- On this edition of "ARTEFFECTS" a multimillion dollar expansion at the Nevada Museum of Art.

- Art has the power to change people's hearts and minds.

- This is really about accessibility and making education a priority.

- [Beth] Art that reveals cultural and personal truths.

- For me, like as professional artist, this isn't my job.

I think art is very essential for every aspect of life.

- [Beth] And a look behind the scenes of an animated series.

- [Skye] Educational, engaging, singable, and fun, that's how you deliver a message through music for kids.

♪ The magic is calling me - It's all ahead on this edition of "ARTEFFECTS".

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] Funding for "ARTEFFECTS" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

In memory of Sue McDowell.

The Carol Franc Buck Foundation.

And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members.

- Hello, I'm Beth Macmillan and welcome to "ARTEFFECTS".

The Nevada Museum of Art is thrilled to welcome the community to a brand new multimillion dollar expansion.

The Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center opened at the Museum on Liberty Street in downtown Reno in August, 2025.

Museum leaders are confident the expansion will give more people access to the arts in new and exciting ways.

(lively music) - The Nevada Museum of Art is the only accredited art museum in the state of Nevada.

In fact, we're only one of two in the entire great basin.

We serve many audiences that includes our regional community, but it also includes an international community that comes and visits us on a frequent basis.

So it's a museum that has, over time, guarded quite a reputation.

(lively music) Our mission statement begins with, "We're a museum of ideas."

What's on the walls is not always the most important thing.

What's important is the conversation and the curiosity that the things on the walls spark within us.

- The Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center is the pride and joy of this museum right now, and it is the newest addition to our wonderful organization over its, nearly, a hundred year history.

- Three, two, one.

(group applauding) - The project as a whole came to fruition because of the generosity of many significant donors in our community and in the region.

And because of the vision of our CEO David Walker, who nearly 10 years ago started down a path of imagining how the next phase of this museum's life would look and how it would function.

- The Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center puts a fine point on our commitment to education, lifelong learning and access in this community.

Its primary purpose is to welcome people of all ages and specifically younger people, school tours and other kinds of programs that come into this building and have an opportunity to see the world through a new lens.

(whimsical music) - The Charles and Stacie Mathewson Education and Research Center is a major expansion of the Nevada Museum of Art.

Our existing facility has been about 70,000 square feet in total since 2016.

And now with the addition we exceed 120,000 square feet of new space, and that space encompasses both new gallery spaces on the third and second floors of the building as well as new education and research space on the second and ground floors, which is really exciting.

It's a brand new library space that's in excess of 4,000 square feet and holds 13,100 and some volumes in our book collection and special collections, as well as a new classroom for school-aged kids and the museum school audience on the ground floor, the Dermody classroom, which is just tremendous.

And then this space, which is the Clarence and Martha Jones Family Foundation and Charlotte and Dick McConnell Art and Environment Education Lab, which is both a hybrid gallery space as well as an education space that'll be utilized by the University of Nevada Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College for courses starting this fall.

(whimsical music) - The research initiative of the museum, which we've had in place for a couple of decades now, now gets a formal center.

A beautiful space for researchers to come from around the globe to spend time with the archives, to spend time with the special collections here at the Nevada Museum of Art, but it's also opened to our K-12 educators and the general public.

Research is often seen as a highfalutin word and it's only for scholars, and graduate students, and writers, but we also see five-year-olds as researchers because research begins after it's been sparked by curiosity.

And art museums are so wonderful because you come in and it's so easy to have that spark.

(lively music) We've more than doubled the square footage of our gallery space here at the museum.

So we now have close to 40,000 square feet of galleries.

And what's exciting about that is that we have a very impressive permanent collection that we've been building over decades.

And the permanent collection is now going to be seen by people and I'm really excited about that.

In fact, we're gonna dedicate 50% of all the galleries going forward to the presentation of the permanent collection.

We've seen, over the last five years, major collections of artwork, of books, of special collections and archives that have been gifted to this museum as part of this campaign.

