- [Beth] In this edition of Arteffects, "Building for Reno's Future".

(gentle music) - [Nettie Voiceover]This is a dream come true.

We have needed this in Reno for decades.

(gentle music) - [Beth Voiceover] "Art and Science".

- [Agnes Voiceover] I always look for the invisible, less visible creatures, or the less visible things going on.

The invisible forces in nature.

- [Beth Voiceover] "A Noteworthy Biennial Exhibition".

- [Graeme Voiceover]You will see literally all manner of media.

You will see traditional photography, video, conceptual work.

- [Beth Voiceover] And "A Vibrant Smoke Performance".

- [Judy] I'm really excited to share "A Purple Poem for Miami" with you.

We've been working on it for a year.

- It's all ahead on this edition of Arteffects.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Voiceover] Funding for Arteffects is made possible by Sandy Raffealli, The June S. Wisham Estate, Carol Franc Buck, Merrill and Lebo Newman, Heidemarie Rochlin, Meg and Dillard Myers, the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members, and by... (gentle music) - Hello, I'm Beth MacMillan and welcome to Arteffects.

Over the years, many of us visited Shopper's Square, the former mall at the corner of Virginia Street and Plum Lane.

Today, this dilapidated space is being transformed into the Reno Public Market.

Where along with an organic grocer, a brewery and a new food hall, there will be dedicated space for artists and art lovers to interact.

(gentle music) - [Nettie] The Reno Public Market will be a high traffic, daily needs mall - [Doug] It's about 150 thousand square feet of building area.

And we've set aside about 20 percent of that area for arts and culture uses.

One of the principle players is an art collective.

Creating production space, creating education space, creating gallery and display space.

And we have another three thousand square feet set aside for local artisan day table retail, pop-up retail.

And then I think critical to it all is a live performance stage.

Sits right at the top end of the food hall, right next to the art collective and day table retail.

Right in front of fifty fifty brewing whose back there making beer.

But it's a place for live music, it's a place for poetry readings readings.

It's not ticketed.

It's free.

(gentle music) It's a dream come true for our area.

When Rick Kasasa and Doug Wheely Shoppers Square was created in 1963 by the Casazza Family.

And as it began to age and kind of need a little bit of rejuvination.

Rick Casazza found his partner Doug Wiele to work on the creation of the renovation of the project.

- [Doug] The project will open in phases through 2021.

But the grand opening for the project will be fall of 2021 with the food hall up and going and all the arts and culture uses with it.

(gentle music) - [Nettie] It's a dream come true for our area.

When Rick Kasasa and Doug Wheely asked me to be their director of arts and culture, I just fell over with excitement.

Because them offering a daily needs, highly trafficked retail space and saying come put arts and culture in there, come put artists in there for accidental discovery, for people to see, this is a dream come true.

We have needed this in Reno for decades, in our region for decades.

To really build community and to keep retail alive, you need arts and culture.

You need that draw.

It's what will grow our community.

It will help to knit our community back together again.

(gentle upbeat music) What's really cool, is what's gonna be created from us locals.

And already we have individual artists who are saying, I really would appreciate being able to have space there at the art collective to work additionally outside with others.

Can I do that?

And our collective people are saying you betcha, come on down.

What our citizens will learn from those artists about the art creation and about the value of art, about the value of artists in our community is something that you can't teach otherwise.

You have to experience that.

- [Doug] Now we used to think that bringing a wonderful mercantile environment back next to culture.

But what we've learned along the way is introducing culture uses arts and culture uses into the project changes the nature of the project.

I thought I was here to buy groceries.

I thought I was here to have lunch.

What is that art, what is that live- I am not where I thought I was.

I have a fellow board member who was driving by our project every day.

And she said that when she looked at it, she said, "(gasps) It's Nettie's project."

And she said it made her feel so good to know that that was moving forward and that it was gonna be something wonderful for Reno.

And so, on the basis of her comment, we put up a banner that said we were building for Reno's future.

