(bright music) - [Mark] In this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

A classical ballet album.

- It could be its own thing.

It didn't need all these lyrics that I had planned to put with it.

Instead, I opted to have it expressed through just music and dance.

(gentle music) - [Mark] Watercolors of nature.

- [Rhiannon] I like to do kind of realistic paintings, but also with a sense of whimsy.

- [Mark] Stylish lowrider bicycles.

- [Aaron] I love everything about it.

Just being able to create writeable art and create something that not only I can enjoy, but other people can enjoy.

(upbeat music) - [Mark] The art of the circus.

- [Jaime] We've created a really wonderful group of people who are supportive of each and every performance and of everybody's performance.

- It's all ahead on this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

(upbeat music) Hello, I'm Mark Cernero, and this is "Artistic Horizons."

New York native RZA is many things.

A rapper, record producer, composer, and founding member of the famous hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan.

And his next project involves ballet and classical music.

In this segment, the artist discusses "A Ballet Through Mud," his first classical record.

Take a Look.

- Mud is looked to be dirty.

(bright music) Yet out of the mud grows the lotus, grows life.

Well for this album here, I think I started jotting down a lot of the ideas in 2020, and I had found a book of old lyrics.

And these old lyrics I would read them, and these are lyrics that go back to when I was like 15, 16 years old.

And so I started writing music to kind of help tell the story of my youth.

But as the music started developing, taking a life of its own, it became more obvious that this was more of a ballet that I was writing.

It could be its own thing.

It didn't need all these lyrics that I had planned to put with it.

Instead, I opted to have it expressed through just music and dance.

Tony Pierce and Dustin, we had talked about me becoming part of their Imagination Artist Series.

The thing was, I told them in the beginning that the first year it'd be this, it'd be that, but I want to do something original.

So I don't wanna just do Wu-Tang music and things, I wanna create something new and original.

And it said, "Okay, when you're ready."

And then this ballet became it, and I was ready, and I took it to them and we performed it with dancers and orchestras and visuals.

It was a great personal achievement.

NAS, Busta, Wu-Tang, and we're always like having such a brotherly moment, had all talked about recording some music together and we was like, yo, we should have a studio bus.

So on the second half of the tour, we paid for a studio bus to come, and it happens to be the John Lennon educational bus.

And Dolby had just put in this whole new Atmos system into this bus.

Nobody came in and made a song.

When I realized that it was a chance that that wasn't going to happen, I was like, you know what?

No matter what, I'll come here every night, and if anybody else come, we'll do hip hop.

If nobody else come, we're gonna mix this album in Dolby Atmos.

When you do an orchestra, orchestra has a certain way they sit, and the music comes at you from a certain dynamic based on that setting.

And the mix in studio is based upon that kind of stereophonic sound you're hoping to get as the orchestra projects itself throughout the room.

But in Dolby Atmos, you could break all those rules.

If the horn player is here in the beginning of the song, can we put them over here by the end?

Now in the real orchestra, a horn player will never get up and walk over to there.

But in Dolby Atmos mix, we was able to do that.

So this album, which I think is special, that's mixed not only in Dolby Atmos, but actually using Dolby Atmos as a creative tool.

No, we are actually moving the instruments and moving the players throughout the mix to make you go like this, you know what I mean?

And that was something that came about without plan, we didn't plan that.

The first thing that enamored me about music was hip hop itself.

Hip hop has found this way to inspire the world.

I would advise young people to take the path that hip hop gives you.

Pick up your drum machine, pick up your Fruity Loops, or your Pro Tools, whatever you're doing, but pick up a instrument because the understanding of the instrument is gonna help you understand the creativity of what you're doing, it's gonna take you to a level of creativity that can be uniquely yours.

This album is no samples, it's all musicians playing this music.

The recording that we released is not the same recording that we first tried because each time we played it, there's something different happening because the human hand move different.

There's a different amplitude, there's a different expression, there's a different embellishment or flourish.

There's also something in the own stimulation of your own brain that instruments gives us, that self-expression.

