- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

Major funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided through the greater Cincinnati Foundation by an arts loving donor who encourages others to support your PBS station, WEDU.

And by the Pinellas Community Foundation.

Giving humanity a hand since 1969.

- [Dalia] In this edition of WEDU Arts Plus, a Bradenton artist captures family and famous faces.

- We do one jazz musician all and of it was intertwined.

So we up doing John Coltrane, all of a sudden Miles Davis, Michel and it just goes on and on.

- [Dalia] Perfecting playability.

- Probably the most important part of the violin is the front, the top.

That's the part that vibrates the most.

- [Dalia] Believing in song.

- Singing is my best form of communication.

So my message or my art is shared best when I can sing it to you.

- [Dalia] And reflecting the infinite.

- [Narrator] She was able to find the mirrors as a device to activate her vision.

- It's all coming up next on WEDU Arts Plus.

(bright upbeat music) Hello, I'm Dalia Colon.

And this is WEDU Arts Plus.

Let's meet an award-winning watercolor artist whose paintings have been exhibited across the country.

At his Bradenton studio, this engineer by training depicts African-American life from civil rights icons and celebrities to everyday people.

Introducing Arthur Dillard.

(piano music) - My name is Arthur Dillard.

I'm a watercolor artist and I've been doing that for about 20 years.

(piano music) In essence, I've really been doing all my life since I was about eight years old but professionally I've been doing it 20 years.

(piano music) And I always had a love for art and everybody discouraged me from being an artist.

So you can't make a living doing that and because of that I listen to them for over 20 years.

I was an engineer for 25 years.

I really didn't enjoy being an engineer because at that time, when I graduated in engineering there were very few black engineers in the state of Florida and I didn't want to leave Florida.

So every job I went to I was the only black engineer or the first one there.

(piano music) I got sick when I was 35 and it took them eight years to determined that I had MS. My last job was downtown Bradenton as a project engineer.

And I ended up start having physical shutdowns when the MS would act ugly and then all of a sudden, I get real tired.

And so happened I saw some art studios down the street, so I ended up getting an art space there.

When I started having physical shutdowns, I would go run there for an hour, hour and a half and then kind of recuperate.

And at that point I ended up start painting again on a frequent basis.

(piano music) I end up getting that studio and just like I have said, I have had that studio for over 20 years now and everybody told me say, "You're never gonna make a living doing art.

You can't be successful at art, especially in this area.

You have to paint trees and beach scenes and things like that."

And I ended up believing that for a minute and I ended up in hated painting those kinds of things.

And I stopped painting when I enjoy painting.

(piano music) And I end up doing shows all over the United States in order to survive because at that time there were very little shows in Florida that African-American artists could participate in.

So I ended up fortunate enough to meet some other artists that was going through the same thing I was going through and we came up with a group of artists.

It was about 19 I was, when I first started, we always kind of reminded ourselves of doing like the children's survey which a lot of the musicians did black in Atlanta they had the National Black Arts Festival there, they had one in Houston.

We would go to Houston.

So because of that you would always have a circuit.

(piano music) Even to today, there's a lot of shows that a lot of African-American artists can't get into but that's just a bias that we have in this society.

- I first met Dillard at the Black Arts Festival here in Atlanta almost 20 years ago, about 18 years ago, I think it was 2002.

(instrumental music) It was the last day of the Black Arts Festival and I went specifically looking for John Coltrane or Muhammad Ali.

And I was about to leave out of the mall and this booth caught the corner of my eye and when I went in, he had everything I was looking for.

So his black and white pieces are what his saying is for, but all the jazz pieces and the sports pieces really spoke to me.

- All of a sudden we do one jazz musician all of it was intertwined.

So we end up doing John Coltrane and all of a sudden, Miles Davis, Michel.

And it just goes on and on.

Basically all of them was in that same circle.

- And the really cool thing about art is such a great guy, he's one of my best friends.

And a quick story, when he was staying with me up in one of the Black Arts Festival, I think it was 2004, the room he was in, I had some pictures out and stuff.

So he actually snuck a picture of my dad out, made a copy of it, went back to Florida, painted my dad boxed.

And so he did this huge color piece of my dad and brought it back, the next time he saw me, it was just really cool.

And he also did a picture of my mother after she passed and made prints for all my siblings.

So I gave all my siblings a print of it for Christmas a few years back.

