Our communities are rich in art and culture, thanks in part to our local arts organizations.

Marion Cultural Alliance, Art Council of Alachua County and GF Gainesville Fin Arts Association have partnered to bring you WUFTs Artistry in And immense gratitud and thanks to our funder and spo PNC Bank, who, with their suppo Artistry in Motion is made possi [Singing: I've never really been in love before.]

[Ive never been in love.]

[Never ever been in love.]

I've been singing off and on for several decades.

I started to learn to sin when I was in my mid-twenties.

I had a dreadful case of tone d that I had to overcome, which I I started off as a guitar player When you actually can't hear the oscillations and you can't hear the pitch it's like, well, how do you hear I wasn't even able to tune my gu My teache thought I should study some theo He just sat down with me one day and he had me listen to the oscillations of th until I learned to get in it.

And then it was just a lot of diligent practice.

And as a result, then I taught Can Sing” through Santa Fe Colle for like 20 years.

And it was effective because of my history.

It was believable to the student that you could learn to sing because I had taught myself.

I have got to pla with really exceptional musician It's afforded me more opportunit to grow as an artist.

Though I was a late bloomer, I'm, now these many decades lat feel like I'm just starting to b There's a lot of joy in it.

Staying connected to community.

Keeping my brain active as the y go on.

I have a singer as a mentor who is still performing at 95, so I hold that out as hope.

Right now I have a steady gig at Js Bar downtown.

I've had the great fortun of playing with Rafael Abdalla.

We do a lot of bass and voice.

Not only is he a fantastic musi and composer, he's also very gen That makes all the difference in the world.

We can easily get into the ga and not see the gain that we've I would say definitely follow yo Don't let anyone discourage you.

Outside in nature.

It's where I find peac and it's where I find my inspira That's what my work is really a is the drama of light on the lan and in the sky.

I used to paint as a kid.

I painted wildlif and then I didn't paint for a lo And I came into photography and large format wooden field camera Even as a photographer I always felt that I should be d And it was painting.

Being able to invent scenes.

As a photographer, you have to make the best of what you've got in front of y in a traditional sense.

But as a painter, I can take what's in front of me and I can bring things from the riverbend over there and pull it in here and those palms from over there and bring it here.

I can take midday and turn it into moonrise.

With the large format camera, i a very slow, contemplative proce as is painting.

When you look at the back of the there are no mirrors to flip things around to make i look like what you're looking at So when you're looking through the back of that camera it's upside down and flip So it really has helped me with composition, because you can look at that sce and you can see it in terms of not necessaril a tree or a mountain or an entir You're looking at it in terms of So it was, I won't say an easy but it was a natural transition.

Even though mos of my paintings are done in the the process begins outside, whether it's just walking with and observing, walking with my s I watch the leaves and I watch t and I watch the sky, the light and the trees.

And then once I'm in the studio then I can take all the referenc whether they're photographs or the sketches.

And from that's what I create the big pieces.

I could paint a building if I ha I could paint still life but I really have no desire to.

I like being outside and paintin That's what I love.

I think everyone has some conne to nature and to their environme The painting really put them in touch with th I love being able to paint with and using different found object to create my mosaics.

I've used leather and jewelry and found pieces, and that has been just a whol ‘nother way of expressing myself I work with The Repurpose Projec I learned how important it is to not waste things.

So found objects, instead of, you know, discarding them, I try to find way to turn it into a piece of art.

I love doing abstracts and I lov painting glass to create my mosa I also love doing faces.

I tend to use a piece of jewelry to accent their ear or using jewelry to do the eyes.

I also design furniture pieces using mosaics.

That has been something that I'm more towards.

I've always been a creative.

I ended up working in a potter studio of all places and got int and then the owner of the potte said, I need you to learn mosaic And I was like, what the hell is So I then got into learning ho to cut glass, to start creating And so now, now I can actually s I'm pretty good at it.

I teach mosaics.

Sometimes when people ask me oh, am I going to cut my finger?

And I'm like, uh, yeah, because we are working with glas but give yourself grace.

Be very forgiving because as yo learning, you're going to grow.

There is no real mistake.

Someone's always going to see th in what you do.

