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

(bright music) - [Speaker] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation, Tampa Bay.

- [Gabe] In this edition of WEDU Arts Plus, a Tampa nonprofit gives veterans an artistic outlet.

- When you're in the military, you have a mission, you feel important.

When you take that away, 'cause I think that's what I felt, you take away purpose a little bit.

And so when you're doing your art, there's almost a sense of purpose.

- [Gabe] An innovative artist collective.

- We don't take training for this, we literally just know what we wanna do.

We invite other people to do it with us and we all figure it out together and we just get better together.

- [Gabe] An interactive puppet installation.

- I think a work of our needs to be open-ended.

Not everyone comes in knowing precisely the concept of the work.

- [Gabe] And a meaningful memorial.

- It's an artistic approach to a memorial is I think the way we try to address this.

It is a memorial for fallen Nevada warriors and their families.

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

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

Army veteran Belicia Adams comes from a military family and knows the mental health struggle that can arise from military service.

So she started Paint 22, a nonprofit that provides free art activities to veterans and their families to help them work through those emotions.

(gentle music) - I started off in just drawing and then I started off watercoloring and I'm more focused on photography now, so I do a lot more abstract painting and photography work.

That's my personal artist.

I seen a need for Paint 22 in the community when I was in the military.

I was always creating, drawing on my downtime, poetry, and sharing that with other veterans, whether they did poetry or not, you know, they would write and we would collaborate, so we would have those good moments, you know.

And seeing that we have our individuality still and creativity and that's what I wanted to share to other veterans.

I was really focused on Mission 22, where it was more physical, the pushups, and so I was inspired by them and I wanted to give another outlet.

There's a lot of these organizations that cater to, you know, veterans suicide.

It's more physical, you know?

but there's no arts, there's no painting activity, you couldn't find anything where you can express yourself.

So that's where I found Paint 22 to be more helpful for the veterans.

- 22 is the amount of veterans that take their life from suicide.

So that is a daily average and it does fluctuate.

It is actually higher now, it's around 25 to 26.

We hope to lower that by providing that other outlet where they can, you know, express themselves.

(gentle music continues) - I was in the United States Air Force.

I joined when I was 17 years old.

I was still in high school and probably too young to really make a important decision like that.

I was in the job of logistics and then they put me in base supply where I used to just give anything that people needed for their deployments.

So when I actually left the Air Force, I was in a space where I was really depressed.

I was homesick, but also I was feeling really unappreciated in the military as well.

Just to be honest with you.

(cheerful music) Working with Belicia and Paint 22, she actually taught me the business aspect of being an artist.

So before it was mainly like, I used to think of an artist as like the starving artist and she taught me that putting my stuff in the right place is gonna catapult me into the perfect area.

(cheerful music continues) I actually do art classes where I'm teaching people how to make seashell crowns and I recently did a mermaid swimming class for disabled veteran-- actually, even just for veterans, period.

It was actually done through Wounded Warrior Project and we bought the mermaid tails, and if anyone knows, mermaid tails are not cheap.

And so Wounded Warrior actually paid for the veterans to get mermaid tells as well.

And we taught them how to swim like a mermaid.

So three of those mermaids came in and had pain in their body, said after the class that they felt better.

As well as one person actually got a mermaid gig after taking the class.

So it's great.

I think a lot of times one people are committing suicide, especially veterans, a lot of times it's because we've lost our mission in life.

You know, when you're in the military, you have a mission, you feel important.

When you take that away, 'cause I think that's what I felt, you take away purpose a little bit.

And so when you're doing your art, there's almost a sense of purpose.

(calm music) - I went into the Navy, I joined as a un-designated seamen.

I did stay with deck department, so I became a bosun's mate and I am still currently serving in the reserves 20 years now and then got deployed during my reserve time.

My experience in the military has always had its ups and downs.

I think my hardest moments in the military are leaving my kids and there was a lot of crying, which made me feel very not a good mother, in a sense.

So I think that would be the most challenging times for me in the military.

But what I will say though is that I feel like my experience in the military has exposed me to such a variety of individuals and personalities, which has helped me immensely function outside of the military.

(calm music continues) This is my military mother pillow.

I created it with the thought of my service in mind.

So I created it because of leaving my children at such a young, tender age.