So this really special guy and like I said, one of my dearest friends.

(instrumental music) - One of the things in my artist's statement, I always say that, I love painting old people and kids because old people always have a story with the lines and the wrinkles in their face.

It tells their whole life story.

And I'll always like from my art to tell a story and kids are so innocent.

One of my two favorite pieces is my two aunts.

I keep those two pieces because I remember when I was little we would always go to my mom's hometown in Georgia.

And she had her sister were always be going to church on Sundays and they have those huge purse, and big hats.

Some of the kids pictures are some of my grandkids and the reason I end up doing to them is that just like I said, I got real sick when I was 35.

I didn't think I was going to live very long.

And asked, "God just let me live long enough to see at least one grandchild."

And I was rest to see 12 and three great-grandchildren.

So with that it's always a blessing to do something you love.

And that's why I tell a lot of young artists that I've mentored over the years, when you paint, paint things that you love and you can identify with it.

And with that, people will love it.

(piano music) - See more at arthurdillardart.com.

Visit the Brooklyn New York Studio of modern violin maker, Samuel Zygmuntowicz.

He discovered his craft as a teenager and has spent his career bringing life to violins for some of the world's most talented musicians.

(violin music) - I was interested in sculpture and art from as little as I can remember, I was always doing sculpture, I think I was good at it and everyone assumed that I'd be a professional artist.

When I was 13, I read a book about a violin maker and I kind of got interested in instrument making.

It uses all the attributes of art but it's for practical purpose and it has a really clear metric.

It either performs well as the violin or the musician or it doesn't just dependent on knowledge and skill.

If someone comes to me to have a violin made, there's kind of a process where I want to understand first of all, why did they come to me?

Presumably they've heard instruments of mine and want to see their violin, I have to understand what they want.

Are they a soloist or are they a very aggressive, strong player?

Are they someone who is a more subtle player, softer?

Then I will go back to my shop and then it's up to me to decide what I will make for them that will serve their needs.

All around me here, here's my Woodstock or some of my Woodstock.

And it's kind of like a collection of wine or something.

It comes from all over Europe and I've been buying wood from the beginning in my career.

(violin music) It has to sit for a long time, but then I can go through that.

And I pick wood based not just visually, but on its density, its stiffness, how I think it will behave in this model.

First I have to make what's called the rib structure which is the sides.

And those are bent out a very thin wood around a form, which I've designed.

From the ribs, from the sides I've made, I will then create the outline of the instrument, so I out the top and the back.

While the ribs are bent at the top and the back, even though they have an arch that's carved in because it's a compound arching, they need directions in which the woods are just bent.

The arching is critical to the tongue color.

Probably the most important part of the violin is the the front, the top, that's the part that vibrates the most.

And that's made out of spruce, which is of the European woods.

It's the wood that is strongest for you to have weight.

What's challenging is while I'm making it, I'm relating to it in a visual and a tactile way.

But when it's working as a violin, it's gonna be vibrating in a way that, is not visible to the eye but that is very real.

It's like a long chess game.

I won't know if I've made the right calls until the instrument's been strung up and have been played for awhile.

(violin music) It crosses the line from being something that you just made, like someone who would make a chest of drawers or the house to being something that is vibrating in response to the human interaction.

(violin music) It's not alive exactly, but it's like it's alive.

(violin music) Every violin I make, I keep really exhaustive records on every aspect about it that I can, wood choice, model, arching, thicknesses, weights, tap tones, varnishes, based bar dimensions.

If an instrument of mine comes back and I really like it I wanna make another one like that.

I have some record of what I did.

On the other hand if someone comes in and it's like, well you know it's just not as open as it should be or it's not as focused.

I can look at my notes and I can see, well I may have been a little conservative on that one, I might have a little room to take a little wood out or that one might be a little too flexible, maybe I should put in a little reinforcement.

You never really understand something until you have to explain it to somebody else.

So if it puts me on the spot all the time when I teach.

Most of the great shops historically, including Stradivari were studios, they weren't a single lone artist.

People working collaboratively will ultimately work at a higher level of development than a single craftsperson or a single artist.

You could say on the one hand, I'm training my competition.

On the other hand, I feel that it's attributed to the system that I practice.

I'm not a magician, I build things based on, with a method and based on skill.

And if I can convey that then it sort of, you could say proof of concept.

