Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts... and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

BILLIE EILISH WEARING HIS DESIGNS BROUGHT THE SPOTLIGHT ON ALBUQUERQUE'S DOUG WIGGINS'S RECYCLED AND UPCYCLED WEARABLE ART.

REDESIGNING AFRICAN SYMBOLS, TEXTILE ARTIST YETUNDE RODRIGUEZ RECONNECTS TO HER NIGERIAN HERITAGE THROUGH COLORFUL AND PATTERNED FABRICS.

WORKING AT A TIME THAT FELT SO CONFUSING AND UNPRECEDENTED, SUSAN VAN PELT PETRY EXPLORED THE EMOTIONS AND CHALLENGES OF THE COVID- 19 PANDEMIC THROUGH MOVEMENT.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

WEARABLE ART >> Doug Wiggins: How would I wear this shirt?

>> Faith Perez: Yeah- >> Doug Wiggins: -with confidence.

[Laughter] >> Doug Wiggins: I would um-you can put it on this way, this is the back of it, and then these arms- just like, tie them around each other like you're wearing a sweater vest, at a country club, you know?

Just do your thing.

>>Doug Wiggins: I would describe my brand of fashion as, um- upcycled and recycled high fashion.

[Music] >>Doug Wiggins: This is something that I just did.

I screen printed on the old McDonald's backpack with my logo, yeah, so- just find fun old things and throw stuff on top of it.

The clothing industry itself is one of the top three contributors to waste and pollution on Earth.

There's so much- material out there to use that you don't need to have something brand new for it to be cool, and I think that wearing things multiple times or wearing older things gives a character.

I'm not quite sure what to call these yet, but- maybe, cowboy cut denim?

Because like- an old Yosemite Sam cartoon, yeah- over here we have the sewing station, where I have my current machine at the moment.

I've had this one for about a year, maybe a little less.

I go through them pretty quickly.

Um- I started on my grandma's sewing machine and still have it.

It needs a couple new parts, but it's still going.

At the moment, I really love sewing because I like being able to construct like garments differently and maybe take something that is like seen every day and put a little twist on it.

That's what I'm doing at the moment, it's my thing.

But before that it was screen printing and before that, I was airbrushing, so I have my little phases.

Often, I will make something and have scraps left over, and what I do with those scraps are make things like these- this like skirt type shorts that I'm wearing.

These are scrap, uh- like I think three different types of scrap from uh- two pairs of jeans and then one jean jacket, so yeah, I just- whatever like scrap material I have, I'll sew it out into like a big blanket almost and then use that and draft a pattern on it.

Often, I will come up with an idea of what I want to do in my head, now that I've been doing it long enough to where I can kind of just make whatever idea comes to mind.

Occasionally, I will draw them and then try to make it, but usually I just start and then somewhat end up what- where I intended to finish.

[MUSIC] I upcycle, not just thrifted like clothing but as well as used designer pieces.

I definitely think it's fun to use pieces that people would maybe get upset at seeing them cut up or made into something else, but I think it gives it a new life as well as it's fun.

[Music] A lot of people donate things to me, now that they know that I make things with recycled materials.

So yeah, if you ever want to donate things to me my at is "DonebyDoug" and I would love that!The hardest part so far of starting my own brand was definitely getting people to notice, getting people to see, uh- it definitely was not overnight.

It took me posting every single day and making things every single day, for maybe like three years before I actually like was able to really gain any traction or get anybody kind of interested in my things.

When I was contacted by Billie to purchase my stuff I was super hyped.

I didn't necessarily know if like it was real or if it was a scam or not, but after that we got everything straightened out.

Yeah, I was super excited, it's been super fun.

It's been a blessing.

And now that both sides are together, we should have a finished sleeve.

So that's what... it takes a long time to get there, but practice makes better.

Fashion expresses my love for, uh- everything around me.

It expresses my distaste for certain issues around me.

It expresses my need to comment on certain things that I feel are important to me, issues that I feel like need to be spoken on.

[Music] I know whenever you paint a painting and hang it up in uh- in the space, whoever's in that space is able to experience it, but if you create art on your clothes or something that you're able to take out and about, then everyone who's around you is going to experience it.

So, for my logo I, um- have like a really supportive following and just group of people behind me.

So, I always jokingly called them a "cult" and so I did like a little family- a group of people all holding hands and then there's the smiley faces the third eye, to kind of go with the whole theme, um yeah.

Just like me showing like how I see and definitely feel the love that- my community and the people around me are giving me [Music] THE JOY OF COLOR AND PATTERN >>Yetunde: I was born in Nigeria, and textile fabrics are a huge part of our culture.

We celebrate a lot of different things, births, marriages, deaths even, and fabrics are an integral part of that, because, we use it to denote, groups of people within the celebration.

It's just woven through everything.

