- [Mark] In this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

The craftsmanship of woodworking.

- I like a clear finish, and I like to show off the natural grain and the natural quality of the wood.

And I like to build with native lumber.

- [Mark] Changing perceptions through drawing and painting.

- Art is really a battle between yourself and how you wanna express it.

It's all about how comfortable you are with yourself and letting whatever is inside out.

- [Mark] A hit musical makes a one-of-a-kind return to Broadway.

- [Speaker] From music to the direction, cast, and the choreography, and the set design, everything really comes together to make something that you've never quite seen or felt like this before.

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

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

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

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

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

We travel to St. Lawrence County in upstate New York to meet woodworker Matt Rozler.

Having first become interested in the art form through his father and grandfather, the two continue to be a source of inspiration as he transforms wood into meticulously handcrafted pieces.

- [Narrator] It's rare to find a craftsman that takes his work all the way to the root.

In order to make this, Matt Rozler of St. Lawrence County starts outside with this.

- I became first interested in woodworking through my father, Bob Rozler, and my grandfather, John Tamel.

They were certainly the first inspiration for me.

With woodworking, as most of us know it, but the cutting the trees and the sawmill side comes from my uncle, Tom Jackson.

I spent a lot of time cutting down trees with him.

- [Narrator] Since retiring from the New York State Police in 2020, Rozler has focused on his business 100%.

From artful yet practical pieces on display at Taney and Canton, to cabinetry or cutting boards, his work is in demand.

With a shop full of tools, both modern and old school, Rozler digs in.

His end game is to produce a piece that boasts no hardware at all, but to get there is a multi-step process.

- My woodworking process, I try to focus on being natural.

My process is to start with a standing tree and cut it down and into a log, bring it into my sawmill, turn it in the lumber, and I can turn it in the lumber in several different ways in the sawmill, and then I'll kiln dry it.

After it's kiln dried, then I can make a finished product with it.

I like a clear finish, and I like to show off the natural grain and the natural quality of the wood.

And I like to build with native lumber.

There's hand saws that I use, and there's also power saws that I use, and same with sanding.

There's hand sanding, and there's techniques for that.

You use a block sander, sometimes just your hand and a piece of sandpaper, but other times, different kinds of power sanders.

I think my initial inspiration is from my father and my grandfather, but I also had other inspirations along the way that shaped the way I liked to woodwork.

My shop teacher, John Driscoll, he had techniques that I hadn't learned before, so I learned those techniques, and PBS star, Norm Abrahm changed a lot of the way both my father and I built, because it's the use of modern techniques with traditional joinery, and in the end, I'm able to make a traditional-looking piece using modern power tools.

- [Narrator] Part of craftsmanship includes the challenge involved with a particular piece.

When Matt is charged with building something he's never done before, he has to step out of his comfort zone, but as he explains, it's a zone that's needed to build something really great.

- Particularly now that I build for my customers, I'm constantly taking risks, because I'm not taking my inspiration and trying to make a finished piece.

I'm using my customers' inspiration and trying to make the piece that they envisioned.

That can be challenging sometimes, and I can end up doing something I've never done before with wood.

For me, woodworking embodies hardworking and practicality.

To me, I'm not so much an artist as I am a craftsman, and that's what I like about woodworking, is I can make practical items.

The practical items I'm talking about would be tables and chairs, furniture, but other things, too, that people want.

I recently just built a patio bar, so I can make things that people desire that aren't necessarily just artistic, but they're something that we use.

- [Narrator] Even better, it's something that can be used and made with local resources.

- I think the way that it serves the community on a greater scale is that it can be unique to where we live, so that I use native lumber, and any woodworker that uses native lumber can bring an identity to an area.

So I think in that way, it's important.

I also think that the practicality of what I build is important, because people can use it.

- [Narrator] Despite a change in times and the world seemingly in a hurry, time slows down with a handcrafted piece, and fortunately, this kind of work is still very much appreciated.

- And now, for the artist quote of the week.

(upbeat music) Born in Michigan and now residing in Cleveland, Ohio, Antwoine Washington is an artist who draws and paints bold, colorful portraits.

Through his subjects, he focuses on the black experience and the issues affecting our country today.

Take a look.

- Look at a painting of my daughter, and I think the whole premises around this piece is gonna be about pretty much like young people making wishes and dreaming outside of their birthdays.