Art never exists in a vacuum.

What are the sources of knowledge that go into it?

What are the quality of the people that entered the field?

And then it's pulled forward by the demands of the clientele or the audience.

I've had wonderful opportunities working with great musicians.

I got contacted by Isaac Stern to make a copy of his Guarneri del Gesu.

To actually meet Isaac Stern, for me it was like, it's like, I know, meeting the Pope or something and is legendary.

(violin music) When the instrument was finally done I brought it to Mr. Stern, he was incredibly gracious, (violin music) When Mr. Stern passed away, the two instruments that I'd made for him were part of his estate and they were auctioned off.

That violin was recently sold to Chad Hoopes, who's a wonderful soloist in his 20s.

And I think it's a really fitting placement, I think Mr. Stern would be very pleased.

(violin music) It was an odd feeling to see that my work has now left my purview.

It is now entered the world where it lives its own life and has its own history.

And I feel like I've seen my own work go from a decent alternative fruition to being something that is sought after, that has a place in the history of violin making.

(violin music) - To learn more, visit themethodcase.com and search Sam Zygmuntowicz, violin maker.

Houston Texas based singer and nurse Christina Wells communicates best through music.

Her journey to overcome obstacles to achieve her dream is inspirational.

♪ I am not a stranger to the dark ♪ - I'm able to communicate things singing that I can't find words to say.

♪ Cause we don't want your broken parts ♪ Like when I was a young girl and I would have a bad day at school or someone was mean to me, ♪ For my scars ♪ I had a tape that I had made, a mixed tape of Whitney Houston and songs from Bodyguard and stuff like that.

And I would sit and I would sing the songs until I felt better.

♪ I know that there's a place for us ♪ ♪ For we're glorious ♪ And so singings became my coping mechanism ♪ When the chop is worse wanna cut me down ♪ You know I had been in the choir, we had gone to like all these other competitions with the choir and people would mention.

♪ I am brave, I am ♪ That girl in the front, on the left, she got a voice.

♪ This is me ♪ ♪ Look out cause come ♪ And I started to let myself actually dream of it and I started to imagine myself on Broadway and like entertaining people with my voice and my witty repartee.

And this is where the infamous AstroWorld Audition comes in.

I'm gonna go and audition for AstroWorld because they were gonna do this big Motown review.

And they asked me to sing respect by Aretha Franklin.

And I was young and I was brassy and so I was like, "Yes I can."

And I go off and I'm wailing and doing my my own thing and riffing and stuff and I get this standing ovation from the other auditioners and my heart lights up.

And I'm like, "I can sing."

Well then came the final call and they cut me.

And I had spent so much time there that week, I was so surprised.

And so when they cut me out, went over to their like production team and staff and I was like, "Can you tell me why you decided not to take me because maybe I could like figure something out?"

And they said, "We only wanna have one black female voice in this review.

So we're gonna combine whoever sings Aretha with Whitney and you can't wear the clothes, you're too heavy."

My feelings were deeply hurt.

And I had already harbored a fear that I was too big to be a singer and I cried and I cried and I cried.

I must have cried for like two hours.

And I had decided that, okay I'm not gonna to be a singer.

I'm not gonna go for people to tell me I'm fat.

And I didn't sing at anything for like 10 years.

At the nurses station at the hospital one day I was like, I need a place to sing.

And somebody mentioned to me this community theater in Deer Park called Our Park Players.

They were looking to cast for their production of hairspray.

And that is where I learned the song, I Know Where I've Been.

I was just done at people's reaction to me because I thought all of my shine as a singer and as a performer had like worn off, you know?

And I still wasn't convinced.

So the show ended and I was like, okay and I went back to work.

And then a friend of mine reached out to me and she told me about this audition for this competition downtown called French Superstar.

♪ Your love for real ♪ Like my whole world shifted.

And I didn't know it was shifting, you know what I mean?

I was just standing on the stage like, "I hope they like this."

And then they did and then they did and then I won.

And I went and recorded I Know Where I've Been as a single.

♪ There is a light ♪ ♪ Here in the darkness ♪ America's Got Talent sees that music video ♪ Is black as my skin ♪ And I went to audition for the executive producers.

♪ Showing me the way ♪ And I was long there way longer than I thought I ever would be.

♪ But I know where I have been ♪ When I was on the show I realized that, we can teach people multiple ways, but when they're being entertained at the same time, the message goes in so much deeper.

