- [Narrator] Production of Applause on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga arts and culture.

(upbeat music) - [David] Coming up, see where art is popping up in Summit County as we visit a familiar spot.

And a new sci-fi fantasy is set to premiere, but it's not taking place on Vulcan or Nabu, it's set in Cleveland.

Plus hear another in our series of Cleveland Orchestra Performances with conductor John Adams.

It's time for this week's edition of Applause.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's, David C. Barnett.

(upbeat music) As in any downtown, Akron's buildings are a link to the city's past.

But what happens when so many stand vacant?

Ideastream Public Media's Kabia Bacha explains how one Akron organization is breathing life back into these empty storefronts through art.

- [Kabia] In the 1961 book, 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities,' author and activist, Jane Jacobs wrote, "Think of a city and what comes to mind.

It's streets.

If a city's streets look interesting, the city looks interesting; if they look dull, the city looks dull."

That quote became inspiration for Curated Storefront, an organization in Akron founded in 2016 as an effort to revitalize the downtown area through art.

- My vision was to activate empty or disused spaces in downtown Akron, and we are all about bringing more interest to the city of Akron, and elevating it through the arts.

(upbeat music) - [Rick] When we started, we had one space at the corner of a market street and high street, and that's now been developed into a brewery.

So we felt successful in our first time out.

And then we've solely moved down main street south, and we've programmed over 26 buildings since we started.

- [David] The ultimate goal of Curated Storefront is to bring commercial development to downtown Akron.

So far it's been working.

11 buildings activated by the organization have been redeveloped.

The other objective, preserving history.

- [Rick] And unfortunately, our cities have erased a lot of our history in Akron.

- They haven't done as good a job as I think they could have preserving some of their historical architecture, which if you walk up and down main street, there's lots of empty plots where some grand buildings used to stand.

I was born in 1954 in Akron, and growing up, I remember going downtown as a child to O'Neil's and Polsky's just about everything that happened for retail and socially happened downtown.

- [Rick] The Christmas windows were always a big draw, and there was always something lively going on in those windows.

So they thought it would be nice to do something in the arts, but also something that would help bring downtown back differently, but its former glory.

- [David] As this year's Front Triennial expands its footprint in the Akron area, a partnership with Curated Storefront seemed natural, and another great way to bring more art into empty buildings.

- In the first edition, the only local Akron location was the Akron Art Museum.

And so it was really important to Front that this time there'd be a more robust footprint here in Akron.

- [Annie] And so the partnership with Curated Storefront was born because Curated Storefront has this sort of amazing capacity to be spread out across the city and be in all the unusual places.

Quaker Square was the obvious choice for that.

One floor of Quaker Square is devoted to the Front's presentation, and the second floor is a series of other Curated Storefront exhibitions.

- [David] In 1932, Quaker Square was built as the headquarters of the Quaker Oats Company.

Its iconic silos were redeveloped in the late 70s as a hotel with offices, shops, restaurants and extensive model train displays.

Today, it's used for storage and dormitories by the University of Akron.

And on the ground floor is where you'll find Curated Storefront.

- [Annie] This building is such an icon on the skyline of Akron, and it's such a nostalgic place for so many members of the community.

So it's really exciting to reactivate it and turn it into a dynamic arts venue and invite everyone back in.

- [Rick] It's kind of an advantage 'cause we have a blank slate here.

There's so much empty space that we have a lot of freedom to do things that you couldn't do in a city where everything's already commercially populated.

- Northeast Ohio is surprisingly vibrant and has a lot of interesting cultural institutions and a lot of energy.

There's so much possibility here, and a lot of energy to make that all happen.

(upbeat music) - [David] Curated Storefront features several artists in this year's Front Triennial.

Cleveland based Charmaine Spencer uses natural materials to create large scale sculptures, and Chakaia Booker from New York uses a rubber city staple, used tires to create abstract pieces which will be on display during the triennial.

This Front Triennial Exhibition in partnership with Curated Storefront is on display in Quaker Square until October 2nd.