And so this is "A Ballet Through Mud," like yeah, maybe even my own past, it's been muddy, starting in the streets of Staten Island, Brooklyn, living the street life as we did, bringing the (censored) ruckus as Wu-Tang Clan and going through that mud, but then evolving to a lotus.

And the thing about a lotus is that even though it grows with so many things that could be considered befouled around it, it maintains to keep its purity.

(upbeat music) - And now for the artist quote of the week.

Artist Rihannon Wolfe is inspired by the natural world.

Based in Reno, Nevada, she admires her surroundings and uses watercolor and colored pencil to render playful and colorful works.

Take a look.

(birds chirping) (gentle music) - My name is Rhiannon Wolfe, and I am a local watercolor artist.

I like to make my art quite colorful.

I just love colors.

I find myself very drawn to the color purple.

Quite often I'll go to a painting and be like, all right, no paint, no color purple in this painting.

But it often comes through, and you'll notice that.

My ideas stem from going out into nature and being out in the beauty of the natural world, just seeing the changes in the weather, the moods, the storms.

Sometimes I'll plain air paint or see an cute animal running by and be like, "Oh, I need to paint a squirrel now" or something like that.

I like to do kind of realistic paintings, but also with a sense of whimsy.

Like something that you'll have to double take and be like, what?

There's a hedgehog and a spaceship going to outer space.

Like quite often I'll be at a farmer's market or something with my art and I'll hear somebody giggling and somebody else, and I'll have to ask like, "Okay, what image was it that elicited that emotion?"

I've always been interested in art.

(gentle music) My background is actually in ancient and medieval history.

And I decided to try and meld my historical learning with art.

And I took a course in Vienna at the Vienna Academy of Visionary Art.

And this was a course with Aloria Weaver and David Heskin in painting like the old masters.

We spent three months painting two paintings.

One was an egg tempera and the other was an oil painting.

And they were both self portraits, but one of them, the egg tempera was reversed.

So it was quite interesting painting your face, but backwards.

So recently, I have chosen watercolor as my medium.

I took a solo road trip to New Mexico and I drove all the way from Reno to New Mexico and I brought my watercolor paints along with me, and I was visiting all these national parks and exploring and out in nature.

And watercolor paints were really great for traveling.

They were small and compact.

The first ever event I did, I didn't have any prints or anything, and I was just sitting there life painting and somebody would come up to me and be like, "Hey, can you paint a giraffe for me or can you paint my pet?"

And so I was just sitting there and painting frantically like oh, here you go.

One day, I'd like to go back to oil painting once I'm more established and have a studio and more grounded.

But right now, watercolor really works.

(gentle music) With my watercolor painting, I'm actually quite precise.

A lot of watercolor artists paint wet on wet and really let the paint flow.

But I found myself like maybe it's from learning to paint with egg tempera, but I really like to do small brush strokes sometimes like layer upon layer in fine detail.

It's really important to me to keep the colors vibrant and vibrating with each other.

I start with thin washes and then gradually build up the detail over time.

Sometimes it can take a long time just building layer upon layer, and you've got to really think about the colors that you're layering so it doesn't turn into mud.

Through my artwork, I hope to show people that animals have feelings and thoughts and emotions just like we do, and that there's such beauty in the natural world.

And I've been vegan most of my life.

So this is something that's really close to my heart.

It's really important for me to be in a good mindset and headspace to create.

And then the creative energies can really flow, and a beautiful day like this where the sun is shining, I find very inspiring.

(birds chirping) (upbeat music) - Now here's a look at this month's fun fact.

For Aaron Gonzalez, a bicycle is a work of art.

With skill and vision, he builds custom lowrider bikes that have received recognition for their style and character.

We take a trip to New Mexico to hear more about Gonzalez's creative process, as well as his role in the community as a co-founder of Albuquerque's Oddfellas Bike Club.

- I think it's the shiny wheels and the candy paint and the flaked out patterns.

And I mean, I think it's beautiful.

(upbeat music) When it comes to the bikes, I have a certain style.

