(brief wondrous music) - [Narrator] Make beautiful stained glass art with Amanda Moore.

- I'm impressed (Amanda laughs) - [Amanda] You did that.

- [Narrator] Chat with African drumming and dance specialist Jordan Taylor Hill.

(gypsy jazz music) And catch a performance from Hot Club of Saratoga.

It's all ahead on this episode of AHA!

A House for Arts.

- [Narrator] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and the Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.

(groove music) (whooshing) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, and this is AHA!

A House for Arts, a place for all things creative.

Today I'm gonna learn how to create beautiful stained glass art with Amanda Moore, who teaches classes at the Albany Barn's Artistry Studios, located in the former convent of St. Mary's Church in Schenectady.

Now, let's go cut some glass.

(meditative music) - I'm the owner, creator of Better Day Glass Company, and I make stained glass.

I don't know if I know my style yet, I've only been doing this for about two years.

The pieces I create, I create 'cause they make me happy.

Each piece I make tends to be different from the others, because I'm still finding who I am as a glass artist.

I got into stained glass seeing it as a child, being around it, churches, old houses, it's always been interesting, however, it was unobtainable, it was big, it was expensive.

I was fortunate to be able to take a class with an artist down in the Catskills.

I took the class, broke glass, this made sense to me.

And things have never been the same, in a good way.

(laughs) Teaching's important to me, because as one of my students said a few weeks ago, it's helping to demystify the whole stained glass process.

Part of why I started selling and teaching was, I want people to be around glass, I want people to enjoy it in their homes, regardless if they have a studio apartment or a massive mansion, you can live with glass, and the fact that it changes in the different colors, the lights, you don't have to hang it in a window.

I want people to be more around it.

I'm going to teach you how to break glass, yes.

(laughs) - Controlled, right?

- Yeah, yeah, of course.

We're not smashing anything, this isn't like an anger management room.

So controlled breaking glass, and then we'll go through the those steps of the process, cutting, grinding, foiling, soldering.

- [Crew Person] Rolling.

Let's do a clap.

(Amanda and Matt clap) (idle music) - Beautiful.

- The first step of the stained glass process is to actually break the glass, but first, safety, so you need gloves and an apron, 'cause we wanna protect your clothes, and there will be glass shards.

The stained glass process does have chemicals to it and hot metal.

- Oh my god, hold on.

This is the hardest part.

(Amanda chuckles) - Teaching stained glass has been interesting, because I realize, we all want to be perfect at everything as soon as we walk in the door.

So that's the first thing is like, just learn the basics, I'm gonna teach you how to do it safely.

- We'll be ready to go as soon as Matt gets his gloves on.

(chuckles) - Okay.

- All right.

- Are you ready?

- I'm ready.

- Okay.

(laughs) - I'm pretty scared.

- So I'm gonna demonstrate the first one.

Once again, the important point is, this wheel is at a 90-degree angle to the glass, you also want to go from one side of the glass to the other.

The cool part about this is the sound, if you're doing it well, it sounds like a zipper.

(glass ripples) - Okay.

- [Amanda] Okay?

A little bit further in.

Now push.

Yep.

Yes.

Keep going, keep going, keep going.

Yes.

How'd that feel?

- Good, I was a little wobbly.

(chuckles) - That's fine, this is practice.

All right, go ahead and put the cutter down.

Our next step is the breakers.

- [Matt] Oh my goodness.

Okay.

- [Amanda] Perfect.

Now line them up.

Okay, perfect, now move your hand back on the breakers.

Yep, now squeeze.

(claps hands and laughs) Now you have broken glass.

- That is pretty fun.

- Isn't it?

It's not as scary as you think.

So the stained glass process, you actually choose the glass, and the glass, I explain to people, is kind of like construction paper, it comes in different colors, textures, a variety of options.

So then you put the pattern on the glass.