♪ That comes from deep within ♪ Singing is my best form of communication.

So my message or my art is shared best when I can it to you.

♪ I pray the answers up our head ♪ It's all connected and it's this message I wanna share with the world that I've always wanted to share.

And it comes from so many times that I have been shut down and told that I couldn't do things.

And then you sit in your like, "But why can't I?"

And when someone's like, "You know going to school as a single mom, (laughing) no.

Or when I wanna go to nursing school and they're like, "And work I don't think so honey."

Every time someone puts a hurdle in front of me, I'm like, "What do you mean?

Why can't I do it?"

And so now that I have anyone's attention that's what I want to say to them.

♪ Where I've been ♪ If you believe you can and you have the confidence, you can.

♪ I give thanks to my God ♪ ♪ Cause I know where I've been ♪ - Hear more @christinawells.com.

Since the 1950s, the work of famed Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has expanded repetitious design to an experience of the infinite.

Her exhibit infinity allows museum goers to experience and participate in Kusamas Vision Of The Infinite.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] Welcome to Infinity as imagined by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.

(gentle music) As you step inside her famous Infinity Mirror Rooms, reflections of dots, colors and light, bend reality in this unique museum experience.

- I would love for people to just step back and not take photos and try to just experience the rooms as is.

- [Narrator] Well, photos on social media have recently propelled the artists' popularity.

She spent a lifetime creating and is still working at 89.

This exhibits spotlights her body of work.

- Kusama has been at the forefront of artistic innovation ever since she started since the 1950s up until now.

So that makes her a very unique and unusual artist basically developing a practice that includes performance, painting, drawing, sculpture, installation and really everything.

- [Narrator] From a very young age, Kusama was determined to create.

Even when that put her at odds with others.

- In Japan, she was born in the late '20s and the expectation was that she would get married and have kids and not just get married, but have an arranged marriage which was not something she wanted to do.

- [Narrator] She made her way to the United States to pursue her art career.

But that came with different challenges.

- In New York it was a man's world and it wasn't easy for her to come there, she didn't have friends there, She didn't speak English very fluently.

And so to try to break into the art world it was a big deal.

- [Narrator] Throughout her life Kusama has also struggled with mental illness.

- She has I think he used her art as a form of healing, her practice I think just as a life style.

The ability to have the work is something that has allowed her to survive.

- [Narrator] In the early 1960s, she brought her repetitive style to a new medium tapping her life experience from World War II.

- During the war, she was working at a parachute factory, sewing military uniforms.

And that's how she developed the technique to show those soft sculptures.

- [Narrator] They also appear in her first Infinity Mirror Room, Phalli's Field which they built in 1965.

- She began to have hallucinations.

And her work was really about kind of catching up with those visions that she was having.

So you'll see one motif just exponentially accumulating whether it be the paintings, the infinity nets or the phallic tubers in the sculptures.

And so the way in which these mirror rooms kind of came about, was that her physical capacity to be able to create infinite repetitions of these objects, it just didn't keep up with her desire.

And so she was able to find the mirrors as a device to activate her vision.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] The mirror rooms have captured many people's attention particularly with this traveling exhibit.

Those who visit reserve timed tickets and the time inside the mirror room is limited to about 30 seconds.

Inside the last one called the Obliteration Room, visitors become artists as well.

- Everything is painted completely white and every visitor is given a set of colorful stickers and is then invited to basically leave those stickers somewhere in the room.

So over the course of the exhibition the dots will accumulate and will eventually cover the entire room.

- [Narrator] It's yet another way to connect with Kusama's vision.

- I know that she is very happy to have all of these adoring fans.

If you think about the lean times for her where she worked so hard and she just wasn't getting the appreciation or respect that she deserved, and that wasn't a period of years, it was a period of decades.

So now to have all of this attention and to get the glory she deserved, I think it's fantastic.

(upbeat music) - Find out more by visiting yayoi-kusama.jp.

And that wraps it up for this edition of WEDU Arts Plus.

For arts and culture, visit wedu.org/artsplus.

Until next time I'm Dalia Colon.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Major funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided through the Greater Cincinnati Foundation by an arts loving donor, who encourages others to support your PBS station, WEDU and by the Pinellas Community Foundation, giving humanity a hand since 1969.

(upbeat music)