Anybody that comes to me wanting a bike, they already know that it's gonna be lower to the ground.

If you want something high, I'm probably not the person to come to.

♪ I can't make a move ♪ - [Aaron] The first lowrider I ever seen was a '50s Chevy truck.

It was all black, it had chrome rims on it.

And then I picked up my first lowrider magazine when I was younger.

And I saw the bikes and I saw the art and everything about it just, I fell in love with it.

♪ Baby if you run away ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ - [Aaron] When it comes to flow, when it comes to design, I always look at body lines on old cars, and that's where a lot of the designs come from.

(upbeat music) The Fleetline is something that I designed and that's kind of where that design came from, a '48 Fleetline.

(bright music) I was once told, when you're designing something, especially a bicycle, you should be able to look at the bike from the beginning and not stop all the way to the very end.

And that's when you got the perfect flow.

And that's something that's always stuck with me.

When I'm in the zone, there's no distraction, there's nothing that can break my concentration.

If I'm having a bad day, I just build bikes.

I have no fabrication background, I have no welding background.

I didn't think I can do it, but I started doing it, and I fell in love with it.

It's my art, it's my passion, I love everything about it.

Just being able to create rideable art and create something that not only I can enjoy, but other people can enjoy.

And I think that New Mexico has a big culture when it comes to lowrider scene.

♪ It's gonna be all right yeah yeah ♪ - [Aaron] And we're all different, just nobody is the same, and that's kind of how the bikes are.

Every one of these bikes are different, just like shoes or anything else, it just kind of fits the individual person that's actually riding the bike.

(upbeat music) When it comes to the Oddfellas, it's all about riding together.

♪ It's gonna be all right ♪ ♪ It's gonna be all right ♪ ♪ It's gonna be okay ♪ ♪ It's gonna be all right ♪ ♪ I feel it in my heart ♪ - [Aaron] While we're all riding, people kind of gravitate towards these bikes.

♪ It's gonna yeah yeah ♪ - [Aaron] they come out their house, they're all smiling, they're happy, waving, it's just a really good feeling.

♪ I do carry on ♪ - [Aaron] It always puts a smile on someone's face.

♪ You all know ♪ ♪ Well next is gonna come ♪ ♪ You've gotta ♪ - [Aaron] I'm just saying it's bikes that bring us together, but it's the people that make us stay.

It's about family.

It's about finding your gift.

It's about doing something that could take you away from the everyday distractions.

Whatever you're going through during the week, when you're on these bikes, you don't have a choice but to just slow down and take everything in around you.

It just brings everyone together and everyone's on the same page when we're riding or just in the moment.

♪ Carry on ♪ ♪ Let it go let it go ♪ ♪ Carry on, carry on ♪ ♪ Let it go, carry on ♪ ♪ Let it go, let it go, carry ♪ (upbeat music) - And now here's a look at a few notable dates in art history.

(upbeat music continues) Up next, we travel to Cleveland, Ohio to meet the team behind Crooked River Circus.

Through open gyms, workshops, and performances, movement artists can learn new skills, practice their craft, and bring joy to others.

Here's the story.

(gentle music) - [Jaime] First off, I like to describe Crooked River Circus as meaning that none of us took a direct path here.

We took a very crooked path to get to the circus.

So there is the Crooked River, as well as, of course, Cleveland's Crooked River.

- [Narrator] That long winding path was formed more than a decade ago.

It began here on Broadway Avenue at Skol Greater Cleveland.

- We've been working in this space for about 12 years.

Started with aerial silk classes that we were holding twice a week, and we were both students here for a while and then became instructors.

- [Narrator] It was their own curiosity that led co-founders Vanessa Lange and Jaime Bouvier to give aerial arts a try.

Little did either know at the time, they'd stumbled upon their passion.

- I started when I was 39 years old, I'm now 50, and I never would've started, but I had a friend who was a few years older than me who did it.

And I thought, well, I'll try it.

And I tried it and I was terrible at it.

It was really hard, but really, really, really fun.

