(lively music) (lively music) - [Narrator] Visit the studio of children's book author and illustrator, Kyra Teis.

Chat with the Albany Institute of History and Arts, Kayla Carlsen.

(lively drum music) And catch a performance from The Jagaloons.

(lively music) It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA."

(lively music) - [Presenter] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include The Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.

(lively music) (singers chanting) (scene change whooshing) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, and this is "AHA."

A House for Arts, a place for all things creative.

Kyra Teis is a full-time artist living in Niskayuna who has a passion for bringing stories to life through picture books and abstract art.

(lively music) - I am Kyra Teis, and I write and illustrate children's books.

I am an abstract artist, and I also design clothing out of antique fabrics.

(lively music) Both my parents were artists.

My father was a contemporary abstract collage artist, and my mother was a costume designer, and then, later, a very accomplished quilter.

All my siblings are artists or musicians of some kind, and the grandchildren are also artists and musicians.

It's really the genetic, (laughs) genetics are serious in my family.

(energetic music) (enchanted music) My dad always made space for me.

He would give me all the paints I wanted, all the paper, everything.

Never made a separation between his art space and where I could be.

But it was really when I went to college that I discovered more like figurative art, and specifically children's books.

It was just like this natural coming together of story and art.

And so, I was like "That's what I wanna do."

(laughs) And I never looked back.

(enchanted music) So if I'm just illustrating the book, I usually get chosen for books that have kind of a humanistic topic or a story 'cause I really love to draw faces, whether it's very detailed, you know, realistic books, or a baby book that's more simplistic.

I just love how the face can convey like so much expression just with a look.

(bouncy music) The projects that I choose, like I'm writing and illustrating, they really run the gamut from all different kinds of topics, whatever I'm interested in.

I think my favorite book, it came out a few years ago, it's on Klezmer music.

It's just this soulful, raucous, Jewish folk music.

And one thing I love about the music is that every culture that you go into has its own flavor of Klezmer music.

(lively music) The book is a simple plot line of a little girl goes to visit her grandparents' apartment in the Lower East Side, and they're musicians and there's a jam party.

(lively music) To integrate the history of it, I used a lot of photographs from the Library of Congress.

In different archives, you can find actual sheet music of like the original American Klezmer musicians in their handwriting.

I cut pieces of that, and I put it in the book, and integrated it with my collage papers.

And so, I feel like the whole book has this very textural, moving through time, but still really set in the here and now.

(enchanted music) It was only natural that when I was developing my artistic style for my illustration career, I would pull on my dad's artwork and his technique.

(gentle music) He specialized in paper collage, so he would blot acrylic paint onto paper, and then tear it or cut it into shapes to make an abstract composition.

(gentle music) I took that same technique, but I use it figuratively.

Scissors, cutting out little tiny shapes, using the collage papers that he taught me how to make.

And they just add this rich depth of color and texture.

(gentle music) So, illustration is a funny kind of art because there's so many voices that have to weigh in.

Like it's a commercial art.

So, you have the artist, the author, the editor, the marketing department, and the publisher, all weighing in on your art, which is fine, I like working that way.

But it does mean a lot of revisions.

With paper collage, you have to go into your actual artwork and do the revision.

It's cumbersome.

(gentle music) I took about two years to learn Photoshop, and I transferred my style almost exactly into digital.

(gentle music) So, I scanned like all the papers that I had accumulated over, you know, a 20-year career, and I cut them and I paste 'em, and I can enlarge it, change colors, I can work in different transparencies.

So, I appreciate that flexibility.

(gentle music) Maybe a year and a half ago, I started working on abstract art.

(gentle music) My dad worked traditionally, so canvas, paper, paint, glue.

I thought in my mind, "Oh, this is gonna be totally different because I'm working on the computer, I'm working on Photoshop, but it is so similar."

(gentle music) There are definitely some motifs that are so ingrained in me.

I just couldn't shake them if I tried.

Often, his work will feature a central window, kind of like a square within the composition.

And that comes out naturally in me.

I'm always like, "Okay, where's the focal point?"

(laughs) (gentle music) I would have to say the through line for all my art is story.

Obviously with children's books, the story is right there.

But even for abstract art, I would, again, say the same thing.

(gentle music) I love a wall-sized piece of art that just takes you somewhere.

(gentle music) - Last July, the Albany Institute of History and Art welcomed its new Executive Director, Kayla Carlsen.

This summer, Jade sat down with Kayla to see how things are going at one of the oldest museums in the country.

- Hi, Kayla, welcome to "A House for Arts" today.