Be it 400 unique Native American baskets, Judith Lowry's collection, be it the Australian Aboriginal Art Collection donated by the Seattle collectors, Margaret Levy and Bob Kaplan.

That has been transformative in terms of gifts that are really changing the reputation of this museum.

- Beginning in 2011, this museum started conversations around an artwork proposed by a conceptual artist and experimental philosopher named Jonathan Keats.

And Jonathan proposed an idea for a clock as an artwork that would tell time in both standard time, like we think of it, as well as in Bristlecone pine tree time.

The clock is called Centuries of the Bristlecone and the clock was fabricated over the course of the last two and a half years by a clock maker known as a horologist named Phil Abernathy in Vancouver Island, British Columbia, his collaborating clock maker Brittany Nicole Cox and Jason Iceman, who developed some of the technology and software that helps this clock tell Bristlecone time over many years to come.

The Great Basin Bristlecone pine tree is one of Nevada's two state trees and they are among the oldest and longest lived things on earth.

They only grow from about 9,800 feet of elevation to about 11,000 feet of elevation.

And they do so in extraordinarily difficult environments.

And if we study them more carefully and learn how they have survived in those less than ideal circumstances, we might learn how to be better stewards of the resources that we have here on earth.

The artist, Jonathan Keats, was really interested in the possibilities of how Bristlecone pine tree time might challenge us as viewers and as visitors to this museum to think about time in a different scale.

(airy music) It's so beautiful as an object, of course, but it's such a beautiful idea for an artist like Jonathan to really engage viewers in thinking about how to live better on earth and how to take better care of the natural resources around us.

In our community, there is a shortage of exposure to and education about the visual arts in particular, and I am so overwhelmingly excited about the opportunity to make use of this space to expand on that.

- I think the guiding principle of the Nevada Museum of Art has always been to break down any sense of pretense so that anyone who comes through the doors feels welcome and, you know, it's their museum.

- To learn more, visit NevadaArt.org.

And now it's time for this week's art quiz.

Who is credited with the founding of the Nevada Museum of Art in 1931?

Is the answer, A: James Church, B: Frederick Delongchamps, C: Max Fleischmann, or D: Clarence Mackay?

(airy music) And the answer is, A: James Church.

(airy music) Up next, we head to Sacramento to meet Fei Fei Lin, an artist whose imaginative artwork explores many facets of the human experience.

Through her creations, Lin aims to reveal both cultural and personal truths.

(energetic music) (energetic music continues) - Art means everything since I have memory and since I was a child like six years old, and I know that is my destiny.

I'm living my dream, and I'm an artist and this is my job, and my passion and everything I'm breathing.

- [Speaker] For artist Fei Fei Lin, her unique upbringing and diverse cultural experiences have not only defined her discovery of self, but expanded her journey as an artist.

- I think I'm very grateful, like, the way I grew up and that train me as... Even though in China, traditional Chinese culture and family, they think girls just need to be, like, doing small things and be gentle, obey and all this like boxes, you know, rules.

But how I grew up is absolutely wild.

(upbeat music) Basically during 1980s in China and even before that, you know, they have like this one child politics.

But my year is very special, is like 1987.

So they allow some of the families means like have a second chance if your first child is a girl.

So you have a second chance to maybe to have a boy.

So that's how I come along and because my parents like really hoping I'm a boy.

So the way I raised, I grew up, you know, they train me like a boy and they train me have to be tough.

- [Speaker] Fei Fei's parents gave her the opportunity to explore the dynamic contrast between her own individuality and her traditions.

She found her path within her life and her art.

- So when I entered high school and college, I had opportunity to travel to all over the world and studied art, especially Europe.

My very first collection of artwork or art theme is called Green Leaves series, and that time I was in college, twenties, young, and so I paint a lot like large scales, green leaves, really thick like breaststrokes and building up on layer each other, you know?

So usually like this showed in the museum and galleries actually I sold out every piece of it.

And then I moved to America, then I finished my master degree and I started to explore public work.

I painted a lot like large faces, but all face down or thinking, you know, and don't really necessarily have like gender, like, reflection.

It's just a person.