What inspires me is just the possibilities.

So I may take something tha someone will see that should be I'm like, wait we can put some legs on it, pain mosaic it, and then we've created a whole other piece.

The planet needs help.

One powerful way to help the planet is to present both its challenge and its possibilities through ar I see paintin and drawing as a form of researc I think that come from my architectural training.

As a result I think of drawing as a form of When I'm drawing, I'm thinking, why is this here and why does this work this way?

Look at this in relationship to It's through the act of drawin and painting that I learn things In my life as an architect I focused a lot on sustainabilit that has to do with the connect ecology, economy and social equi It's important that we all recog that people and the planet are an equal part of the respons that we have.

We have to think about the folks who live here and the plane and how we can engage all the pr that everyone on the planet ha that are working to make a bette The question that I've had throu my life is the same.

I'm interested in the relations between the flow of energy and h in motion, the flow of water ac the landscape, people through a and then the containers for thos pathways through a landscape, the form of a building even the flow of energy as a tre All of those are energ that gets sort of frozen into fo In my work, I explor how people have inhabited the la When I do walking practices and then import those through the use of GIS into a di and then into a painting, I see the relationship between where we walk and what the topography of the E looks like.

That explains how people have se where they've settled, and really how animals live where they live as well.

Just seeing that connectio firsthand through my own walks and then through my own hand as I'm drawing, has affirmed things that I thoug And it's taught m new things about different lands and just about that relationshi between our feet and the land.

I continually look fo ways that I can influence the wo and motivate the world to look into themselves and look at their brothers and s all around the world.

I'm interested in communicating the full experience of humanity through my photograp and I believe photograph is uniquely qualified to do this Because when people look at pho a lot of times they see themselv And if you can go to the darkes of the world and still have peop looking at your images that sho the viewer a little bit of thems you're making bridge and showing the diversity of the I became a diplomat with the U.S State Department, so my fine ar photography took the back seat.

When I retired from the State D two years ago, I started again.

It was almost like starting ane and I resuscitated three of my s which is the human pulse and wal and spaces and ghostwriters.

I love photograph because initially I was very shy I grew up with a lot of issues s I had a lisp.

I was kept behind in sixth grade Photograph allows me to break out of my she And so as a youngster it was a unique opportunity for learn how to be with people and to communicate with them and to show them not necessaril best light, but in their honest The most exciting point of phot is when I get out to a location and I'm thinking of all the var the lighting, the positioning of what the serendipity is going t the movement of people and anima And I see the magic of everythin coming into place.

I have a feelin that there is a photograph out t It's a sense of predestination and when I click that picture, I really feel gratified.

Painting is my love, bu I always played with different m I had a line of clothing I made jewelry, I made puppets, and I taught puppet making.

I use any materials that I can, even on my canvas at times.

With potter what I liked was the different m of glazing and painting on the p the way light hits a color and the ever changing motion an that it evokes that you can do w I love it.

I believe that creating somethi beautiful is the best use of my That's where my inspiration come We all relate very well to beau but we are so busy and often num And so if I see something beauti I want to capture it.

That's why I photograph it because at that moment I can't p Then I go to my studi and start working from the photo Not always.

Sometimes it's an abstrac or something else that comes fro different inspiration.

It always evolves into something because I'm not there to copy the view t I just want to connect to that e that it evoked in me when I saw something beautiful.

So that's what I do.

I first photograph it, then I go to the photograph, manipulate it blur it, or zoom into it, undres obstruc it, set it aside and paint from If you can see it, you can paint You need to observe what it is you're looking at.

It's not about copying what you' It's about extracting what it is you've seen.

The way the light hits a color.

It could be a shape, it could be 70% observing, 30% painting.

The painting changes many times.

It presents a set of problem sol which is very intense.

But I like it.

It evolves until the painting sa I'm here.

I take old suitcases, trunks, mailboxes, lunchboxes you name it, and I build things I add my own painting or drawin as objects and create an environ I went on a trip and I came bac and my little suitcase had split tore it apart and opened it u and made my very first suitcase It is a waiting game in some way I can't really force my projects because when I do I don't feel so good about them.

