- [Jason] Next on "Curate."

- The thing I get the most fulfillment from is creating.

It can represent a change in our lives, and the fact you don't have to finish the way that we started.

- See, I love to take things that are old, and make something new, useful and treasured.

- He just can't keep up with the demand of people wanting his pottery.

We wish we could, but he's only one guy.

- This is "Curate."

Welcome, I'm Heather Mazzoni.

- And I'm Jason Kypros, thanks for being with us.

We're coming to you today from the Simon Family Jewish Community Center, home to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater.

The UJF counts among its many missions spreading arts and culture to its members, and to all of Hampton Roads.

- From the art you see behind us to the book and film festivals they put on each year to a wealth of education-based projects that promote and encourage peace and goodness no matter your faith and spiritual center.

We'll have more on the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater later in the show.

- But we begin this episode with the idea of time.

Artists have been obsessed over it, think Dolly's Persistence of Memory with its melting clock, or Monet's Rouen Cathedral series.

A local creator is taking the idea, and making timeless pieces of functional art.

- Talley & Twine is an American watch company that is headquartered right here in Hampton Roads at Portsmouth, and they are looking to change the watch game by creating time pieces for men and women that look beyond the status quo to provide style and grace.

Randy Owens, the president and principal owner of Talley & Twine is looking to disrupt the watch industry.

He's also this week's 757 featured artist.

♪ Time keeps on slipping ♪ ♪ Slipping, slipping ♪ ♪ Into the future ♪ - Talley & Twine started about 2014.

As an entrepreneur, the thing I get the most fulfillment from is creating.

(gentle music) Back in 2008 I was in a bad state financially.

I had just had my car repossessed, and two of my investment properties, including the one I lived in were in foreclosure.

I was having a conversation with my cousin, who lived in Chesapeake, Virginia, I lived in Atlanta, and she said "Why don't you just come "and stay with us for a while?

"We got an extra bedroom."

And I took her up on her offer 'cause I was clearly about to be homeless, and I stayed because I realized that Hampton Roads had a lot to offer for me.

Met my wife, and I started a business here, so...

When I got my first watch during my senior year in high school on a trip to the Bahamas, a cruise, bought it for $40, it was a Guess watch, and I just fell in love with it.

So for birthday and Christmas my go to gift was a watch.

One day I was on my lunch break at work, and my last job, I was talking to my wife, and I asked her, "What do you think about me "starting my own watch company?"

I couldn't find watches in the price point that I wanted, I couldn't find the quality that I wanted, or the design that I wanted.

And as a creative person I just began to sketch out the things that I would want on a watch that I wanted to wear, and that's how Talley & Twine was born.

Once I figured that I had a design that I would like to wear, then I began my research process.

So I got on Google, and I realized that the next step for me was bringing the watch to life.

So bring in some real artists.

So I hired someone online to create a graphic design of the watch, and then from there I hired somebody to create a 3D model of the watch with the specifications, design, detail, the materials that will be used.

I used that 3D model, and I gave that to manufacturers, and began to get samples.

(upbeat music) Talley & Twine is actually an intersection here in Virginia, it's in Portsmouth.

And it is near the location where my wife and I purchased our first home.

We became homeowners and got our first taste of the American dream, and it was significant to use personally.

I felt that it could represent just the change that occurs in our lives, and the fact we don't have to finish the way we started.

As we've grown, I no longer sketch the watches myself, we start with an inspiration board.

This is a model that is not released yet.

I pulled together some images that kind of speak to how we ultimately want it to look, and then I give a direction for the designer over here.

I only feature the number seven on our watches.

So wanna build around this constellation cluster called the seven sisters, and incorporate that into the dial of the watch to have a celestial themed design.

So I'll give the designer this, and then they'll in turn give me back some examples, and then we can tweak it from there.

This is just the various pieces that we need for assembly.

We assemble those pieces based on what that customer wants.

So we received orders this year from both Macy's and Nordstrom.

But overall I think we wanna continue to keep that relationship with our customers, and sell directly on our website so then we can reach back out to them, and really bring them into what we call the Talley & Twine family.

We started with our leather band watches, but now we have leather band, metal band collection, and we also have canvas collection, which is our more casual style.

