>> Narrator: This month on Eye on the Arts.

(viola music) >> Voiceover: So when I first started playing, I was playing very simple pieces, and that was very difficult for me, even though it was very simple, and so moving on to harder pieces and progressively getting more and more challenged, and so I feel more emotion than I did in the start.

>> It is gonna be great.

I don't know how I'm gonna do it.

I don't need to know how.

I just know I'm gonna do it.

You have to trust yourself.

You have to trust your ability.

So for me, surrender's big, knowing you can do it, you trust your own creativity, you trust what you were given, you trust your gift.

You know, surrender and listen.

>> Voiceover: Now Dudley painted The Dunes, exclusively, for about 40 years, actively raising awareness, but also through his paintings and his shows, showing people how beautiful The Dunes were.

But really you'd all of a sudden get back in the forest and the woods, and who knows what could happen?

The imagination runs wild.

The Dunes was a setting for his stories, for adventures.

It just lends itself to a narrative.

>> Voiceover: I create all the labels, the logo, really all of the branding for the company, for 18th Street.

So when you think of 18th Street, if you're not just thinking about how awesome the beer tastes, and you're seeing something in your head, like that's what I've created.

(upbeat music) >> Narrator: Eye on the Arts is made possible, in part, by South Shore Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Further support provided by the Legacy Foundation.

(upbeat music) >> Voiceover: From the perfect flip, to the perfect pass, we power northern Indiana, so you can do what moves you.

>> Narrator: Laura Marie Panozzo's work, re-contextualizes the disregarded, giving it new life and purpose.

In many ways her art reflects herself, a striking presence, with a strong voice, and unapologetic vulnerability.

>> Sometimes stress, and life itself can, numb you to not hear and feel, your true calling, or that voice inside.

But, once I started to listen to the voice inside, in my life as a young teenager, it just said, just paint.

And I started to paint, and I just could do it.

And then once I started to paint, I found out that I could sculpt, even better than what I could paint.

I realized that there was a whole brand new world, and that I was given a gift that I knew I needed to follow, even if I didn't know how I was going to do it all, I would just take it day be day, and where it led.

It's the art of surrender, when you live enough life, something will speak to you, and tell you that you're about to be doing something different, because it's what you need to do.

I've always listened to my inner voice, and have always felt touched by nature, and like the open sky, and like the sea, and the waves of the water.

(soft music) There's an internal dialogue that comes from fear.

You know?

If you're able to process fear in the right way, it can be used as a tool.

It can be used as a tool for success, and for understanding.

Vulnerability is something I've come to make friends with.

It's okay to feel like you're giving everything, because, you are.

If you're a really good person, and you're trying really hard, and you're putting it all out there, you are giving everything.

You should feel vulnerable.

It's a natural part of life.

(bells chiming) I start with two-by-fours, and a t-frame, and from there I just build this structure out, so I start with the shoulders and the neck, and then I find the head and then build out the wings, and then the tail feathers, usually the last part.

There's a process to it and it's just that I trust my vision.

Get in the zone for many hours at a time and I can do all kinds of stuff.

I start to understand the wood as like a body in motion, I start to feel the waves of the water.

My birds and my sculptures have fluidity, you know?

They're moving.

They have energy, there's a flow there.

I usually just do this until the sun comes down, and then comes back up again.

It's garbage, it's refuse, meant to be trashed and burned, and forever forgotten.

I would, like, give it a brand new life.

Brand new.

I take it back, and I build it up, and I make it fabulous, to the point that people, are like, yes.

This helped me.

This healed me.

I look at this, I feel empowered.

(bells chiming) For me to be able to take something that's nothing, and make it into something super fabulous, that has people so uplifted, and a source of hope and healing, and identification, is bigger than what I am, it's a super gift.

And I just want to keep being the vessel to keep making it happen.

If I just keep being me, it's easy.

I just keep following that vessel, that empty vessel I know I am, fill me up.

Fill me up.

I can do it.

I wanna do that.

I can do it.

And it is gonna be great.

And I don't know how I'm gonna do it, but I won't need to know how, I just know I'm gonna do it.

You have to trust yourself.

You have to trust your ability.

You can't think too much, about any one thing, you just have to start doing it.

And as you're doing it, then all the answers come.

So for me, it's, surrender is big.

Knowing you can do it, you trust your own creativity.

You trust what you were given, you trust your gift.

You know, surrender, and listen.

>> Narrator: Laura has many talents, in many media.

Be sure to check out her newest ventures by way of Facebook.

Upon hearing it for the first time, Michael Kowalke knew he was meant to play the viola.

Driven by the power of music, he's worked his way up to principal violist for the Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra.

>> I decided to play viola from when the high school orchestra came to the elementary school back when I was in fifth grade.

when they were playing individually, and the violist stood up and performed, I think it was Harry Potter, it was like the theme from Harry Potter, so I heard it, and I was like, wow, that's got a really nice tone to it, so I decided, I went home and I decided to play viola.

Freshman year was when I first started being able to interpret the music and to find the emotion within me to perform music, in a different way than just technique based.

Freshman year was when I decided that, music would be a part of my life forever, whether it's just a hobby or a career path that I pursue.

