Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by Fire Heart Entertainment and viewers like you.

Thank you.

To.

Art ignites self-expression, bridges, cultural divides and sparks emotional connection, making it more crucial than ever.

Tonight, we're thrilled to speak with two artists who share their experiences and using art to unite us.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

And then you from Los Angeles.

This is Clark's PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson and Innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody, with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

Welcome.

Our first guest, Georgiana Ireland.

Georgiana, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, Angela, for inviting me.

Your personal story of how you became an artist.

I want our audience to hear it.

So tell us.

I have been an artist all my life.

And so by the time I was 19, I was exhibiting in galleries and exhibiting nationally.

And so I actually supported my self as a single mom with three kids, with my artistic talent, self painting murals and, eventually estates and that.

So then I moved to California and I've been here now for 20 years.

But you've done some incredible things in California, right?

So I've exhibited in some great galleries.

All over the United States and especially in Laguna Beach at some really top galleries.

When they closed, I decided to open my own gallery and work with some of the many artists that I've met over the years and and shine a light on the arts as both an artist and an artist, art evangelist.

So?

So that is I so I've owned Ethos Contemporary Art Gallery in Newport Beach for, it'll be ten years in August.

Will you said art evangelists?

I mean, the community is so important.

So what do you bring that's unique to that community when you are now the art gallery owner?

Well, I love to find amazing art and to share it with the world.

And so sometimes it's an artist that perhaps, and then, you know, their, their work is just absolutely amazing.

And people haven't seen it yet.

So perhaps, like, I'm working with a local artist right now that is urban landscapes.

And I'm very, it's showing kind of the gritty, urban scene, street streets and building windows.

The 99 cent store, that's Michael Ward.

And so I'm very excited to be the first person to show his work internationally.

So online we work on different platforms to where we we give them the exposure all over the world, and we sell all over the world from our little gallery in Newport Beach.

You save a little gallery, but you're doing some incredible work, not only with these independent artists, but with nonprofits as well.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

We always love to support our local charities.

So over the years, I've worked with more than I can count.

Laura's house, Chapman University.

Cos, we've done a lot of work with, with Haiti.

We've been hands on, actually.

My daughter volunteers there, and she's worked there.

She's been there four times now, building walls and, working with, teaching them how to farm.

So it's been wonderful and rewarding to be a part of that.

Well, I was thinking what was so interesting about your story and so inspiring is and because you mentioned your daughter, you talked about supporting three children as a single mom with your artistry, with now you're watching these children go out into the world based on their experience with you.

How does how do you feel about that?

It means the world to me, and it really means the world to me.

And, and my youngest actually paints murals as well for charities and, nonprofits.

And, it's just I'm excited because it's what I can do.

It's what I can give.

I my my dream is, of course, being a great philanthropist.

And you start where you're at and you do what you can and, and it's exciting to make a difference.

And you also mentioned working with Chapman University.

Are you working with a student?

Yeah.

That would be wonderful.

I'd love that opportunity.

I've always donated.

I create hearts, and so that's kind of what I'm known for.

A lot of times people will see hearts at a charity event.

And so I that's how I ended up having some amazing, patrons know about me.

And I'm on the radar.

And because they they know my art now, they're my art is in their home.

So I say together we've, you know, we've we've supported some great charities so well.

And I'm not shocked that you're known for creating these hearts because of everything that you do.

The charity supporting artists in the community.

I mean, just being that single mom that created this wonderful generation of little people doing something for it.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Yeah.

My other question to you is, I mean, you have been this gallery owner for almost ten years.

I would love to hear maybe 1 or 2 stories of artists that have come to you where you knew something was special in them, and then they were able to exhibit that for you.

Right?

Exactly.

Well, I mentioned to you because I about your process.

So we do have an artist that we work with that I've known her since she was 17, and she's a dear friend of my daughter's as well.

But one of her amazing pieces is called Rosa, and I'm, it's, it's a powerful piece.

She's a phenomenal LA artist, young artist.

And she's got some attention from, the, I think the museum, museum, urban museum in New York.

She does murals in LA.

And so I'm glad that it that I could do something to open some doors for her as well.

