(bright music) (bright music fades) - [Presenter 1] Explore the colorful art of Kate Kosek.

Chat with Collar City Coterie's Devin LeBlanc.

♪ He's gonna save your soul ♪ - [Presenter 1] And catch a performance from Mark and Jill.

♪ Yeah, but you gotta keep the devil ♪ ♪ Way down in the hole ♪ - [Presenter 1] It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA!"

♪ All the angels sing ♪ - [Presenter 2] 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.

(mid-tempo electronic music) (mid-tempo electronic music fades) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz.

And this is "AHA!

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

Kate Kosek is an artist and educator whose textile sculptures satirize the hierarchies within art, craft, and design history.

I recently visited her studio in Cohoes, New York.

(upbeat electronic music) - I describe my work as textile sculptures.

I combine metal, usually like welded metal armatures, with some fabric forms or fiber forms.

I am a child of like the late '80s, early '90s.

So hot pink is my favorite color.

I also like cobalt teal.

(upbeat electronic music fades) I wanted to go into science, but I realize I'm not good at science.

And I don't really like other people's blood 'cause I did want to be a forensic scientist after watching "The Bone Collector."

Yeah, I realized I just had more of a talent for art.

And so I went to undergrad to be an art teacher, but then got into painting and more of the journey of being like a fine artist.

But now, funnily enough, I do teach.

(upbeat electronic music) So for a while I was really interested in patterns.

So I painted, like, that was the basis of my painting work, was color relationships and pattern.

And then I realized, you know, a lot of the patterns that I was making were related to textiles.

Like, how can I incorporate that into my work?

Like, seeing the patterns, like, "Oh, these are actually like stitches."

And then when I got to grad school, where you just question everything, I realized that I wanted to make work about like my experience as a woman.

I had cervical cancer, and I started thinking about, like, my fertility and, like, how society views women and kind of like how stereotypes around womanhood and femininity come about.

I'm like playing and pushing back against that because, you know, everyone has a different experience.

I started sewing these like stuffed eggs 'cause they like really represented that, like, you know, fertility to me.

You know, I was kind of going with what's obvious, like the obvious symbols.

So I have this series called Fertile and that's really where like the egg work came from.

Also, I made this geometric form of my uterus.

Actually, both of those pieces represent like an hourglass, the ticking clock of fertility on the female body.

I was starting out by building these, like, metal armatures and then figuring out how the fabric could interact with that.

And so Shapeshifter, you know, played off this idea of womanhood and, you know, the stereotypes and expectations of womanhood to kind of encompass like objects, how we associate certain objects with certain types of work and genders.

And so I wanted it to be a very like playful show just about like these objects that have their own autonomy.

Like, there's a piece that I made that's supposed to be like a window balance, like with the curtain, but it's just kind of bent and like hanging out in a corner, like leaning up against a wall.

And I call it Valance in Balance.

Combining the soft materials with the hard materials are the soft materials overpowering the metal.

'Cause in certain sculptures you'll see like the metal is bending or like being forced in a way.

Like, this one in the back, it's called Soft Power.

Like, you don't know if the metal is really pushing in on the fabric or if the fabric wants to burst away from the metal.

So I like those ideas of like tension.

(mid-tempo electronic music) Yeah, I also just want people to view, like, art as not having to be like these realistic portraits or landscapes, you know?

It could be fun, it could be accessible like with the materials that you're using, with the forms you're making.

Yeah, be afraid of like doing something completely weird and random.

Like, that's the beauty of art.

Like, the inside comes out and it will resonate with someone.

(mid-tempo electronic music) (mid-tempo electronic music fades) - Devin LeBlanc is the owner of Collar City Coterie, which is a costumed model and artist club in Troy, New York.

Jade Warrick sat down with Devin to learn more.

- [Jade] Hey, Devin, welcome to "A House for Arts" today.

- [Devin] Hi, Jade.

- Let's talk about your club, Collar City Coterie.

What is it?

- So Collar City Coterie is a costumed artist and model club based out of Troy, New York.

And we host, at this time, two figurative sessions: our sideshow sessions which are more informal one night of the month, and our soiree sessions, which are a little bit more of a fancier party celebration sort of session, which is hosted on two Saturdays of the month.

- I know you said that this club is a sort of like creative playground.

So, like, what kind of experience are you creating?

Like, if I'm a new person and I just see the sign above the door, I'm like, "What am I getting into?"

- So what I would hope that the artist would, and the models, would feel like when they're stepping into the coterie is that they're stepping into sort of an imagination space and like a fantasy land in a sense.

But there's a portion of it that focuses on legacy, and the history of illustration, and the history of fine art.

And I would hope that the artists and models that step into that space can see the history of the past as well as a way for them to build their portfolios for the future.

- And going back to the word coterie, can you give a little definition of what that is?

- Sure.

- 'Cause I know it's satirical a little bit, a little play.

- So coterie has a couple of different meanings.

It's not a term that's used very often today.

It actually, I think, is a diaper brand at the moment.