- Hi, thank you.

- Yeah, I'm excited to talk about your leadership at the Albany Institute.

You're leading one of the oldest museums in the country as Executive Director.

What drew you to that, and how does that look like for you?

- That's a good question.

Yeah, the Albany Institute was founded in 1791, where one of the oldest museums in the country and the oldest in New York State.

I was lucky enough to travel with my family growing up and go to museums as a child, and I really fell in love with the museum world, and feel very comfortable when I'm at museums and sort of love that experience.

So, I feel very lucky that I was able to sort of parlay that into a career.

It's a busy atmosphere.

Every day is different, and as Edie, I wear a lot of different hats, both on the sort of operation side and on the creative side.

So I get to see and do a lot of things, but every day is different.

- It's probably, yeah, very busy.

How do you stay creative, though?

What's the creative side look like?

- That, I mean, whenever I get to flex those muscles, I thoroughly enjoy it.

I probably don't get to do it as much as I'd like, but I definitely get to like sit down sometimes with our curatorial team, spend times mapping out sort of what we think people are gonna wanna see over the next two to three years, what exhibitions we might wanna bring, what programs we might wanna bring, and that's always the most fun.

- Yeah, two to three years, that's a lot of planning and everything.

- We are, we're actually in a strategic planning phase at the moment, but museums do plan for exhibitions up to three years out.

- Wow, I did not know that.

- Yeah.

- So, I know the institution has, I believe like less than 1% of their collections on display, which means you have a huge, huge collection.

So what's something that's like, I don't know, not in display or hidden that people may be surprised, I guess, to learn about Albany?

Like what's like a little Albany, like little trinket or something that people would be like, "What, that's from Albany?"

(everybody laughs) - Yeah, well, we have over 25,000 objects in the collection.

- Wow.

- And that varies from, I think people would just be surprised to understand what the vast nature of the collection is made up of.

Like furniture, decorative arts, paintings, historic documents, glass, ceramics, silver.

We have jewelry from the time capsule that was found under Philip Schuyler.

We have papers, and maps, and photographs pretty much if it happened in this region, we have it.

One of the things that I think a lot of people don't realize is because we've been around for so long, we have a lot of really early objects in the collection.

And I think because, often, there are paper or sensitive materials, they can't come out with frequency.

We have a letter from George Washington to the City of Albany, which was actually written, penned at a time when he was General Washington, before, it was during the Revolution, and before he became president, thanking us for our hospitality during a visit in the early 1780s.

- What?

That's crazy.

- Yeah, it's really cool.

- Do you ever have that on display, or is that more hidden in the back?

(laughs) - I think it's been on display in the past.

I think we will probably see it when we have an America 250 Exhibit next year as part of the- - oh, yeah, the birth of America coming up.

- Exactly, so things like that will sneak out next year for view.

- Awesome.

So, I know you guys took in some of the items from St. Rose and accepted a lot of the, I guess, St. Rose, I guess robes, items, things like that.

I guess, what all did you accept from St. Rose to show?

And like, how are you honoring the living memory of St. Rose since it's such like a pinnacle historical piece of Albany and not just like historically housing it?

- Yeah, absolutely, so we received a gift from the college of hundreds of items, mostly photographs, documents, the historic mace that they used at graduation ceremonies, the mascot head.

We have early nursing uniforms from the 1930s that were worn by students.

Rose Queen dresses and crowns.

A lot of objects that tell the story of what campus life was like.

- Mm.

- And we're opening an exhibit dedicated to this gift and the college on July 19th.

The first day of the exhibit will be free to the public, and it'll run until the early October.

And you know, we're basing a lot of craft projects for kids and programming for kids in July and August around the college, and those stories, in a way to sort of honor those living memories and make the story of the college relevant to people today.

But our curatorial staff was really thoughtful in what they selected, that could tell that story so that people, alumni, visitors can sort of identify with the students at the school.

- Yeah, it's beautiful, and I know when St. Rose closed, I was kind of a little bit of a traumatizing piece of history for a lot of people because that college is so integral to the area.

So it's really beautiful that you're keeping those memories alive and giving people the option to look at all the things that they built through St. Rose, that's really beautiful.

I can't wait to visit that myself.

- That's what we're hoping.

We're hoping people will come, yeah.

- Yeah, so I know a lot of museums are asking, "Who are we here for?"

You know, who are we really serving, you know, in these modern times?

So what does that mean for the Institute on a day-by-day basis?

- Yeah, I think more now than ever, museums have become sort of a community center, more so than a mausoleum of historic material.