Responding to Front is the hyperlocal CAN Triennial with more than 100 artists from seven Northeast Ohio counties.

One is Omid Tavakoli.

While his mother is African-American, his father was born and raised in Iran.

And Tavakoli's art springs from both sides of his family tree.

- [Omid] Social commentary is the forefront of all of my work.

So I'm trying to bridge between that shocking and informative, but still beautiful.

As a biracial kid, you always have your own identity issues, and you're either embracing them both or rejecting them both.

- And I think there was a really good time in my life where I was rejecting them both.

It was unfortunate, but it was very difficult in navigating, and I think after 911 and the Muslim hate and the things that were going, it was like, the best you could just not be seen and not be proudly Muslim or Iranian, and proudly whatever background.

I don't know, I definitely hate it.

I was young and was not upfront about it.

So I think later, those years I started to think like, I need to really embrace my identity on both sides, Black and Iranian, and started to do some research to having a conversation about both.

- [Omid] Specifically in 2010, there was a green movement, a revolution that was happening, where CNN was airing all of this stuff.

And there were protests and I was not even... - I was either just starting school that year or just kind of, it was an influential moment, to say the least.

- [Omid] So when I started Kent and started to explore my Middle Eastern roots, I really went back to 2010.

It was looking back at this green movement and looking at what was happening in that culture.

So I started looking up the imagery and realized Iran is just a country of protests.

- The economy, there were these riots and things that were happening because of the price of eggs.

It was something as simple as the price of eggs.

And then I did my research and saw in 1979 when the revolution started, it was all because of the price of bread.

It was just like, it was so interesting how an entire movement could be started because of price difference in such a small commodity.

But someone who's poor, the price of bread is a significant thing, and will really affect the putting food on your table.

So I started to think about that and had this idea where I would just take carton after carton of eggs.

So I would get these like 24, a whole square of eggs, 24 eggs in a square and lay that down, and then put a piece of lavash, which is Iranian bread or Persian Middle Eastern bread on top of that.

I mean, I think I bought a hundred crates of eggs and a hundred things of bread, and just kept stacking them until they literally reach a tipping point.

So just looking at the history of 1979's bread prices and 2018's egg prices, and I got this complete tower that just was like a four-foot high tower of eggs and breads that collapsed in the gallery and just fell in this amazingly beautiful way (laughs).

- [Omid] I mean, there's definitely some luck that occurred, but this piece ended up getting a lot of attention within the school.

I think more the shock, the smell, the sulfur, the eggs, I don't know, I had teachers who really didn't know who I was, knowing who I was from that point, and continued to build off of that series.

(gentle music) (music continues) 'Sea of Cops' really started by addressing the footage that was happening throughout the protests.

Different police, - I think I really just couldn't understand how police were attacking protestors who were protesting police violence.

That really just got under my skin and you start to realize that maybe this discussion needs to be focused more on the police 'cause it's like the police are the issue at this moment, or the over-policing or the accumulation of funds to the police.

- [Omid] I mean, it's not just the police, of course there's top, there're bigger things in the government that's there, but it was like, let's just focus on that.

So I start scouring through imagery, and finding different sources.

And there was just a few where it's like you can see the clouds and the sky, and you could really white out anything that was the sky and not lose the black lining of their outfits.

So I was able to just remove areas much easier and just created an entire row of police officers.

And then I just kept multiplying it until I just had this accumulation of ink that just you almost couldn't tell it was police anymore until you zoomed in.

I felt like there was that almost painter equality or the pixelations of the image where if you stood away from it, it just wasn't as visible, and the closer you got, the more it told the story.

It's like, you have to put it under a microscope, but you have to really get closer to these topics to learn from it.

And I just thought, making something that you physically would have to get close to to see to make an idea of what was happening might help with this working.

I mean, there's always the horizon line.

The horizon line is such a significant thing, or the lake and water and the beauty of stuff like that.

So it was like, let's try to make this just almost a wave.

