- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- ["Arts Plus" Announcer] Funding for "WEDU Arts Plus" is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

- [Ortiz] In this edition of "WEDU Arts Plus," a photographer investigates the nature of his hometown... - [Harb] I think that's a big part of Florida for me and something I've really thought about a lot is how can I let the environment of Florida into my work.

- [Ortiz] A welcoming arts center... - We strive to bring an all-inclusive and safe environment for any walk of life.

Any human being that wants to be an artist can come here and be welcome here.

- [Ortiz] An artist's musical career... - No matter how well you play or sing, if it doesn't touch anybody, you might as well not do it.

- [Ortiz] And a marble symposium.

- [Wiener] We protect the forest, we protect the river, we protect the sculptors, and we treat the stone kindly.

- It's all coming up next on "WEDU Arts Plus."

(rhythmic jazz music) Hello, I'm Gabe Ortiz, and this is "WEDU Arts Plus."

Nabil Harb uses photography to capture the changing cultural, political, and environmental atmosphere of his hometown of Lakeland, Florida.

We traveled to Lakeland to get a glimpse of his latest body of work created for an exhibition titled "Atmospheres" at the South Florida State College Museum of Florida Art & Culture.

- I always like to joke that half the reason I'm a photographer is because I'm nosy, and I like to get into things, and I'm always curious, like, "What's going on in that building?

What's going on in this part of town?"

I may not have an aim.

There's maybe not something I specifically want from these places other than to see what's going on, and I found that having a camera is a really great excuse.

I like living in Lakeland because I'm from here originally.

I was born and raised here, but I've always made my work here, my photographic work.

I have a lot of connections in this area that allow my work to be possible.

It's a really important part of my practices, access to places.

For instance, going to orange groves or old jails that are no longer in use, kind of like old parks and places that sort of have this historical tie to it that I'm really interested in checking out.

"Atmospheres" is a new body of work that I've created.

There's a lot of thinking of movement in history, movement, whether it's the movement of water, the movement of people in cars, like through highways, and thinking a lot about the relationship between the infrastructure and the water, because that's a big part of Florida for me, and something I've really thought about a lot is how can I let the environment of Florida into my work.

- In Nabil's work, we're seeing his memories and his personal history layered on top of all these different places in Lakeland, and we're seeing local history, local culture, but he's also packing in a ton of sensory information into his images as well.

You really feel like you're in these heavy, muggy, Florida environments when you're looking at his pictures.

You're not just seeing the trees.

You're seeing all of the atmosphere.

You're seeing all of the particles and all of the bugs and all the moisture in the air, and you can feel the humidity, and all the activity and density and material that's there in that atmosphere that we're moving through day-to-day.

- Whirlpool is yet another, I think, example of the personal, political, historical layers that exist just in any of my pictures, and this one in particular was an image of a tiny whirlpool that's kind of occurring right in this hotspot of the sun's reflection in the Peace River, and the Peace River is a historically relevant area and water feature in Lakeland.

It's a place that historically has been a dividing line.

When the settlers first arrived to this part of Florida, it was a place where the indigenous people were pushed up against originally, and then eventually were sort of kicked to the other side of the Peace River.

So, it's been historically used as this border.

It's also a place where a lot of racialized violence had occurred.

Picturing this little portal opening up in this river, I just can't help but think to myself what's coming through when this river and this water knows so much or have been a site for so many things.

The awareness of all these geographical features and how they touch one another, because for me, it's like the Peace River connects to Saddle Creek.

Saddle Creek is right next to Main Street.

Main Street is the street that the gay club is at, The Parrot, and so I can't help but think about all of those things interacting with one another, and all the time that's sort of flattened by my exploration of that area.

And in thinking about all of these things at once, right?

A gay club, a gay cruising ground, fossil hunting in racial violence, what do all those things have in common?

The Peace River for some reason.

With Lakeland, it's growing so much, especially during the pandemic, which I think everyone in Florida sort of noticed that people moved in in droves.

For me, I'm like, okay, but what's lost because of that, right?

We have so many new coffee shops and so many new bars and restaurants in Lakeland that are really cool, and I like to eat there and I like to hang out there, but it's also like, all right, but what else?

What used to be here?

Why is no one curious about that?

And so we're witnessing this really intense turnover of culture and industry and identity in this place that I think is really sad.

I don't love it.

I think those of us who have always been here maybe aren't being as served by some of this turnover as everyone else.

You know, and especially those of us who are from suburban, rural, less quote-unquote culturally relevant places, I think it's really important for a lot of us to think back on where we're from because an outsider coming in can make all these assumptions.

I'm like, why don't those of us who know what we're doing in these places speak on it?

- I think Nabil's work shows that even if you live in a small town or in an isolated location, you might feel like there's not a lot going on, but there is a lot going on wherever you are if you look for it.

