- Welcome to Kalamazoo Lively Arts, the show that takes you inside Kalamazoo's vibrant creative community, and explores the people who breathe life into the arts.

(upbeat music) - Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

- I'm Jennifer Moss, here at Miller auditorium.

On today's show we meet Marisa Martini, a clay artist and jewelry designer at Common Good Clay.

Hear from this season's artist about the ways they pivoted through the pandemic, and introduce our newest artist in residence organization, Fire Historical and Cultural Arts Collaborative.

- So Allison, tell me a little bit about Fire.

When did it start?

What's it all about?

And who's it for?

- Fire started over 15 years ago in the Edison neighborhood as Denise Miller and Michelle Johnson renting out an apartment and seeing what kind of creative neighborhood arts would come up.

And it's evolved now into a teen driven youth art space.

It's for teenagers ages 13 to 21 who want to express themselves and maybe feel like they don't fit in everywhere.

- Last time I interviewed you we talked about Open Mic night, right?

That was pre-covid.

So describe what it looks like pre-covid and kind of how you guys had a pivot, uh, during covid.

- Pre-covid we probably had like, 30 youth packed into a little apartment with one microphone all sort of fighting over who gets to be the DJ.

- [Kim] (laughs) - And now because of COVID we shifted everything online.

We do a lot more one-to-one touching-in through Instagram and have kind of gone from like Zoom open mics where we have like eight to 10 youth, all sort of like call and responsing, on a really goofy zoom setting, to doing some individual youth performances on lives where you can go live.

That's an aspect of Instagram.

- How, how does a kid find out about Fire, become a part of Fire, and is there a cost?

- Oh, such a good point.

No, we are free.

We are free 99.

We are free and so accessible.

- [Kim] (chuckle) - Um, we would be glad to have you for our summer programs.

Our summer programs will be hybrid, uh, and the way you sign up is by going for an Instagram, they'll be released in June.

Our Instagram is at k z o o fire or our Facebook, at k z o o fire, or this is fire.org, that's this is fire dot org.

And, it's, it's as simple as sending an email and you'll probably talk to me or maybe another person who will talk about what is your young person like and then trying to find the right program for them.

(chill jazz beat) - Kaneija Connor is a poet, performer and lover of literature, that has called Fire home for over six years.

She is the author of Raised By The Universe, a collection of contemplative and beautifully rich poetry that reflects her life journey so that others may relate and grow from it themselves.

Continually healing, I mean, and I mean, continually.

(sigh) She is a caretaker and an entrepreneur who is always striving to meet the needs of her community.

Welcome, Kaneija Connor.

- So I wrote this new poem just for black history month, but it's basically it's, uh, it's for black women specifically, except like we not noticed enough in the black community.

Like we don't get recognized enough in the black community.

Like, um - (finger snapping) - So it's called ode to black girl magic.

You, baby girl are magic in the finest form.

Instead of rejecting sunlight your skin absorbs it, you are a goddess, a revelation of beauty and bravery.

There is something about black girls the world just don't like.

Black Barbies just recently became a thing.

Don't you understand we are the only ones for us?

People will say black girl magic doesn't exist but it does.

Black girl magic has always been fine after staying up crying all night because you are not okay.

Black girl magic is telling yourself it's okay not to be okay.

Reminding yourself a black woman who was a slave sparked the Salem witch trials.

Know what it is to be black girl and magic.

Don't just choose one.

There is a reason white women wants to steal our culture so bad.

Your magic is in your hair and curls that smile.

You are everything the world doesn't want you to be.

You are beautiful, smart, and outspoken.

You come from the earth to be black is to be one with nature skin, the color of soil but you are far from dirty.

You are purity in its finest form.

Don't be afraid of your skin.

You can see into another world through the things you could conjure up potions you make black.

You make people scared.

To be black girl and magic is to love yourself.

Remember it takes a lot of magic to exist as a black girl, between racism, sexism, and rape.

To me they all sound the exact damn same.

To me black woman and magic is to know that anything happens to you black women will cause an uproar.

Black, black men are not the only ones who deserve a right to be black girl and magic is to be everything the world doesn't want you to be.

But what you want to be to be black girl and magic is to be free.

Yeah.

- So, when get to share poems like that, what does it do for you?

- Honestly, it makes me feel good because, honestly I've always had a hard time expressing myself with the way I felt about, uh, racial issues 'cause you know I'm mixed.

So, I have a lot of, uh, like I see both sides of the spectrum all the time.

So, to be able to speak my truth and to like have other people see that, it makes me happy because like I know I'm getting out what I want to say in a different way than how everybody else would say.

Like sometimes I can't find the words for things but my poetry speaks for itself.

(synth beat) Fire.

Oh, okay.

Well, when I first started going to fire, I was very shy.