Everything has an artistic element to it.

I came to America when I was 13 years old.

We pretty much immersed ourselves into it.

Our parents thought it was best that we speak English at home so that we can really get, you know, fluent with the accent and everything, so, uh, though we understood our traditional language very well, we spoke English at, at home, and I kind of...

I wish that they hadn't have done that, because now I think in English.

And once you lose... when, once you start thinking in a language, uh, you lose any other language.

I was 19 when I joined the navy.

And then I entered a program that would send me to school.

The navy was paying for you to go to school, you just pick a major.

So, I was like, "Well they have graphic design so I'll do that", you know, and I am so glad I did because it did work out, ended up working out.

So, I enjoyed it greatly.

So that's how I ended up there (laughs).

So, I got to screen and block printing purely as a means to an end.

Um, I...

Going back to growing up with all the textiles that I did, all the colors I and you know, some of the older African design, I just thought, "Wow, it would be so great if I could see home décor with these, uh, patterns", because back then, of course now it's all the rage, but back then, uh, there wasn't a lot of that.

So, I said, "Wow, I would love to make throw pillows and bedding and things like that with these patterns", but I didn't know the first thing about getting fabric made.

So... And I remember t-, you know, when I was in school for graphic design we did a unit on, uh, block printing, and I said, "Oh!

Um, you know, this would be a great way to produce this stuff".

I've always been the type of person, if I don't know how to break into it, the quote-unquote right way, I'll figure out my own way.

So, I just kinda started experimenting.

I first started out with screen printing but it was such a much more technical, pursuit and block printing gave me that instant satisfaction that I wanted because y-, with very simple material you could create a design that you can then use to print on all kinds of fabric.

So, that's how that started (laughs).

I started out with Adinkra symbols.

They are actually Ghanaian symbol.

It's a pictorial language form where a symbol means a certain concept.

So, you might have something that's kind of heart-shaped, uh, but with a little more, with some scrolls in, uh, in it and it represents love.

So, I thought that was, it would be really beautiful to create fabrics for the home with these concepts, with these symbols.

When people look at like Africa design, the traditional African design, they tend to only interpret it in very primitive kinda colors.

To me kind of drab a little bit.

So, I wanted to see them in pinks, and greens, and just different colors like that and also like I could combine symbols to make a new symbol.

I could create another motif similar to that symbol but work them into a repeating pattern.

The beauty of stamping or block printing, you can use something as simple as a potato or the stem of a celery stalk or something.

So you don't have to go out and buy a bunch of materials, you can use what's already there.

Each print is never the same even when you use the same stamp because if you apply pressure and you didn't get enough pressure in parts, it's gonna be a little fainter.

So, each time you go to press because it is human, it's never exactly the same.

And I love that about it because it gives a variation.

You can pull a second print from the same stamp and have a totally different look.

Something that I feel like gives it soul, you know, because it reflects the hand of the person that's making the print.

With my block and screens, I've created tote bags, little pouches, little small bags, the bulk of my stuff is bags.

And then I've got these fabric plant pot holders that are very popular, I sell those wholesale.

I've made, pillow covers like toss pillows, curtains, bedding, tile coasters.

I've painted mirrors, just really any surface that can take a design, I, I'm gonna tryna put a design on it (laughs).So with the Gem City Market, uh, I had never done anything like this before and it was very exciting.

I was a little scared a little bit, like, "Okay will I know what I'm doing?"

And I'm really appreciative 'cause they really took a lot of my input working with the rest of the team of course, we came up with the color scheme for the, the building, the interiors and the exteriors, the paint colors, I designed like the bathroom tile, the placement of the tile.

I did the, aisle markers, the little lighting at the check-out.

It was all a very integral part of the, the work that I supplied for them.

I basically gave 'em about four or five designs, I can't remember, and then we, together we decide what should go where and, you know, I designed also like the department signs where it says like, "Produce" or, "Deli", or whatever.

So it's been a really wonderful experience.

Some days I just sit here and I marvel like, "Wow.

J- all this from me playing with my little foam stamps and, and (laughs) carving my little blocks".

So, what's been helpful for me is to not see my work as just limited to the surface.

I'm just like, "Wow, we really did it!"

This is been a long time coming and is just a testament to the will of the people, and now it's here and I'm very honored to have my designs grace their building in, you know, whatever different form it is.

With this art form for me, it's been a way to connect with my heritage and home.

Cultural heritage is very important to me because it informs who you are.

I mean, people who feel disconnected to their cultural heritage end up drifting.

And for me in a way, you know, coming here at such a young age and being disconnected from it for so long I felt torn kind of between two worlds, um, tryna figure out where do I fit, and remembering my heritage has been a, a great way for me to feel rooted.

A SILVER LINING Well, we were doing our last travel that I can remember in March.

