This time on art rocks.

A Shreveport artist builds a following for her arresting, distinctive portraits of women.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait trip?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

We get dolled up in an up for a costume shop.

We are making the things custom a lot like couture fashion.

It's made for a specific person.

Explore one town's history as told through murals.

We have a history of art, and so it's important to share that.

And it's important for anybody coming to visit here.

They're going to be able to learn through art.

And consider the lasting legacy of Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hyde.

That's all coming up on Art Rocks.

Art Rocks is made possible by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by viewers like you.

Hello, I'm James Fox Smith from Country Roads magazine.

And I'm glad you're with us for Art Rocks.

Have a look at this work by Shreveport.

Artist Rachel Stewart has most of Rachel's huge symbolism.

Rich paintings focus on the same few mysterious, enigmatic women.

The artist, who is also a professional astrologer, gets together with some of her fans to talk about what the work says to them.

I paint women, and usually it is just one single person.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

I don't use anyone to look at while I'm painting.

It's more of what I'm feeling at the time or a specific mood that I'm trying to create.

I'm also an astrologer, so I love to utilize symbols and mythology, and I kind of interpret that into everything.

I went to Kansas City Art Institute and I studied design and illustration, and it was there that I really kind of found this female figure that really spoke to me that I really thought, I'm not bored of this girl.

I want to keep seeing where she goes and seeing where where I go.

And I wanted to watch her evolve.

I do have a family.

I have two redheaded children, and I have a husband who is my best friend.

And we have been together really since high school.

So a lot of my images do involve children because you'll see the kind of feelings that I have, the overwhelming emotions of motherhood, the fears of motherhood, so much fear, all of that that I try to incorporate into working.

The Foolish Matriarch was a painting I did several years ago when my son was very small.

Of course, it's wonderful, but I was just so nervous.

There's a lot of you know, you've got this little tiny, precious child, and it's so important that you you have to protect him.

And there's there's so much fear in the world.

So to me, it was in the picture.

You'll see dead birds in the background and you see the woman's hair kind of enveloping over the child because the world is a scary place.

The foolish matriarch is just fat.

She's foolish to think she really, really can't protect him.

And then there's another piece I did that is kind of like the aftermath or the ongoing story with this is it's called the Haircut.

And it is that same little boy who is now around prepubescent kind of age.

And in the painting, you'll see him actually cutting out of the hair of the woman that he is breaking free.

And that that's a lot of what I felt when I painted it.

What was going on is I felt, you know, here's this child who's becoming independent.

And it was bittersweet.

The piece, the Deathly Fox, it's a very large painting.

I did a show here in Shreveport called Cheesecake, and it is really about the whole pinup kind of era pinup girls.

I was looking at a lot of those, and I remember thinking that they're not being manipulated into this and that they're in control.

So that's kind of how the Deathly Fox came about.

Usually when I paint pictures of snakes with with women that, yes, there there's something very much mischievous going on there or there is something kind of happening.

I really like my paintings to kind of tell a story that the viewer has to kind of interpret.

And I don't want to be completely literal.

Sometimes they may be more literal than other times.

What I love so much about all of Rachael's work and all of its.

Diversity.

Is that it's as though there's something sort of familiar about it, but in this otherworldly way.

So it's like I'm remembering a dream and it's sort of this otherworldly dreamscape.

It's a pond with several lily pads and there's beautiful, like ornate flowers that are growing out of the lilies and along the side of the pond, and there's two girls that are sitting.

With their feet.

Dangling in the water.

And it's it's very tranquil and beautiful.

But I think there's always again, it's this sort of sense of of layered ness with Rachel's work.

So it's not just pretty.

For pity's sake.

I love the Riviera piece.

It tells a story of.

A Romanian folklore about what the Black.

Plague.

Meant as people were trying to understand this this sickness that was sweeping through.

Hundreds of years ago.

And so Rachel had a project and she researched.

This and discovered that there was a a story.

About.

That mythic mythological woman named Nero.

And in this part of the.

World that would sweep through with her red dress and her red scarf.

And that the black plague and sickness and death would follow.

The first one I purchase is actually a piece that has this woman with this wild mane in the air.

And her eyes are, of course, her classic dark and tinged eyes.