So shine a light on her work and upcoming artists.

Yes.

Emerson that's at MSN.

So she's done some fabulous pieces.

Wonderful.

I want you to say her name too.

Yeah, yeah.

Share with our audience.

Yeah.

Emerson MSN so and she works on our website, the piece, Rosa is on our website.

I can't wait to show it to you.

A beautiful piece, and I can't wait to show our audience as well too.

But you also working with some other artists, right now that you are going to be exhibiting.

So tell us about them.

So, well, one thing that, I've like I said, I work with a number of artists and one thing that we did that was pretty exciting was, we did a music video and we, we did a piece, called My Perfect Plastic World, and one what I loved about that, it was my very first installation piece, and it was a pink room and a like a set that you could walk into.

And, everyone would go in and we'd have they take their picture with it.

And, but what it was was it was, a commentary of, of, you know, the social media and how everybody portrays this, plastic world that everyone thinks is real and true.

And it's it's really not.

And people may compare their lives to that.

And it's and so it was our take of just, you know, what it is really it's my perfect plastic world.

And so I had an incredible opportunity to, put that in a music video.

I was given just one day to, to take this space that was going to be torn down.

It was our space that we had for six months in Los Angeles, and they were tearing, tearing the building down.

And so I got special permission after it sold.

And I had seven days to prepare and one day to shoot, and I shot a music video with another artist, Amber Gold Hammer and myself.

And then the star of the show was we were introducing Luciana, who is a three time, triple platinum musician, nine number one songs.

And we got special permission from Sony to do, a version of one of her songs.

And we created this music video and, with all the art, you know, art from the gallery, you know, and we were able to put, create the music video and, and then it was it debuted at the Hollywood Film Festival and it won an award.

So that was pretty amazing, an amazing opportunity that we had.

And so that was that was something exciting.

That was one of the highlights that that I've had.

And that's a great film festival.

I'm not just saying that because we were part of it as well, but it's a great festival.

You have to see the, something that was in my mind.

Yes.

And to to take an idea in your mind and turned into a film.

And it's a different genre and the installation was a different genre.

And so that was, challenging, rewarding.

And then to see it, at the Chinese theater, oh my gosh, that was like a dream come true.

my question before we end our conversation, because you are doing so many wonderful things to create art that unites us, but also to your supporting young artists as well.

Absolutely.

What do you want your legacy to be in this artistic community?

Oh my goodness.

Well, I would have to say, again, being the art evangelist and creating opportunities for exposure, another event that was very special that I did was relevant.

And it was during, frieze and I was given, a building and I had a just a week to do an entire show in this in the building.

But I gave opportunity, I gave artists the opportunity to curate a room and tell their story.

And we had some really powerful stories come out of that.

And so, I, I'd love to keep, you know, finding opportunities to shine a light on the arts and to, to, you know, to expose people to art and the power and the and also to I have to say, my legacy would be just, again, the importance of the art evangelists, because if we didn't have the people that before us that have shined a light on the arts, we wouldn't have the Impressionism that we have now and many different things we see in the museums.

It was somebody, you know, like myself, that just made it an importance of shining a light.

So now, before we end our conversation, please let our audience know how they can continue to support the work that you're doing as the art evangelist.

Thank you so much.

You're welcome.

Well, I'm Janna Ireland.

I own a gallery in Newport Beach called Athos Contemporary Art.

And, we, you know, we, we'd love we'd love to have you come in and say hello.

I think that's a perfect way to end our segment, and we'll make sure that we have your website there as well, so that our audience can find you, especially because of what you're doing to create the next generation of artists.

So thank you.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

And come back to meet our second artist, Fahad Al Homemade.

Whoa, whoa.

Eyes forward.

Don't drive.

Distracted.

I don't remember how it started.

Don't.

To that.

Are back and forth.

It always came back.

Thanks, dad.

You probably don't remember what you told me.

That was perfect.

But I heard every word.

Welcome back.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much for inviting me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

Well, and you are also our second artist that we wanted to talk to because about artistry and how it unites us.

Yep.

But you taking a little bit of a different journey with your art.

So share that with our audience.

I've been through my art for a long time, off and on.