I've spent a lot of time, I'm from Euclid, we see the lake, we see water, you know the turbulence.

- I mean I start seeing these relationships with the police.

It's like they always tell you respect the water, the water is dangerous, the water can capture you at any time, you can get drowned, you can get swept in a tide, and just to respect the water.

But as a young black male, you're always told respect the police, be careful, watch out 'cause you never know what could happen.

Anything could happen out of a storm.

Whatever, it was just like understanding that there are these relationships between the danger at sea and the danger on the streets.

- [David] Omid Tavakoli's exhibit is on view at Praxis Fiber Workshop and Waterloo Road in Cleveland through August 31st.

New York city based artist, Abigail DeVille created several sculptural installations as part of the Front Triennial.

On the next Applause, we learn how Cleveland's history inspired her art, plus making sweet tasting macarons in North Canton is this man's late night passion.

And we share an Emmy winning performance by the Tri-C JazzFest All-Stars featuring the music of Christian McBride.

All that and more on the next episode of Applause.

(gentle music) Now let's go over the Ryan in Cincinnati to one of the first female owned manufacturing companies in the country.

Rookwood Pottery was founded in 1880 by artist Maria Longworth Nichols.

More than a century later, Rookwood continues its artistic traditions.

- [Morgan] I think the great thing about clay is that it is like is a give and take.

So you definitely have the power over the clay but the clay also does this thing where it talks to you back.

And I think it's really interesting, especially with taking a piece of the earth and making it something that will live here forever.

So I think the process, not just of the piece itself but the whole learning process of clay is what drew me into it.

My day to day is making.

I spend all day getting my hands dirty, whether it's doing one of a kind pieces or even prototyping things like the Amelia Collection.

- I'm definitely a 3D thinker.

So I just jump in and start throwing, and from there it's just doing little things that I think will work, and that's how every single one of those Amelia Collection pieces came out more or less.

- [Morgan] The design specifically, we were going into the spring open-house, so I definitely had natural flowers spring newness on the mind, and I think that sheds light on that.

With starbursty pattern there, I definitely have a draw towards natural organic plants, flowers.

My dad's an arborist, and so I definitely grew up being very indulged in that thing, and I think that definitely comes out in my work.

The most important thing is the productionality of it.

Definitely the way that we are gonna go through the process of things definitely limit or give way to what the design needs to be.

I think that kind of pattern definitely allows the glaze to use it as a canvas more or less, and I think it's just a really great piece, not just for the fact that it is functional and it's producible, but also it's beautiful as a standalone thing.

- [LaRae] Color inspires me more than anything.

I'm very interested in how colors play together.

When I first started, I was taught from scratch.

You learn basics like bases of glazes, like how different glazes react in the kilns, and then you start getting more into color.

- I had a very skilled master.

He took me under his wing, taught me a lot of things that a lot of basic sprayers don't know.

What your speed might dictate, your distance might dictate, from spraying piece to piece, and then how to apply that technique to other pieces that you might have not sprayed before.

- [LaRae] So first, shape and size dictate how we're gonna apply glaze to a piece.

And glazes when you apply them, they're like wet material like clay, and the color is not true.

So what you're seeing in it's raw form is not what you'll see when it's finished.

Sometimes with us, especially with hand-thrown pottery, we get to throw two glazes together, four glazes together, and we don't know what it's gonna turn out to.

My favorite part is the reveal.

It's like when we open that kiln and we see these bases and it didn't stick to the shelf and we could sell it, and it's like something we never thought it was gonna be.

So that's my favorite part.

It's really fun for us to make our own glazes.

There's a glaze we offer called Carnival.

It's called joker.

That's like it's base, because it switches from gloss to mat on one tile.

It almost looks like bamboo bark when it gets drier, and then when it gets heavier or glossier, it turns purple.

So that's my favorite one.

It's like a lot of what we offer even when we're putting two glazes together, you won't find anywhere else in any other ceramic company.

I like the fact that we're unique in that sense, that our glazes are very true to who we are here at Rookwood.

