Season 13, Episode 5

[Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by the L and L Nippert Charitable Foundation, Montgomery County, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Junior Foundation, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the Sutphin Family Foundation.

Additional funding provided by, and viewers like you.

In this addition of "The Art Show," pairing up craft breweries and art.

(upbeat cheerful music) Using reclaimed doors to bridge cultures, (upbeat cheerful music) and explore the life and work of a celebrated sculpture.

(upbeat cheerful music) It's all ahead on this addition of "The Art Show."

(energetic carefree music) (energetic carefree music continues) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to "The Art Show," where each week we provide access to local, regional, and national artists and arts organizations.

When Jess Hinshaw moved to Columbus and opened his print shop, Upright Press, he was looking for a way to connect more artists and businesses in town.

His idea, Prints and Pints.

This annual screen printed poster show pairs graphic artists and designers with local breweries to create eye-catching works of art.

Let's take a look behind the scenes of last year's popular community event to see how two artists crafted their poster designs.

(upbeat rhythmic music) We're here at Upright Press, independent screen printing shop in Columbus, on the south side, preparing for our fifth year of Prints and Pints.

(upbeat rhythmic music) Prints and Pints is a screen print poster fest.

It's a collaboration between the Daily Growler and Upright Press and then we bring in 12 breweries and 12 local artists to create unique posters.

So the artists treat this project kind of like a gig poster where they have an idea for a beer that the brewery makes and they work with the brewery on what that imagery will turn into and I think it's worked out really well that the breweries have given a lot of artistic license to the artists and that's why these posters have been so amazing.

The posters are limited edition.

There's only 30 and they're numbered by the artist, one of 30, two of 30, so on and so forth, and that's it.

So I think that's contributed a lot to the excitement about the event.

Which is just a one day event every year.

So, only available in person, no like, online sales and it's just a really special event for us and for the community and the artists and the breweries.

Once they had agreed to it, then I let the artists choose which brewery they wanted to work with.

(upbeat rhythmic music) My name's Dustin Brinkman and I'm working with Seventh Son Brewery, yeah, for Prints and Pints.

(gentle cheery music) I have a really, kind of soft spot in my heart for Seventh Son because when I first moved here, I didn't know where anything was and I just kind of a bit overwhelmed by like, one way streets, coming from a really small town, so, I lived down the street from Seventh Son, but had no idea it was there and I stumbled upon it and I would just go there every night after that.

Loved their atmosphere that they kind of cultivate there and the drinks and cocktails were always absolutely amazing, but yeah, I think I just really wanted to kind of, in some ways, like give back to them, like by working with them, I wanted to kind of participate in that way because I had had such a warm experience there from the get go.

(cool gentle music) Talking with the brewery, it's not just Seventh Son, they have the two other breweries, The Getaway, and then they have Antiques on High, and so I tried to take little components from each sort of location, taking the airplane from the getaway 'cause it has this sort of like, plane and travel theme to it, taking the Seventh Son cat, which was Horatio, also known as the assistant manager, the Antiques on High van and all those sort of different things.

Really wanted to try and culminate all those different things into one poster that still centers around, like that specific brewery, -which is Seventh Son.

-(cool gentle music) Yeah, my process, it feels like there is, like a lot of steps in it and it takes quite a bit of time.

So normally, I start off with, like a very, very generalized, sort of, like gesture sketch.

The digital collage comes from either photographs I'll personally take or things I'll find on the internet, and then from there, I print it off at scale, like the exact scale I wanna print and carve that out, transfer that onto the linoleum block that's cut down to that exact scale as well, so that is fully at like, the 18 by 24, like what our poster is gonna be.

And then from there, it's just the sitting and the kind of process of carving, which usually takes quite some time.

And then I come in here and I use the presses that are just behind me and then I'll pull that first relief proof.

Once that's dry, I'll scan that in and then do a sort of photo merge and Photo Shop, transfer that into Illustrator for a live trace and then come back to Photo Shop and do all my, like brushwork and tools and do all, like the color layering and stuff like that.