I mean, you make that wish on the birthday, but do you actually really follow through with it, and do you even know to do that?

Saturday morning cartoons, that was like some of my earlier influences of seeing those type of things.

But as far as like artists, as a kid, I would have to go to like Ernie Barnes and like the Good Times paintings and stuff like that, just because my grandmother used to watch that all the time.

It was that one painting that they would always show.

I think it's at the end of the show when it's going off.

That's where I was first really introduced to like, oh, black artists painting, I would like to do that.

Yeah, I knew that artists could make money, of course, but I didn't know how.

And so I didn't have that person around me to actually help guide that, or even say, hey, you have a talent.

You have a talent in art.

Don't you know that you can make money from this, and you can make a living doing this?

So that never really ever came across my mind, or even was even encouraged in my neighborhood, where I was from, that when you did art, you were kind of looked at as a weirdo, in a sense.

And so I would always, you know, practice basketball and come home and draw.

And so people knew that I could do it, but it never really was like, it was just like, all right, man, put that down and let's go hoop.

Which I thought, which I look back now and said, man, how unfair was that to a kid like me?

(laughs) Coming up, I didn't have any like training in art.

I just kind of just like, mom put the paper down in front of me, crayon, and I just kind of just always drew.

Doodling and, you know, just grabbing crayons and just always like trying to make stuff and drawing stuff.

And I would draw them pictures all the time at a very young age.

And so she was super intentional about just keeping that paper in front of me.

I think art is really a battle between yourself and how you wanna express it.

And so it's all about how comfortable you are with yourself and letting whatever is inside out.

And so that's how I looked at it.

I didn't look at it no other way.

And so I felt like this would be probably one of the better ways for me to actually express myself.

And instead of me like getting on social media or something like that and saying something, I can just say what I want to say through a work of art.

And so I always kept that in my back pocket and always knew when I go to college, I was gonna major in art.

And then leading to Baton Rouge is where, when I went to Southern University, that's where I officially took art school and class.

It was in college.

So I was sitting on a couch with my son holding him and my daughter plays a lot and jumps on my back.

But I just changed the facial expressions to it being like a lot more like an Africanized mask.

And so I kind of wanted to have that feel too of talking about ancestry and that whole thing of where we come from and all of that.

So I kind of wanted to like have that conversation too.

So that's why you see like these flat shapes and design around the eyes and different things like that.

So I kind of wanted to have that feel as well.

This one here in particular was one that I went out on assignment with a photographer and we seen this young man here and his son walking across the street.

And we was like, "Hey, we gotta get this picture."

I mean, this one right here meant a real, I mean, a big bunch to me, man, because I was able to put him in a position where showing how much of a Superman fathers are when it comes to parenting and how warm and how that image looks when you see a father and a child.

This one actually was inspired by just the whole notion and myth that black fathers aren't present in their children's lives.

Right there said it was a lie to me because of growing up, I saw different.

In my neighborhood, even though we were poor, fathers were always around and fathers to me, even though I had my father alive in my life, I had many other fathers, coaches, and different people within the community that acted as father figures.

To give you a little context to this picture here is that me and my wife make it a point that we go out and take pictures with our kids to make sure that they're able to see us as a family unit and growing and seeing themselves grow and saying like, "Hey, this is how I looked when I was a kid."

Because when we were coming up, we didn't have those photos.

So we're super intentional about that.

And so we tend to just like take a day, hire a photographer, and then we would go take pictures.

And so with this one in particular, I was painting a series and I said, "Hey, I have to paint this picture because this represents my family and I have to also show people that I'm not just talking to talk, I'm walking the walk."

It's a lot of opportunity out here in the arts for people that look like me.

And we just don't have access to it because no one is exposing us to it or even telling us about it.

In my short tenure and time around art, I'm like, I can only imagine if I can learn these different things in a short period of time with someone 12, 13, even six could learn over time.

And so I'm like, let me create something or let me get in front of these young people and let them know like this opportunity here.

You don't have to run, jump, dunk, dribble the basketball or catch a football or rap, sing, dance all the time.

This is another way that you can express yourself.

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

In New York City, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" returns to Broadway.

Directed by Jamie Lloyd and starring Nicole Scherzinger and Tom Francis, the exhilarating production reimagines the classic musical through memorable video design and cinematography.

(majestic music) - It's always an exchange when you're on stage.

