This week on Curate.

I first learned about special effects from YouTube and I just really enjoyed the process of it.

I thought it was really interesting.

It's significantly larger than our previous museum, so we're really leaning into all of the capabilities of what we can do that we couldn't do before.

The pre-production is not the fun part, but it's a necessary part because that makes the filming days easy.

Hello from WHRO, I'm Heather Mazzoni.

And I'm Jason Kypros.

Some artists want to soothe you with beautiful images and sounds.

Daniel Province wants to bring your nightmares to life, Whether in his home in Smithfield, Virginia or at the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk.

This teenager has developed a passion for monster making and special effects makeup Inspired by Tom Savini and Rob Bottin.

Daniel is learning and applying the craft with the goal of being a professional movie and TV makeup artist.

I first learned about special effects from YouTube.

It was just like small artists doing do it yourself, cheap special effects.

And I just really enjoyed, I don't know, I guess just the process of it.

I thought it was really interesting.

That was when I got just the first bottle of like fake blood and liquid latex and I just started out with kind of similar effects like that.

I just really loved the process of being able to like create something when I was little.

I would kind of force a lot of people to kind of go along with what I wanted to do.

My mom and dad kind of patiently allowed it to happen.

My mom was a bit more enthusiastic, but I don't think this is what either of them expected.

And I think it took a little bit for my dad to get on board.

He used to sit at the floor and pour over anatomy books.

I used to think, you know, this kid's gonna be a great doctor one day, missed the mark on that one, He's always been a kid who, when he finds something he likes, he really goes hard.

He really like digs in.

So it wasn't the first of that kind of digging in, but it's definitely the longest lasting.

The first movie that I watched that had really impressive effects was the original Friday the 13th.

And I was definitely not old enough to see it.

I was like only eight or nine I think.

But I finally convinced my dad to let me watch it and my dad said a bunch of Tom Savini effects in it.

I wasn't involved in the Friday the 13th thing.

I thought he was still a little young for that, but Did he watch that with me?

Yes, yes he did.

I was never a horror person, but I have developed a healthy respect for it thanks to him.

His choices in movies like, you know, kind of roll my eyes and, and you know, shake my head and kind of disbelief.

But it has been fun watching him hone his talent over the years from very early age till now.

I find it funny that some of his special effects are the only reasons I've ever been sanctioned on Facebook.

One time I put a picture of a, he had done a a special effects makeup of Brian with a nail a nail coming out of his eye.

That to me was very obviously special effect, but Facebook didn't like that, which I found very amusing 'cause I was like, really?

This is what you're concerned about.

A big thing that I got outta GSA was it was really cool just being with people who are passionate about doing stuff.

I did three years for the technical theater department and then I transferred to the Visual Arts Department for my senior year.

However, because I wanted to focus more on the artistic aspects of what I wanted to do, I got to work on some special effects for some shows and films there.

Inside Voice was a short film at GSA and I've made corporate goblins.

I drew a lot of drawings of a couple of ideas and the director, she picked out the ones that she liked.

And then I basically just went through with sculpting three sets of two part full face prosthetics with teeth and bald caps and everything.

And then we did the makeup application.

We shot everything in one day, so I'd only have to do it once.

It was weird having to like kind of compromise my ideas for the first time, which I think was really helpful and beneficial because I'm gonna have to continue doing that after high school.

I am looking at going to the Douglas Education Center.

It is Tom Savini School who is a huge name in special effects.

After that, I hope to get a job running cast or doing whatever I can for a special effects company.

And then hopefully, I guess the end goal would be having my own special effects studio.

But that would be way down the line.

When we actually went and visited this school, watching him there, he just lit up like he's kind of a low key kid and he just had this grin on his face the entire time we were there and you could just kind of get the feeling like this is the right place for him.

So I'm excited for him.

After I first got into special effects, the first thing that I kind of wanted to do with it was make a haunted trail.

My son Daniel, is extremely interested in Halloween and he wanted to do this haunted trail since last year.

So we came up with the idea that instead of charging admission, we would try to do it as a fundraiser for the shelter.

And he's been working on it for months.

Dug out the trail himself.

He is made a lot of the props.

He is enlisted his friends to help The planning that goes in the phobia.

You're no sooner than one than he's working on the next one.

You know, things that he'd like to do differently.

I don't think we knew what we were getting into, but it's been a blast and just seeing it evolve every year.

Yeah, it's a pretty big production now.

I acquire a lot of props that I either customize and try to upgrade or stuff that I make on my own.

And I kind of build on top of that each year.

So the stuff that I made for phobia the year before can get used again on top of any new stuff that I've made.

My family is weirdly into it.

And then my friends, I usually kind of have them do the more active stuff 'cause they're all teenagers, so I'll have them be the ones running around in the woods and that sort of thing.

Do that tonight.

Okay.

For phobia, this year I'll be a senior, so that means it'll be my last year here and it'll be the last year for phobia.

So basically I want to try to make it as big and as exciting as possible.

My friends don't usually like ask me about it, but this year they have been so I know, I think everybody's kind of excited for it to be like the last big show of it.

