(upbeat music) (slide swooshing) - Here's what's coming up on You Ought Know.

(slide swooshing) I look at the importance of Asian representation in Hollywood in light of this year's Oscar winners.

(slide swooshing) Plus, we head to Ambler to check out a community-centered art project that features local talent, (slide swooshing) and see how Philly is becoming a global canvas to promote sustainability through the arts.

(upbeat music intensifies) (slide swooshing) Hi, I'm Shirley Min.

Thanks so much for joining us.

You know, the arts help connect us to one another and we're gonna focus on that connection in today's show.

Starting with the Oscars.

Michelle Yeoh's and Ke Huy Quan's wins marked a breakthrough for Asian artists in film.

I recently spoke with Selena Yip from the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival about the significance of seeing more Asian representation in Hollywood.

(gentle music) Selena Yip, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival.

Thank you so much for being here.

- Thank you so much for having me.

- Let's talk about your organization.

Tell me about it and its mission.

- PAAFF is a film festival, first and foremost that focuses on Asian and Pacific Islander diaspora film.

- [Selena] We also focus on storytelling as a general art form, and so a lot of what we do is pairing film with the discourse that is out there about Asian American identity, Pacific Islander identity, and, again, really just trying to open up people's understanding of the diversity that exists within that political identity.

- Michelle Yeoh's win as well as Ke Huy Quan's win at the Oscars were history making.

- [Shirley] What were your feelings when you saw that?

- I definitely cried watching Ke Huy Quan's acceptance speech.

I think like he is just, he's, he's everyone's dad.

He's like America's sweetheart right now.

I think it's such a, like a comeback story.

- [Selena] I think seeing someone else succeed in achieving the dreams that they have, I think it's really inspiring for a lot of people to go after the things that they want as well.

Whether it's in film or not.

You're really looking at like, you know, what does representation mean?

- [Selena] It's not just Chinese Americans or East Asians.

Like there's so many people and so many stories and so many experiences that deserve to be respected and to be represented.

- Talk to me about why are we seeing so much Asian content out there?

- Mainstream production companies, mainstream like streaming services are just like waking up to the fact that there's so many people out there who are looking for that content.

- [Shirley] How do we keep Hollywood on their feet, and on their toes saying, you know, we want more of this.

- [Selena] It's really up to audiences to speak their minds and tell people, and tell filmmakers, tell production companies, tell big streaming platforms like Netflix, like I wanna see this, make it happen.

- I like it.

All right, Selena, thank you so much for your time.

- Of course, thank you.

- [Shirley] The Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival is November 3-12.

Submissions are being accepted now through July, and there are also events scheduled from now until then.

Now, to two unique projects.

One is about murals that depict global goals designed to bring about a more sustainable future for all of us.

The other a collaboration that's giving Montgomery and Bucks County artists a platform to display their creations.

(gentle music) - [Karen] The town's gone through an amazing metamorphosis.

The cinema and Act II Playhouse came into town, and that really helped establish an art theme of some type of entertainment and the Storefront helped capitalize on that and establish art as a draw for the town.

- [Karen] When I moved to Ambler, I noticed this building being empty, the Ambler Department Store.

I had approached Denney Electric, the owner about utilizing their front cases for an art exhibit space, and they thought about it, and decided it was a project they would be willing to participate in.

- [Mark] We decided that it would be best if we just concentrate on Montgomery County, and Bucks County artists only, to give them the venue outside of the city that they could exhibit their artwork in.

(gentle music) - [Daniel] I connected with the Art In The Storefront through a friend, and you know, she saw some of my work.

She says, "Oh, you oughta try getting your work into the Art In The Storefront."

So I did, I, you know, I got Karen's name, sent it, and I like floored when, you know, I got a communication back saying, "Wow, you know, your art is really nice.

We'd love to have you in the show."

And, you know, it's the first exhibit I've ever had.

I've always had a dream of having an art exhibit.

- [Mark] We've had about 135 exhibits, all spanning everything, abstract, large abstract.

We've had encaustic paintings, sculptures, glass, wood, ceramic, pretty much the gambit of whatever art can be made out of, it's been put in there.

(gentle music) - [Daniel] The building itself has two store fronts on either side, two glass enclosures, and, in the center, is a kiosk that you can walk around.

And then, in the back, three other places where art can be hung.

So, as you're walking by, you just normally would just walk right in, and walk around the kiosk, come out the other side of the kiosk, and that's how all the artwork is presented.

