This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

[music] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by Charles Rosenblum, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, the State of Florida and Division of Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In this edition of WEDU Arts Plus, we feature a special lineup of local female artists.

An artist expresses herself through multiple disciplines.

So I think my art, it's not really the Asian part, it's more of the mixture.

A St. Pete native brings a refreshing voice center stage.

Your voice ain't too loud.

It's not loud enough, girl.

Sing be you.

A sculptor connects with the past.

So I think there's just something about it being immutable material, and the fact that you're literally working with the ground under your feet.

And a Tampa henna artist adorns clients at a local art hub.

My style is very eclectic.

It's all over the place.

I would say, though, I always end up going back towards like Indian Pakistani style because that's what I'm comfortable with.

That's what I grew up with.

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

[music] Hello, I'm Dalia Colon and this is WEDU Arts Plus for painter and performance artist Emily Tan of Tampa.

The arts are a way to express her subconscious and explore her Asian American identity.

[music] Before I even knew what mental health was growing up, I used art as a therapeutic medium.

[music] My name is Emily Tan.

I am an abstract painter, art teacher, paint performer, and I also DJ.

[music] Growing up on Long Island, I was a child of a Slovakian woman and a Chinese and Filipino man, and my mom had two children before I was born, so they were white and I was the little mixed baby.

And I don't know if that was an identity crisis right away, but I think it's what started the search.

I started painting and drawing and chalk on my entire driveway, like on every Sunday and Saturday.

I think now the work I've been doing is more childlike.

I was able to tap into that inner child, and I'm using different symbols and things that I used to draw on my planner growing up, but now I'm putting them on a canvas so it feels like a full circle type of reclaimed power in my art.

[music] The daisy and the mandala symbols are huge in my new work.

I recently did a mural for cocoon, which is a yoga studio in Tampa, so a mandala is something.

That you can gaze at, and it becomes a way to quiet the mind and invoke certain energy.

And this mandala specifically is a mandala for abundance and all of its most positive ways, and peace and spiritual attainment and wealth, all the good things.

And it's essentially a yoga practice in and of itself to gaze at a mandala and meditation.

Every summer I teach summer art camp at the Tampa museum of Art.

Emily is an art instructor, is super enthusiastic and warm and encouraging.

When you walk into that space, you're just hit with all of this creative, positive energy.

It's like a whirlwind in there.

[laughter] If you've seen her process, you know she's not the neatest artist you will always find like some bit of paint somewhere around her from a project.

So that's the same vibe you get in her classroom.

But the students really, really respond to it.

[music] The other part of my art that I love doing so much now is the paint performances.

I love that Emily approaches her art like a yoga practice and that she is devoted to it.

And we've been watching her work.

It's her.

Working is an art form.

It's beautiful to see.

[music] So I go by DJ Emmy.

My boyfriend Skyler, he DJs and he taught me, you know, the basics.

[music] But it is interesting because music has always inspired my art.

And now I feel like the art is getting to influence DJ, so it's kind of like an energetic push and pull back and forth.

[music] It is really exciting to have started to work with Emily when she was an undergraduate at University of Tampa, to get to know a young artist at that age and see them grow.

It's just been really great to have, almost like a front row seat to see to her growth.

And I'm really, really excited for what happens next with her and what more she could bring to the Tampa Bay art community.

[music] So I think the way I bring my identity in, which I just recently started doing, but I like to call myself like the whitest Asian because growing up in New York, I really didn't have any, any cultural background.

So my dad was raised in New York.

My mom raised in Harlem, and we were just a very like, basic.

We're not going to do any of the cultural, maybe Chinese New Year.

But besides that, that was it.

So my grandma gave me my cultural background, the little bits of it that I'm so grateful for.

And my grandma speaks Tagalog.

She's from the Philippines.

She's awesome, I love her.

She'd bring me to Chinatown like we had the best times, but that was really it.

[music] So I think my art, it's not really the Asian part, it's more of the mixture.

So like blending two worlds and being in this world as someone that I didn't really have a example of growing up, I never really saw a mixed person growing up.

So I think that is my identity going through, and that is what I try to convey in my art.

[music] What would I say to little Emily?

I would say, don't worry, you're gonna be okay.

