(orchestral violin music) - [Announcer] Production of Applause on WVIZ-PBS is made possible by grants from the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, the Stroud Family Trust, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation.

And by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(jazz music) - Hello, I'm David C. Barnett.

Welcome to Northeast Ohio's Emmy award-winning arts and culture show Applause.

Today, we're going to take an artistic journey across the state, starting in Lakewood.

Painter Arabella Proffer's portraits of punks depicted as medieval royalty have international fans, but some of her most compelling work overlaps with her own health struggles.

I recently paid a virtual visit to her studio.

There's a glow to Arabella Proffer's smile as she adjusts the camera on her end of the call.

- Like I was so excited today because I got to like actually get dressed.

I put on makeup and stuff, you know.

I've just been lying in bed, watching Real Housewives and like barely eating 'cause food sounds disgusting to me.

- Proffer was diagnosed last summer with inoperable cancer.

When she announced it on her webpage, she wrote "I don't know what that will mean for my future.

It is months, not years."

Her artistic journey started years ago.

- My mom named me after a English romance novel like Regency romance novel.

It was either that or Venetia or Nicola.

(laughs) I think Aubrey Beardsley was like the first like when I was really into drawing like he was kind of like, "Oh, I really dig this guy."

And then as I got more into my teen years Tamara de Lempicka was kind of my queen.

I had a big poster, you know, next to my Depeche Mode and my U2 and Jane's Addiction posters.

- As a teenager, Proffer developed an interest in portraiture with a twist.

- I really loved aristocratic like portraiture that you see in museums and stuff like that.

And sometimes people would have them in their homes in Europe, you know, instead of like the family photo album they would have that ancestor which I always thought was really cool.

So I kind of got this idea of having hair dye and Mohawks and spike colors and the leather jacket and all that stuff.

If this was the 1500s that stuff would've cost a lot of money.

So if you were an aristocrat or royalty you probably would do something outrageous like that just to show off essentially.

- But a little over 10 years ago Proffer's work began to change.

- Well, I don't know.

It was just one day just sick of painting people.

♪ I love standing by the water ♪ ♪ And just knowing what it's for ♪ - Recognizable faces and bodies disappeared, replaced by surrealistic landscapes of floating blobs with drips and organic tendrils weaving menacing webs.

The change happened about the same time that she was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in her leg.

- And it was kind of strange because I had done these shapes and stuff like four months before I even knew I had cancer.

And then when they show me MRIs and scans it actually looked exactly like what I've been painting.

So that was a little strange.

- But she kept at it, especially after these abstract images started selling.

- My mom doesn't like it, she thinks that they're what's making me sick, that I'm like doing these paintings and like, it's like somehow psychically making me sick in some way, but I don't feel that way.

I don't sketch ahead of time.

I don't really plan them ahead of time.

I get like a loose idea in my head.

And sometimes if I've bought a new tube of paint that I really want to crack open, I'm like, okay I guess everything's pink today.

I start from a place of abstraction and then I just let it go wild from there.

After I was first diagnosed 10 years ago and I did a painting series about the history of medicine, I guess it was a way for me to deal with like at least I live in today's world and not 200 years ago when everything was a lot more barbaric.

- After a series of operations, it seemed like she was over the worst of it.

But then came the diagnosis that the cancer had come roaring back.

She's now been through radiation, chemo and clinical trials, but despite all she's been through, she pushes forward with her life and keeps that smile as much as she can.

She's currently working on a book of her portraits.

She also has some advice to share from one of her blog posts.

- If 2020 has taught us anything, your time is not guaranteed.

Go to that gig, that lecture, that exhibition, dinner, party and go on that date.

Don't be a dick and stay home watching TV because you're too lazy and tired from a job you don't like much anyway.

I don't care if you're an introvert.

Are you going to really say in your life, Oh boy, I'm glad I stayed home scrolling through my phone when you could have actually experienced something.

Once this virus has gone, leave the damn house, leave the house.

That's what I have to say.

- Some tips about life coming from someone living on the edge of it.