I really enjoy the slow cooking Some of them once in a while they just fall right into place and get a good vision of what I and it starts rolling and it's g You know, and they work out that And the long ones are good too.

They just take a lot of time more patience and a little willi to wait for the muse to alight m Everybody has a different perception or perspect or desire.

A past event.

There's something that clicks in their mind.

And so I'm really intereste in what they have to say about t because people will tell me thin that I never had a clue that I put in a piece that really rang and resonated f So that's really fun to m as well as yeah, they'll ask me, why in the world did you do that And I say, well, that's what that's what it felt like at the Making ar has definitely been a challenge because I wasn't allowed to as and I was real shy and scared ab And over time I decided, I gues when I was in high school or som I decided that I would just do my way, whether it was right or So it's really embellished my ex and my willingness to try differ and fail.

It's a never ending pursuit.

Yknow, I don't think anybod gets to the pinnacle and then qu I think it's always an uphill c and we're always working on it.

Music is the ar form thats just really good for Learning the art.

Learn the craf You know those things that go in as an artist, you're learning how to interpret The way you play a note, like a classical music is going to be than the way you play a G in jaz Its just what comes before it what comes after it determines y Start doing band in sixth grade.

1988, which is insane to say tha Did it in high school and whatno and I knew I wanted to do something with mu And so when I got to college the oh no, you have these choices now, so you have to play your ho and you know, you have jazz or the classical r I am the director of the Gainesv Big Band.

We are an 18 piece big ban that has been based here in Gain Florida since 2007.

The big ban was the soundtrack to a Saturday When you first start playing ja typically that's your first expe is a big band format.

You don't quite understan it just yet, but then you're sta have to break down who is Count and who is Duke Ellington?

And then once you started under all those things, you start gett and more into what big band trul I've said this before.

It's like when you have the band kicking and swinging, they're just popping the notes, great.

It's like the best feeling in th Directing has been interesting because you start learning how to deal with different perso It's been great to work with a lot of people that I consider my friend and as well as just general coll We know how everything's suppose and everything is clicking, so to speak, and the audience i and the band is into it, its ju it is one of the best feelings e To take a dresser or a piano and take it apart and then reassemble, recut, make a shape that's going to b something else and a work of art It gives that wood new life.

I always thought I would be a pa and I am a painter.

I went to art school but I didn't feel like it was a So I went to trade school and became a cabinetmaker.

I can do the woodworking and do but I have never really figured until recently how to put the two together.

Now I'm building my own shadow box frames for my paintings.

It essentially gives me a chanc to use both sides of my brain.

Measuring and cutting on one sid and then being very fluid and co on the other side.

They just kind of develop on the I make the painting.

A lot of ti that's first.

Going to a special location painting, enjoying the environme and then somebody would call me hey, I have this piece of furnit do you want it?

And I discove that this broken piece of furnit might be solid maple in certain or mahogany.

I try to pair the colors of the and the hardware that goes with into the colors of the painting.

You know, it's whatever I have on my desk or i that just looks like it matches.

The wood that I'm using has had a past life.

It has been a piece of furnitur it has been a violin or it's bee They choose musical wood for its tonal qualities.

So that wood is special wood.

It's had musi going through it all of its life So when I pair i with a painting of a tree, I fee the tree is an example of praise There's so much in our world now that isn't real.

To have something that is real and full of life and history, there's something very valuable I'm always excited about the hun to find materials to work with or the hunt to represent th that we have here in Florida.

It's breathtaking and some of it is disappearing.

So if I can capture some of tha for future generations, I feel l done a good job.

I've alway had a hand in so many different Sewing is something I started a age as my performance career dev Costume construction started dev along with that.

I started dance in my teens.

I was an athlete and I really wa for increased flexibility.

I started taking ballet and I just got so excited about a workou that was much more fun than runn Between 2005 and 2008 I started training circus arts.

I've always been intereste in things that were really inten and used your whole body.

Aerial dancing takes it to a nex You get to try new things, explore and build interesting and intimate relati with the people that you're work Sometimes you might only work with someone on one project that lasts a couple weeks, or you might be working with the same group of people for many years.

When you find people that you cl that you can create with, it's really wonderful.