So I kind of go back and forth between doing my business and then my art, and I put it aside for a long time.

Then during lockdown, I was knocked down in Saudi Arabia back home.

And, I just moved into a new house after my mom passed away.

And, I had a studio.

So I started back on my art.

Working on my art.

Becoming more spiritual.

I started meditating, and a lot of my art ideas came from my meditation.

So I slowly started working on my art.

And, during lockdown, I did, like, 80 pieces.

So, yeah, I went full force, started buying products from all over.

My art, the process is I do acrylic resin layers of residence, so the resin is hard.

Back then, I was 20, 21.

The result I used to get was like, has high volatile vases.

It doesn't, it takes it like two weeks to dry.

So each layer I had to wait two weeks and I work on two or 3 or 4 layers.

So HP takes me like a month and a half to dry.

Yeah.

Plus, I was, I was taken to the emergency room because for respiratory issues, because of that resin.

So.

Yeah.

So I started working on that.

And then in 2019, I started coming back to the U.S.

because I went to school in the U.S.

in the 90s, but 2018, I started coming back.

I met, film director, that, approached us with some the films because that's my passion, that's being creative art and films.

I started, I did a couple of, projects and at the same year I did, two trips with National Geographic Expeditions.

The first one was to, about Guatemala and Mexico to the Mayan ruins.

So I did the painting ten years before that of, Temple of the Jaguar in to call.

I, I'd never been there before.

So our first sight was the car, which was very spiritual for me.

Well, and I'm hearing that how you approach your art is all from a spiritual connection.

So how does that translate into what we're looking at when we look at a finished product that you've done for us?

My, the the way my art works, it's just different layers.

And so you, I combine the different cultural elements, different, images.

And so you get it's basically like portals as a multi-dimensional.

Yes.

And as you see more and more, as I started developing last year, my art into more thicker resin pieces, you'll see how more portals they become.

So, yeah, it's, it's I've combined a lot of things I do with travel photography.

Acrylic, acrylic, pour resin.

And as I develop my work, I started doing on canvases.

Canvases started to sag because of the resin.

So I put it on wooden boards, which was good, but I only didn't give me the thickness I wanted.

And last year I started doing putting the whole piece into a mold, a large mold.

So the pieces are now, turned off to four inches thick.

Well, and I'm asking you these questions to educate us, too, because the acrylic and the resin, the weight is different.

Correct?

Yes.

Resin is very heavy.

Very heavy.

And you're doing four layers of it, and I'm not more than four.

It goes up to four inches.

I'm working on a piece.

The Marilyn Monroe piece.

It's for about four inches thick.

Wow.

And so that's why you have to put it in the mold.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you for educating us.

You're welcome.

Yeah.

It's been a, a trial and error.

A lot of experiments, a lot of ruined pieces.

But it's not.

So with, working on my resin, I, I digress and go back to, the automotive trip.

Yes.

Because that was a turning point.

Because when I travel, I collect art, I collect objects.

Will, I collect art from people I know.

I support friends, especially during the lockdown, that I supported a lot of the friends, with their art and I. Everywhere I go, I try to get not a souvenir like a and made pieces.

So when I was with, on the trip, I was a I think it wasn't a car.

I wanted an object, a handmade object from the local people.

Okay?

Because I didn't realize there were a lot of Mayans still living there.

So I couldn't find any souvenir place or anything.

But I found us through a Mayan people selling their handmade objects on the side of the dirt road.

On the other dirt.

Wow.

Yeah, that that was.

So disheartening.

I, I couldn't believe that these people are being treated like that.

The.

They cannot sell, you know, they're selling on the art on on the dirt to tourists.

So, a couple a couple year after that, after years ago, I decided I want to open an art gallery that supports, you know, minorities and indigenous people, underrepresented groups because, just with that, with them people for me, because I am I come from a different culture.

I come from different country.

It's hard for me to make it into the art world.

I because I'm not that typical, you know, person that art galleries look for.

And Georgiana mentioned that to you.

You can do everything right.

And still it can still you're not popular.

You're not this you're not you don't fit the exact mold.

So, I start working on it, and I started meeting people and it was the coincidence.