- [Daniel] I was very heavily in the woods all the time.

As I walked through the trails, and I just started getting moved by what I was seeing.

I got the idea I'm gonna try to paint a landscape, 'cause I had never painted a landscape before.

I think my favorite painting in the exhibit, is my self portrait.

It's called Danny and Tommy.

My other favorite painting is a painting that's sort of behind me right now, and it's called a Kiss in the Wiss.

(gentle music) It was more almost like a fantasy piece.

There's a tree in the woods, it's a cucumber magnolia tree.

It's the most grotesque thing you can imagine.

I made this sculpture out of bamboo that I collected near the woods, made three ceramic balls, called it Rolly-Polly Black Walnuts.

The mission of Art In The Storefront, you know, making art available to the community.

And, as an artist, I think it's just an amazing opportunity to get your work out there, and to be appreciated by people.

(upbeat music) - [Zabeth] In 2010, there was an opportunity to look at Philadelphia actually for the Olympics.

So, a bunch of folk decided that we really need to position our city internationally, in a much more intentional fashion, and this nonprofit, Global Philadelphia Association, was set up.

(gentle music) The UN set up the Sustainable Development Goals, Specifically, to highlight the fact, that there are areas that really need to be focused on, to make the world and planet better.

Global Philadelphia wants to make sure that Philadelphians understand that our city is engaged with these goals.

We're a city of murals, and we are very fortunate to partner with Mural Arts, who helps us identify artists that are relevant for each of the sustainable development goals.

A sponsor comes to us, and we start knitting them first with an artist, and then we go with them and select a site, which might be relevant to place the art.

- [David] My specific goal, health and well-being really resonates with me.

While it's mostly about nature, Philadelphia is a city of bricks.

I love the interplay between the natural environment, and the built environment, and that's what I wanted to bring into this piece.

And, I feel like that's the foundation of good mental and physical health, is this groundedness in nature, and that's what I wanted to create in this piece.

(upbeat music) - [Zabeth] We have a hundred universities in our area, that's engaged in the SDGs, very intentionally understanding how much this matters as an academic opportunity, a learning opportunity, and the future for all of us.

Each time that we've put up one of these works of art, there's an unveiling ceremony.

Next to each work of art, is a plaque that explains who the players are, and what each SDG is.

We actually have what we call the SDG Art Gallery, but we showcase to the folks that attend our events, and we have a number of signature events throughout the year, which are very important in all the global pieces that put Philadelphia together.

It's our work to really say to Philadelphians, "You're an international city, and you're relevant to the world, and let's celebrate that."

- [Shirley] From Philly to France and back, artist, Jed Williams, shares how art influenced his life, and career.

(gentle music) - [Jed] I'm French and American dual citizen.

I was born to Philly then we would spend the summers with my mother's family in Normandy or Saint Tropez.

My dad was from Newark, his name was C.K.

Williams.

He was a successful poet, and he's got all these awards.

I don't think it's any better besides Pulitzer.

And he taught at different colleges, and I remember that he always used to carry a sketchbook with him and would always be sketching lines of poetry, and my mom's always been a jeweler and French tutor, so I was living in Park Slope in Brooklyn, until about sixth grade, then my parents moved to France.

I spent middle and high school in France.

But art was really important to me, because I was surrounded by writers and intellectuals, and I really liked art 'cause there was kind of a space of like expression and emotion.

I did a lot of portraits when I was a kid.

(vibrant music) - [Catherine] One day friends came, it was a couple, he was nine, and he started drawing the face of this friend, and the portrait was just amazing, and that's when we knew Jed was an artist, and that never stopped.

I think that was difficult, the fact that we would go back and forth.

And also I think it made him lonely sometimes, because you make friends, and then you go somewhere else, and that was not so easy for him.

And art was great, for Jed, it's been a lifeline.

- The reason art became really important to me, was towards the end of being a kid, I was obsessed with how somebody did something, and I went to college in Connecticut, and then I just kind of transferred to university arts, and then I thought I hadn't learned enough about like how to paint.

So, I went to Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and that was just amazing.

(vibrant music) I lived in Philly, and art school, and I started getting into shows and knowing people, and I acquired this space and inevitably, one of your friends is gonna say like, "How about I put something next to that on your wall?"

And all my friends started doing that.

But that's one of the best things about art, is that you just meet so many people.