There will be people that you can look up to.

Um, and there are people that exist now.

You just have to find them.

So I think I found them.

I think I am her now.

[laughter] [music] See more at emilytan.art.

Siobhan Monique St. Pete native and grand niece of local jazz legend Buster Cooper, delivers songs that speak to the global human condition with her sultry, funky and enigmatic style.

She captivates audiences while paying tribute to her ancestors.

I am Siobhan Monique.

I am a conduit for my ancestors and the daughter of St. Petersburg, Florida.

I am here to fulfill my purpose, walk in my destiny.

But more importantly, I am here to let my light shine.

[music] My very first performance, I was three years old.

I was selected to perform in front of the church.

[music] She got on stage in front of an entire packed church for a Christmas play.

She grabbed the microphone and just ad libbed her entire part and just brought the church down.

So we were like, oh, okay, well, this is what she wants to do.

Temptation.

That moment was when I connected to my purpose.

I didn't choose music.

It chose me.

Her personality was an old soul from day one.

Her facial expressions had this kind of old soul type of feel to it.

She had a very unique, beautiful darkness to her, and I think that's part of this artistry that we see now.

Southern trees bear strange fruit.

I was in awe the first time that I heard her.

She was such a demure person, a small person, but this huge voice would come from her and it was so moving.

♪ Southern ♪ ♪ Breathe ♪ I can definitely see her sound and her music being something in the 40s and the 50s and connecting with that.

And when you hear her voice, it's like this voice has been here before.

This isn't a new voice.

This isn't a pop voice.

This is a voice that has a story that needs to be told.

So she's continuing to tell the story.

So it really resonates with all generations.

[music] My Uncle Buster was a very essential part of the jazz era.

He played with the Duke Ellington Jazz Band, and now that I look back on it as an adult, I can see the seeds that he planted for me and for my life.

[music] Buster Cooper is my uncle.

He is my father's brother.

That connection, and Siobhan's gift of having that type of ancestral voice and connection to the great jazz legends allowed the two of them to really connect when it came to music.

[music] He would always say, my family calls me boo, so boo never give up.

I got a degree in classical voice.

I went to New York and I was a leading role in an Off-Broadway show.

And then he got sick, and I was missing my family at the time, and my mom was like, listen, your uncle, he doesn't have much time left.

So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna pack up my stuff.

I'm gonna come home.

I already missed my family.

I need to see my uncle.

On his deathbed, he pulls me to him and he said, listen, I want you to carry on the family legacy.

It's your time.

I give you my blessing, and I want you to carry this through.

And I'm like, oh, okay.

That's that's, you know, nothing major.

And so with him saying that, I embraced and I accepted the calling and what he was passing down to me.

And that is what you see before you to break the.

Spell when I'm alone.

Community is important to me because there is strength in numbers And my community has shaped and molded me into a queen.

You have to give back to what has been given and poured in to you.

One thing I can say about St. Pete, especially the south side of St. Pete.

We are still a generational city.

We know people.

We know their father, their grandfather, their great grandfather.

So there's still that generational connection that I think makes it very unique.

It takes a village.

It takes a village that believes in you and in this case, establishing that base.

You know, you can go home.

She's actually taken on that feel.

To go where?

To New York, to LA.

She always wants to come back to that feeling of family.

You know, love is the key to save our humanity.

If it wasn't for my village, my community, my family, my ancestors who constantly reminded me, no, you are beautiful.

You are smart.

Your voice ain't too loud.

It's not loud enough, girl.

Sing be you.

The moment that I decided to do that.

All of the beauty.

[music] All of the beauty.

So what I will say to you, little black girl that's watching this right now.

You're beautiful.

You're more than just a strong black woman.

You're magical.

[music] Be yourself.

Love yourself.

Know that self.

That's where all of this comes from.

I'm.

I'm me.

[music] To hear more, visit ancestralfunk.com.

For ceramic artist Osa Atoe of Sarasota.

Pottery is about more than just creating beautiful objects.

It's a way to connect with her Nigerian ancestors and the indigenous people of Florida, who have a long tradition of collecting wild clay.

My name is Osa Atoe and I'm a studio potter.