You can find out more about Arabella Proffer and her work on the web at arts.ideastream.org.

Dayton, Ohio cartoonist Mike Peter's work is seen daily in over 800 newspapers worldwide.

A lifetime of real-world experiences take shape each day in his editorials or in the canine antics of his characters, Mother Goose and Grimm.

- I still work for the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio but it's like I live there because I have my computer.

I get on their thing and I hear the news, the newscast what they think are the top stories.

And I go, okay, I can do a cartoon about that.

And my editors, they're always amazed that I am so attuned about what's going on in Dayton, Ohio.

- He worked for the Dayton or the Chicago Daily News.

And then the Dayton Daily News as an editorial cartoonist.

And after he won the Pulitzer in 1981 he was being courted by bigger papers.

- The syndicates had been asking me to do a comic strip which is very rare.

I mean, you know, usually you have to go and beg to do a comic strip to the syndicates, but I've been syndicated with my political cartoons.

- We liked living Dayton and we liked our kids growing up in Dayton.

And he said, he'd always wanted to do a comic strip.

And maybe that would be a good outlet.

- But it it never dawned on me that I was going to be doing it every day of my life for the next 30 years.

I had no idea.

So I'm going to art school.

But in the meantime I meet this girl, fabulous girl you know, well, it turns out her father was the dean of students at Washington University.

- And in art school he did what he did best which was draw cartoons for the newspaper and the yearbook and stuff instead of going to class because no one ever told him going to class was a good idea.

Until he met this one professor who said you're a great cartoonist, do cartoons.

- He said, when you go to figure drawing class don't draw a figure, exaggerate it, exaggerate the figure, make it into a cartoon.

When you go to painting class, paint a cartoon.

When you go to design class, design a cartoon, - I said, "Mr. Brunelle won't they get mad?"

- He said, "Mike, you're already flunking it's okay."

- And then much to my father's dismay he started getting A's and B's and actually graduated.

- It changed my life.

I knew then that cartoons was my destiny.

It was my goal, was my bliss.

I love to do them.

And obviously the world is telling me you gotta do this.

If you try to make up something, it's not as real as if you just do it right out of your life.

And a lot of my stuff is right out of my life.

- The comic strip came about pretty much out of his head, characters that he'd always played around with.

And then the dog is him.

He's the dog.

And one time I proved it because the dog drinks out of toilets, well he doesn't do that but he does eat out of trash cans.

And I caught him.

He was trying to wean himself off of Fritos.

- So Marian came in one day to my office and she said, what are you doing?

And I came up and I'm licking my finger and getting the crumbs of the Fritos down at the bottom.

And she says, "Oh my God, you're the dog."

I never realized that I was the dog.

I always thought the dog was just this entity that I was trying to do funny cartoon, but I was the dog.

And once I learned that, the strip all came together and I'd been having a great time ever since.

I'm in about 700 papers around the country, around the world.

So it's great.

- He's a very prolific creator.

He comes up with thousands, I mean, all these pages here are filled with 50 or 100 ideas which he won't use.

- When I start a cartoon I'm just writing ideas down.

And then anything that hits my mind, I start developing it.

- Any other cartoons would have used the very first one and be done for the day, whoa.

- I still don't know if I'm going to do it yet.

You know?

And so it's over there.

- Sometimes the standard's a little too high and there's a deadline and then there's standards.

And I say, okay, go with the best of all these horrible ideas you came up with.

Any one of which most cartoons would kill for, you know.

- And this was, my daughters are always saying to me, dad you've got a bat in the cave.

And I was thinking, who could say that?

So I have Lincoln saying to Roosevelt, "Teddy, you've got a bat in your cave," which I thought was a funny idea because he probably does have a bat in his cave, but that's how I come up with ideas.

I think of things or write things down that my kids say or that people say on the news or that I see at a grocery store.

And then I try to make it into something that's funny, that people will hopefully laugh at.

I know when I'm hitting my truth it'll hit the truth of 1,000 other people out there.

And then I always get good reaction from people because they say, "Oh my god, it that's exactly true for me."