We're gonna start working with this pattern to create a sun catcher, what most people call a sun catcher, but it's a smaller piece of stained glass that a lot of people tend to hang in windows, a lot of people are hanging on their walls now, wherever makes you happy.

(playful music) - So I'm tracing what I'm about to cut.

- Mm-hmm.

- (chuckles) And numbering it.

Then you would cut it.

Essentially, cutting it starts with a score, you're cracking it on purpose.

Hopefully on purpose.

(chuckles) (glass squeaks) Perfect.

Sometimes the glass gods are not in your favor and they break as they want to.

But the temperature of the glass, the coloration of the glass, the texture makes an impact on how that crack's actually gonna work.

- Oh, oh my god, okay.

- Yeah.

(chuckles) And then take the glass, you grind it down essentially to create a rougher edge to adhere the copper foil.

So it's gonna wrap each piece in a copper foil, that's gonna prepare it so we can then solder it all together.

This is the copper foil.

I like a nice wide copper foil, it creates nice lines when you're making the piece.

- It's a sticker.

- It is.

It is adhesive.

I like to take the glass, and look down the foil, and the glass, and put it in the middle.

- Okay.

(playful music continues) - Yeah, so this is the method that Tiffany & Co. came up with for stained glass, they wrapped every piece in copper foil.

- [Matt] Oh wow.

- The copper foil is what holds the glass pieces together.

So you have the copper foil, and then you solder over that, so that creates the structure of the whole piece.

Are you ready?

- I think so.

- Okay.

(chuckles) - I hope so.

(energetic music) - So on this side, I'm gonna teach you how to start tinning the outside, which you're melting the solder up here, and you're moving the solder on the outside.

- [Matt] Wow, that was very well done.

- You're gonna be able to do that.

(Matt sighs) Yep.

Yes.

- Is it?

- Yep, you're good.

- Oh (beep).

- No, you're good.

Yes, yes, keep going, keep going, keep going.

Keep going.

- Oh shoot.

(Amanda chuckles) There you go.

That wasn't too bad, right?

You started off strong, and then I think you lost where your contact was- - I got excited and- - Feeding the solder.

- You're like, "I'm doing good, oh man, I'm not doing good."

(chuckles) So we're gonna let that, see?

- Hey, it doesn't look bad.

- And this is the back.

(crew person laughs) This is the back.

- Oh, okay.

Wow, the back doesn't even look bad.

(Amanda laughs) - Leave it in, yes, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going.

There you go.

This is your first time you've ever soldered stain glass?

- Yeah.

- Look at those nice pleats.

I know that's not what your brain is telling you.

(both laugh) But yeah, look at the nice pleats.

So we're gonna clean up the piece, get the chemicals off of it, we'll put a hanger on it.

And then my tradition with everyone is to take a picture of their piece in this space, and we'll have to do that.

(triumphal orchestral music) I'm going right now, since I'm so new to it, relatively new to it, I've been doing it for a few years.

I'm going into it with, what can I continue to learn?

What can I continue to learn from myself?

What can I continue to learn from others?

Still taking stained glass classes with other stained glass artists, because life is about learning.

In five years, I hope to still be here, actually, I hope to still be in this space for a very long time, and I just wanna spread more joy and art into the world, is essentially the fundamental goal of why I'm doing what I'm doing.

(triumphal orchestral music continues) Do you guys want a copy of this?

- Yeah.

- Okay, yeah.

- Jordan Taylor Hill has a passion for sharing the art of African drumming and dance through performances, workshops, and educational talks.

Jade Warwick spoke with Jordan to learn more.

- Welcome to AHA!

House for Arts, Jordan.

- Thanks for having me, Jade.

- What inspired you to get into African drumming and music and dance?

- I guess just growing up I always knew I was gonna be doing music, but in college I did a study abroad, so I went to West Africa for the first time, I went to Senegal, and just got introduced to the drumming and dance and culture and, you know, customs there, and was just kind of blown away by everything and stuff like that.