The aspect of community always helps somebody.

If you have emotional and psychological problems, it's a sort of acceptance in art.

A lot of my artwork, is about just transcending one's own demons, and maybe part of it is putting them out on the canvas.

Art is such a great release of energy.

If I'm stressed or anything, I'll do a little sketch, I'll scribble something, and I'll feel less stressed.

My mom is very important to me, of course, and I miss my dad.

- [Catherine] He thinks he's not good with people, he thinks he's not sociable.

I think he's a lot more sociable than he thinks, and he has created this community, and he's an important person.

It was quite amazing the way he has done it, and he's done all that by himself.

That's wonderful to see.

- Anything created or artistic is definitely helpful.

Natural for therapy, per se, but also gives you a routine.

And, sometimes, people with emotional problems have something to hang onto and you can show people, and be proud of me.

The people I've met, that's one of the best parts of being an artist.

- [Shirley] Breaking ground in the ceramics field.

That's what Black Hound Clay Studio, and acclaimed potter, Roberto Lugo, have in common.

(gentle music) - My name is Roberto Lugo.

I am a potter, a poet, a visual artist, and an educator.

I came to pottery in a really sort of unorthodox way.

First, I made a decision, when I was about 25, that I wanted to go to college.

- [Roberto] I really didn't have any direction.

I was just taking classes more so that I can get to know what it is that I wanted to do.

And so I thought I'd taken art class, as a way to sort of introduce myself to college.

And so when I started working in pottery, it was like physical too.

And so it immediately felt like, like I had a relationship to it, 'cause it was art, but it was also work.

I come from really humble beginnings.

All of my grandparents are from Puerto Rico.

People are always gonna see me in a certain way.

People are always gonna see me as a person of color.

People are always gonna see me as somebody from the ghetto, and like because of the way that I speak, and articulate that just such an organic part of me, that I can't get rid of.

And so I started to like embrace that, and see that as like what makes me distinct, what makes me unique in my heritage, and what I should be proud of.

(upbeat music) I've used the term ghetto so much in my life, and the reason why, is because for me, ghetto means resourceful.

It's people who do a lot of stuff with very little, who've had every single obstacle in front of them, put in front of them, and look, they still figure out a way to survive.

And for me, that's my, that's my culture, my heritage and what I'm proud of.

And so this idea of being a village potter, is me being made out of all these parts.

(aerosol bottle spraying) This exhibition is called Village Potter.

It happened initially by Grounds For Sculpture exhibiting interest in my artwork, and so I talked to them about working on developing their educational program here, and working on this monolithic sculpture, just work on larger pieces of pottery.

The large piece is very similar to how I approach, and paint my pottery in my studio.

You know, I'm thinking about representation, but I'm also thinking about it in ways that, how can I connect with other people, who maybe don't understand these things.

There are certain visual elements, that like immediately strike us as individuals, based off of our lived experience.

And so, I really like to play to those, because one of the things that that does, is that allows me to connect with people from a broad range of places.

I haven't ever worked in this scale.

And so working with a piece that's a vase, but not made outta clay, is a huge step.

(violin music) So, I created it using 3D rendering software.

It can be translated digitally and, you know, be made in the scale that it is, which is 20 feet tall.

In this exhibition, I'm also working on pottery, anywhere between three to five feet tall, which is huge for me.

And I was thinking about these pieces in relationship to the very large ceramic work.

So almost like creating a village of pots in this area, in this atmosphere, and having those pots have different shapes, different colors, different patterns, found in the large piece.

And so, I almost look at this whole thing, as an installation.

One of the reasons why I think this show is so important, is because I'm talking about a village of people, who work together in support, in all the different ways that they did to be able to create, and put me in a place where I'm at.

Not just looking at what people are doing for you, in terms of a community, but also like how the little things that you do to support other people, come together to make a huge difference.

(hip-hop music) (gentle music) (clay thumping) - So you get your clay on the wheel, and you begin the centering process.

- [Lisa] The next step would be to drill a hole into the center, and then, from there, you lift the walls, and then you shape it.

- [Bethany] We opened September 1st, 2016, and I just opened it, because I felt there was a real need for affordable studio space in Philadelphia.

Ceramics, like a lot of art fields, is structurally white, so a big part of our mission, is to just try to break down those structural barriers.

We do a lot of sliding scale, so somebody who has a higher income, who's more financially secure, would pay more.