(upbeat music) I've been with the Youth Orchestra for four years now, I started out towards the back of the section and I just worked my way forward.

I have to make sure that the viola section is playing in tune, and making sure everybody's doing their part.

Just being a leader, and helping them with anything they need help with.

It's mostly just taking the initiative, and if Phil has any suggestions, I will take them and I will just transfer that to the section.

It makes me feel proud, all the hard work and dedication that I put into music, and it's finally paying off, so to say, and the six years of practicing, and being able to see my development from the different videos that my parents have taken of me, I just, I love to go back and listen to when I was first starting playing and see myself, like six years ago, playing these really simple pieces and now I'm playing more intricate pieces.

>> I've seen that Michael is an awesome person.

I've always noted him in the section as being someone who is listening to everything, was trying to make incredible adjustments as he was playing and had a lost of respect for the people who were above him in his section, so when the opportunity came for him to be a section leader, he knew exactly what that meant, for our orchestra.

He's just an outstanding young musician, young person, and has a lot of great character.

And in an orchestra, for the most part, people lead by example, so if you want your section to be a certain way, they're going to look up front to see how it's being led, and he's always been one who takes great pride in being able to come in and hit the mark every time, or he'll go home and work on it, and make sure that, if something didn't go too well the time before, the next time that's not a problem.

(mellow viola music) >> When I first started playing, I was playing very simple pieces, and that was very difficult for me, even though it was very simple, so moving on to harder pieces, I'm progressively getting more and more challenged, and so I feel more emotion than I did in the start.

So as a player and a person I've developed over the years from these different pieces, and from working harder and harder, I've been able to feel the emotion in the piece, be able to make my own interpretations with different pieces and just perform better, in general.

(mellow viola music) I've actually conducted our high school orchestra, recently, it's from the Peer Gynt suite, the Asis Tod.

It's very slow, very sad, and so I just wanted to tell them about the meaning of the piece, the emotion behind the piece, and I could see it in their eyes that they were starting to understand it, and it's just amazing to me how they just pick up on it when I talk to them.

The composer always has a message in his piece, and when the orchestra all comes together and plays everything correctly, that message speaks through the orchestra.

When I'm playing I can hear the different sections doing their thing, and just hearing that all mold together, I can feel it in my heart and, it just makes me happy.

(mellow viola music) (upbeat music) >> This exhibit is titled Haunts.

It's part of, second part of a series here.

This part of the series is geared towards, kind of, urban exploration.

Not just, the aspect of people running in abandoned buildings, but more along the lines of, taking a perspective from different photographers, and trying to see what their stories convey.

And most people just view an abandoned building as an eyesore.

Urban exploration gives us the opportunity to, not just shed more light on those buildings, but also, get people to look at things from a different perspective.

Oh, I never looked at that building that way, maybe I should swing by and take a look, or, this could repurposed for this purpose, or, we should go here and try to, do a shoot, or, whatever that may be.

In our case, it's preservation.

So, it's just, we use it as a tool to, bring more people together.

When I think about what I enjoy most, about, urban exploration, the photography aspect of it, it's morphed over the years.

Originally, it was just the thrill.

Just like, the adrenaline's pumping, you're exploring these places you've never been before, and, moving forward, as I've grown, and we've been to these places multiple times, the thrill of it is, actually, finding something new, that may have been missed, or, just finding a different way to capture a certain part of a building, or, just even introducing new people to these spaces to get them interested.

So now it's more along the lines of, I went from being an adrenaline junkie to, hey, I can create something special, something unique, by visiting these spaces.

Some of the dangers photographers may face, when trying to capture these photos, are, potentially falling through floors, stepping on nails.

We've run into wild animals.

We've run into people doing drugs, you see a lot of things that are definitely hazardous.

This is something that it's hard to prepare for, but you have to be extremely cautious, moving around in the abandoned structure.

When you step into these places that are, kind of time capsules, honestly, you're, you just leave your present-day world and you're in the this world of adventure.

Every corner is completely unknown, and, you get to write your own story.

That's what makes this photography stand out.

I'd like for you to take away the aspect of, how can we better preserve our locations?

How can we better preserve our landmarks?

It's great that we're able to shoot these places, but, they would be in much better condition, if we took care of our landmarks.

(mellow music) >> Narrator: Located on the campus of Valparaiso University, the Brauer Museum of Art, is a hidden gem of northwest Indiana.

Director and curator Gregg HertzLieb, was kind enough to open up the archives and share a couple of pieces from the museum's permanent collection.

His first two choices are contrasting interpretations of The Dunes landscape.

Reminders of the power of art, to shed new perspective on the familiar.

>> Now Dudley painted The Dunes, exclusively, for about 40 years.

He was instrumental in getting The Dunes preserved as state national parks, actively raising awareness, but also through his paintings and his shows, showing people how beautiful The Dunes were.

I don't wanna say there's really a typical Dudley out there, there are a lot of different types, but collectively, you get a sense for his vision.

His use of startling colors from time to time, like a real lime-type green, that might not even seem natural.

But nevertheless, the next time you're out, well, Dudley painted purple and blue shadows, maybe I can find some.