- If you look at your hometown with these eyes that other people who aren't from this place don't have for this area, you can see things that other people won't, and so I would hope that maybe a larger theme of this work is for people to think about where they're from and think about the history and the magic of that.

(dramatic music) (bright music) - To learn more about Nabil Harb and his exhibition "Atmospheres," visit mofac.org.

The Center for Performance Arts and Learning in Wixom, Michigan provides individuals with an inclusive space to explore the arts and its many facets.

No matter your background, everyone is invited to express themselves.

(upbeat instrumental music) (dancer tapping) - Nothing holds me back.

If I can dance, I'll do it.

This is the Center for Performance Arts and Learning.

This is where culture and diversity comes together.

This is where six to 600 is our new hashtag.

Age is not a limit.

Your ethnicity is not a limit.

Your gender is not gonna hold you back.

Your beliefs don't hold you back.

- We strive to bring an all-inclusive and safe environment for any walk of life.

Any human being that wants to be an artist can come here and be welcome here and be a part of what feels like a family.

- Nandita has a great heart for people, and she pushes we want everybody to be comfortable, and we want everybody to try something they've never tried before.

So, this is a very unique place.

- [Bajaj] We are actually right at the border of Novi in Wixom.

We were looking for something which was easily accessible, but I think when we walked in, sounds cliche, but the space just seemed right.

This is basically a springboard for young instructors, for young artists, for people who want to learn, and they're in a very safe space.

- It is so important for people to learn about other art forms because it's the same way about learning history or learning math or learning reading.

It creates a holistic view of the world.

- In the dance world or in the music world, a lot of what is competitive leads to broken self-esteem, leads to broken dreams, so we're trying, in our own little way, trying to build people back up, I guess.

- [Kuss] I think what really causes confidence to grow here is that nurturing environment.

So, you see people walking in who have never taken this class before grow from complete beginner to very, very fluent in the motions, and it's so cool to see that really positive, really nurturing environment really helping inspire people to succeed.

- We have four basic areas: dance, music, art, along with creative expression.

Creative expression includes languages, speech classes, communication classes.

Music, of course, covers your drums and guitar.

That was the four basic areas we started were with drum, guitar, voice, and keyboard.

Now we've expanded into viola, violin, flute.

We are talking to a cello instructor as well.

- I teach voice, and I'm gonna be the one directing the community choir.

That's going to be an incredibly wide age range, which I find to be very unique.

You don't really see a lot of community choirs anywhere that have age ranges from early high school or even middle school to middle age.

It really doesn't matter what age you are.

- We do have a student who has actually been invited to sing for the Pistons.

He's going to be singing the national anthem for the Pistons in March.

- [Kuss] It makes me proud to see them thriving.

- [Bajaj] Dance classes cover your ballet, tap, jazz, international dance styles, classical dance styles, aerial arts.

We just introduced a mixed aerial arts class.

And then fitness.

- [Kuss] Some of the really unique ones that we have are the aerial silks classes or the lyra classes.

- Our aerial program has grown over the last year a lot because of the commitment that I've made for it and what the vision that I've wanted for it, and Nandita has backed me up all the way, which is great.

We went from having two straight fabrics to now all these other apparatuses and all these different things that these students can learn.

I like the fact that it takes a lot of strength and it's a very difficult discipline.

I want the students to leave every week how I felt when I first started, which was when I got in my car, I didn't want to leave.

I wanted to go back in and just keep playing.

It's a great stress reliever.

It's a workout.

I mean, if you're on that apparatus for 45 minutes to an hour, even if you're on and off of it, you're burning calories, you're building muscle, you're building confidence.

- [Kuss] There's a lot of Bollywood-style dance classes that we have that you really can't find at a lot of places nearby.

- One, two.

I teach Bollywood classes.

I teach both classical, semi-classical, and your contemporary Bollywood-music-based classes.

- [Elsner] If an instructor has a passion for it, we can tell.

- Our biggest strength is our instructors.

They're all qualified.

They're all passionate teachers.

That is what makes them so unique.

- I just love it because she's seen what I can do, and we get along really well and can communicate just fine, and she kind of just has thrown the ball in my court, allows me to create my own syllabus, allows me to just be creative with the students, set goals with them.

- This is the most comfortable way to step out of your comfort zone.

There are things you can do here that you never thought you would do, but it's the most comfortable way to do it.

- If you are sitting there watching this, just do it.

There is nothing holding you back.

We are here and we want to have you here.

We want to help you succeed here.

- When we started about two years ago, we just started with this one building, pure dance classes.

Today, we are sitting at two different studios with about 23 different classes we offer.

The goal is still to work with as many people as possible.

It's very satisfying.

It makes us happy to see that we are able to do what we are able to do.