So this is really a baby's pillow, but instead of it being soft and small, it's actually hard and made of ceramics and still very fragile.

And the reason I made it, I really wanted to highlight my experience and my relationship with my kids and realize that I will never get those small precious moments back with them because of my separation.

But in it, I still found something really beautiful in this pillow.

Paint 22 has allowed me the opportunity to not only explore my motherhood in the military and it also allows me to express my identity as a woman service member because it's also veteran-led and it's woman-led too.

So to me that fits a level of understanding that I don't always have to express or communicate 'cause sometimes I don't have the words to communicate those experiences.

So it's just very refreshing for me to be in a space with an organization that I don't have to add that extra layer.

I can just go straight into creating and expressing.

(gentle music) - I appreciate the military for what it's done for me.

I respect the people that are still in the military and continue to serve.

I just really want the message to be out there, to have your family time, you know, have that camaraderie with your family so they know what you're going through and you can have that peace.

- [Gabe] For more information, visit Paint22.com.

TRIIIBE is a collective of artists dedicated to arts and activism.

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, this talented group brings together members of the community through music and events.

(piano music begins) ♪ Look at the stars ♪ ♪ I guess they're really not that far ♪ - Well, we were originally called Black Seas Tribe.

So "tribe" has always been here.

But once we changed our name from Black Seas Tribe, we wanted to keep "tribe."

'cause "tribe" is just that whole inclusive family feel and that's what we always wanna bring in the city.

But then it's an acronym as well.

So we mapped it out as true representation of intellectual individuals invoking Black excellence.

There's three i's in there, three of us of course, which is symbolic.

And then TRIIIBE overall, like, that's just our staple.

We operate as a tribe, you know, and we reach out to people and look to make them our tribe.

- I think what surprises people most, from my perspective, is that we haven't been together for a long time.

We've only been doing this for honestly a year as TRIIIBE and only two years of us really knowing each other, diving into what it means to create.

- I think the dynamic of us, like being one male, two women, showing how we could work together.

I think that that's not always often seen.

So people are not surprised, but yeah, they are surprised when they are able to see how fluid we are able to work because you really don't often see it that much.

♪ La, la, la, la, la ♪ - We are not professionals at all.

We don't take training for this.

We literally just know what we wanna do, we invite other people to do it with us, and we all figure it out together and we just get better together.

And that's powerful for people to see.

Just to know how easily attainable it is to make your community better.

♪ Big heart take big bang every time ♪ ♪ Big heart take big bang every time ♪ ♪ Big heart ♪ There's a book club.

It's every first Monday.

- There's an event called Indigo Vibe and Flow and it's for an intergenerational group of people that are interested in learning how to communicate.

There's also Solstice, which is a yoga meditation, mindfulness, mixed with food.

- We got Raising the Barz every first and third Thursday and that's downtown.

We talk to the children in the Cincinnati Public Library and we are challenging them to, you know, express themselves and be able to put it in a different way.

- What else?

There's Potluck for the People every last Sunday of the month.

- Urban gardening classes, fitness classes.

- Oh yeah, we had fitness classes on Sundays.

We teamed up with Daniel from Burst Out Workout Fitness as a part of Cincinnati Peace Movement as well.

- [Aziza] Seeing all the different kinds of people that come out to the different kinds of things that we do.

There's this range, wide range of ages, wide range of backgrounds, that comes out to speak their truth.

- So over here, this is the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

Students got together and decided to be a part of this event by giving people the opportunity to express themselves through art.

I believe that this is a awesome thing that they're doing because, as you can see, people get a chance to not just eat and get clothing and stuff like that.

It's fellowshipping and getting to know people, getting to know your neighbors, getting to know the community, people in the community.

You know, we're not all bad people.

You know what I mean?

So I think it's a good thing.

(melodic music) - We wanted to drop a album for about two years now.

And then we had to-- we recreated our sound.

We would say we had to.

- We recorded like, 40 songs.

There's like, so many songs that haven't even made it.

- It was almost 22 tracks.

- There are songs that we've even forgotten that aren't coming to mind right now that I'm sure we recorded that we're going to be on this album.

- But it started off as just us writing a ton of material, us recording a ton of material, different places, looking for the right sound, with different people.