And we are.

We've got such innovation, such collaboration, such creativity, just bursting at the seams.

What if there was a place where you ran into people that didn't look like you.

Didn't sound like you.

Enjoying the same things Broadens our perspective on the world, broadens our perspective on who we are.

And I think we are creating healthier communities on a whole bunch of levels and mixing theses uses up.

I didn't know I could drink beer with that kind of person.

And wait a minute, what kind of music is that?

I've never heard that before because I don't hear that on my Sirus Station.

We are very very intentional on what we call accidental discovery.

It just betters our community.

It's an economic driver for sure, but it's also a spiritual driver.

It just makes us as community members, as locals feel good about ourselves and to really understand and appreciate that great synergy around us.

- Stay updated with the project at RenoPublicMarket.com.

Interdisciplinary artist Agnes Chavez, creates art that highlights the remarkable species inhabiting the earth.

Focused on biodiversity and the environment, she reflects on the world around us, increasing awareness and encouraging change through her work.

We head to New Mexico to find out more.

(gentle piano music) - [Megan] We live in a world of ecological and biodiversity crisis, especially along the Rio Grande.

What do you think is important to know right now?

- [Agnes] I think building empathy and ethics, building ethics is really needed right now.

I feel like there's... Like we're all here for, because we have something that we're interested in that we have to offer to our community, right?

To the world.

And for me the focus is always about like bringing that humanity and the ethics into the discussion.

- [Megan] And your piece BIOTA, what was your thought process?

- [Agnes] So I was invited by 516 ARTS to be part of this exhibit called "Species in Peril Along the Rio Grande".

So I had to think, what species was I going to choose?

And for me, my work, I always look for the invisible, less visible creatures or the less visible things going on.

The invisible forces in nature.

And I learned about the microbial species and how they're only visible to us now because of a technology called DNA sequencing.

What I did is I collected a water sample from the river in Taos that feeds into the Rio Grande.

And I sent that water sample to the lab that does this DNA sequencing.

And I get back a list of all the species.

There were 700 in this water sample that live in that water.

And then that data is what I visualize in this piece called BIOTA.

- [Megan] And so what were you trying to convey with that kind of idea?

- [Agnes] Well, biodiversity.

So the...

I wanted to communicate the diversity of species that exists in water.

I wanted people to feel empathy for this object that I created that visualizes the data and feel to learn about this invisible species that exists and how important they are to the ecosystem.

- [Megan] What was your biggest challenge in doing this?

- [Agnes] The biggest challenge was actually learning about DNA sequencing.

Like I didn't even know where to start when I started the project.

And then finding a lab or who could do it.

I had to speak to many microbiologists and try to find out where to get the data.

That was the most challenging and the most rewarding part.

(gentle upbeat music) - [Megan] How do you promote change other than building awareness?

- [Agnes] Every time I do an art piece, I always do some kind of youth workshop to go with it.

So over the years, I developed an online platform called the STEM Arts Curriculum Tool.

This platform has the artists featured, and then what the work's about, the research behind it, the science and technology behind it, and activities, STEM activities that the teacher can do with students.

- [Megan] Which is Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math, right?

- [Agnes] Yeah, so this platform is kind of my way of bringing that, all that research and knowledge about the science and art, right?

To the teachers and to the kids.

And then recently I started collaborating with the Taos Land Trust.

And the Taos Land Trust takes land and protects it.

And they have watershed areas that are being restored, there's the river, the Rio Fernando, where I took my sample from.

There is an acequia that's being restored.

(gentle upbeat music) The Bio STEM Lab is my idea to collaborate with them and use the STEM Arts model that I've developed and curate and find an artist that can do a site-specific installation in the land that addresses some of the topics.

So this topic for our first artist is "Biodiversity Loss and Pollinators".

(gentle upbeat music) It's all about future generations.

So not only because we work with youth, but because we won't have a future unless we take care of these issues.