And then, someone who has a lower income would pay less.

- [Lisa] There's all of these different entry points into the clay community, and it ranges from people who take our one day workshops.

We have the more in-depth eight week classes, then we also have our memberships.

It's really to provide people with a thorough educational experience pertaining to learning the potter's wheel.

- [Lisa] We don't wanna have the tool making its way around with the piece.

Same idea as when you're making- - [Cassie] A lot of people come, because they wanna learn a skill.

Some people come because they're like on a date night, and just needed to get out.

They wanna be able to do something that's new, and fresh and makes them think about things that they don't usually think about.

(people laughing) - Black Hound found me.

The first institution, that gave me the opportunity to teach.

- Because if it's not round, you really- - It is extremely important for our brown-face children to see another brown face creating, so that they can have that connection.

Because if it's all white folks going to teach our brown kids, the connection is not gonna be there.

[Nitza] So it is really important, that as soon as you see my work, you immediately know that a brown face made it.

(people chattering) - [Lisa] We all have something potential to do, so, cut it off the wheel and make another, you know.

- [Cassie] It's not just socializing, it's also sharing things and connections with people, because it's more just about creative avenues, and a community space than it is just about ceramics.

- You know, like ceramics and clay and art, like saved my life.

Like I don't think I would be here without them.

So if I can do that for someone else, that's like honestly like the best, like I don't want anything else outta my life, so.

(vibrant music) - [Bethany] So, I just want the clay bug to bite everybody.

(Bethany chuckles) - [Shirley] Head with us now to the Barnes Foundation, to witness apartheid in South Africa, through the eyes of two contemporary artists.

(gentle music) - [Sue] At the age of seven, I just took it for granted that society was the way that it was.

I think when I was about 14 or 15, I began to realize exactly how unjust the apartheid system was in South Africa.

- [Lebohang] I was born post-apartheid, so I am what they call the "born free" generation.

So I came at a moment in which South Africa was going through a transition, and I was one of the sort of first few children in my neighborhood to go to a multiracial school.

- What inspired you to bring these two particular artists together?

- I think the idea of the pairing, and bringing Sue and Lebohang together, is formally in the idea of the intergenerational conversation approach from their perspective.

Sue born in 1941, Lebohang born in 1990, but they do occupy very different spaces.

- I investigate history in my way, and Lebohang does it in her way.

And I think there are lots of commonalities in the way we approach things.

- [Sue] Both of us as artists, we use very many different media, and this interest in people's lives, in histories, old photographs, all of those things, are part of both our processes.

I didn't start as an artist, I started as a journalist, because I was interested in people's lives, and people's stories, in what was going on.

And I think that I carried that impulse into my work, when I began working as an artist, which was about 10 years later.

But I think if you live in a society which was unjust, as South Africa was, in the apartheid era, my generation did feel, as artists, that we had this need to make work, which would at least raise consciousness about issues, at least help to prepare people for change.

- The thing that we kept on coming to, was oral histories.

And so, that is quite apparent in both my works, and Sue's work.

- [Lebohang] And this intergenerational conversation, that we are both use in our works by engaging with families.

So in my case, I engaged with my own family.

- In the work from the far right here, this is Lebohang's grandmother Maria.

(calm music) - [Lebohang] This was about two years after my mother passed on.

So, I then engaged my grandmother over that period, about the family story.

It's my great grandmother and my grandmother, and my aunt.

And it was really to pay homage to them, for keeping our families going during apartheid, but also post-apartheid.

This is the series Ke Lefa Laka, which is from 2013.

And as you see in these images, specifically with this image, I'm wearing the same suit that my mother was wearing to a wedding that she attended when she was in her twenties.

And so the work really becomes the sort of trace, trace of my mother, but also really acknowledging that I also had to take on her role of being mother to my sister when she passed on.

And so that's also why you see this, this idea of the ghost effect in the images, and really asking questions about who becomes the ghost, when someone passes away, in your attempt to hold onto a person, that you also lose, lose yourself.

(plaintive music) - [Shirley] You can see, Tell Me What You Remember, at the Barnes Foundation through May 21st.

(vibrant music) Where would we be without all of these artistic expressions to enlighten our lives?

The arts are so powerful, aren't they?

(vibrant music intensifies) (vibrant music expands) (vibrant music endures) (vibrant music prevails) Thank you so much for tuning in.

That's our show.

Have a good night everyone.

(vibrant music prevails)