[music] I was living in New Orleans, Louisiana back in 2013, and I was working at a coffee shop.

My main thing back then was being a musician.

[music] I was a punk musician.

I played in bands since I was probably in my early 20s, so to make ends meet, I made coffee during the day and one of my coworkers mentioned that there was a new pottery studio in town, and he just thought that I might be into it.

So I ended up taking one class and just falling in love with it.

If you have a bunch of, you know, manufactured cups or plates or bowls and they are all in a matching set, you just grab one and you throw some food on it.

But with handmade pottery, you know that someone's time is invested in it.

You know that that time is now is a physical object and you are using something that has has literally come from somebody's mind and it makes the meal more significant or the beverage or anything like that.

One of the things that's so special about clay is the fact that you can use it in so many different forms.

I think that it gives people a grounding sense.

I mean, you're literally working with the Earth, but the fact that you can use it as a dry powder, a liquid in its plastic form, you can't do that with wood.

Right.

So I think there's just something about it being a mutable material.

And the fact that you're literally working with the ground under your feet, it's just an it's an interesting experience.

Here locally, I feel she is definitely going to be one of those artists that opens up the doors for other artists.

So she's doing something with her work, her art, her collection of pottery that no one else is doing.

I collected wild clay samples for many years before I even used it.

I just thought it was interesting.

We're at Sarasota Bay and we're just a couple of blocks from my house.

Before settlers came, this was an indigenous meeting place for millennia.

You can find fossils here.

You can also find clay.

This is some of the clay that we found.

It fires to kind of a pale yellowish color.

But this is native Florida clay from Sarasota.

Well, when it's wet, it's a little bit on the sandy side.

It's very plastic, though, and easy to mold.

I've made little pinch pots with it and fired them.

People who use wild clay in their practice need to be able to collect large amounts of it to build their entire body of work on And up until recently I didn't have access to large quantities of clay, which is partly why I didn't use it.

Being in my industry.

I'm kind of in the construction industry in general, and so I kind of have my ear to the ground on where projects are happening, where the earth is being disturbed or moved.

And so those are actually really good opportunities to access the clay, which could be buried under, you know, six, eight, ten, 12ft of soil.

We probably have clay beneath our feet here, but we have no way to access it.

Commercial clay and wild clay are just it's like it's night and day, the way that they feel in your hands.

It's completely different, the way that they behave.

And then also just the amount of labor.

So commercial clay is wonderful because it's just it's already processed.

It's ready to go with wild clay.

There's a lot of labor that goes into that.

I would say it's almost the difference between going to the grocery store and buying a bag of spinach and eating spinach out of your garden.

It is work.

It's not a hobby.

It's not like it's more than an interest.

It runs through like every vein in her body.

I think because of who she is and because she doesn't typically fit into a box of an artist, specifically a ceramic artist.

You don't think that someone like USA that's Nigerian and American would even be interested in that type of work?

But she is, and it's just really cool to see someone who doesn't typically fit that particular art medium doing that work.

Kaabo Clay collective was founded in 2021.

Kaabo means welcome in Yoruba.

That's a language my parents speak to each other.

It's a social and mutual aid network for black ceramicists.

I did start pottery in New Orleans, which is a majority black city, but I was always the only black person in any of my classes.

It's not just the absence of black people in those spaces.

It's the absence of black culture.

We have so much to add to clay culture.

We have a long history of making pottery and sculpture.

So Kaabo clay, it's just been invaluable to me personally.

It's kind of like building what I needed and then understanding that if I needed, other people need it too.

There's a lot of art in Sarasota, plenty of it.

The landscape, I feel like, is it needs a little bit more diversity, and I feel like there's a lot more of hidden talent in Sarasota and Manatee that people don't know about.

And that's kind of where it kind of falls into that.

She's one of those up and coming artists that people may know outside of the region.

A lot of people do know outside of the region, but here in Sarasota, I feel like she is not as celebrated as I feel like she should be.

The lesson that I get from working with clay in general is having to collaborate with the material.

Especially when I work with wild clay, it doesn't behave like commercial clay and I have to change the way that I respond to it.

If I just try to force my will on it, it just won't work.

Also, there's so much about clay that's about waiting for the right time to do a specific thing.

