Art Connection

Fiber of Being

The Fiber Arts are frequently associated with old-fashioned quilting and crochet, but we learn it’s making a name for itself in the contemporary art world. Love reveals its true face in Cyrano Mio, a Spanish adaptation of the French original. We follow the music to Denver, Colorado where world-class pianist Katie Mahan reveals her love of music and we visit the Roberson Museum in New York.

Film Minority

Meet a roofer whose passion for woodworking leads him to make handcrafted guitars from wood salvaged on the job site. We take a look at a film festival showcasing the voices and perspectives of women – both as subjects and storytellers. We take a look at photographer A.J. Meek's new book featuring clouds and poetry by children. And we have an immersive art experience at The (e)merge Art Fair in Washington D.C.

Finding A Balance

A profile of StreetMule, one of more than 350 members of the MTA’s Music Under New York Program. New Mexico painter Laila Cola Weeks feels technology is changing something fundamental about ourselves. Christopher Seggi started drawing at an early age. He also wanted to grow up to be a police officer. Now, he combines his passions into a career that helps put criminals behind bars. It takes a special kind of story and a talented group of story tellers to take the fun of the silver screen and imagine it into an interactive experience… the perfect job for the best of Disney Imagineering.

Finding a Path

Victoria Reyes started creating art at a very young age. With dual military parents away for long periods of time, art became an escape. Inspired by anime, she began to render digital works on her ipad…and today, she continues to do so, while also pursuing traditional art. Andrew Levitt, a.k.a “Nina West,” is an acclaimed drag performer from Ohio. He is also an activist, singer-songwriter, and actor who stars as Edna Turnblad in the national tour of “Hairspray.” Gustavo Victor Goler carves images of saints out of wood. What started as a hobby in high school has become an award-winning career that spans decades.

Finding a Way

A struggling Cleveland, Ohio, artist finds success documenting the lives of others, who, like him, are trying to get by. At MOPCO Improv Theatre in Schenectady, New York, Kat Koppett runs a consultancy that specializes in using the principles of improv to train and coach business leaders. Kathy Flynn shares stories of discovering Works Progres Administration (WPA) art works lost over time in New Mexico. Reno, Nevada, artist Gina Iwahashi specializes in Shibori, a Japanese tie-dyeing technique resulting in a variety of one-of-a-kind patterns.

Finding Inspiration

Explore the world of printmaking with Amanda Joy Petersen, a talented printmaker and master's degree student at Utah State University. She shares her journey in art and education and how her work serves as a form of creative expression and healing. At Saint Petersburg College in Florida, Artist Eryn Mitchell creates chalk drawings that celebrate the wonders of the scientific realm. From Geology to Biology to Astronomy, the many fields of study are represented in her work. We travel to Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio to meet fashion designer Nat Della Selva who designed a collection that pays homage to her childhood neighborhood and the people who raised her.

Finding Inspiration

We visit midtown Kansas City for the annual Chalk and Walk Festival. Every year the festival keeps getting bigger and better in its quest to prove chalk is a legitimate way to make incredible art pieces. Jessica Helen Lopez shares how identity inspires her poetry. Artist Julie Crews is not painting, she is co-parenting her five children with her husband, Neil. Julie says she mostly paints the people, places, and things that she encounters running errands for a family. Lastly, satisfy your sweet tooth with a visit to Mmelo in the Arena District in Downtown Columbus. Owner Michelle Allen shows off her tasty confections, namely her signature marshmallows.

Finding Peace

At the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, Utah, “Art Ambassadors” is an initiative that presents students and community members with the opportunity to create a tour based on their areas of interest. Frank Hayden is one of Louisiana's most important sculptors. Using wood, stone, bronze, and other materials, his artwork reflects on spiritual, historical, and humanistic issues. Artist Ed Valentine combines intentionality with accident to render contemporary landscapes that include lace-like patterns, stenciled birds, and spatters of paint. 

Flophouse Designs

We travel to The Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada, which has been the centerpiece of the town’s arts and culture. Since opening in 1863, it has withstood two fires, financial hardship and over a century of the changing tastes in entertainment. Sir Winston Churchill, best known for being the leader of England during World Word II, but many don’t know him as a painter and a very skilled one at that. We have a look at Churchill’s artistic side though an exhibit at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. We visit the world’s biggest alligator made out of a mosaic of tiles. And we meet a duo who dreams up and creates unique skateboard designs at The Flophouse.

Flowing

This time on Art Connection, we take an in depth look at the glass art of Dale Chihuly at the Denver Botanical Gardens. We see how ASL interpreters and Angela Roth, who work closely with the deaf community, take singing to a new level. Meet Clint Holmes as he speaks on topics ranging from what it was like to grow up as a mixed race child and what inexplicable "thing" makes him so passionate about music. And self-taught artist, Debbie Loffing, shares her tactile, natural and at times humorous work.

Folkabilly

We get an exclusive look at the life of musician Antsy McClain, who combines folk sounds with a little bit of country and a little bit of rock and roll. We meet contemporary painter Kevin Sloan who focuses on nature and its relationship with the modern, technological era. We sit down with non-fiction writer William Donati who is turning his attention to the past with an eye toward the world of fiction. And we visit a collection of artists that have come together to create, collaborate, and inspire.

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.