- I want to bring love to the community, a smile at the very least, and something that they fall in love with at the most, because at the end of the day I truly feel like art is what makes us human, and when we love art, we're able to love people, so I want to kind of share that with the world.

I want to share that with every person that walks in these doors.

(bright music) - To find out more, go to cen4pal.net.

For more than 50 years, artist John Palmore has been immersed in the music world.

From playing the keyboard to singing songs, he does it all.

In this segment, we head to Sparks, Nevada to learn more about his creative journey.

(upbeat jazz music) - I do love the blues.

It's another one of those genres that just touches everybody.

If you want to dance, there's some blues for that.

If you want to feel sad and cry in your beer, there's some blues for that.

If you're in love, there's blues for that.

All of the music genres have an element of the blues in it.

(upbeat jazz music) My name is John Palmore, and I'm a professional musician.

I grew up in a little small town called Mabe in Alabama.

In junior high school, some guy put a pair of drumsticks in my hands, so I became a drummer.

My last year in high school, I became a trombone player.

Got lucky, got a partial scholarship to a small school outside of Birmingham called Miles College.

I ended up taking Orchestration and Arranging, which meant you had to learn to play the piano or the guitar, and being on scholarship, I couldn't drop the class.

So, there I was trying to figure out how to play piano.

I learned to play by ear, so I just played everything I heard on the radio.

After I got out of the Army in '69, I got in a house band, and every weekend, this club would have different artists come in, and we had to learn their music and play for them.

The Drifters came through there.

The Drifters was a hit-making group out of the late '50s and through the '60s.

Later on, I got a call from Bill Pinkney, who was the leader of The Drifters at that time.

He said, "Hey, boy, you want to go out on the road?"

I said, "What?"

He said, "It's Bill Pinkney.

I'm with The Drifters.

You ready to go out on the road?"

I said, "Yeah."

(laughs) I was on tour with The Drifters for about 13 years, and we played Vegas a lot.

I left The Drifters in '89, and I thought I was gonna be living in Vegas, but I was getting more gigs in Reno, so I moved to Reno, and at that time, I wasn't a vocalist, so I called my brother to join me, 'cause he could play and sing anything.

So, we played together as The Palmore Brothers.

We were like matinee idols in this town from like '91 till the late '90s.

My brother got sick and passed away, and he was the bass player and the lead singer, so I had to do a lot of the singing myself.

When the Palmore Remix band came up, I had to remix everything, so I created a way I call sequencing.

If I hear a song I want to do, first of all, I'll listen to it and I write a chord chart, and then after writing a chord chart, I figure the time and all that, set all that up.

I play the drums on the keyboard.

♪ All of me ♪ I mix that, make sure I got all the parts of a drum kit happening, and then I'll play the piano along with it.

♪ I'm no good without you ♪ Then I'll add the bass, then I'll add the guitar, and then I'll add the horns and the strings, and I'll mix it to make it sound like a band.

♪ Take these arms ♪ ♪ I'll never use them ♪ The keyboard is my baby, but I love the organ more than any other keyboard because the organ is such a big sound.

I play for the Second Baptist Church.

The service there is like electric.

(choir singing gospel) The feeling that gospel music gives, you can't get that in any other kind of music.

(choir and musicians performing gospel) I've been so busy that I rarely have two days in a row off.

(upbeat blues music) ♪ He's leaving ♪ ♪ I'm leaving ♪ I work with Pat Esters, who's a phenomenal female vocalist.

We have duo called The Velvet Duo.

(plays upbeat blues music) 'Cause I play a lot of facilities by myself, ♪ So, get your kick ♪ ♪ On Route 66 ♪ I play two or three of the assisted living places a week.

I play for people who they say have dementia or Alzheimer's, and you play a song maybe from 1947 or something, and they sing all the words along with you.

Oh, that is so joyful.

To see that the music touches those people means everything to me, 'cause no matter how well you play or sing, if it doesn't touch anybody, you might as well not do it.

Thank you very much.

If you do something you love, you never work a day in your life.

I haven't worked a day since 1969.

♪ All of me ♪ (bright music) - Discover more at facebook.com/john.palmore.14.

Up next, travel to the Rocky Mountains to learn more about the Marble/marble Symposium in Colorado.

Established in 1989, participants gather together and carve fantastic sculptures during this eight-day event.

(person singing in Latin) - [Garrison] On the Earth's geological scale that's measured in eons and eras spanning many millions of years, the brief three-decade history of the Marble/marble Symposium is but a blink in time, and yet what's as enduring as the luminous Colorado Yule marble that sculptors come from all over the world to carve is the seismically moving sense of place, embrace of family, and pursuit of beauty that casts its spell of marble magic?

- What I love about this marble is the translucency of the stone.

You could see into the stone.

You could see the crystalline structure.