Like I wasn't comfortable.

I walked in through the door like I remember this, like it was yesterday.

I walked through the door of my first open mic.

And, uh, first open mic night I ended up performing.

Allison was like "Hey, y'know you should perform."

And I performed What made me comfortable was the fact that some of the people at Fire were people that I went to school with.

Like there was a lot of high school students at Fire at the time.

I made a lot of new friends.

I began to feel comfortable and I felt, like fire became my second home.

As someone with, who suffers from social anxiety and talking to people, it made me feel comfortable.

Like it made me come out of my shell a little bit.

(hip-hop beat) Right now I am working on my second book.

The title is Seeing Through Brown Eyes.

The book concept is like, girls of color, specifically like they don't get a lot of love in the community.

And a lot of us don't know how to express ourselves.

A lot of us suffer from like insecurities and everything.

And it's like to teach you how to love yourself and everything.

I kind of want to be the person for them that I needed when I was growing up if that makes sense.

And I feel like this book is going to help with a lot of that, because it's really important.

Like, as a young girl, who the world like is constantly against because of your skin.

Like, it's not like you can change the color of your skin but the world is constantly going to be against you.

And you don't realize that early on.

Like it's not until you're like in high school and becoming an adult that you really see like how the world is going to really affect you.

And it's important that they have that person to be like, okay, this is how we're going to deal with this.

This is the advice, this is what we're going to do.

Like, that's the best thing, and to try and keep you motivated.

Everybody needs that person.

It's poetry.

It's got like, recipes that my mom like from when I was growing up, just so like when you want a spa day or a rejuvenation day, you need like time.

It's going to come with recipes.

It's going to come with like motivational quotes.

Things like that.

Because like poetry isn't going to get you through everything.

You know, you kind of need, there's gotta be a little extra in there sometimes.

(hip-hop beat) Oh, this is a good question, okay.

Youth voice is important because a lot of teenagers specifically teenagers of color, a lot of them suffer from mental illnesses.

And it's really important that they know, and they understand like their place and that they have that sense of community with people.

And it's even more important when we speak about controversial issues, because like, yeah older people talk about it, but a lot of the older crowds that I've spoken to are more in one ear and out the other keep it the way it used to be and not changing it.

Whereas like youth are always looking for new ways to change things, new ways to develop things.

And it's always something new.

(music fades out) I want to tell everybody that they're amazing.

Okay.

And that they can do everything and anything that they put their mind to.

It's important to have that thought process because if you don't, you're not going to accomplish anything.

Always believe in yourself because nobody else is going to do it for you.

(hip hop beat fades out) - Now Marisa I understand, according to your bio, you are a self-proclaimed handmade market fanatic.

And I think, uh, - (chuckle) I want you to expand on that because I think that's a compliment.

- Yes.

Yes.

So I, when I was living in North Carolina um, a few years ago that's when I really started to get into handmade markets.

And I found myself really going to those markets like every chance that I got.

Almost every weekend sometimes in the summer when there's lots of markets going on.

Um, and I just really enjoyed being in that space of, you know, creativity, seeing the things that people were making, connecting with the artists that were there, and that's sort of what planted the seed.

Maybe I would like to be even more in this space.

- Let's talk more about your product.

Is it only earrings?

- Yeah.

Right now I just make earrings.

That's what I have been focused on.

Kind of since I've began, I've dabbled in making like necklaces a little bit and exploring expanding my accessory range.

But even when I was, you know, a handmade market fanatic, um, jewelry was what I was always really drawn to.

And I would always leave these markets with a pair of earrings.

So earrings are really like my favorite accessory to wear, and so it's what I feel most drawn to making.

- All right.

I bet you brought three or four of your finest pieces.

So let's begin with one.

- (giggle) So one of my favorite pieces, um, is my high five earrings.

They're a little hand shape earring.

They're definitely a statement earring, super fun.

You can see my, my earring card here too which I'm really focused on having recyclable packaging and also sourcing things locally as much as possible.

So I actually get my earring cards printed at a print shop here in town.

Um, and on the back of the earring card, it will also say the nonprofit that your purchase is supporting um, along with a little bit more information.

But what I love about these earrings is that these shapes are actually hand drawn by me and I custom made the cutters for those shapes.

So I can actually show you, um, the cutters that I use.

So this is the hand cutter, so that I can cut it out.

And then the top piece another piece that I really love right now, it's from my latest collection that came out are these earrings.

And they have sort of a 3D sculptural element to them.

So I'd previously done like a pedal collection and this was a new interpretation of that.

Um, being able to like kind of press the pedals on there and cut the shape, so that it would add this like, 3D element to the earring.

So last pair that I'm going to show you, these are pretty fun.

They're actually worn like an ear climber.