- For this album, I feel like we spent almost probably like a year, and probably spending three days out the week, we were doing something with the album, whether it was writing something together, whether it was listening to something together, whether it was playing something.

Even if that was being played and it wasn't on the album, just us getting together and building that chemistry.

It all started to create everything that we was doing.

- The concept concept for I Am What I Am is all that we are.

All that we are right now.

Truth, speaking that truth, storytelling.

- Your truth.

Like I am what I am.

Like, take that everybody, just not like as TRIIIBE, like as a listener, you are who you are.

♪ Everything is everything the universe touched ♪ ♪ Not everything is everything the universe touched ♪ - We take on roles like, really well.

Pxvce is a muscle man.

He gets it done.

Like he's an executioner.

I already know that.

Z honestly keeps us going.

She maintains us.

And then, again, I'm just kind of bossy, so yeah.

So, but we all like, we do have these personality traits that makes it easy for us.

No, I won't say easy, it makes it possible for us to stay organized.

- We have many things that we're good at and to utilize how to really come together, that has been a huge, huge phase of growth.

We're always evolving and figuring out how best to work with one another.

Not just in this three that we have, but all over the city.

We have not always had the platform or pool that we have now.

So when we first started it was just three young adults trying to figure out the best way to make something happen.

And a lot of people, we would not be here right now if it weren't for a lot of people giving us chances, investing their time, energy.

- Showing up at all of the shows.

- Showing up.

Yeah, all of that.

- Taking us places, letting us use their car.

- Yeah, our visibility is huge and that's something that comes directly from the community.

- To have known TRIIIBE as three separate beings and for them to just coagulate into this super being of a group, it gives me chills.

The impact that they have on the community is phenomenal and it's glorious and it's something you want to hear, you need to hear, to follow through with living a good life or just being a better person.

They have set a bar without even trying.

They pave the way for people to follow.

And that's just that.

- TRIIIBE.

- TRI-I-IBE!

- TRI-I-ya-ya-ya.

- TRIIIBE, TRIIIBE, TRIIIBE.

- Our message and our music is not the usual music and sound that you would hear, or at least advertise sound.

And that's cool, 'cause it is what it is and we are who we are.

And I think that's important to make our statements rebellious.

Even just saying like, at the end of the day with all this influence around us, this is who we are, I am what I am.

And then you just kind of have to deal with that.

- Listen to more of the group's music at facebook.com/TRIIIBEworldwide.

Up next, take a trip to the Pompano Beach Cultural Center in Florida to experience an interactive puppet installation.

Artists Aurora Molina and Julian Pardo collaborated on this special project that reflects on the elderly in our society.

(cheerful music) Basically when I saw the high ceilings, I was like, "What can I do here?"

Like what if I do like a box of puppets?

It's pretty much like a puppeteer show.

My name is Julian Pardo.

I'm a guest curator here at Pompano Beach Cultural Center.

- And I am Aurora Molina.

I'm an artist from Miami.

Julian called me and he said there's a space and you know, I'm very open to always collaborate.

He's a dear friend of mine.

So we said, "Okay, tell me about the space."

We considered that we wanted to do an interactive installation.

(gentle music) My grandma was a seamstress, so my craft, all that attachment to the thread also brought in part of the making of the work.

So I think it comes from a personal exploration to dealing with my grandparents.

I started to do a photography series, sort of like capturing their daily routine, and then I left to Spain to do my masters and I sort of like started to pay attention since I was away and they were 90, 92, and I think I was getting ready to sort of let go.

My family had been very conscious about taking care of them, so they were with us at home, and you know, very involved.

And when I left, I think I had that longing, you know, like they were left behind.

And I remember just, you know, looking around and having this moment where I was realizing how detached we were and I was traveling to other places and I kept paying attention to the elder.

- I connect with her as well.

Like, I live with my grandpa for like 10 years in my house.

So all that like connections makes everything like, okay, let's do something that we can show the people to look out for the elders.

(gentle music continues) My idea was to create this pulley system to where they can move each one of the hands.

So like a group of hands.

So it's more collaborative.

It's more like connecting the family, connecting the elders with your dad or your mom just looking at you and just playing with you in each one of them.

- And also the fact that you make them come alive.

Like we have this idea.

There's two components to a puppet.

There is a puppeteer and the puppet.

The puppet does not come to life unless a puppeteer plays a role into it.