So yeah, Fresh meat, Thought that was crazy.

Why am I like in a cold sweat When phobia's over?

I think I might be a little bit sad, but not to a huge degree because I'm just gonna end up kind of doing the same thing later anyway.

You know, I get to go to school for special effects and continue what I'm doing.

So even though it'll be the end of phobia, it definitely won't be the end of me making stuff.

Download the WHRO plus app for the easiest way to binge on all things.

Curate and more.

Virginia's Museum of Contemporary Arts has been a staple of the Hampton Roads art community since its humble beginnings more than 70 years ago.

And now the organization has taken a bold new step, leaving its long time home near the ocean front for a new state-of-the-art facility on the campus of Batten University.

And we've been along for the ride as one chapter ended and a new one begins.

We've been planning exhibitions in this building for 37 years, so we wanted to make sure this last exhibition was really poignant and spoke to who we are as an institution now speaks to our community, our artists, and everything that's happening in the region.

It was definitely bittersweet putting this last exhibition together, but also a really special moment.

I love the fact that Lorraine Fink is in this exhibition.

She was in our very first opening exhibition in this building that we're standing in.

And for her to be in the last one feels extra special for us and for the artist herself, her whole family.

We're here for the opening.

She's 101 years old.

So talk about where we meet.

That's what Virginia MOCA likes to, to bring people together and see what can happen next.

We were founded by artists in 1952, and so that is something that we've taken very seriously, whether it's here in the museum or at the Boardwalk Art Show or at or some of our satellite spaces.

Really kind of sticking with artists through their career.

Lorraine Fink is a perfect example.

Our team feels really proud of, of those relationships that we build and we sustain.

What a wonderful, wonderful celebration.

Tonight marks a very special moment for the museum as we prepare to transition from our beloved Parks Avenue building to a new home at Virginia Wesleyan University.

I fell in love with contemporary art here.

I found my people.

I learned to do what I do here, and I'm so proud of the work that our team does each and every day.

We are really excited about what's to come, here's to 2200 parks to all the memories we've made together to our future memories that we're gonna make together.

Cheers.

So we're inside the new Virginia Mocha.

This is our beautiful atrium and lobby space that guests will walk into as soon as they arrive at the museum filled with light, great space for people to come in and hang out, take in the art, and just enjoy being at the museum.

So we're standing in our beautiful new main gallery space.

It's significantly larger than our previous museum, and we're so thrilled.

We've got these gorgeous high ceilings.

We can exhibit works in here that we wouldn't have even been able to fit into our old museum, and we're really taking advantage of that.

We also have completely flexible wall system so we can put walls wherever we want within this space.

So it really gives us lots of flexibility for each of the changing exhibitions that we put together.

It's actually a time for an overwhelming amount of creativity.

A lot of the times in contemporary art, you're dealing with large, heavy, fragile things.

So the minimal amount of moving that we can do to get them in place, the better.

It is really fun to meet the artists and work directly with them.

Getting to kind of help someone fully see a vision of, of what they're working on and the concepts that they're trying to promote.

It's a fun thing to be a part of.

So our approach to our education programming as a whole is really encouraging our visitors and our students who come to the museum to make personal connections to the work on view and the artwork that they're experiencing.

This space that I'm standing in specifically, this is art lab, and this is what we call kind of our low tech hands-on interactive gallery space that we program for all ages.

It's where we take the main themes and the big ideas from our galleries and we kind of tease them out and break them down in here to make the artwork even more accessible for visitors.

There's some big, beautiful windows here, gorgeous natural light into the space, and it's really wide open space, which is really different than the art lab at our previous location.

We have four brand new studio spaces.

We're able to accommodate a field trip size in that new studio space and that that's really, really huge for our team.

Welcome to our new home, the brand new Virginia Mocha.

We are thrilled to have you.

We've been working for a really long time towards tonight.

It's so special to see this space filled with all of you.

This is why we're here.

We are so proud to open with Nina Chanel Abney, the Pursuit of Happiness, curated by our senior curator, Heather Hakeem today.

Nina, thank you for trusting us with your work, for your vision, for your voice, and for helping us set the tone for who we are from day one.

Tonight we open a space that invites connection, spark's conversation, and brings people together through art.

Thank you for being here.

As we begin this next chapter, we are just getting started.

WHRO is all over social media.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and more.

I am in a Wooster hotel room watching Antique Road Show, thinking about all the things that my grandma used to own, and I'm so thankful I made it home just in the nick of time to say goodbye because life don't always work.

All right, back, back.

Who are you baby?

I'm just myself these days and whatever form that takes today, whatever that means this week still got a lot of love to give, so I think, but for right now, I've been working on giving myself just a little bit of grace.

Grace in the evening light.

I'm still thinking about you all the time.

A little grace.

Grace, when I'm far from home and all along.

Cleaned up for the first time in the Tennessee extended stay, but I ain't staying long.

It ain't bedbug bad, but pretty drab.

And I'd like to get myself along and these leather boots and egos back to Norfolk.