Um, so the earring will sit on your ear kind of at a diagonal like that, and like it's climbing up.

Um, and so in order to create this, you know nice squiggly even shape I actually use a extruder for that, that I hook up to a drill and I'm able to extrude the clay in a nice tube.

- All right, let's talk all things tools.

What tools are needed to begin this process Marisa?

- I actually use a pasta machine.

So, I use that without obviously the pasta blade cutters but just the rollers in it.

And that's what I use to condition and roll out the place so that everything's nice and smooth and even, and I use that to mix colors as well.

You have to have clay cutters or just an Exacto knife so that you can actually cut the clay.

You have to have an oven, this is a bakeable clay medium.

And then we'd, I sand them.

I use a dremel for my sanding process, but if you were just starting out, you could just use sandpaper.

And then I have my posts for my earrings.

I use titanium posts on all of my earrings.

Um, so those are hypoallergenic.

I secure all of my posts using UV resin.

I use one of those nail lamps, if you've gotten like a gel manicure before.

- Is your clay pre-colored?

- Clay is colored to begin with.

Um, but I, all of my colors are hand mixed.

So it involves, you know, a little, a little bit of color theory to be able to create the colors.

But yeah, so the bars of clay do come in colors.

And so I purchased the colored blocks of clay and then I will, you know, create color recipes out of them so that I can recreate the colors over and over again.

But I try not to use colors that come like straight from the block of clay, just so that it's kind of that added element of it being, unique, not something that, you know necessarily just anyone could, anyone else could make, this is a specific recipe that I've come up with.

- Why the title Common Good clay for your business.

- I actually work full time in the nonprofit sector as a program manager.

I work for a local nonprofit in Kalamazoo, and this is my full-time evening and weekend job, but common good means for the benefit of all people.

So how I've structured my business model is that I donate a percentage of my proceeds to nonprofits that are advancing social justice.

And so for the first half of the year, my customers are actually able to nominate a nonprofit, that's important to them, and then I choose from those nominations for my January through June donations.

And then the second half of the year I choose a nonprofit in my local community.

- All right, I'll give you a lot of money for those earrings right off your ear.

Would just sell them?

- I wouldn't sell these ones because I've been wearing them but I could definitely sell them a fresh pair of them.

I'm on Etsy is where my shop is located.

And I also am launching a website very soon.

- Keep on making those earrings.

- Thank you so much.

- What was life like for you during the pandemic as an artist?

- Covid has been very difficult and it's not I it's been difficult for everybody there, there's no question there, but for us it's first we were not able to play with other people for so long.

And that was very difficult.

Cause I that's part of the reason that I, I love playing.

- As a musician, you know, I'm a both a cellist and a composer.

Last year I had some amazing performances of my work scheduled.

It was like this year where it was like, wow all of a sudden I had a, uh, orchestra in Illinois was playing a piece I'd written.

That was the first thing that got canceled.

And I also was going to be flying out to New York to hear this wonderful cellist Thomas Mesa play a piece of mine in New York city.

Spektral String Quartet was going to be premiering a piece of mine on a program in April.

Kalamazoo Symphony had commissioned me a piece for the hundredth anniversary.

All of this stuff, you know one by one, just, just chopping off.

And you know, it was hard not to take it really personally um, but after a while it's like, you know, you know, it's it's not all about me.

Not always.

(chuckle) So I, you know I've gotten a little more philosophical about that.

- How hard has it been for you with COVID-19 changing everything?

- Um, you got me (laughs) It's been pretty devastating.

Um, as a classical musician you spend most of your life preparing to do something that you love, right?

So, most of my life choices have been in the direction of playing music for a career.

And when you set aside so many other things to be able to dedicate your time and your energy and your love to something um, when it's gone, it feels really, really there's an absence that I can't describe.

I know I speak for a lot of us when I say that last summer and into the fall was a serious time of introspection, a little bit of identity crisis.

I didn't realize how much of my self-esteem and self-confidence was wrapped up in what I do.

Um, lots of therapy.

(laughs) - [Kim] Yeah.

I'm still in therapy.

Um.

Definitely reevaluating the type of person I would like to be, and how music and art will fit into that, rather than being the sole purpose of my existence.

- There was this whole beginning of the pandemic when I was when I was basically trapped and where I felt guilty that I wasn't using this kind of alone time to do something more important or you know, better with my time but I realized I needed time to process what was going on in the world.

And I just, I couldn't, I couldn't move past that artistically without first dealing with it.

And so I started to work a lot with, uh, with video and video editing.

- [Marisa] For me, my full-time job went fully remote once covid started.

So I was working from home and then also doing my business as well in the evenings still.

One thing that worked for me was that I was already selling online primarily.

And so there wasn't a whole lot of having to like transition and pivot.