- [Speaker] In America, Fei discovered a new dimension to her art.

This journey led her to embrace and express some darker truth.

- The reality is the truth or the dark, like how to say, like the darkness of people don't want to see, but I want to open all these portals doors.

Let them to see like the beauty of it, you know, embrace it.

I have, you know, a big loss of my life.

I lost my partner in car accident and all this come together and taught me we have to tell the truth.

You know, the truth sometimes could be very dark, but darkness is part of our life and it is essential for me to express through art because I think we need to understand life is not only about the sun, the bright side of it, the balance part is like the dark part of it.

So I'm not afraid to express through my work.

And some people viewer see my work is like, wow, what is that, you know?

They kind of like refuse to know the truth, but when I tell the truth, they understand and they're accepting it and they feel moved.

(somber music) (brush stroking) I think spirituality and art help me through the darkest time losing, like, most important person in my life and that is getting to a different level to how to produce my art.

I think it is beautiful in a way, very powerful and can influence people more because a lot of people out there through so many different difficult situations and they need to understand, like, life overall is beautiful and art can heal people.

(somber music) I don't want people just see my work, "Oh, everybody love it."

No, that is not my goal.

I think that is challenging part of it is most fun part of it.

You have to be comfortable, show authentic, you know, and that's my goal for the rest of my work and my next pace too.

It's like a journey.

You write a journey down, but just different like form sketches or drawings, you know?

People probably think, "Oh, it's not necessary," but just remember when we were a child, everybody liked to draw, you know?

That is your inner power.

For me, like as professional artist, this is my job.

I think art is very essential for every aspect of life and art could be anything.

It doesn't need to be certain forms.

And I think it is very powerful, spiritual food for everybody.

(upbeat music) - To learn more, visit LinFeiFeiArt.com.

For our final segment, let's head to Virginia and meet the team behind "Greenbeats".

"Greenbeats" is a WHRO produced series of animated shorts that share environmental awareness through music.

We get an inside look at how the series comes to life from collective creativity.

♪ Get up, get out and get outside ♪ ♪ Outside my door there's a world of adventure ♪ ♪ So many tiny ones just to see and feel ♪ - It was really important that the first song, specifically, be a real, just get up off the couch and get out there and enjoy what's happening in nature every day.

If you don't get out there, you're missing out.

♪ The power of nature is real - The Batten Environmental Education Initiative is WHRO's project funded by James Batten, local philanthropists, to create a number of educational products related to the environment, including segments like "Greenbeats".

♪ Get up, get out and get outside ♪ ♪ Paper, bottles and cans - Everything from recycling, minimizing the use of straws.

♪ Get up and skip the straw Taking care of cleaning up after your dogs.

♪ You know you got to scoop that poop ♪ When you're writing an educational song, it's a slightly different creative process.

It's important that your language is not as poetic, but more a straightforward spelled out way that kids can digest and understand.

♪ Get up, get out and get outside ♪ Educational, engaging, singable and fun, that's how you deliver a message through music for kids.

You have to make it fun.

♪ The magic will pass me by ♪ Out there where it's cozy If I'm gonna write a song about get outside and make it authentic, then I need to get outside and just sit down and listen for the symphony of nature and figure out like, what are those things?

One of the reasons to have an instrument along with me is just so that if I'm getting ideas for lines, I can see whether or not the line will fit.

Once I have a sufficient personal demo in place, then I send it to my very favorite engineer and producer in the area, Jacki Paolella with TAPTAP Recordings.

- Skye actually had a few things going on the song already, so once we get our scratch track down, usually we've got some bass, maybe we have some keys.

The song is already there.

I feel like sometimes I get to come in on the fun part, which is to kind of like decorate it and make it pretty.

Every instrument kind of has its own little vibe.

- We invited BJ Griffin to be a part of the project.

He's got an amazing voice, ridiculous skills on the cello.

The song needed to be very vibrant, catchy, and engaging.

BJ's voice was perfect for that.

♪ Get outside - I was really excited to be a part of a project that brought music and kind of a call to action to bring kids outside.

That's my dream, is to use my music to affect people.