So I think that's nice.

- When Rookwood came back to Cincinnati, it was a ridiculously joyful day for myself and other collectors.

The continuing idea, especially the Rookwood would return to where it started in 1880 was phenomenal.

- [George] Just when I think we've reached our peak in terms of beauty and artistry, we topped that ceiling one more time.

And so everything that is continuing to evolve is better and better each and every year that we're in production.

One of the cool things about Rookwood, especially if you come down for a tour or one of our open-house events, you get to meet the employees that work here.

And so you can possibly watch the potters throw on the wheel, you can watch some of the items being glazed in the spray department.

And a lot of our employees are degreed folks coming from University of Cincinnati or possibly the Art Academy, and that's analogous to what was happening back in the day, where a lot of the artists back in the 1880s were being pulled from local art schools as well as across the country because of the reputation of Maria plus the name of Rookwood.

- [LaRae] That's one of the things that really has kept me here this long, is the history within it.

It's honestly an honor to work for a company that did so much for not just females, but female artists in history.

It's really empowering to be a part of that.

- [David] Rookwood Pottery is located in the Over-The-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati.

(upbeat music) Growing up in Rocky river, Brian K. Vaughan hoped that he someday write comic books.

Fast forward to today, and the St. Ignatius grad has won the comic industry's top award, "The Eisner" more than a dozen times.

His latest is a time traveling jat called Paper Girls, now a TV series for Prime Video.

And it's set in Cleveland.

- Paper Girls is a comic that I co-created with an amazing artist named Cliff Chiang.

It is about four newspaper delivery girls in 1980s suburban Ohio.

They lived in a town called Stony Stream, which is a very lightly fictionalized version of Rocky river, where I grew up.

- Hey - And what's your name?

- Ann.

- Tiff.

- So you're Mark, right?

- So?

- So you're the first paper boy around here.

Who was it?

- A boy?

You must be the Brandman kid.

- KJ.

- My dad says you people own everything.

- You people?

- She's new.

- All right, big Mark.

Let's go.

- And they get embroiled in a crazy adventure, and I don't think it's spoiling anything to say that it's about time travel.

- Why does the sky look like that?

- Move, move, move.

Let's get outta here.

- Hey, who's there?

- What are you doing in my house?

- What are you doing in my house?

- I live here.

- No, I live here.

- That's her.

- Holy!

- This is a psychotic break.

- 12-year old version of yourself broke into your house with her punk friends.

- If that really is future you, maybe she can call someone.

- Who's she gonna call?

- Time travel 9 1 1.

- Do you want to call 9 1 1?

- Oh, good Lord, there are future robots.

- The girls send up exploring many different eras, including coming to present day Ohio where they get to meet adult versions of themselves.

- Future me will know how to get us home.

- It was a blast to work on as a comic.

The comic ran for 30 issues, it's one complete story now that you can pick up in a massive collection.

Ali Wong, an incredible comedian plays the grownup version of one of the girls.

- You have no idea what's at stake here.

- Yeah, it's the fate of humanity.

I get it.

- And it just has some of the most extraordinary 12-year old performers I've ever seen in a show.

- We're paper girls, so we stick together.

- Awesome effects, beautiful writing.

And yeah, I'm really proud of that.

- You know, future you is not all that bad.

She did give you that rad shirt which says dumb on it.

- Paper Girls is streaming now on Prime Video.

It's not from the future, but it is very contemporary.

Here's more from the Cleveland Orchestra Concert of Modern Classical Music, led by John Adams.

This is arousing work by American composer, Carlos Simon, inspired by Beethoven.

It's called "Fate Now Conquerors."

(Orchestral music) This is just one of the Cleveland orchestra concerts you can watch on the Adella app.

And hey, why don't you download the PBS app while you're at it, and that way you can watch all of our Applause episodes on demand.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's David C. Barnett, hoping to catch you next week for the next round of Applause.

(upbeat music) - Production of Applause on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, The Kulas Foundation and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga arts and culture.