- We needed to change how we did things because we couldn't meet in person - Suddenly when that COVID, you know, hit it's like, ooh, ah we can't have our in-person recitals.

So we all really had to learn, what is that, z o o m, zoom.

And, and, and I have to say it was a challenge, learning and getting your ID, and your links.

And we put our heads together and I have to give a shout out to Alexis, our violin teacher.

She really took a lead in that and helping us to learn.

- So I started teaching three of my students, virtually.

Internet connection was an issue and timing, and, you know, it, it, we're dealing with a pandemic right.

We're, we're all having to adjust.

But once we got into the flow of things, it was great.

It was awesome.

And now I'm up to teaching seven students virtually.

- Feels weird to say it, but I saw a lot of growth in my business during the pandemic.

I think people really started to resonate with supporting local, shopping small.

Seeing how the pandemic was impacting small businesses, I think it put it in people's hearts to really think about you know, could I buy this locally from someone in my community?

Could I, could I support a small business at this time and really help out those individuals.

- As a violinist, or a harp player, or a cellist, you can be at home, you have your instrument and you can spend as much time as you need or want with your instrument.

Me as a conductor, my instrument, you know they say it's the instrument with a hundred heads.

I need people in front of me in order to be able to do what I do.

So I have to say the very first time when I came back to conduct, and this was after almost a year without having done it, uh, I felt very strange.

I felt, first of all, some, some doubt as to whether I really remembered how to do this but of course I did it all came back but it was other things that really struck me.

It was the emotional impact of finally being again in a room full of people sharing the same purpose, making music together, having having sound real sound to work with, you know it wasn't great.

At first we had, we had air filters running.

We had all sorts of shielding up in between us and the masks of course.

There are all these obstacles, but I was really, I was wonderfully surprised at how quickly your mind adapts and you just change.

And you, you, you can focus on the thing that you care about.

- I was noticing a lot of different layers of nervousness that I hadn't before our first week back after not having played since first week of March, 2020 playing a solo for the first time with my home orchestra, which has its own set of nerves.

COVID-19 restrictions which can feel a little uncomfortable when you're trying to do something that you love with people that you want to hug and care about.

- I just recorded my senior recital for my graduation at Western.

And I got in the car, um, with my mom afterward cause she was there recording.

And she turned to me and she was like, are you okay?

And I was like, that was kind of boring.

Like (laughs) You know I didn't have the pleasure of like seeing everybody afterward and like talking to them and making sure they enjoyed the performance.

It was just kind of me standing there playing for a camera and my mom enjoyed it.

She was like, you sound really great.

And I was like, thanks mom.

But it just wasn't the same.

- [Bertha] When we do go back to regular recitals, I think the students and the teachers, I think we're going to appreciate it even more.

- Hey we going to tell everybody out there get your covid shots.

We both had both of ours.

- That's right.

- Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of Kalamazoo Lively Arts.

Check out today's show and other content at wgu.org.

We leave you tonight with another spectacular performance.

I'm Jennifer Moss have a great night.

- Even if I pass away the world will still be spinning, wrapped around the sun.

As dust fall, as morning comes I will still be in hearts.

And in memories, I will be remembered.

I will be in your written sentences and each page of the books you read, I refuse to be forgotten.

My bright smile is a reflection of the solar floor, flares that we admire so much.

I can't wait for gravity to finally release its hold on me so I can fly once again.

My fractured silhouette will be whole once again.

And I won't have to pretend I'm worth following because, because this time my shadow will be behind me watching my every step.

I know I'm beautiful.

For my spirit guides and shines over everyone.

I am the sun, bright with rays of beauty that bring melanin and it makes the pigment in my skin stand out.

I love myself because no one knows how to love me better than I do.

No one sees my true beauty like I do.

No matter how much I try to wash away my flaws I can't.

No matter how much soap I use or how much of my skin I peel away, I can't wash them away.

I can't get rid of the things that make me who I am.

I have learned to find beauty in the things I hate the most.

Learned how to fly without my feet ever leaving the ground.

Learned how to soar with the pen and paper, instead of leaving sores on my skin.

I learned that life can be easy if I make it that way.

Learned that my smile can stop a hurricane.

Most importantly, I learned who I was who I am and who I'll forever be.

I'm an Eagle with new wings, reborn with a free soul nature gives me nutrients to feed my spirit and be myself.

I may not have wings but I'm gonna tell y'all I damn sure know how to fly.

I carry the weight of the world on my back is still managed to balance my crown on my head.

I'm no longer scared to look at my reflection for it no longer speaks to me.

(finger snapping) That's, that's the one.

- Support for Kalamazoo Lively Arts is provided by the Irving S. Gilmore foundation, helping to build and enrich the cultural life of greater Kalamazoo.

(upbeat music)