So I like to say that we have watches for everything that you're doing in life.

We have about 125 skews.

No two days are the same.

It involves some form of overseeing content creation.

As a digital first brand, our content is the most important aspect of what we do, so that's some type of photo shoot, video shoot, and coordinating that with our social media staff.

Also, checking the sales for the day, how are we doing?

Are we slow?

Do we need to get some type of promotion?

Taking a look at the ads, how much are we spending on advertisements?

A bunch of meetings and phone calls.

Who's wearing Talley & Twine?

A little bit of everybody.

♪ Tick tock you don't stop ♪ ♪ To the tick tock you don't stop ♪ ♪ To the tick tock ♪ - The most recent incident that comes to mind was that the new mayor of Atlanta chose to wear Talley & Twine during his inauguration, his swearing in ceremony.

He's putting his hand on the Bible, and he has a Talley & Twine watch on for one of my favorite cities.

Looking at people's wrists is an obsession of mine.

It can be present day, it can be movies.

It really doesn't matter because to me I wanna see how it fits, why did you choose this design?

And also trends, I wanna see what are people wearing, why are they wearing this?

And where are they going when they have this on?

This is a collaboration that we did with Tuskegee Airman Association.

It's an officially licensed product.

Reached out to them probably last year, we've been in development for a few months after that, and we finally dropped it this year.

It sold out twice already.

It just features the P51 bomber flown by the Red tails during the war, and then it also has the red buttons to signify the red tail.

And on the back of the watch we got custom engraving with the Tuskegee Airmen as well.

My former roommate from college and I are business partners.

In about 2019 he came on board as a partner, he left his corporate job.

But we also used to be roommates at Albany State University in Georgia.

We decided to do a $10,000 business scholarship starting at Albany State, but also going nationally to other HBCUs for students who were interested in entrepreneurship and business.

(upbeat music) We've been extremely blessed starting out with nothing, and last year we did $2.6 million in revenue.

We're able to sell products nationally and internationally.

It's been a very rewarding experience.

(upbeat music) - [Jason] Want more "Curate"?

Find us on the web, see this show again or any from our seven seasons.

Navigate over to whro.org/curate.

Again, we want to acknowledge our hosts, the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater for having us here at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center.

Joining us now to talk about what they do to promote arts and culture at Hampton Roads is Robin Mancoll.

Robin is the chief program officer.

Robin, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon.

- Yeah.

- Tell us a little bit about the art in the building, how do you go about curating that art?

- So, we're always looking for something new and different, and something with great color or great history.

And we stumble upon these amazing artists, whether they're from Israel, they could be local, from California, anything with a thread of connection to Jewish community, to Israel, to the greater community.

We're just always looking for great stuff.

Shony Rivnay who's here now, his work came to us from Cleveland, where it had been shuttered in the Jewish Community there for three years during the pandemic.

We heard it was coming out of hibernation, and looking for a new home, and jumped at the chance to have it here.

- We got a chance to meet the artist yesterday, and he spoke to use about his work.

- There's no rules, I like to surprise myself.

I like to play.

I'm a total abstract.

It's not that I'm taking reality, and I break it and I create kind of an abstract, it's the opposite.

I'm coming to canvas with no story and no image, and nothing to say.

Maybe a color, maybe a shape.

Once I do it there's a dialogue that starts between me and the canvas, and I'm not trying to put any meanings.

But you see our brain really needs the explanation, needs to understand what is it.

Oh yeah, I can see a face, I can see a snake, I can see a tree.

Because, I'm interested in the place where our brain really look for things, and trying to be at ease, saying oh, I understand.

But who we are to understand.

And that's more or less what I'm dealing with.

Some kind of configurations of life, if I could say.

- So, Robin, how often do you change out exhibits here?

- It really just depends on how long the artist allows us to show their work, on where it's going next, things that we have coming up we try to pair with other festivals.

So we have an exhibit downstairs with photographs from the photo house, an Israeli-based organization, with over a million photographs in their archive from pre-state Israel through the founding of the state of Israel, and early state Israel that will be rotating monthly with different photographs leading up to an entire all building exhibit with, I don't know actually at this point how many photographs from that collection really documenting the history of the state of Israel to be built towards Israel at 75, she turned 75 in May.