- [Megan] What do you think people can do to be more involved in real action?

- [Agnes] First of all, I think pressuring our businesses and our governments for the big changes is really important because we can do a lot of little things, but we also need the larger corporations, for example, putting out the plastic, to do something about it.

So I think continuing to put pressure to change regulations is a big one.

And then I'm excited about this particular project that the Taos Land Trust is doing with this park, because it's an example of how any community can take a piece of land and turn it into a pollinator garden to try to bring... Look at how now we have 14 species of bats.

And when I have walked on that land two years ago, there was nothing but gophers.

So if everyone did their own patch of land and park and educating youth on how to live in harmony with nature and protect nature and the importance of that, and that world view that nature isn't separate from us, nature is... We are part of nature.

Those ways of thinking, those ways of knowing, those ways of walking in the world.

That's what I think is the most important thing to reconnect with as adults and to teach the young kids that probably already know it, but they need to be, it needs to be reinforced.

- [Megan] What do you think is the first step that we need to take?

- [Agnes] I don't believe in like policing, you know, you need to do this and you need to do this, and this is what needs to be done.

I think everyone has their own gift and their own place in this world and their own talents.

You know?

So if you're a lawyer, there's something you can do as a lawyer.

You know, if you're a teacher you teach, if you're a land keeper, you plant, you know.

So I think the answer is find where you are and what you have to offer, and then give that.

And in terms of what needs to be done, we need to inform people.

So if, you know, tell someone else what's going on so that people are informed.

And protect in any way, protect nature.

And that can be like I say in so many ways, whether it's building a park or building a pollinator garden in your backyard, or figuring out a way to get around the plastic.

There's so many things that it's more about.

Just pick something that you resonate with and do it, I would say is the main thing.

- [Megan] Personally for you, why is this work so important?

- [Agnes] I have always been really kind of fixated on nature and technology and the fact that it's so out of balance.

Technology is, it can be both the problem and the solution and finding a way to use technology as a solution is what I focus on.

The science of our times, of this century are very exciting to me.

The science and technology of this century, because of that.

So, my interest is in taking that knowledge and applying it to protecting nature.

So whether through the technology or just through the world view.

(gentle piano music) - For more information, visit AgnesChavez.com.

And now let's take a look at this week's art quiz.

In Gothic architecture, what is the purpose of a gargoyle?

Is the answer A, to scare away evil, B to help drain water from a roof, C to keep birds from landing on buildings or D for aesthetics?

Stay tuned for the answer.

The Artists Biennial at the Museum of Wisconsin Art has an array of artworks.

From painting to sculpture, photography to video.

The exhibition provides participating artists with the opportunity to present their perspectives and their creations to the public.

(bright upbeat music) - [Graeme] Museum of Wisconsin Art is a institution that's been around since 1961.

And our focus is 100% on the art and artists of Wisconsin.

Not only historically, but also as the case here with the biennial very much with the contemporary artists of Wisconsin.

2020 is the fourth year that we have done the biennial in our new building.

We are the permanent hosts.

So it's a collaboration between us and Wisconsin Visual Artists to do this every two years.

When the jurors select the artwork, which they do digitally, they came in with 42 works by 39 artists.

You'll see literally all manner of media.

You'll see traditional photography, video, conceptual work.

You will see two dimensional, three dimensional.

You'll see sculpture.

But what was interesting this year, is out of the 39 artists that were selected, 19 of them were actually first time being accepted into the biennial, which I think speaks volumes for what an attractive exhibition it is.

(gentle instrumental music) The way the gallery is laid out is that there will constantly kind of be surprises.

That's really what artists are bringing to the table, is they are bringing their different perspectives on the world, on issues within their own lives, issues nationally, issues even internationally.

So just because it's a Wisconsin biennial, the parameters of the show go far beyond the state.

The first place prize was Nina Gharnbarzadeh.

She's originally from Iran.

She works very much with the pen as black and white, and they're very subtle works.