I go where I can watch my babies run the sprinklers, then just dry off and I'll drive myself off too refreshed and just tiptoe through one foot and one out on what I do and what I would like to.

I could run my mind R thinking about the ways that a different turn on a different day puts you in a different place.

But honey, grace, grace down on Broadway caught in a crowd of people, of which I cannot relate.

Grace, ain't it a long drive home, but it's been, I am on Harrison Street in Panama.

Humid is the devil.

Socks in the sauna.

No one but me knows that I've been tossed all weekend.

If keeping up appearances is a chore, then I'm sore.

Hell, I've been exercising daily spite of progress made before.

I took every bit of no better every resolution letter and bleached to my clean in the Florida sun.

And I looked for grace and the hotel.

Indigo grace in every line I throw into the Gulf, prayed, stream my bullies so I can finally get some sleep.

Welcome back to Curate presents.

I am Kayda Plus and I am here with Porsha Brown.

How you doing Porsha?

I'm doing good.

Thank you for having me.

What brought you to Virginia?

I'm originally from Jersey, so when I joined the military, this was my first duty station.

I ended up getting married to my wife now and I stayed.

I've never left after that.

I hear you went to film school while you were here.

Tell me about that.

Film school was actually more of the technical side of things.

Mm.

You know, I feel like film school does not give you the artistic view.

Yeah.

It gives you the business side, how to put a production together, the the formality, so to speak.

So those are the parts that I didn't know.

I felt like I had a artistic eye and things like that, but I didn't know how to do a shot list.

Right.

Or scene breakdown or even a script format.

I wanted to do all the pre-production.

It's not the fun part, but it's a necessary part because that makes the filming days easy.

So are you showcasing a film right now or something like that?

So right now I two films that are in the marketing side of things.

Okay.

One is space Between which is currently streaming on WHRO plus.

Okay.

Right.

And then I also have another film that I directed that is also streaming on WHRO plus.

Nice.

Which is called Beer Beards and Broads.

It's a docudrama, so That sounds interesting.

Yeah.

I wanna talk more about the space between, tell me what that's about.

I like to call it an urban sci-fi.

Okay.

Right.

I feel like this was something that we have not seen before in my mind.

Right.

I wanted to put a relatable spin on sci-fi.

Right.

So the space between really plays in time jumping, alternate realities, the acquisition of power.

What we're working on right now is trying to push it to the masses and get more people to see it so that hopefully we can raise the funding to be able to go back and shoot it as a series.

You got me excited to see it.

So thank you so much for coming by.

Thank you so much for having me.

I really enjoyed this.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Me too.

Without further ado, The Space Between.

Mmm Samuel.

Happy Tuesday.

Cash Cow.

I got some exciting news for you.

Wallaby pictures bought the spec.

So say goodbye to those night shifts hoping the scrapping the praying because you, my man, are skyrocketing straight to Hollywood.

Your life is about to change.

Hey, can I help you?

Life is what you choose it to be, Joe, get outta the way.

That's you.

You have a million stars, you million, A million futures and a million pounds.

Girls sit down for breakfast.

How did you get here?

I like this life with you.

The truth of them all lies in the book.

The answers are in there, my brother.

Now all you have to do is read.

What an awesome looking film.

I can't wait to see it.

Public lens.

Our new initiative on the WHRO plus app is such a great idea.

I'm glad to see so many filmmakers submitting their projects.

Yes.

And If you have a project that you want featured or know someone else who does, check out whro.org/public lens for more info.

We can't wait to see what you've created.

You never know.

You might end up on curate presents next season.

That would be so cool, Wouldn't it though?

We'll be back soon with another episode of Curate.

Well, it's too warm to freeze, but too cold not to wrap the palm trees up and barrel and down shore drive looking for calm on a heavy night.

18 miles to cross the bridge and tunnel system.

A miracle to witness more time spent watching magic, though the less magical it gets.

Now's giggling.

Ba badly played taps and thinking about the Wildcats.

I wonder how old Megan's doing back and say to faith, we lost touch like old friends do.

Try to pedal the wheel, but the chain old move, as I suppose, I still think fondly earth.

Either way.

Skip a few rocks into the bay.

Give it thanks.

Give it thanks.

Scream out loud things you have needed to say.

Call your folks if you've got 'em.

No shame in sharing your problems.

Give.

Give them, Hey, now Donuts seem to form the change.

Gotta melted down and forge away, stripped back.

These patterns you have slowly come to blame.

You can make Franklin in an hour.

Elizabeth City here buys supper.

This country you keep running to won't force.

So all your shutters, they're singing along to middle in songs, wondering what took them so long in your mind.

You're taking tickets at the Oregon Trail Day Parade, and you head north to Crazy Horse and all that native sculpting to A PCU carved in your youth.

He's still back there.

Lift your lungs and feel their weight.

Give it thanks.

Give it thanks.

Close your eyes to find what has kept you away.

Smile hard.

You're in charge.

Don't tattoo over your scars.

Give them thanks.

Give them thanks.

Give them, give, give, give.