocktails become flavorful works of art. We meet Ashley Armitage, a graphic designer based in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she runs her own studio and develops standout design pieces for a variety of clients. In Detroit, Michigan, artist Desiree Kelly creates memorable, vivid portraits of public, historical icons. With each portrait she renders, she highlights her subject’s life and personality.

Closer Look

Miriam Baranov is a fine art painter who specializes in portraiture. Having studied in an atelier program, she practices figurative realism, seeking to capture the likeness of her sitter. At the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, flutist Brian Dunbar teaches up and coming musicians the beauties and intricacies of his favored instrument. In addition, he performs as a soloist, orchestral performer, and chamber musician. Since she was young, Florida artist Alexis Ellis has been fascinated by rodents. In addition to creating functional art, she finds joy in sculpting rats that are full of personality.

Collaboration

Check out an initiative in Reno, Nevada that promotes collaboration and aims to bring art projects to the public space. Meet an artist who is rethinking the quilt making process and creating colorful, eye-catching quilts made of photographs. The Hudson River Skywalk connects the homes of Thomas Cole and Frederic Church, two famous Hudson River School artists. Learn more about these painters and how this walkway came to be. In Houston, Texas, the Menil Drawing Institute highlights modern and contemporary drawings and features a singular architectural design.

Color and Flavor

Norman Lecoq is a self-taught artist based in Louisiana. We hear about his creative process, including his favorite mediums and subject matter. We look back at the 2022 Front International Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art in Ohio. Delayed for a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this edition of the exhibition aimed to heal. As the founder of “The Sugared Squirrel,” Roberta Cota-Montgomery creates custom designed sugar cookies full of color, flavor, and adornment. As part of the project “Patterns in Nature,” people are invited to step outside and discover the fractal patterns in nature. We join a guided walk that leads to found object art creation.

Colorful

We meet writer and rapper Chael Blinya. Based in Tampa, Florida, the artist plays with language and writes poetic lyrics that explore self-identity and perception. New Mexico artist Raymond Jonson spent his life painting modernist works. We learn more about the colorful pieces he created and his focus on the human spirit. Artist and educator Robert Schefman uses illusion to render an image. We travel to Michigan to visit the artist in his studio and find out more about his series of paintings and drawings that delve into the world of secrets. Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, the “Classical Tahoe” music festival adapted their program and found a way to carry on. We visit Nevada to hear from the musicians that safely reunited to perform chamber music for this concert event.

Colorful Creations

For artist Kimberli Cummings, clay is her medium of choice. With skill and creativity, she sculpts an assortment of functional pieces such as bowls, pitchers, and mugs. We take a trip to Reno, Nevada to meet mosaic artist Elizabeth Wright. With stained glass, beads, stone, and so much more, she creates colorful, textured mosaics. Justin Grubb specializes in wildlife and conservation photography. When he takes a picture, he highlights the threatened species in need of assistance. The exhibit “Fabric of a Nation: American Quilt Stories” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in Massachusetts features quilts from the 17th century to today that tell our country's story. 

Colorful Gifts

Go back stage with the Siren Society, a group of female aerial dancers and contortionists from Reno. The Museum of Fine Arts announced it’s been given a gift of European art so staggering, it’s a game-changer. Painter David Horton presents stories in his colorful canvases, filled with symbolic icons and fantastic creatures. Keith Neltner is an artist, illustrator, and the founder of Neltner Small Batch, a rural design workshop that crafts artisan product design for some familiar brands.

Comic Adventures

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's director of 25 years has recently announced she will be stepping down. We chat with her about why it's time to go and the theft that still haunts her. Painter George Kovach, best known for his landscapes of Texas, shares with us that nostalgia is what inspires his work. We talk with notable comic book artist Jason Aaron. And The Urban Conga works to make a difference by getting people out in the community.

Coming Together

A long-standing controversy involves an 18th-century work composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His St. John Passion has been the subject of protests and boycotts down through the ages. A Sacramento painter recounts her artistic journey. San Antonio’s East Side community is graced with unforgettable performances, innovative pop-up exhibitions, and cutting-edge multi- media works at the ninth annual Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival. Jordan Senarens wants to share art with scientists... and science with art lovers.

Communicating with Art

For artist Henry Hess, art is a way to communicate with others. Based in the Franklinton Arts District of Columbus, Ohio, he finds inspiration in the 20th century, surrounding himself with characters from classic movies—especially musicals. For the exhibit “Black Pearls,” Washington D.C.-based photographer Reginald Cunningham traveled to the historic Pearl City neighborhood of Boca Raton, Florida to capture a community with his camera. For over thirty years, artist Marilyn shaker has expressed herself through painting, and it has transformed her life in a remarkable way. 