You've really gotta get close to them and they're about current political issues.

Xiaohong Zhang, who is from China.

Her work, the three round pieces, they're about water.

And you know, that's a global issue.

I really enjoy Martha Coaty's photographs.

I mean, they're just very subtle, beautifully composed, and she's an artist we've watched for several years.

One of the great things about the biennial is you get introduced to younger artists or artists that you're not familiar with, and you can kind of follow their work.

So you can see how an artist's work develops over the years.

(gentle upbeat music) - The previous winner of the last biennial gets a solo exhibition.

It's an opportunity to elaborate on the work that they had done that placed them at the vanguard of art in Wisconsin.

So this year we have Mark Klassen, who is the 2018 top prize winner of the biennial.

He won with a piece called "Air Conditioner", which is also in his solo exhibition.

(bright upbeat music) The exhibition is entitled "Combustible Dust".

- The title of "Combustible Dust" that everything around us has the potential of harming us in some way as these sort of subtle anxieties that we have about our environment or our world.

- Mark Klassen primarily works with sculpture.

And many, if you encountered them on a day-to-day basis, you might overlook them.

They're a sort of interesting update of the trompe l'oeil tradition, meaning fool the eye, which has traditionally been associated with painters.

What's unique about Mark's take on this is that he's doing it with sculpture.

So he has a virtuosic command of wood that allows him to fool us into thinking that this is actually an air conditioner, this is actually a foam finger.

- [Mark] The nature of making art and making these objects out of wood, you are studying these objects and you're applying some craft and attention to figure out how to deconstruct a commercially made object, and then recreate that object in wood.

I think they look a bit like clip art because they don't have that kind of fine patina of a real object.

They look like an oversimplified version of that.

Of whatever that object is that I'm creating out of wood.

(bright upbeat music) It's a really great opportunity to exhibit in this kind of capacity for an artist, particularly because it's only in a solo exhibition where you get kind of the breadth of somebody's work.

- [Tyler] I think that people will enjoy the occasional challenge in trying to interpret what Mark was going for and how it relates to the overall thematics of the exhibition.

(upbeat music) I'm proud of the diversity of works of artist's backgrounds, of the media that they're working with, of the themes of their relationship to art history.

It's a really rich cross-section of what's happening in the state.

- [Graeme] People are appreciative that there is a museum whose main focus is to care about what they actually do and what they produce here in the state of Wisconsin.

(upbeat guitar music) - To learn more, visit WisconsinArt.org.

Artist Judy Chicago's "A Purple Poem for Miami" is a memorable smoke performance that colors the urban scape with blues, pinks and purples.

We visit Miami Florida to get a front row seat to the event.

(upbeat music) - [Judy] I'm really excited to share "A Purple Poem for Miami" with you.

We've been working on it for a year.

We're giving Miami, we hope, a gift that you will enjoy.

So please, please enjoy "A Purple Poem for Miami".

(crowd cheering) (fireworks crackling) (fireworks fizzing) (fireworks banging) (crowd cheering) (fireworks fizzing) (fireworks banging) (fireworks crackling) (fireworks fizzing) (fireworks popping) (crowd cheering) (fireworks banging) (crowd cheering) (clapping) - [Judy] Before this is over, let me tell you that one of my goals with these pieces was to soften and feminize the environment and show the world what it would look like if we were all kinder and more generous with each other.

(crowd cheering) (clapping) - For more on Chicago's work, head to JudyChicago.com.

And that wraps it up for this edition of Arteffects.

For more arts and culture and to watch past episodes, visit pbsreno.org/arteffects.

Until next week, I'm Beth MacMillan.

Thanks for watching.

- [Voiceover] Funding for artifacts is made possible by Sandy Raffealli, The June S. Wisham Estate, Carol Franc Buck, Merrill and Lebo Newman, Heidemarie Rochlin, Meg and Dillard Myers, the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members and by... (gentle music) (upbeat music)