Then what I'm gonna do for the poster, like when we go layer-wise, is like start off with this, like super intense, very bright yellow that'll get, like dulled down a little bit in the shadow areas and stuff.

Like this layer is just meant to only purposefully be, like foreshadows to give stuff some depth.

Then red'll go next with this sort of background, sort of tone that like, makes it not as, just flat in there, and then the last color will be that blue that kind of transforms, like all that yellow into a green.

I think by the end of this week, I'll be done and I can send the images to Jess to get 'em ready for printing.

(cheerful carefree music) (cheerful carefree music continues) I'm Natasha Wheeler and I'm working with Yellow Springs Brewery.

I wanted to work with the Yellow Springs Brewery because I grew up in a neighboring city so I was really familiar with the Yellow Springs area and it was just a place we'd visit, you know, with my family.

As I got older, it was just like the place we'd drive to to, you know, hang out for an afternoon at the shops and things like that.

Lots of natural trails and hiking and it's just one of the more unique spots in Ohio.

When I was paired with Yellow Springs Brewery, they already knew they wanted to have a poster for a beer.

And the beer is Creative Space, one of their, I think NEIPAs, kind of had a few ideas about how it might represent Yellow Springs.

(gentle cheerful music) My process for creating the print, I usually like to start with just a messy sketchy thumbnail to try and get out the idea on how I kinda want the eye to move throughout the piece.

And then once I kind of establish that flow, I like to bring the sketch to the iPad.

I wanted, kind of a loose freehand approach to it.

So with the iPad, I could really get in there and just touch up all those details and then once I kind of have that really nice, refined sketch, I'll bring it to the computer and I'll use a program like Adobe Illustrator to actually separate out the colors into layers and really refine anything that didn't translate well.

One of the ideas was representing this idea of a free spirit.

So I wanted to use kind of like flowing lines 'cause you think beer, it flows, ideas flow, creativity flows, to then help tie all these different scenes together.

A lot of outdoor elements because the brewery itself, it's kind of a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.

Hiking, obviously is a big one, cycling, the brewery itself is positioned right on a bike path.

We've got some repelling hidden in there, there's skateboarding, kayaking, there's a river, got somebody bird watching, butterflies, flowers, just more natural elements that you might see there.

(traffic humming) I'd kinds say Jess is like a master printer.

I'm always really pleased and surprised when I see, like the actual print.

It's really cool, there's just something about that ink on paper and like, the matte quality to it all when you've been looking at it through, like an illuminated computer screen.

It's just so cool to see those colors and it come together.

(cheerful carefree music) What I see from people who come to the event and buy the posters is kind of just general excitement.

I think it speaks to people's relationship with the breweries themselves and the scene.

This is a big beer city, you know, there's over 60 breweries in this city.

So, it's an important thing to people.

[Dustin Brinkman] People love beer and people love art and so it's nice when they come together like that.

I think it makes artwork kind of approachable, you know, it's very affordable.

[John Blakely] To be able to put a poster from a local business, by a local artist, on your wall is something that's pretty unique.

(cheerful carefree music) A lot of the artists that have done this have gone on to be kind of mainstays at that brewery, designing cans, t-shirts.

Being able to participate in Prints and Pints has like really opened up my, like, sort of circle of artists and designers and things to work with.

And I think being able to bring in those different types of artists within that community and see how everyone's kind of taking on these designs a little differently also broadens that horizon to like, what poster printing is or what, sort of, graphic work and imagery kind of, really can be, through different sort of lenses.

[Natasha Wheeler] If you're into the local craft beer scene, in Columbus, I definitely think it's an event worth checking out.

Again, just like uniquely positive and good vibes abound.

[Dustin Brinkman] It's the most relaxed, sort of, event, art exhibition I've, like been to in quite some time.

I'm looking for five more years.

(cheerful music) If you'd like to learn more about this or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org or thinktv.org.

Now, let's head to the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center in Cleveland.

Since 2016, LatinX artists have been invited to transform reclaimed doors into works of art to represent Spanish speaking countries around the world.