Community

The Ummah exhibit at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts educates and allows the public to immerse in Islamic culture. This artistic collaboration with the Emerald Project demystifies a religion, inviting the community to see how Islam transcends the boundaries of nations. For artist David Hinchen, historic houses ignite his creativity. Rendering architectural marvels from New York’s Hudson Valley to Boston, Massachusetts, he sees the value in their design. Larry Patchett and Ken Hendricks are a creative duo who provide an opportunity to travel back in time through their forced perspective photography. We hear from an artist who chooses to work with a wide variety of materials. From wood to steel and acrylics to musical instruments, his creations are full of unexpected discovery.

Community Impact

At the Moab Valley Multicultural Center in Utah, one will discover “The Multicultural Mural.” Ten local artists and community volunteers came together to render an artwork that features important figures like Maya Angelou, Harvey Milk, and Nelson Mandela. We head to Ohio to meet Alice Blumenfeld, the artistic director of the award-winning Flamenco music and dance company “Abrepaso.” Founded in 2016, the company presents creative works to audiences in the state. We take a look back to when the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida celebrated their 100th anniversary. Founded in 1920, we learn more about the museum’s history and how it came to be what it is today.

Complex

Artist Hyman Bloom was interested in the human figure and the complexities of the human condition. We visit the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in Massachusetts to see an exhibit of the artist’s work. The installation “Cuban Caricature and Culture: The Art of Massaguer” features the modernist works of caricaturist and publisher Conrado Walter Massaguer. We travel to Miami, Florida to stop by the show. We travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to meet artist Ahmad Darouich. Born in Syria, we hear about his journey to the United States and his passion for painting. The Battleborn Memorial in Carson City, Nevada pays tribute to Nevada’s fallen service members. We meet the artistic team behind the meaningful structure and find out more about its design.

Concertos

Pianist Lara Downes created a program where young artists could have a platform to gain the skills and experiences needed to build their craft. The Human Race Theatre Company is Dayton's only professional regional theatre company and is one of the few theatre companies in the nation dedicated to bringing new musicals to the stage. We see how Bobby Scuteri has been honing his craft as a balloon artist since 1989. And artist Cat Del Buono describes her inspirations behind her video installation piece, Riders On The 4.

Confidence

We meet two barbershop owners who have mastered the art of cutting hair. With their creative set of tools, they help their customers be more confident in themselves. Wisconsin’s “Ex Fabula” is a non-profit that embraces the power of personal storytelling through workshops, storyslams, and more. We attend one event where members of the deaf community came together to share their stories. Centered around a glistening 100-foot-tall hot air balloon, Doug Aitken’s “New Horizon” is an unforgettable project that leaves a lasting impression. Ruth Gilmore Langs is an abstract expressionist. In her vivid artworks, she favors texture, color, and shapes. We visit the artist in her studio gallery to find out more.

Connect

Cervilio Amador, principle dancer for the Cincinnati Ballet always enjoyed the freedom of movement he found in ballet. But "freedom" took on a new meaning when he defected from Cuba to the United States. Architects at kinneymorrow architecture explain how they transformed an old home into their Houston Texas-based office space. Mequon, Wisconsin, oil painter Pamela Ruschman shares her great love for Wisconsin's landscapes and livestock in her paintings. She brings out the personalities of her beloved farm animals in her works. A person-to-person cultural exchange in Colorado where a music teacher connects with a violin student in Rwanda from inside a re-purposed shipping container with high-tech connections.

Connected

Musician Jim McCutcheon is known as “The Guitar Man.” He doesn't just play music, though. He also teaches it to students…and his lifetime dedication to music education was honored with the governor’s award for the arts in Ohio. Taking place at the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, the annual Artists in Residence Program gives artists the space to create, collaborate, and engage with the community. For 35 years, Mcavoy Layne has played the role of Mark Twain. Based in Incline Village, Nevada, the artist has brought the writings and musings of the famed author to audiences across the state and around the world.

Connecting Communities

We visit the renovated northwest coast hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The restored gallery space features an array of treasures that highlight the living cultures of the pacific northwest. Born in India, Padma Chebrolu shares the dances of her home country with students and audiences in Ohio. As the president and artistic director of Cultural Centre of India in Cincinnati, she offers dance classes, workshops, and performances for people to enjoy. We head to Miami, Oklahoma, to experience “Mural Fest Sixty-Six.” Since 2017, this mural festival has given artists the opportunity to express themselves in a big way…and it has reinvigorated a small town in the process.

Connecting through Art

Located in their own historic house built in 1842, the Weavers Guild of greater Cincinnati offers classes, workshops, and programs to people of all skill levels. Music therapists work at a children's hospital in Sacramento, California. Learn about the art of Japanese drumming from the performers of the Tampa Taiko ensemble. A series of artworks help Houstonians connect on the bayou.