So it was part of like, creating that connection in general.

The idea of the whole show, the whole concept.

I wanted to create that interactive approach and bring them to live.

And second, it's to keep the conversation going.

Conceptually, it's like instead of looking at them, you have to look up to them 'cause that was the purpose of making them eight feet tall.

So you literally are looking up to them.

- I started to study what kind of population is around this center.

Most likely it is Haitian people, Latin American, they speak like different languages.

So one of my ideas is to reach more to those communities.

I translate it to Spanish, English, and Creole, so that's why we have like the text in those three languages.

- But I think the text and the simplicity of the graphics and the simplicity of the walls, like at the eye level, also makes you look up and pay more attention and just wonder.

I mean, it's also the softness of the fabric, that tenderness of something that, that we all have a relationship to.

We all are covered with fabric, so that was also important.

I think a work of art needs to be open-ended.

Not everyone comes in knowing precisely the concept of the work and understanding there's a narrative behind it other than being a pretty picture.

All these ideas should spike your curiosity.

- Find out more about the artists by visiting auroramolina.com and facebook.com/julianpardoartist.

The Battle Born Memorial in Carson City, Nevada pays tribute to Nevada's fallen service members.

Meet the artistic team behind the meaningful structure and find out more about its design.

(dramatic music) - Nevada will never forget.

We will never forget the sacrifice of our servicemen and women and their families.

And so this beautiful, beautiful memorial etched in eternity, The Battle Born Memorial, this monument bears the name of every fallen warrior from our state.

It is an everlasting memorial to their service and their sacrifice.

(dramatic music continues) - The memorial is a piece of art.

It's beautiful.

I think the best part, I mean my favorite part of the memorial is seeing the names shine through onto the pavement, especially in the evening time.

It's just really quite unique and I think is going to be a great asset, great memorial for the state of Nevada and for our veterans.

(dramatic music continues) It started out with an idea and has now come forward into this beautiful memorial for our veterans.

And it's very emotional for a lot of people.

It's emotional for our families.

But for them to be able to see their loved one's name up on this memorial, I think is going to really help them in their healing.

- It gives every veteran and veteran's family member a place to where they can come to and reflect.

Sometimes when a family has a loss, they find that they're out there and they're all alone after the ceremonies and such.

This way it gives them an opportunity to come back and recognize the fact that their loved ones are not forgotten.

For the Gold Star Mothers to be able to have something like this is just, it's food for the soul for us.

It's very, very important.

You need to have a place to go, whether you lost your son, you lost your mother in these wars.

- It's a sanctuary for them to remember.

But we do want it to be very peaceful and that it is something that they can really just sit there and focus on their loved ones and feel a sense of peace.

You know, the experience is beautiful, but it's them, you know, just honoring their memory.

So we tried to just do it as delicate as we could and try to, you know, not be in their face, but make it a special space for them.

- It's an artistic approach to a memorial is I think the way we try to address it.

First and foremost, it is a memorial for the fallen Nevada warriors and their families.

- [Drew] The challenge of designing something like this that is quite honestly private in a very public setting, we wanted to almost create a room, but you didn't want it to be a room, right?

So it had the two walls and the ceiling, but it still had to have a sense of openness.

And that's where you have that privacy when you walk in, but you're still very connected to the capitol complex and kind of the environment.

- We really spent time in dissecting the environment, the conceptual context of what this is really supposed to do.

It's a memorial honoring, you know, warriors and soldiers who have sacrificed everything.

And so, how can we translate that versus being a typical wall?

- The materials that we chose for the project were indicative of material elements that are found in the actual military themselves.

And corten steel happened to be one of the elements that we really chose, ultimately allowing for the ability to kind of evolve as it kind of ages.

You know, we really wanted to make this art piece a piece that, one, looked like it'd been here for a hundred years, and two, in a hundred years from now, it still looks relevant and becomes beautiful.

The brass, it was a really key element that we wanted to choose for the name plates.

You know, brass is heavily used within the military and it's really a beautiful polished element that once it ages, still has a beautiful sense of tarnish.

- Nevada is a wonderful state with the veterans and they do a lot with the Gold Star Mother families and it's just a joy and very uplifting to know that they have all this here for the people of Nevada.

- For more, visit veterans.nv.gov.

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.

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