- Tying the perfect knot begins with a perfect neck tie.

Coming up on the next Applause, the art behind high quality handmade ties.

Plus we preview the soon-to-be-released CD from acclaimed Northeast, Ohio poet, Orlando Watson and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Paul.

- Pupils for the promise prompted me to inquire if I could.

- Plus we look back 100 years of the Cleveland Indians' Ray Chapman.

the lone fatality in the game, All this and more on the next Applause.

For more than three decades Cleveland's Kilroy family has played Irish festivals, pubs and backyard celebrations known as kaylees.

They're musicians' musicians here in Northeast Ohio.

And it's a rare treat whenever the Kilroys pick up their instruments and play.

On today's show, four of the brothers Kilroy, Marty, Dominick, Joe, and Steve join us for a special St. Patrick's Day virtual celebration on Applause performances.

- Dominic, normally the Kilroy family St. Patrick's Day's gotta be big.

What do you typically do on a St Patrick's Day when you're playing?

- Well for the last, I'd say - 20, 30 years, we've always had gigs.

It's a big time of year for Irish bands.

All seven of us have played together over the last many years.

And there'd always be gigs February, March, you know every weekend, during the week.

It was just a big time for us.

It was fun.

You'd see people out that you hadn't seen in a long time.

They were just out to celebrate and you'd see the Irish throughout the year.

But so many people would come out that you'd see that you hadn't seen in awhile.

And it was a big miss, you know, to have it just kind of go away the whole season pretty much.

(Irish music) - This has been a family affair, St. Patrick's day for so many years of you and your siblings would march in the parade, your children have now marched in the parade.

And I understand that in 2019 the Kilroy family had a especially memorable St. Patrick's Day.

And from a family standpoint, Marty, what happened?

- Well, yeah, we had 2019.

We had the unique experience of my mother Eileen.

She was nominated mother of the year for the St Patrick's Day parade.

And there's a lot of hype, a lot of events and different things going on around town that she was honored at.

And then throughout the whole month or so leading up to it and then the day of the parade and she got to lead the entire parade down, I believe the parade runs down Superior these days, but she gets lead the parade down Superior.

And then at the end of the parade, join the reviewers booth.

We all got to partake in that, which was pretty fun.

It was a different angle.

We had seen the parade from that angle before.

So yeah, it was fun.

(Irish music) - You guys are all Mayo men.

The heritage is from Mayo, but you grew up of the West side of Cleveland off Fulton Road near the Cleveland Zoo.

The boys went to St. Ignatius.

The girls went to Holy Name and the whole family took part in a lot of events that took place at the West side Irish American Club on Madison.

Dominic, tell us a little bit about the IA, the old IA.

What was that like?

Memories from that place.

- We were young when we were there.

So like most childhood memories, they're pretty dear to your heart.

So, you know, some days we'd spend out there during the marching season, marching with the Fife and Drum Corps.

It was just fun, the atmosphere as kids.

It was just a new, new thing.

You had school, you had your sports but then there was this Irish American thing that we went to all the time.

And I think I speak for most people my age but it was just, you know, you'd have the moms would be there and the kids to be trying to get in the bar to get a pack of pretzels and a Coke.

Coke and pretzels, but it was just, it was magical, you know.

- Yeah, it was special.

- Ceil Gallagher would be at the door stopping you.

There was this, you know, lady just preventing you.

You just tried to have tried to get past her and you come out to the hall and there'd be nobody there and you'd run across and slide on the floor.

You know, it was just, it was just fun.

It was a big hall.

And then you'd get there and you'd march around practicing for the parade, you know, playing the fife.

And it was fun.

It was just great memories of that.

You know, as a kid, that was magical.

(Irish music) - As you were growing up, who were some of these musicians, who were these bands that you listened to that inspired you?

- I think three local people sort of inspired I think Marty, Joe and myself.

Tom Burns, Tom McCaffrey and Tom Hastings.

I remember sitting down with Tom Burns one time in his house.

And he learned by ear.

We learned by music.

Couldn't quite get his head around that.