I'm not on stage for myself.

I'm on stage to give and to give all of me and to give all of my heart and soul.

So when people receive it, you feel it and it's just electricity.

- This production is so striking and so unforgettable.

So from Andrew's music to the direction, to the cast and the choreography and the set design, everything really comes together to make something that you've never quite seen or felt like this before.

And as somebody who's gone back, watched different performances of different versions of "Sunset Boulevard," it's just so cool to see what this one is and is bringing uniquely.

- You're Norma Desmond.

Used to be in silent pictures.

You used to be big.

- I am big.

It's the pictures that got small.

- When you take a piece like this, you can go back in time and do something that is a classic.

And what makes it a classic is the fact that it speaks to our humanity across time.

So those who first saw this decades ago can see a reinvention like this production and still be touched.

♪ Feel the early morning madness ♪ ♪ Feel the magic in the making ♪ ♪ Why everything's as if we never said goodbye ♪ ♪ I'm coming out of makeup ♪ ♪ The light's already on me ♪ - The thing that is unique that makes it a classic is that there is a certain undeniable humanity to it that will speak to anyone who is human.

- I think what makes this special choreographically is the use of the video.

Seamlessly tying it into the choreography was, it was a lot of hard work, but it became a labor of love.

This is narrative choreography.

And I think it speaks of the collaboration that I have with Jamie Lloyd.

It's all about storytelling.

It's all about, you know, pushing the lyrics forward, pushing Andrew's score forward and kind of working collaboratively with every department.

- It's a really interesting experience combining screen with theater and having to switch between the two.

It's a massive learning curve for me.

- There's no props, there's nothing.

Everything has to be in your imaginations.

Yeah, so when you take everything away, I think that as like an audience, you've got no fluff around the edges.

And so you can just zero in and focus in on what the story is.

It's kind of just trusting Jamie Lloyd.

That's the most important thing as an actor in this production.

Whatever he says, just do it.

- Jamie is such a beautiful director.

He really allowed me to bring myself authentically to the role and to Norma and to be able to have fun and to play with the role and to think outside of the box.

There are no rules in this production.

- I just, I'm obsessed with this production.

Nicole is awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping in it.

- I've never really met anyone like Nicole.

Her work ethic is staggering.

It's terrifying.

- The thing about Nicole Scherzinger is that she's a director's dream because she offers 100,000 choices.

So she can really do anything.

- You know, all of the comedy, you know, this exceptional voice.

And then by the end, she's plummeting to the depths of the human psyche in a really, really raw and visceral way.

- They wrote a classic musical, a classic story that is of the ages always.

- It's a wonderful score, right?

It's a wonderful, wonderful, really dark, really filmic, authentic score.

So to take that as the backbone of everything, but throw away everything you ever knew or thought you knew about Sunset Boulevard and bring something new.

- And, you know, I think it's resulted in something really special.

I think we all feel like we're not necessarily in total control of it.

I think it lives as an entity on its own, like it has its own heartbeat and its own breath, which I find absolutely incredible to be a part of.

♪ With one look ♪ ♪ I'll be back ♪ - And now, here's a look at a few notable dates in art history.

(upbeat music) Up next, we hear from artist Fei Fei Lin, whose imaginative artwork explores the many facets of the human experience and reveals both cultural and personal truths.

We take a trip to Sacramento, California for the story.

(upbeat music) - 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.

- [Narrator] 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 trained 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, it's like 1987.

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

So you have a second chance 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 trained me like boy and they trained me have to be tough.

- [Narrator] 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 enter high school and college, I had opportunity to travel to all over the world and study art, especially Europe.

My very first collection of artwork or art theme is called Green Leaves series.

And that time I was in college, 20s, young.

And so I paint a lot like large scales, green leaves, really thick, like brushstrokes and building up on layer upon 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 when 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.

- [Narrator] In America, Faye discovered a new dimension to her art.

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

- The reality of 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 viewers 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 accepting it and they feel moved.

(gentle music) I think spirituality and art helped 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's 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.

(soft music) I don't want people to 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 controversial, 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 a form sketches or drawings, you know, people probably think, oh, it's not necessary, but just remember when we were child, everybody liked to draw, you know, that is your inner power.

For me, like as professional artist, this isn't 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's very powerful, spiritual food for everybody.

(upbeat music) - 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) (soft music)