And if you're impatient, it just won't work.

It just will not work.

So clay has taught me to be more patient.

It's taught me to be more gentle.

But there's infinite lessons that clay is always teaching.

[music] For more information, visit potterybyosa.com.

Her body art may be temporary, but local henna artist Nadiyah Mahmood leaves a lasting impression with her unique mix of traditional and modern designs.

Henna typically lasts about 7 to 14 days on the skin.

[music] My name is Nadiyah and I'm a professional henna artist.

I've been a henna artist with 15 years experience, but professionally about eight nine years.

I'm a second generation Pakistani American.

Me and my sisters grew up getting henna done, and I just kind of took to that form of art when I was about, you know, like 13 or 14 years old.

I was just going to the local mosque in Atlanta, where I'm from, and just adorning little kids and friends and family members and, you know, having fun with it.

Then I decided, you know what?

This is something I want to take seriously.

So I just dedicated, little by little, my time to practicing.

It got better as I went on, and here I am.

This is the fun part.

Coloring what the scientific name for henna is Lawsonia inermis Lassen is the actual dye that is released from the plant.

I make the pace myself.

It's a 24 hour process to make the henna paste.

Henna typically lasts about 7 to 14 days.

It's typically done on the hands and the arms.

And then second to that, the feet and the legs.

More and more people are getting it done on various other locations of the body.

[music] Henna itself has dated back thousands and thousands of years.

A historical figurehead that made it even more popular was Cleopatra of Egypt.

Each culture has their own specific style how they adopted the form of art.

I would say Moroccans have like their fashion style, which is very detailed.

More line work, Arabic style, very dainty floral, Cheney look, East African, very bold, thick lines.

So it varies from different cultures.

My style is very eclectic.

It's all over the place.

I would say though, I always end up going back towards like Indian Pakistani style because that's what I'm comfortable with.

That's what I grew up with.

Like the paisleys, the florals, maybe a little bit of structure.

[music] I'm also known for adding various modern elements to my designs.

I've done a sleeve where it was all Harry Potter dedicated.

I also did an alien themed henna sleeve as well.

[music] One of the most common things I like to do is bridal henna.

Back in the day, this is how they would show off their lineage, their heritage.

Culturally, it means significance to them to adorn themselves as feminine as possible.

[music] I also saw some of my artwork as well.

I paint henna, artistry, style canvases and so on.

[music] When someone would like to book with me, we'll talk about locations and nine times out of ten I'll suggest felicitous.

Can I get the teacher's pet?

Yeah.

Felicitous is this awesome coffee shop that feels like its home right on 51st Street.

[music] My wife and I, we had always had this vision of what we wanted our our coffee shop to be.

And the number one thing was we wanted to be a place where people in the community could come together over art, over music, over making connections.

Nadiyah started out as a customer, just like most of our vendors.

I first started going there just to study a little bit, and then I just started having clients meet me there.

As soon as we learned a little bit about what she was about and her talents, we were all about having her come and set up a tent and attending our day markets.

I really like that one.

Like the like tattoo.

The markets are monthly get together type of thing where a bunch of vendors and artists showcase their artwork, their product.

For sale last year.

This is the kind of thing that we we live for, really is just to try and support local artists.

Local artisans to make a make a living really out of their passion.

Coming into the coffee shops and having something as culturally rich as Nadiyah's henna, it just ticks every box.

We're able to connect people in the community to a new perspective.

Ultimately, what that does for us as a society is brings us closer.

[music] What I love the most about being a Hannah artist is I get to look at my work, my finished product, and see how happy it makes my client.

That is probably the biggest gift is just watching someone, you know, go from, hey, I need this to oh my gosh, I can't believe I got this done.

It's so vibrant.

It brings joy to people's hearts.

You don't have to necessarily be part of the culture or any culture that henna is dominant in.

You just have to, you know, just love the form of art, Honestly.

[music] For bookings and more visit hennabynadinam.square.site or follow Nadiyah @nad_nam.

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

To view more, visit wedu.org/artsplus or follow us on social.

I'm Dalia Colon.

Thanks for watching.

[music] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by Charles Rosenbloom, Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, the State of Florida and Division of Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

[music]