So since then, which was 2011, I was like, you know, this is something that I really want to pursue.

- And there you are.

- Yeah.

- And like, what are you exactly, do you like drum, dance?

Like, let's give the audience a little bit of like all that you do.

- Yeah, so I play a lot of music from like Senegal, from Guinea, but I started drumming first, you know, when I was there for the first time I bought a little djembe, and I was just kinda walking around the city trying to like pick up what I can, and you know, after getting teachers and things like that, I got more into the dance and started studying that more, you know?

And yeah, I kind of just like to pursue both of them.

- Combine the two.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Which creates a beautiful performance art too.

- Yeah, and it's a language, you know, between the drumming and dance and stuff like that.

So I think having an understanding of both sides of it, it makes your art that much better, you know?

- Beautiful.

And I know storytelling is really intertwined with a lot of like African arts, and a lot of arts in general, what is something that you've played, or dance that you've done that told a story that's reflective of your real life?

- For sure.

Yeah, I mean, I think there's just certain dances that resonate with me, you know, but certain songs that I just even most recently wrote, you know, times that test my faith, those moments I choose to pray, you know what I'm saying?

Like, that's my real life when I'm like, okay, you're going through things, and whether you let your perception and self dictate your mindset is something that, you know, I've overcome.

You know, I still even address it in a lot of ways and stuff, like, I think we as people do.

I think, other rhythms, right?

There's some rhythms, like rites of passages and stuff like that.

- What is that, like rites of passages?

When you say rhythms, like what exactly does, because like rhythms may mean so many things, like to different people, just because based off the music style or what they enjoy.

So what are these African rhythms like?

Can you define that a little bit?

- Yeah, so I guess just speaking to like djembe music, music from Guinea and West Africa, music from Mali and stuff like that, I mean, I guess it's similar to a quinceanera, right?

Or a bar mitzvah or something like that, it's just coming of age things and stuff like that.

And you know, when I'm even teaching and talking to kids and stuff like that, I'm like, okay, this is a rhythm that's traditionally played for young boys, or young girls when they're coming of age and stuff, and it's a rite to passage.

It might be learning this dance from an older dancer or whatever, and you know, just learning the history of the dance and who started it, and where and things.

- Cultural significance, like a lot of that goes back to that storytelling piece.

- Mm-hmm.

- Do you ever add a contemporary twist?

Or, do you just like, I'm just gonna take this beat, or this rhythm or this dance, and, I'm not gonna add no spice to it, I'm just keep it how it is, very traditional?

Or do you add your own like Jordan Hill?

- For sure.

Yeah, for sure.

I think there's a combination of like keeping it how it is, I think incorporating it into, you know, my own, and then there's just really deviating and maybe using something electronic or, you know.

But I think just the idea of, if I'm playing a traditional rhythm, like dundumba, right, the dance of the strong man, or something like that, and I'm wearing like a suit and I'm doing that dance, it's like, that is kind of a contemporary element and stuff like that.

And you know, when you see these artists from those places and how they present themselves now, whether they're wearing traditional garment or they're wearing, you know, stuff that they're comfortable in, whether it's street wear or suits and stuff like that, like, I think you see that process of how traditional art has met contemporary art, you see that here in a place like Cuba and stuff.

Yeah, so those are things that I kind of think I like to, you know, but sometimes it's like, yeah, you just want to keep something how it is.

- So I want to go back a little bit, you said educating youth.

So, I know you do some education with youth, you go to school, you go to all types of places and really give your skills, passions and talents and showcase them to local youth, and youth all over it seems like.

So why do you personally think, as a Black artist in this creative field, why do you think it's important for other Black kids to, or kids of the African diaspora to be introduced to African drum and music and performance art?

Like, do you think that's important for Black youth today?

- Yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

You know, I wish I got introduced to it when I was younger, you know, I was like relatively, 22, which is relatively old to, you know, get introduced to it, so it's a gift and an honor to be able to go into a middle school, elementary school, preschool and you know, talk about this drumming, this dance, travels and stuff.

And I mean, it's just fun, you know, for starters, right?

But I mean, I think there's so many different layers about why it's important to just give the youth more opportunities to learn about, you know, art, music, dance, culture, and you know, things outside of what they might see, right?

And how it's relevant to where they are today in society and stuff like that.

Whether we're learning a dance about a harvest, right?

And like attaching that to society today, and okay, you know, what is our harvest, you know?

And, okay, farming, and what's our relationship to the land now and stuff.

And some people that may not have, you know, we were talking before about just being around farming and gardening and stuff, some people that may not have had that experience, and how their attachment to it might be different from someone who understands and appreciates it, you know?

So I think, yeah, using art as a way to kind of connect that in another way that's fun and you know, it's like, yeah, we play this music when people are out, you know, getting their squash or pumpkins, or whatever it is and stuff like that, you know?

- And I would say it's kind of like reclaiming your history a little bit too, you know?

Your like ancestral history, through visual, you know, visual dance, physically hearing the drums, and you mentioned the strong man, that's like very physical.

- Absolutely - So I think that's really beautiful for like kids, whose ancestral ties are to that, to see again, because it could be washed away throughout history.

- For sure.

- Awesome.

Before we wrap up, any events you have coming up?

- I mean, there's always something going on, you know.

But I'm always just writing, always teaching and stuff, doing workshops, so.

- Where do you do your workshops at?

- A lot of times people just reach out to me.

So like I'll do something in schools or colleges, or art centers, museums and stuff like that.

- All right, well folks you heard it, or reach out to Jordan if you want a book.

All right, thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you.

- Awesome.

- Please welcome Hot Club of Saratoga.

(gypsy jazz music) ♪ Carolina ♪ ♪ Gave me Dinah ♪ ♪ I'm the happiest man ♪ ♪ Beneath the sun ♪ ♪ Rumors are spreadin' ♪ ♪ About a weddin' ♪ ♪ I hear those church bells ringin' ♪ ♪ Here's the song that my heart's singin' ♪ (gypsy jazz music gains rhythm) ♪ Dinah, is there anyone finer ♪ ♪ In the state of Carolina ♪ ♪ If there is and you know her show her to me ♪ ♪ Dinah with her eyes blazing ♪ ♪ How love sitting gazing ♪ ♪ Into the eyes of Dinah Lee ♪ ♪ Every night ♪ ♪ Why do I shake with fright?

♪ ♪ 'Cause my Dinah might change her mind about me ♪ ♪ Dinah, should you wander to China ♪ ♪ I would hop and ocean liner ♪ ♪ Just to be with Dinah Lee ♪ (upbeat gypsy jazz continues) (upbeat gypsy jazz continues) (upbeat gypsy jazz continues) (upbeat gypsy jazz continues) (upbeat gypsy jazz continues) ♪ Oh Dinah ♪ ♪ Oh Dinah ♪ ♪ Is there anyone finer ♪ ♪ If there is and you know her show her to me ♪ ♪ Dinah ♪ ♪ With her blue eyes blazin' ♪ ♪ I love to sit gazin' ♪ ♪ Into the eyes of Dinah Lee ♪ ♪ Now every night ♪ ♪ Why do I shake with fright ♪ ♪ 'Cause my Dinah might change your mind about me ♪ ♪ Oh Dinah ♪ ♪ If she should wander to China ♪ ♪ I would hop and ocean liner ♪ ♪ Just to be with Dinah Lee ♪ (gypsy jazz music comes to cadence) (mellow ballad) (mellow ballad turns to slow dance rhythm) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance continues) (mellow dance turns to slow cadence and fades) (ethereal music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha, and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz.

Thanks for watching.

(beat music) - [Narrator] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and the Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.