But, traditionally and historically, a coterie was a private social club and community.

So Collar City Coterie is a little satirical in the sense that it masquerades as like a affluent society social club, but it caters to everyone and the entire community, and it is open to artists of all backgrounds.

- I love that.

And I know you have a very whimsical, vintage, sometimes even like surreal feeling and vibe to this space.

So what draws you to that aesthetic?

Like, what made you have that be the aesthetic of the club?

- Well, the aesthetic of the club is inspired by a couple of different areas.

When I was an illustration student at Ringlang College of Art and Design, I was really inspired by the work of J.C.

Leyendecker.

He was a artist of the 1920s, 1930s, and he illustrated a lot of The Saturday Evening Post covers before Rockwell.

He was Rockwell's mentor.

And when I returned back to the capital region, I had been formerly, or formerly working on the innovation team of Hasbro Toys.

I was kind of stepping into a different part of my life and researching some of the history of the area, and I, you know, made the connection between, oh, this illustrator that I, you know, really enjoyed and studied a little bit, J.C.

Leyendecker, and Troy, New York, which is where the Arrow Collar factory building was, J.C.

Leyendecker and his partner Charles Beach were the people behind the Arrow Collar Man ads essentially, where Charles Beach was the model and J.C.

Leyendecker was the artist, and it was a fashion brand campaign basically that also ran in The Saturday Evening Post.

So I was very inspired by their sort of approach, you know, and also J.C.

Leyendecker's approach to reference.

'Cause this was in a time, you know, where photography was available, but J.C.

Leyendecker's approach was more focused on traditional practices.

He was educated at the atelier Academie Julian in Paris.

And so that was an approach in which the reference for the works that you would make for magazines or literature at the time was referenced from live models.

So, you know, you could take photography, but most of the time J.C.

Leyendecker worked off of live reference.

And what I had found in working off of live reference is that, particularly with some of the local costume clubs that we already had in this area, having artists gather in person, you know, around a live model was something very unique and special because it's not only you that is, you know, as the artist, referencing the model in front of you to create works, it becomes a collaborative experience.

It's, you know, the artists in the area, their voices kinda come through your work and you speak to one another, and there becomes a sort of creative flow within the environment.

It's not something in which, 'cause I have experience with art direction, it's not only something in which I, you know, tell somebody, you know, like the concept that we're going to be working on and have them dress up, I ask the models to bring to me like, you know, the character, a costume.

Like, what do you, you know, want to embody?

So it's something in which both the artists and the models get to express themselves through the work.

- It's like a collaborative kind of piece.

- [Devin] It is.

Kind of like, would you say like, I wanna say world, is worldbuilding too broad?

- No, no, it's not.

Because I am actually a writer and I consider myself a worldbuilder, so- - [Jade] Okay, I thought it was like giving worldbuilding.

- Yeah, so I come up with, you know, characters, worlds, environments a lot myself, and I have ever since I was a young child.

So this is also sort of a way for me to be able to create a bit of a platform for, you know, local artists in the areas to be able to bring their worlds, but we're sort of building a world together in that sense.

- Yeah.

I know you said you take legacy building very seriously.

You wanna make sure that you're supporting and growing younger artists, but also like fostering and creating a legacy for older artists to be remembered.

- [Devin] Yeah.

- Why is that important to you?

- I think it's very important for there to not only be mentorship where, you know, artists who are more mature in their careers essentially show younger artists sort of the way, you know, that maybe even that they were trained in.

But when I returned to the area and spent time at the figurative club, which is Riverfront at this time, I met an artist there named Norman Strite, who was in his '80s.

He was called the Master of Ceremonies for Riverfront, and he hired the models, and he pretty much was able to keep the club running.

I spent some time with him when he was in hospice, when he was passing, and that was a very challenging time for me, with his life coming to an end.

And during that time he was thinking about the future, and he was thinking about me, and he was thinking about the other artists in the area.

And he wanted to make sure that, you know, that the club stayed together, that the artists and the models stayed together as a community.

And he had supported, financially, the club for quite a few, many years.

And he left me a small gift.

And I decided with that gift that I wanted to give it back to him.

Even if he is not here to enjoy it in person, it's something that I feel like is very important to me.

I thought that there might be, at least for myself, I saw a bit of a gap in something where he might have needed, you know, somebody to be able to archive his portfolio and, you know, save his work, you know, like, and set it aside and organize it for him.

And that was something I had never considered before.

I had never experienced something like that.

To me, it seemed like there needed to be something, at least in the figurative artist community in the area, for, you know, older artists to, you know, still have representation within the community and also to know that they have impact- - They're cared for, that they exist, and that their legacy continues on through Collar City Coterie.

- Yes.

- Awesome, well, thank you, Devin, for stopping by and chatting with us today- - Thank you.

- and letting us know about your club.

And I'm very excited to peek in myself to one of your events.

- That would be wonderful.

- I think you can find all this stuff online, I'm assuming, on your website.

- Yes.

- But thank you so much for stopping by today.

- Thank you.

I appreciate that.