Spring break down to Wilmington, North Carolina.

And all this was starting to implode.

And on the way back, kind of the news came out that all the students had to stay home, go home.

That we were gonna teach from school, from home, etc.

So, that all was overwhelming and I think disorienting for everybody.

And part of my practice as an artist, I think my instinct at that point was to make lemonade.

Right?

To do something out of this time that felt so confusing and unprecedented.

The most used word of 2020.So, I sat down and the word COVID-19 was everywhere.

So, I decided to make 19 videos.

It meant 19 pieces.

And just tried to make something of this time.

Well, right away in my 19 ChoreOVIDs notebook which this is, I wrote --I brainstormed a list of 19 possible topics or themes.

And, you know, it was pretty easy to quickly say, okay, definitely there's a theme of isolation.

There's a theme of being on zoom.

There's a theme of not being able to touch.

There's a theme of the social distancing.

So, I came up with a number of different --Actually, I brainstormed 18 was my initial list.

But, I don't know what the 19th will be, but I'll get there.

And I gradually worked through them not in that sequence.

I did what sort of popped up first.

The very first one was dealing with zoom.

This was 12 boxes that we created for zoom.

And for example, this is the combination of improve and structure that you have to do.I improvised a lot of them, but I had to have a structure.

So, I wanted a variety dynamics.

And my husband rick helped a tremendous amount with this one.

So, I've simply recorded myself on zoom in a little tiny corner of my upstairs studio office.

And so I'm in this little tiny box and you see this figure trying to get out.

I did 12 versions of that.

And then he created a grid to look like a zoom meeting.

Find your corners.

Find your corners.

Find your edges.

And above all --find your diagonals.

The diagonal.

There's the x, the y, and the z axis.

It's the most dynamic line.

And then I moved on through a number of other ones.

Some are funny, amusing, humorous.

People, people.

Enough with the bad angles.

Enough with the chin.

Some are much more serious.

I just finished one that I filmed actually downtown in front of and with national guard and state patrol behind me.

I was petrified that they would kick me out.

And it's called pledge and it's very much my Martin Luther King Day offering, inauguration week offering.

It's more personal reaction to politics and struggles that we are feeling.

They've all been recorded in one take.

That has become a rule.

So, there's no internal edits on any of them.

I'm not a filmmaker.

I don't pretend to be making high art film.

But, they are because of COVID, they are performances that you can only see on the video.

By keeping them in one take, it felt like keeping each one focused on a single idea and not get carried away with filmography.

I decided early on to do something with social distancing and a little play on the word social distancing.

If you write out distancing, you write d-i-s-t, etc.

You take away the i-s-t, it becomes dancing.

So, social dancing.

So, that's the little play there.

And then I thought what if I could get a skirt that's a 12-foot diameter.

Anybody around me is six feet.

And then I just imagined I would be dancing somehow, reaching out to people, but never able to touch them because we're keeping six feet and how sad that is.

I got a trampoline hoop that is designed to hold up a screen around a trampoline.

So, it's exactly 12 feet diameter.

And I constructing the material came from, we used to blue apron.

And blue apron food always came in these thermos cases.

And I just thought the material was cool and I saved it thinking I would do something with it someday.

You know this is more wind than yesterday.

When it comes up the hill and catches that end.

It's a metaphor for the year of complaint.

Yeah.

When we do this for real, your hands will just be down by your sides.

Comfortable.

And when I go like this, you'll reach.

Was thinking I'd just have one fellow partner or not partner.

But, now I've decided to have a whole bunch of people and I will dance between them.

We'll see.

We'll see.

I think you could look at every single ChoreOVID and you would get something about this long, long wait that we're all in.

Kind of like this big hold your breath moment.

A year, year and a half, two years long.

I think it shows up in every single little piece.

Just can't get away from it.

I am very empathetic and I have felt very alarmed and sad for the people who are less fortunate than I.I mean, I have a job.

I have a house.

I mean, we're fine.

You know?

Everything is as good as it gets.

But the numbers of people in this world and country who are out of work, unable to connect at all.

Maybe they're completely alone.

The sadness of that really weighs on me.19 is a lot of pieces to make, and so you have to careful what you wish for.

It was, you know, the number because of COVID-19.That's the name of it from 2019.So, I got the bit between my teeth to make sure it actually happens.

We are creating an incredible archive of this time in history.

I think historians will look back and look at artists' work as a way to understand what was going on, beyond the facts and figures.

But what were people feeling?

What was the experience?

What were we trying to figure out about human nature?

And what silver linings were we finding?

Oh, that's a slight pun on the skirt.

We've been joking about all the silver linings.

That there are some.

I think everyone could name a few.

That this time has given us, a silver lining.

So, the skirt kind of has a little nod in that direction too.

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"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING.

"Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation... ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts ...and Viewers Like You.