And for a long time, it was something that I allowed myself to pursue, even though I was not at all naturally good at it.

- I came from a gymnastics background growing up.

And then I went away to college.

And then in my 20s, I really didn't find a physical activity that I really enjoyed doing.

And then I saw a performance, it was called Cleveland Cirque.

And I was like, well, that's what I want to do.

- [Narrator] The circus encompasses a wide variety of human-centered tricks performed on equipment like the trapeze, lyra, or aerial hoop, aerial rope, and aerial silks.

- Aerial silks is pretty simple.

It's just two strings of fabric.

And we basically use those fabrics to manipulate, climb up, do positions, strap ourselves in it in various ways to secure ourselves, harness ourselves, and make beautiful poses in the air.

We're able to drop out of those poses as long as we're tied in appropriately and go from there.

- [Narrator] To compliment the range of performing that goes on in the air, acrobatics draw attention back to the ground.

In partner acrobatics, the only equipment needed is other people.

- So you can combine acro into a couple different categories.

So there's like L-basing, which is where like the base is laying on the ground and you're flowing through some sort of like movement and patterns.

There's a lot of inversions, but also just like counterbalances and strength holding poses.

- [Narrator] Focusing on collaboration as a group rather than individual performances, the circus wanted to step out by blending their usual human tricks with theatrical elements to create a full scale production.

Their first foray resulted in 2019's "The Seance," an immersive theatrical circus show that combined a narrative and live music with aerial and ground acrobatics.

- And Jaime has the theater background too, which I don't have.

And so when we started doing performances, she brought this amazing theatrical aspect to everything that I was like, oh, we don't just have to go up there and look pretty, we can be angry on the silks or we can be funny or we can tell a story.

(upbeat music) Jaime would say people in the theater world think it's crazy.

So our process, because our process is based on the people we have and what they can do.

- And what they love to do and hat their fantasies are.

- Right, like you've got a cool idea.

How can we fit it into the show?

Rather than us coming up with this is what the show is, we need to cast people that can do these things.

- [Narrator] Three years after "The Seance," the circus will be hitting the stage again with its second full-lenth show, "How the Circus Stole Christmas."

- We are so blessed to have an amazing composer making music for us.

And I really appreciate having original music as part of the show.

We are blessed to work with a professional circus rigger.

We also have an amazing aerialist who's a costume designer, and she's helping to put together the costumes for us.

We are just so blessed with so many people of such high level of talent and drive, and I'm just excited.

I think circus is very different from dance, is very different from theater, in that a circus artist might spend years trying to master a trick that might last for a half a second.

And so you put together a show in a much different way.

The rehearsal is different, the creation is different.

We are featuring the circus skills, and then we're building a fun interactive show around that.

- [Narrator] For its members, the Crooked River Circus provides much more than a space to perform.

It's about building trust, building relationships, and building a sense of community.

- I'm a big gifter in many ways.

That's my favorite thing to do.

So the gift of performance is really like freeing and amazing for me to do.

So being able to go up there, kind of put together a piece and show it to all my best friends and say like, "This is what I do," and like I'm really glad it brings you that joy as well to see us do it, see me do it.

- I personally definitely enjoy performing most, but I love it all.

They're all my best friends.

There's a lot of like trust and communication that gets built through acro.

So you become friends and you get close to everyone really quickly.

I consider them my family.

- But we want people to see it as an acceptable thing because we enjoy teaching it to people.

And we love when people say that, "Oh, I saw you guys perform and I wanted to take a class," that's really awesome.

I think we put on a great show.

We have a lot of really incredibly talented performers.

We all do this for love because we literally love doing what we do.

We do this for fun.

This is our hobby, this is our advocation.

We've created a really wonderful group of people who are supportive of each and every performance and of everybody's performance.

And that's just a lovely thing to be a part of.

And I think it's also a lovely thing to witness.

(audience applauding) - And that wraps it up for this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

For more arts and culture, visit wpbstv.org.

Until next time, I'm Mark Cernero, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) (bright music)