- Please welcome Mark and Jill.

("Way Down In The Hole") ♪ When you walk through the garden ♪ ♪ You gotta watch your back ♪ ♪ Well, I beg your pardon ♪ ♪ You walk the straight and narrow track ♪ ♪ But if you walk with Jesus ♪ ♪ He's gonna save your soul ♪ ♪ Yeah, but you gotta keep the devil ♪ ♪ Way down in the hole ♪ ♪ All the angels sing ♪ ♪ About Jesus' mighty sword ♪ ♪ They're gonna shield you with their wing ♪ ♪ And keep you close to the Lord ♪ ♪ Don't pay heed to temptation ♪ ♪ Yeah, for his hands are so cold ♪ ♪ Yeah, but you gotta keep the devil ♪ ♪ Way down in the hole ♪ ♪ He's got the fire and the fury ♪ ♪ At his command ♪ ♪ Well, now you don't have to worry ♪ ♪ If you hold on to Jesus' hand ♪ ♪ We'll all be safe from Satan ♪ ♪ Yeah, when the thunder rolls ♪ ♪ Yeah, but you gotta keep the devil ♪ ♪ Way down in the hole ♪ (lively folk music) ♪ When you walk through the garden ♪ ♪ You gotta watch your back ♪ ♪ Well, I beg your pardon ♪ ♪ You walk the straight and narrow track ♪ ♪ But if you walk with Jesus ♪ ♪ He's gonna save your soul ♪ ♪ Yeah, but you gotta keep the devil ♪ ♪ Way down in the hole ♪ (lively folk music fades) ("Lay You In The Ground") (slow rock electric guitar music) ♪ Lord, that man ♪ ♪ Gets to drinkin' ♪ ♪ And he just can't put 'em down ♪ ♪ Swing at me ♪ ♪ One more time ♪ ♪ I will lay you in the ground ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Gonna have to leave here ♪ ♪ Or I'm gonna shoot him down ♪ ♪ Kids are crying ♪ ♪ Glass broken on the ground ♪ ♪ Lord, get me through this ♪ ♪ I'll take that gun and shoot him down ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Gonna have to leave here ♪ ♪ Or I'm gonna lay him down ♪ (slow rock electric guitar music) ♪ Lord, that man ♪ ♪ Gets to drinkin' ♪ ♪ And he just can't put 'em down ♪ ♪ Swing at me ♪ ♪ One more time ♪ ♪ I will lay you in the ground ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Gonna have to leave here ♪ ♪ Or I'm gonna shoot him down ♪ ♪ So we packed our things ♪ ♪ We didn't need him anyhow ♪ ♪ The good Lord got me through ♪ ♪ Did not have to lay him in the ground ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Done gone and left him ♪ ♪ Didn't need him anyhow ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Done gone and left him ♪ ♪ Did not lay you in the ground ♪ (slow rock electric guitar music fades) ("When A Woman") (blues electric guitar music) ♪ When a woman ♪ ♪ Has to make up her mind ♪ ♪ About what she's doing ♪ ♪ She better take her time ♪ ♪ She better think about it ♪ ♪ She better know the cost ♪ ♪ A little bit of freedom ♪ ♪ And a little time lost ♪ ♪ My two feet will stand but not alone ♪ ♪ Put our boots on and keep walkin' on down the road ♪ ♪ Turn your back to the wind, carry that heavy load ♪ ♪ You got to hold on tight and just don't let go ♪ ♪ Mm, yeah ♪ ♪ By strength and grace ♪ ♪ A woman finds her path ♪ ♪ As she walks along ♪ ♪ In the aftermath ♪ ♪ Sometimes you feel ♪ ♪ A little lost, a little lonely ♪ ♪ But keep your head held high, girl ♪ ♪ Make your testimony ♪ ♪ My two feet will stand but not alone ♪ ♪ Put your boots on and keep walkin' on down the road ♪ ♪ Turn your back to the wind and carry that heavy load ♪ ♪ Got to hold on tight, just don't let go ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ (blues electric guitar music continues) ♪ Mm, yeah ♪ (blues electric guitar music continues) ♪ When a woman ♪ ♪ Has to make up her mind ♪ ♪ About what she's doing ♪ ♪ She better take her time ♪ ♪ She better think about it ♪ ♪ Better know the cost ♪ ♪ A little bit of freedom ♪ ♪ And a little time lost ♪ ♪ My two feet will stand but not alone ♪ ♪ Put your boots on and keep walkin' on down the road ♪ ♪ Turn your back to the wind, carry that heavy load ♪ ♪ You got to hold on tight, just don't let go ♪ ♪ Don't let go ♪ ♪ You got to hold on tight, just don't let go ♪ ♪ Oh, don't let go ♪ ♪ You got to hold on, just don't let go ♪ ♪ Don't let go ♪ ♪ You got to hold on tight ♪ ♪ Just don't let go ♪ (blues electric guitar music fades) (enlightening 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.

(mid-tempo electronic music) (mid-tempo electronic fades) - [Presenter 2] 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.