Everything is made for so more people.

I'm meeting the the same vision, the same passion about that.

So slowly, we started developing the business plans, you know, with everything.

And what started as an art gallery.

Now a project is going to be a cultural center.

Wow.

So it's going to be a gallery that sells, art and crafts from indigenous minorities, natives from all over the world.

And, a multi-purpose space that we can rent out to local, artists businesses.

We can do, lectures.

It's open for everyone.

We got to have, a bookstore that, we got a publisher of books about this groups and support local, authors as well.

And we're going to have a spiritual business that does, Reiki, healing crystals, everything.

But also, we're going to have, like a cafe, with it, but it's going to do like shamans.

They're going to, potions.

That is that the indigenous people, you know, it's in their culture.

So we're going to have a lot of guests coming in.

You get people, you know, give classes.

I have a couple people that, you know, they're interested in and coming in and doing lectures and classes.

Plus we're going to have, live and work incubators for local artists.

Tell me about that.

So, we got to have a, a part of the project, probably 10 or 20 live work studios, and we're going to have a local artist that that nobody's given a chance, whether they're they're indigenous, they're native, they're African, African-American, any minority that that nobody gives them a chance.

We want to give them a chance.

Everything.

The whole project is for these people to be treated fairly and, help them break into the art world and and be successful.

Because with this cultural center, you're offering several different avenues.

If they wanted to put their art into a book, they could sell it there.

If they wanted to use the multi-purpose area to do a lecture or open it up to the community to learn more.

Yes, this is educational part of it too.

And I mean, how difficult was it for you?

I love that you talked about writing a business plan.

How difficult was it for you to write this business plan that has so many different facets to it?

It was, very detailed.

But, I was blessed that I have an amazing team that's going to help me.

I don't know if I can say their names.

Yeah.

It's, Vanessa, the capital, there are of, there are from northern California, from San Jose.

Let's a couple of Liccardo, and, another person in Orlando, they're, I think part indigenous.

Orlando is Mayan.

Wow.

So he was probably really interested based on your story.

Yeah.

So these these people are amazing.

They're helping us set up the whole business and getting all the investors and the business plans are getting.

So everything up to opening the art gallery?

That's right.

I have a full support of an amazing team.

And we are so excited because this is going to help a lot of people.

Well, it's important to have amazing people supporting you.

Yes.

So my next question is before we end our conversation is how can our audience learn more about what you're doing and supporting and to support what you're doing here?

Okay.

So far, I have, three Instagrams, but my well, one follow up for them to see, but you can, my main one is my art Instagram, which found that Alameda art that tells a story about, you know, all my art and everything's perfect.

And I have links to my other, Instagrams.

The second one is my travel photography.

So everywhere, everywhere I travel, I like to take pictures, you know?

So I'm gonna also, in a couple of months, I'm going to have a website that people can now purchase prints and stuff like that.

And then my, my film on Instagram, my company is called Balam Entertainment, which it's very special for me because my name, Fahad in Arabic means cheetah or a jaguar or a leopard.

Okay.

But I identify as a jaguar.

And when I was in Guatemala, in Mexico, I found out that my Mayan spirit animal is a jaguar and jaguar.

And my Aunt Isabella.

So?

So this is entirely a spiritual journey for you, and you're using that to pave the way for others?

Yes, because, it was difficult for me because coming from, a family of Saudi Arabia and we were, nobody, none of my dad was in the army, so he was very strict.

And he will not allow any of us to go study abroad.

So I had to, like, fight with him to let me come to the U.S, study, get my degree in art and graphic design and everything I've that I've done throughout my journey.

I had to fight for.

So that's why I have two tattoos.

On the right side is, a cowboy fish swimming upstream.

Okay.

Which is, it's, it's, for resilience.

And on the left side is a dragon, which is for strength, but it's for.

Was it for these two, traits?

I, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing.

Well, and you're doing it well, and you are paying it for.

So I want to thank you for that.

I appreciate it, and I thank you so much for the for this opportunity to tell this story.

And hopefully a lot of people will, you know, can help out on this story.

So thank you.

Thank you so much I appreciate it.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.