Son of a gun, they are kind of purplish.

And so it's exciting, seeing how the artist translates the subject into something that might be stylized or exaggerated from nature, but nevertheless, rings true.

Where is that?

Is that the wild west?

What you thought was, maybe some exotic locale, is in your backyard.

Go out there and check it out, oh my gosh, I didn't know this view was possible.

(dramatic music) Art makes the familiar unfamiliar in a fun, exciting way.

Seeing anew.

Earl Reed, was more of an illustrator, graphic artist.

It's almost like writing a story, this is what The Dunes are like, but instead of using words, he's using marks.

Now Dudley did do some stormy scenes, but nevertheless he was mainly about the, you know, a nice day.

Whereas with Reed, all of a sudden, you get back in the forest, and the woods, and the wind is kicking up, (Gregg whooshing) and who knows what could happen?

The imagination runs wild.

And to my mind that's where Reed is coming from, you find yourself supplying your own text as you look at it.

They have a gothic feel to them.

I think about it being the product of, a stormy, windswept, kind of environment.

The Dunes as a setting for his stories, for adventures.

Swirling kind of clouds and blowing trees and black birds and things like that.

It just lends itself to a narrative.

In their respective ways, you really get a sense of The Dunes, in all of its different guises and identities.

(lively piano music) It's just a very different treatment of The Dunes, in the two pieces.

But to have the two of them together, and to be able to offer them in some depth to our public, is a thrill.

During the times they were alive, people thought of The Dunes as kind of a wasteland.

Then all of a sudden an artist, goes out there and says, this is fantastic.

And people see the majesty of the painting, oh my gosh, I didn't know this view was possible.

It takes an artist to show you how to see sometimes.

(lively piano music) >> I got approached by a buddy of mine to do a logo for his home brewery.

I ended up doing that for him, Drew Fox of 18th Street saw that logo, and contacted me via Facebook.

I had no idea who he was, I had no idea what 18th Street was, because it actually wasn't really, actually established yet, and then just sat down, talked with him, and about a week later, I had the first label to him, and ready to print.

I've been working with him since, about three and a half years now.

In the beginning of 2014, he brought me in full-time as the brewery's creative director.

I create all of the labels, the logo, really all of the branding, for the company.

For 18th Street.

So, basically when you think of 18th Street, if you're not just thinking about how awesome the beer tastes, and you're seeing something in your head, like that's, what I've created, with the help of Drew, luckily he and I are very good at bouncing ideas off of each other and deciding what we wanna go with and deciding what direction we wanna take, to showcase the amazing beer that they brew.

The one thing I and Drew, and just 18th in general, tries to do is just to set our beers apart on the shelf, so that maybe somebody who might not be completely familiar with, you know, all the different styles of beer, or, they might just be having a panic attack, in the beer aisle, because there's just so much.

(mellow music) My part is to kind of show off and showcase, what's inside that can or that bottle, because I know that Drew and the brew team have gone 110% on everything that is in that can or bottle.

And I just want our labels to reflect that, in the hopes that somebody, who has no idea about us, picks it up, and is like, hey, that looks cool.

You know?

I'm gonna take it home and try it.

I guarantee when they take it home and try it they'll like it.

And then maybe they'll save the can or the bottle, too.

When I sit down to, to actually create something, it's, I'm not pulling from anything directly, I'm constantly bombarded with imagery, and a lot of times that'll just stick in my head whether I know it or not.

So, when I sit down to start working on stuff, I just start sketching.

I use a Wacom tablet, to draw directly onto the computer.

Drew and our other brewers, come up with the names, because they're working so close with it, they've written the recipes, they've done all the physical work to get that beer going, so they have that relationship with the beer.

And then I take that idea, and start trying to base imagery off of that.

The texturizing on the can, just comes from how it's set up to print.

Anything on the label, that is shiny, is the actual aluminum of the can shining through the label.

I use that just to give a little more depth to that flatness of the label itself.

And it's just kind of fun, you're just sitting there and you spin it, and little different areas light up that you might not have noticed before.

(rock music) Ed PA is named after a gentleman who is now our CEO, and Ed's been a huge supporter, even prior to him joining us, coming on board with us.

He's been a huge supporter of 18th Street, so we decided to do a beer named after him.

So I actually contacted his wife Carol, to find out some things about Ed, to see if I could tie those into the label.

Because otherwise, what was I gonna do, draw a picture of his face?

I didn't want to scare people away.

I found out a few things.

He's Irish, he likes sci-fi, and he used to work on Corvettes.

I based the flags off of the Corvette logo, a two-headed snake, which is his Celtic birth animal.

Something like that, I might have that incorrect, but I'm pretty sure that's what I read.

And then, the whole alien attack scene, is totally just based off of his love of old sci-fi, and UFOs and stuff.

I think he gave me a high-five, I think he gave me a high-five whenever I showed it to him.

(rock music) >> Narrator: Eye on the Arts is made possible in part by South Shore Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Further support, provided by the Legacy Foundation.

(upbeat music) >> Voiceover: From the perfect flip, to the perfect pass, we power northern Indiana, so you can do, what moves you.

(mellow music)