The project is called Doors to My Barrio and invites the community to explore and celebrate the different cultures and history of each nation.

Here's the story.

Doors to My Barrio was started in 2016.

It was just an idea from a donation of doors that I received from a friend, and at first, I just thought, "What am I gonna do with these doors?"

We kind of came up with the idea behind the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitars, we decided that each door would represent a Spanish speaking country.

So the great thing about this year is that we received funding for Hispanic Heritage Month and part of that funding was to commission artists to do some work for us and I thought this was a perfect time to kind of bring the project back to life.

And to finish it, we still have several doors that need to be completed so that the collection will be complete.

I really feel that each door has a story behind it and, you know, I have a sentimental attachment to them.

(speaking Spanish) My door for project, I was actually given Spain as my theme 'cause bull fighters are very common in Spanish artworks and everywhere.

It's a matador in a purple suit, matador suit, and he's kind of like pulling the little blanket, like when the bull goes by him and I colored it so that it looks like the flag of Spain, although the colors are inverted.

That was kind of unintentional.

So I did Bolivia and I wanted to include, like the indigenous population of Bolivia 'cause a big percentage of the people are indigenous.

So it's the Aymara and the Quechua people.

So I included the two women kind of looking at the Andes and then I included a sunset.

So one of the rays is the (speaks foreign language) flag, which is actually also, like a national flag and it represents the indigenous people which I've never heard of that before, so yeah.

I've never heard of like, a flag, an indigenous flag being included as like, a flag of a country.

I got Uruguay.

Back in the colonial times, it was a place where the Africans came and it was a place where they came for freedom and that was where they kind of dispute, distributed themselves into America, essentially.

So that's where I kind of have all these different melting pots of people in this small, little door I have.

A lot of my art is mostly colorful skin tones, like blue, magenta, sometimes green, so it was different, but it was also really cool to try to do all these different skin tones, but also incorporate those colors around them and have their skin tone shine as the main feature.

(whimsical electronic music) Every time somebody walks into this room, they immediately take out their cameras, there's kind of like a gasp and, you know, they're very, like impressed by the collection.

First of all, they're on doors, you know, and second of all, I think it's very impressive that we have such talented local Latino artists in our community.

It was great for me, it was a great chance to get myself out there as a striving artist.

It is opening a door up to, like the artist itself, to this country, but not only that, I feel like in Cleveland, you'd wanna have exposure as LatinX people so the door is just like a passageway to our culture, which is really beautiful.

The main population, Latino population in Cleveland, is Puerto Rican and we have a growing population of, you know, different Latino cultures, you know, Mexico and Cuba and El Salvador, so we have all these growing Latino populations in our city and we wanted to celebrate that.

(speaking Spanish) Well, when I came to Cleveland, I couldn't really find my LatinX peeps.

(laughs) Or my people, so, I think just being part of it just means, that like, there is a community here and we're thriving and we're getting our name out there and I never really felt part of, like, Cleveland until I started working with Julia De Burgos, so it means a lot to me and it feels like I, kind of like found my space here.

(speaking Spanish) If you need more art goodness in your life, the podcast "Rodney Veal's Inspired By" is available now.

You can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Learn more and find show notes at thinktv.org or cetconnect.org/inspiredby.

Sculptor and designer, Isamu Noguchi was one of the most significant artists of the 20th century.

In 1985, he founded a museum in Queens, New York to showcase his work.

Today, the Noguchi Museum exhibits a comprehensive selection of the artist's innovative sculptures, drawings and models, and honors his legacy.

Take a look.

(gentle ringing music) Noguchi was born in 1904.

He was born in Los Angeles, California His mother was an Irish woman from New York.

She was born in Brooklyn.

His father was a traveling poet from Japan.

Noguchi wasn't even named until he was almost three years old.

His mother just called him boy or yo.

His identity was complicated.

From the very first moment of his birth, he was bi-racial, chose to be multicultural his whole life, but at a time when it was much harder.

He enrolled at Columbia, in premed.

His mother felt that he was destined for bigger things than being a doctor.