So he opened up the book and said, he looked at me as if to think I couldn't, you know well you're not going to know this tune.

He pointed to an arbitrary tune and said, "Play this one," because he could see the name of it.

He knew how it was supposed to go.

And I just played it reading the notes.

It wasn't hard music but he was sort of taken aback by that.

And he closed the book and he said, "Okay now play that same tune."

You know what I mean?

Like by ear.

(laughter) and he said, "A funny way for me to learn."

And that was inspirational.

Like, Oh yeah, you learn this stuff by ear.

And it stays with you.

- It's in your blood.

- Yeah, things like that, they motivate you to put the book away, start listening to the music like jazz, just kind of, you hear it, you got to hear the music.

(Irish music) - Marty, how are the next generation of Kilroys coming along and carrying on that musical tradition?

- You know what, it kind of comes and goes in bunches.

- What does that mean?

- We're trying to keep them motivated.

I have three and two of them play the fiddle and one plays the accordion.

And one of the fiddle players is kind of dabbling around with the guitar a little bit, but we're trying to keep them motivated to do it.

And of course it would be much easier if there were a gig or two out in public.

That just kicks the whole motivation into high gear.

Yeah, little by little we're keeping them moving forward with it.

(Irish music) - You can catch my entire conversation with the brothers Kilroy on our Applause arts page at arts.ideastream.org.

And now we spin a yarn about yarn art as created by Toni Lipsey.

She learned how to crochet at the age of 13 and was immediately hooked.

Let's pay a visit to her hometown and studio in Hilliard, Ohio where she turns strands of yarn into whimsical creations.

- Have to make sure I keep my count.

Like whenever I'm crocheting, I count every row.

I think playful and practical really help to define kind of the things that I like to make.

And especially the things that I like to share with others.

If I could, I would love to teach everyone how to do this.

I am the owner of TL Yarn Crafts.

It's a crochet home goods and accessories business.

I run primarily on Etsy but I do a lot of craft shows around the holidays.

Oh, I learned crochet when I was 13 years old.

I was bored to tears over summer break and I was driving my mother insane and she was looking for something to kind of keep me busy, keep me occupied.

And she grabbed a crochet hook and some yarn out of her stash.

And she taught me how to make a granny square.

And she told me, keep going and it'll turn into a blanket.

And I worked on that thing all summer, but I just remember at the time, like just watching my hands make something that didn't exist before.

It was kind of fascinating for such a young person.

And I have been doing it ever since.

I'm making an Albert, so he is going to ultimately be an owl about ornament size.

So perfect for like a Christmas tree or hanging up in your car or, you know, there's always one owl lover in the family who can find something to do with an owl ornament.

He is by far one of my favorite things.

This is a wool blend, so if something happens to Albert, he falls in a puddle or baby gets applesauce on him, he could be popped in the washing machine.

Really easy to take care of.

I want people, especially for the first time to experience crochet in a very like simple and straightforward way.

So if I can make it approachable, I try my best to do that.

I keep a project bag with me everywhere I go.

And I mean, if I'm at the doctor's office, if I'm waiting in the drive-through too long, I'm pulling out one of my crochet projects.

(laughs) Wish I could just teach the world to love crochet.

(laughs) I wish I could.

I mean, once you get your hands into it and you really experience, you know, it's just fascinating.

It's very exciting.

You know, it's not just your grandma or your aunt who made that kind of itchy sweater, (laughs) like something that is, you know, that is contemporary and modern and that you can infuse into your own style.

I will crochet all day every day for the rest of my life.

I want to kind of redefine how people see crochet in their lives.

- And that's it for today's show.

For more arts programming go to arts.ideastream.org.

As we say goodbye, here's more from our special Applause performances guest, the brothers Kilroy.

I'm David C. Barnett.

Try to stay safe and healthy because we're looking forward to seeing you next week for another round of applause.

(Irish music) (WVIZ theme music) (orchestral violin music) - Production of Applause on WVIZ-PBS is made possible by grants from the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation, the Stroud Family Trust, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation.

And by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.