As I was doing my graduate resea there was no place to continue m with circus arts.

Upon graduation, it seemed that path was really to establish the Gainesville Circus Center.

Aerial acrobatics, aerial silks, trapeze, juggling, clowning stilt walking, Russian teeterboa There's all these different cir that people practice and perform I really love teaching.

It's such an hono to be able to inspire people to in themselves that they might n and to help people find the way to the joy and the sense of acc that I feel what I'm doing these The noise in your head gets quie You can just have this Zen experience dancing.

It is frustrating at times.

The acrobatic aspect is very dif It's often very uncomfortable but you get to set goals for you and do somethin that one day you thought was imp I make mostly large installation I'll work at a piec until it starts to feel self-awa A lot of my piece have some sort of political unde and I feel the dissonance betwe I'm having and the message that That gives it a feeling tha it has its own life and its own I like temporary large installat They only exist when they're up, and then when they're not up, they don't exist anymore.

Creating art is just so much fun Being able to work with other a who are of the same mindset is, it's just fun.

It keeps you going.

It keeps you connected with how are working and what people are I moved to Gainesville from Chic about two years ago.

I found a really great supportiv art community at the Gainesville Fine Arts Ass which I think has become my Gainesville art home and they've been really, really It's just really super fun for m I do a lot of shoppin at The Repurpose Project here in and I'll just go through the sal and I just start to collect pieces that I like big pieces of netting, rusty met Sooner or later I'll pull them and put them together in a work.

It's mostly recycled objects.

Some of it's new, some of it's n And then it's a lot of paint and I put pieces togethe that look like they should go to The work kind of calls to me.

I follow where it takes me, and I don't know at first what it's going to be about.

When a piece is really starting and really starting to gel, it's a total high.

You really do go into a zone.

Time stops, the world sort of sl Hours go by.

You don't realize it because you're just working.

It's really being present in the And I think that's what art is a It's being present in the moment, in the world you live in, in the world everybody lives in.

If you start a poem and you know where you're going, it never works.

It's all waste because you have to let the soun of the words, the form of the wo you have to let that lead you into the right discoveries that need to be made.

Burrowing owl.

Very odd this little cloud in trousers in fortress favored by prairie dog and gopher tortoise.

On the mound at the mouth hole he scouts around with sibylline yellow eyes and then, owl-wise, to clean house.

He dives down and soon great clouds of smudge come flying out, his home now clean as a bone.

I can write prose.

I've written essays and I hate i no fun.

Poetry is so much fun.

You've got all these wonderful t You've got all the sonic tools, and alliteration and this and th But you also play with form.

I love form.

I'm a formalist.

Form inspires m In fact, it creates it in a way, to mee the challenges of form is really I developed a form that was ver to me and it's the long, skinny There may be one word on a line may be two, there may be three o But the rigor of writing in that tiny enclosed space makes you listen more carefully to the sou that you're putting together.

A diurnal owl, hes upside down and inside out at ease not in trees but underground, where his mate broods on her ei fragile moons in an immaculate b whose contours are lined with co I am a musician, so I'm musically inclined.

So the music of the words is very important to me.

And when you have just thi little bit of space, you hear th more clearly as they work togeth I was doing a lot of painting when I was littl until I decided to do science.

Now I'm an assistant professor doing research on immunology.

On the side I've taken a master degree in pa as a balanc between a scientific career and I do paintings with ink and color on the rice p That's a traditional material to do art back in China.

Something very natural and has special texture as it's very abs So the painting become very spon Its partially created by mysel partially created by the materia For most rice paper painting, you use a lot of brush.

The big ones are this siz and the small ones are smaller than your pinky finger.

A big part of it is to control the perfect stroke and perfect w balance with your ink and your pigment so that it work for you.

Polishing the technique and looking for inspiration, it's like look deep into your ow and look for what you want to s and what do you feel about life?

My dad is a sculptor.

So the 3-D art is a big par of inspiration for what I'm doin Part of my topic is animals.

Other than observing the real an I like to look at sculptures and get inspiration from ancient sculptures.

Paintin make me forget about all the pro in the real lif and really brings peace to my li And I hope the viewers of my ar work will find peace in their mi