- [Jason] Wow, so really celebrating that by using the entire space.

- [Robin] Correct.

- Now you also have two major festivals, one celebrating film and one literature, correct?

- Correct, correct.

So we're in the middle of our book festival, the Lee and Bernard Jaffe Family Jewish Book Festival, which used to be a month of November festival, and we've stretched it out to be able to enjoy these authors and books throughout the year.

So really we have something coming each month all the way through June.

We also have our film festival in late February, and the films will be announced shortly for that, so keep an eye out for this.

- Exciting.

Now if someone wants to come and check out any of these events, what's the best way for them to get information?

- To go to jewishva.org.

- Well thank you so much, Robin, for having us here, and telling us so much about the exhibits that you have, you've been a wonderful host.

- Thank you.

- And we look forward to coming back and checking out the exhibits as they continue to come in.

- Sounds great.

(gentle music) - We've got a bit of spiritual theme going on this week as our next feature involves a pastor who believes there's a reason for just about everything.

This story comes from a collaboration we do with an old dominion documentary class, where students produce features specifically for the show.

We call this segment Curate U.

And this story from former student, and now ODU graduate, Alan Sawyer, features Jeff Walton, the pastor of a Chesapeake Church who takes what others discard, and turns it into art with a message.

(upbeat music) - We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

You see, I love to take things that are old, broken, useless or trash, and make something new, useful and treasured.

This is what God has done with us, he's redeemed us.

My name is Jeff Walton, and I'm a pastor at a local church here in the area, and love woodworking, it's my hobby, it's my therapy.

Woodworking has been that thing for me that just is relaxing.

(upbeat music) The reclaimed woodworking is really intriguing to me, and it's intriguing to me because it really ties into who I am as a pastor and what I preach through Christ, our sins are forgiven, and he reclaims us, and he redeems us, he makes us something new.

And so It's exactly what happens with an old piece of wood, or an old piece of metal, or a piece of trash found on the curb.

It's taken, restored, and it's made new.

(upbeat music) I have a pretty significant collection, we'll say, of different kids of woods.

I get everything I get by paying attention, observing everywhere I go, from driving through the neighborhood to wanting to go to the beach as a family picking up driftwood, to church members who have properties that have old houses on it offering for me to go take whatever I want to add to the collection or make something with.

(gentle music) I recently read that a pastor's job is listed in the top five most stressful career paths.

The Bible calls us to bear one another's burdens, and one of my main responsibilities is counseling.

And so I sit down with lots of people, and I hear about lots of things going on in the world.

And it's heavy.

I hurt for them, I hurt with them.

And trying to figure out how to minister to people going through the things that they're going through wears on you.

(gentle music) It's a challenge.

It's not something that I grew up doing.

It's not something I've been taught.

All these things are self taught.

And so it's grown me in my patience, in my boldness, stepping out and trying things that I would never think of trying.

That sometimes comes through other people actually challenging me.

My father-in-law came to me one day, and he wanted one of his dock poles that's gonna be used to hold the roof up carved on.

He wanted a tiki pole carve.

I looked at him, and I told him "That sounds really cool, "but I've never done anything like that before."

And he with every once of confidence in him, and faith in me, looked at me and said "You absolutely can do this, "I've seen what you can do."

(gentle music) Sometimes the faith that people have in you can challenge you to the point of you trying something new and surprising yourself.

(upbeat music) I spend a lot of time meditating on my relationship with God when I work in the shop because of how these things work.

I don't know that I have a favorite piece.

I think I have a favorite purpose, I think that's a better way to put it.

I love making things that benefit people.

This piece right here will go to a non-profit organization in the area to raise funds to stop trafficking.

Anything I see I grab because there's no such thing as scarp wood, just not wood that's been used yet.

- With each piece of pottery he makes, Troy Drake gives something to those in need.

And while you'll take notice in the art, it's the artists who really impresses.

- Do you like this color?

- Mm-hmm.

- It's perfect with the bird, the hummingbird.

- Mm-hmm.

Do not break it.