It's the most magnificent marble.

It's the whitest, purest.

It has gold vein.

It has a sparkle like no other marble in the world, and we love carving it.

- [Garrison] The Yule stone was so illuminating to Madeline Wiener that she became the founding mother of Marble/marble in 1989, and she imagined a meeting of visionary people that would be fulfilling and meaningful in every detail.

- I came out here and I saw my three friends carving along the banks of the Crystal River at the Marble Fair in '77, and I was quite envious, and I wanted to do it, too, and that planted the seed to come up here and carve in the woods with my friends.

- We're moving the light around and the shadow, and that is- - We named it Marble/marble Symposium because I didn't want it to seem like a quick little workshop.

I needed a bigger word.

Symposium is a gathering of people and minds who are sharing ideas, so we're more of a marble symposium.

(singers harmonizing) - [Garrison] Madeline has been called to sculpt ever since she was a young artist in New York City, where she was struck by the sound of stone being worked in another studio.

(hammer clicking) - I could listen to the rhythm of the hammer and the chisel and the file, and I always heard that sh-sh-sh-sh from the file, and the ta-tap, ta-tap, ta-tap, (clucks tongue) of the hammer and the chisel, and I was so fascinated and drawn to it.

I had to carve stone.

- [Garrison] And she began in a traditional manner that a renaissance man like Michelangelo would recognize, until she met some modern tool guys and found more power.

- In the old days when I was carving with a hammer and a chisel, the way all the maestros carved, the way all the masters carved.

It's a delightful way to carve, but it's very impractical.

I love power tools.

I just love power tools.

The big-body grinder and the big chainsaw?

(laughs) Diamond hydraulic chainsaw definitely changed my life.

I'm a tool junkie.

- [Garrison] While the woods alongside the Crystal River are still whining of diamond saws, just like the old times when marble was an active factory, there are the quieter, less mechanized moments when Madeline takes the gloves off in a painstaking but pleasure-giving ritual of getting in touch with the stone.

- With all this power, I go back to working by hand, no matter what.

It's a tactile experience.

You're using your hands.

The reward of working with these tools that get you in close to the stone, nothing else but the files, the sandpaper, so much fun, and it's hard work and you bleed a little.

These are the fingers that wear out.

(laughs) - [Garrison] Madeline's son Joshua was also smitten by the Yule stone once he split his first block at the age of 18.

- There's really something kind of primal about shaping a rock or splitting a rock, and when it splits, you can hear it tear.

You can hear the... (makes ripping sound) Really just exceptional sound, this hollow boom when it opens up, and it just totally lit me up for it.

Once I started to refine a stone, I just was absolutely captivated.

I knew that I had a lifetime of work to figure out with the material.

It's so exquisite, the history of it, that it was in the ocean and got compressed and crystallized.

We're able to really see what it's encoded with, the time that it's encoded with, and the structure that it's encoded with.

To be working it, to be chiseling it, to cut it, to refine an edge is really a exquisite sensation for the artist.

- [Garrison] And the artists who discover Marble/marble return again and again for as long as the Yule keeps revealing its exceptional secrets.

- [Wiener] I see the same faces year after year and new faces, and the new faces ultimately become the old faces.

People keep coming here until they just can't.

- [Joshua Wiener] Marble magic, it's fantastic.

I mean, we have like a 80% return rate.

- [Wiener] This stone is a much harder carve, more difficult to carve.

Once you know how to do it, it's as strong as any stone in the world, but you have to learn about this stone, which is why we're here.

We bring a body of people together from all over the world.

They come for this marble.

(singers harmonizing) - [Garrison] All the Yule stone that's been millennia in the making, mined for more than a century, left in remnants throughout this forest of marble continues to inspire a procession of sculptors along with more generations of Madeline's family to free and give life to so many inner visions and hidden figures, quite magically - I could see it going up to Marble 35, Marble 40, if I live that long.

I could see it going on infinitely, and coincidentally, my son Joshua is a sculptor, and he and his wife are going to step into my shoes.

- [Joshua Wiener] I am excited about being involved with Marble/marble for the rest of my life.

I've been coming for 24 years out of 42, and my kids have grown up here.

- I have enough marble on this property to carve for two lifetimes easily, easily.

As long as we have people interested in carving stone, we'll keep going with Marble/marble.

We protect the forest, we protect the river, we protect the sculptors, and we treat the stone kindly, and I think that that's part of the magic.

(bright music) - For more information, visit marbleinst.org.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "WEDU Arts Plus."

For more arts and culture, visit wedu.org/artsplus.

Until next time, I'm Gabe Ortiz.

Thanks for watching.

(suspenseful rhythmic music) - ["Arts Plus" Announcer] Funding for "WEDU Arts Plus" is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

(dramatic instrumental jingle)