You know, we do obviously keep and preserve historic treasures and objects, but we want people to engage with those objects.

We wanna provide programming for the community.

We wanna bring people in, and have them rely on us for a source of entertainment enrichment.

So, you know, our focus has really been on the local community and making sure that people engage with us.

A lot of people don't realize because our name is the Albany Institute of History and Art, our mission is actually to serve the Upper Hudson Valley.

So we're really trying to engage with a wider swath of the Capital Region and not just the City of Albany.

- Now, what are your strategies for engaging with that wider audience and not just the Albany Institute?

Like Albany, I mean, - Yeah, well, a lot of it has been just building up our roster of community partners and being out in the community for those organizations so that they also will come to us.

But we have a new initiative this summer, funded by the Carl E Touhey Foundation to bring in students and children under 12 with a caregiver for free, which I'm really excited about, especially in the summer when parents are looking for things to do with their children.

We want those children to become museum goers.

There's a much higher probability that people engage with museums later in life if they go as children.

So we've built out a beautiful roster of education programs that are gonna be reliable on a weekly basis that people can come entirely for free and participate in, you know, while they're looking to fill the time in July and August.

- It's beautiful.

And what does that look like?

Is it more, do you have like activities where they're like coloring or is it just more, or tours, or like what can people like do with their families there that's besides just looking and enjoying the art?

Are there any other things?

- Yeah, several of the things you mentioned.

So we do have family tours geared toward families.

We also have something called Explorer Bags where people can pick up a bag of objects for additional enrichment to walk around the museum with and sort of touch and feel, and experience.

We have art-making in the classroom.

We've also partnered with the Albany Public Library system for story times for family.

And then, we have music on the lawn once a month, which also brings in a wide spot of the public.

- That's awesome, and so these are like more family-oriented.

What about, I guess, bringing people in who have never been to a museum or don't really think about museums like adults or college students?

Is there anything for them to be pulled in that you're doing, any initiatives?

- Yeah, so we're participating in Albany First Fridays.

And, again, trying to sort of jazz that up with live music, partnering with a local bar for cocktails, really making ourselves a destination.

So even if you're not familiar with museums or fully comfortable walking around a museum, maybe you'll come for the music, maybe you'll come for the art-making, maybe you'll just come for a cocktail 'cause you're wandering down Washington Avenue.

Either way, we're really just excited to have people.

I think access is the primary goal.

We want people to feel like we're a place that they can go to and rely on for entertainment and enrichment.

- Yeah, and that access, too, and the consistency part as well, knowing that every Friday there's going to be something.

- Right.

- Or every Wednesday, they know there's going to be something, and building that in historically.

You're just gonna like, "Oh, I don't have anything to do on Wednesday, I'm gonna go to the Albany Institute because I know they're having this."

Is that something you guys are trying to- - Exactly, being there sort of reliably.

We also have an initiative for family-free days, we call them.

So it's usually on a national holiday.

When it's a Monday, we'd normally be closed, but we're open for free and to the public, and we try to beef those days up with additional activities.

We just had one for Juneteenth, where we invited a lot of community organizations to table and participate in that way.

But we had a performance by the Black Theater Troupe of the Capital Region.

We had live music in the lobby, and we had over 300 people in just a morning.

So it was really exciting and we hope that if we continue to do that, people will know that's a place they can go to, you know, on that holiday.

- Yes, libraries and museums, love them.

(everybody laughs) So, and with you at the helm, in a few years, what do you want somebody to feel when they go to the Institute, and they're like, "I spent an afternoon at the Albany Institute today."

How do you want them, like how do you want that to feel for them and to feel for you?

- That's a good question.

I really want people to feel like they had such a good time, they can't wait to come back.

I know that may sound cheesy, but we wanna be a place that people rely on, as you're saying, for like regular programming, relying on it to know that there's always something going on, something that they're going to enjoy.

Changing the exhibits enough so that people feel like they're getting something fresh each time, learning something new about their community, about the world beyond our community.

And if someone even has such a good time that they recommend that a friend go, that for me is a win.

- That is a win, well, thank you for joining us today, and I can't wait to visit the museum myself.

Thank you, Kayla.

- Thank you.

- Please welcome The Jagaloons.

(energetic instrumental music) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic guitar strums) (drumsticks tapping) (energetic instrumental music) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (energetic instrumental music continues) (ominous music) Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz.

Thanks for watching.

(lively music) - [Presenter] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT Venture Fund.

Contributors include The Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts, and we invite you to do the same.