- I won't break it.

This one doesn't have a bird.

You're afraid I'm gonna drop it, aren't you?

Look how pretty that is.

Troy, you did a really good job on these.

Troy Made It we started for our son Troy who makes pottery.

And we came up with the name because he would make pottery, and people would say "Who made that?"

And we would say Troy made it.

And so we were trying to think of a name for his company, and we just kept thinking Troy Made It.

And that's kind of how we ended up with his name.

(gentle music) Troy was born with Down syndrome, and he's always loved to draw, and he just has a sense of space.

He can see something and he can just draw it.

I can't do that.

He'll draw for hours in a day.

So he's always loved art.

And then from there it just kind of progressed into pottery.

My husband and I, we had just sold our company, and so we were newly retired, and we'd always wanted to do ceramics, so there was a new pottery studio in Carson City called Ogres-Holm Pottery.

So we called them, and signed up for a wheel throwing class, and we asked if we could bring Troy with us.

And they said "Absolutely."

So we brought him, and they said "Well why doesn't he do hand building "while you're throwing, he can take the class as well."

So Troy took the class, he really liked it, and then that Christmas we decided to make some ornaments, Troy and I, for family and friends.

And we had extra.

So I thought I'll just put these on Facebook and see if anybody wants to buy them, and we'll donate the money.

And so they sold out in 20 minutes, and then everybody was asking for more ornaments, so we made more.

And then they all started asking to buy his pottery.

(upbeat music) Holly, my daughter's girlfriend, said I wanna start an Instagram account for Troy, and I was like "No, don't wanna do that.

"I don't want hi out there, "I don't want anyone saying mean things about him, "I don't wanna do it."

And so she convinced me that by putting him out there you're showing other families the capabilities of people with Down syndrome, that they can do a lot of different things in this world.

So then I was like okay, but I didn't really expect it to do much.

And then it just snowballed from there.

(gentle music) - I'm making plate, making bowls.

I am making hearts.

Making Christmas ornaments.

Making trinket trays.

(gentle music) - First he gets a bag of clay, then he cuts the bag of clay, and then we have a slab roller, and he rolls the chunk of clay out in a slab, and then he has forms or he has real leaves that he gets out in our yard.

He has (indistinct).

It all depends on what he's gonna make.

And then he cuts out whatever he's gonna make.

And then he puts it on the form.

He has it dry, and then we put it in the kiln to bisque fire, then we take it out, he glazes it, and then it goes back in the kiln, and then it's ready to go.

- One coat and two coats, and three coats.

And we put in a kiln comes in minutes, comes to dry.

Then comes to be very nice.

- And he just can't keep up with the demand of people wanting his pottery, we wish we could, but he's only one guy.

(laughing) 100% of Troy's pottery, the profits from Troy's pottery are donated.

And this year we donated $18,000.

In total he's donated almost $30,000 to different non-profits.

(gentle music) - I like to help people making money for charities.

That makes me proud.

- When Troy posts a new video, and we get comments from people on how much they appreciate his videos they just say the nicest things about how good he is, and how proud they are, and how awesome his work is, and how inspirational he is, and so we read all of these comments to him.

"Wow, looks so great."

I hope by people seeing him doing what he's doing that they're seeing that people with Down syndrome have value, that they can contribute to society, and that his life has meaning.

- I say to mom, thank you about helping me with pottery.

(gentle music) - We are just about out of time this week, but before we go we wanted to say thanks again to the United Jewish Federation of Tidewater who are hosting us here at the Simon Family Jewish Community Center.

- Before we go, we wanna pass on condolences to a member of the art community who passed away recently.

Eleanor Ann Powell had a studio at the D'Art Center for more than 25 years, which is pretty amazing considering she really didn't get going as an artist until her 60's.

She earned her MFA from Old Dominion at 67.

- She passed away this past fall at age 100, leaving behind a beautiful family, and a beautiful collection of art found in homes and businesses throughout Hampton Roads, and the country in fact.

We're going to leave you with some of her wonderful artwork.

Thanks for joining us, I'm Jason Kypros.

- And I'm Heather Mazzoni, we'll see you next time on "Curate."

(gentle music)