And once I heard the song and it was kind of sultry and had some really cool harmonies in it, I just knew it was for me and a whole magic from there.

♪ Out there with the blooms, and the bugs ♪ ♪ And the smells, and the sounds of this world that we love ♪ ♪ Out there where it's cozy and green ♪ ♪ The magic is calling me - Oh, hey BJ, how's your mix?

Do you need anything?

Louder, softer.

- It's perfect.

- Jacki, she's usually at the helm and sort of cross fading things, figuring out what pieces we need to do over.

- Just weeding out little errors or being like, can we listen to it again?

Take this out, put that back in.

Let's move this around.

- It's pretty nerve wracking sometimes, but it was really nice to have Skye and Jacki out here.

It's really important to be open to collaboration.

♪ Get up, get out and get outside ♪ - Having kids in the studio is different.

- Having their voices be a part is gonna help encourage that kid listening, oh, this is where I'm supposed to sing.

♪ The magic is calling me - We try to let them kind of riff a little bit and just like have fun, kind of walk into it on their own.

- Writing for education is one thing, but then when you know that you're writing a song that is also going to be animated, things need to pop out.

That will then inspire the animator and create things that happen visually on screen that kind of get triggered by these lyrics.

(upbeat music) - Even while Skye is working on the song, she'll send me drafts of the lyrics and I'll look 'em over and explore the possibilities of what story can be accompanied with that song.

My role is really to make it pretty and fun.

(upbeat music) The way BJ sings his song, there's so much soul to it that I really felt there needs to be a character.

First thing that I see, aside from a bird, you know, when I step outside are squirrels.

I really wanted him to be BJ.

A great smile, great facial expressions, That hair, animated dream.

- This is my first time being animated, I believe.

I don't know, we might have to change it to blonde now, right?

(laughs) - Animation is, in a way, a form of acting.

You're not just taking an inanimate object and making it move, but you're making it come alive.

(upbeat music) Like to change up where I work.

Coffee shops, they're just good places to draw, sketching 'em out.

(upbeat music) Once I have a full storyboard, I'll edit them into what's called an animatic, a shot by shot layout to show the producers what the concept is and they can ask for whatever changes.

So once that gets approved, then I'll start animating.

(upbeat music) - At some point, he sends me a first demo, like a very rough cut of a video idea.

Jacki and I can pull that up on screen in studio and start seeing, okay, at this point in the video, he's got three little drops of water.

We should create a sound with, like, with a bell sound that actually sound like bling, bling, bling.

♪ I can help make the flowers grow ♪ - It's kind of neat to be able to actually tailor the music a little bit to some of the video.

- The producer of the whole project will then add sound effects.

- Scuffling of his feet.

And so add some of that.

- It really is such a collaborative experience.

It's very quilt like.

I bring the flavor of my song, the vocalist brings the flavor of their voice, and then the engineer brings the flavor of her vision.

Being animator, it creates characters and the producer of the project adds in extra sweetening to make this whole project that hopefully kids feel really excited and inspired by.

- The best way to create really strong environmental stewards of the future is to instill good environmental habits early.

- It was such a cool environment.

I knew it was gonna turn out really well.

- We have some kind of mind meld going where we get a lot of stuff done and we have a lot of fun.

- We all watch the final piece and take a breath.

- The natural organic effervescence that everyone has for the project is so contagious and exciting.

It's impossible not to walk away from a day of work on this project and not feel like you're actually making a positive impact on the world.

♪ The magic is calling me - Check out more episodes of the series at: And that wraps it up for this edition of "ARTEFFECTS".

If you want to watch new ARTEFFECT segments early, make sure you subscribe to the PBS Reno YouTube channel.

And don't forget to keep visiting PBSReno.org to watch complete episodes of "ARTEFFECTS".

Until next week, I'm Beth Macmillan.

Thanks for watching.

- [Announcer] Funding for "ARTEFFECTS" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

In memory of Sue McDowell.

The Carol Franc Buck Foundation.

And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(bright music) (bright music continues) (bright music continues) (bright music continues)