And by that, she meant being an artist.

He was a spectacular academic sculpture at 19, 20, and then very quickly realized that he was becoming the poster boy of a passe art form.

(gentle twinkling music) He really wanted to change sculpture in a way that made it a force for civic good.

He wanted to make it an active part of our everyday lives.

That's why he never stopped making furniture, his Akari lamp series, he made playgrounds, he made playground equipment, he made sets for theater and dance, he had long collaborations with people like Martha Graham.

The museum was founded in 1985 and Noguchi had been here for almost 10 years.

He bought a derelict factory building which is the red brick building behind me, and started using it for storage and staging.

Sculpture is all about physical inconvenience.

Everything is big and heavy and takes up space and requires equipment to deal with.

So sculptures always need more room.

He decided that in order to encapsulate his perspective or his point of view, his way of thinking of things, that the best thing to do was to build an institution.

And so he began to turn his private garden and space into a display space.

When the museum opened, it was seasonal.

When Noguchi would be here himself, you could ring the bell and he'd come down and walk you through.

One of the things that you'll notice when you come to our museum, probably right away, is that we don't have wall labels.

We do that, not because Noguchi hated wall labels, when the museum first opened, there were labels, identifying all the sculptures, somewhere near them, in a kind of traditional museum fashion.

Gradually he just removed them and it's because he wanted your experience of the work to be primary.

The fastest way to kill an artwork is to pretend that you've solved it.

(gentle peaceful music) The museum is really about a direct and intimate relationship with these objects and these things, and more important, the larger sense of an environment that they create.

They really produce an atmosphere and we're standing in this garden, which isn't even 2/3rds of an acre, it's teeny tiny, it's a postage stamp.

He called the museum an oasis on the edge of a black hole.

The black hole is New York City and the urban maelstrom, and as small as it is, you come here and you just soak it in, and you soak it in through osmosis.

It's like visiting a forest, not like going to the museum.

Maybe Noguchi's most successful sculpture, overall, are his Akari lanterns.

He called them lanterns rather than lamps because he said he wanted them to be as movable as butterflies.

So traditional paper lanterns, (mutters) specifically, are made with a particular kind of continuous bamboo ribbing and washy paper that's made with interior bark of a mulberry tree and it produces a laid paper that's just more durable, more flexible, and more resilient than classic laid cotton paper.

(gentle peaceful music) "Break Through Capistrano" is made out of Japanese basalt.

A basalt column is a single crystal of basalt and Noguchi worked with harder and harder stones because he wanted the material to resist him.

What he really liked was stones that had already been marked by some process that he would then incorporate into the work.

You can see the lines of drill holes, those drill holes were made manually, with hand drills, and then they'll push two bamboo wedges into the hole and fill the hole with water.

The bamboo wedges expand enough to crack the stone.

Noguchi loved that and he loved the product of this breaking process.

So he would take these stones, columns, and set them upright, slice the bottom off so that it would stand up, and then make his few adjustments to turn them into sculpture, in air quotes.

The well that's right behind me, this wonderful variation on a tsukubai, that is a circulating fountain, the water just cascades out over the stone.

That's another one of those basalt columns just lopped off with a coring drill, making a hole in it.

Some of these sculptures are eroding, but the trees are growing.

Their relationship to each other is changing, constantly over time.

He planted all of the trees.

So the magnificent Katsura tree that provides the canopy that dominates the garden, really was a sprig, it was a quarter inch sapling and now you see what that's become.

And that's why the heart and soul of the Noguchi Museum -is this garden.

-(gentle peaceful music) And that wraps it up for this edition of "The Art Show."

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal, thanks for watching.

(cheerful upbeat music) (cheerful upbeat music continues) (cheerful upbeat music continues) (cheerful upbeat music continues) (cheerful upbeat music continues) (cheerful upbeat music continues) [Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by the L and L Nippert Charitable Foundation, Montgomery County, the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Junior Foundation, the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, the Sutphin Family Foundation.

Additional funding provided by.

And viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has been made possible through a grant from the Bahmann Foundation, thank you.