And out of her.

Mouth are these symbols.

And that for people who read astrology are very iconic.

And of course, your shirt is adorned with stars as well, kind of giving that play on those stars and astrology symbols.

Her second piece is something that's actually newer.

It's this woman with her hands on her knees.

And from that point, there are these beautiful metallic copper turns like pouring down off of her and something.

About it.

It's very it's very strong.

She's got the third eye and a lit up and open wide open.

The large eyes are just really so intriguing to look in there and just wonder what they're thinking.

And what I don't know is just a real interesting.

I often paint in acrylic and I use paint on canvas, and I also create smaller pieces that are watercolor paper and pen and ink and a little acrylic as well.

But I prefer acrylic overall, more so than oil.

I love the texture that paint makes.

I like to make it trippy.

I like how it especially acrylic, can get very thick and then it dries really fast and you can manipulate even more things on top of it.

If you love arts and adventure.

Louisiana is fertile ground.

You just need to know which way to look.

So here's a list of some interesting goings on coming up this week around the state.

To learn more about these and other events in Louisiana, visit the website and help the dot org slash art rocks.

For more about these and other events, snag a copy of Country Roads magazine.

There are wrecks all around town and also the Art Rock's website has an archive of previous episodes.

So to see any segment again, just log on to LP PB dot org.

Way out West, The Arizona Opera Costume Shop in Phenix is a treasure trove of extravagant costumes that help bring opera's drama to life on stage.

Meet Kathleen Trott, costume shop manager.

As she reveals the costume creation process and shows us how an outfit takes shape from idea to period.

Correct Couture.

When the curtain comes up.

Welcome to the Arizona Opera Costume Shop.

And today we are actually working on a couple different things for him.

I'm Kathleen Trott and I'm the costume shop manager at Arizona Opera.

Arizona Opera's actual physical building is located in the downtown area of Phenix.

So we are all here professionals who have chosen to do this as our career, and many of us have degrees in this field.

We are making the things custom a lot like couture fashion.

It's made for a specific person, generally four or five months out.

The general director, Ryan, and our director for that specific production and our designers have met several times and had discussions about the way that the company as a whole wants the show to be developed.

So once they've met and decided the flow of the the show, then the designer and the director will have conversations about specifics for characters.

Is this character, are they emotionally driven or are they very logical?

What kind of colors is the director imagining that this character wears?

And then you also discuss the actual logistical problems, like, Well, he gets money, so he needs a pocket to put the money in because it has to go somewhere.

So then the designer will do some rough sketches, put together some research, maybe some color swatches, and the designer and the director will go back and forth about, Well, I like that shape, but not that color or they actually need another dress, not just one, because we think that it's important for the development that we see that their clothes are changing as their character changes, that kind of thing.

And then the designer will do sort of final renderings, and the final renderings are in color and they sort of more clearly express the ideal costume that will be created at the end of the process.

And then the shop will take the renderings and the measurements of our performers and create the costumes.

So our Draper says it's her job to take the measurement sheet and the flat rendering and create a pattern so that it can be put together into a three dimensional garment.

This is one of my rough sketches from Arizona Lady, which is our first show of our next season, the finale.

She's a vaudeville actress.

So this is another fabric for her.

And I can lay it out with the right side.

The right side is the the pretty side down against the table.

And then I'll take my pattern piece and on line it up on the fabric and then mark on my fabric with something that won't show from the outside, but that I can see here.

And then that's the line I would cut on.

And then it gets all folded together into a pile like this.

So this is one of the robes for Magic Flute.

And she has patterned it all already, and then it's all been cut out.

And then we write quick instructions on the paper here so that our stitcher could come and pick up this pile of pieces, read the instructions, and then start building it.

After the garment is cut out into its pieces, our stitchers will put it together and stitchers stitch.

It's pretty self-explanatory.

Name.

So now pin it together and so it and generally we will then call our performer back in for another fitting.

That is the actual garment, but it's not a final fitting.

So the closure might not be in yet.

The hem might not be done, trim won't be put on things like that.

So that way we can put the actual garment on to make sure that it looks the way that we want it to before we finish the whole thing.

And then our wardrobe supervisor is in charge of making sure that the costumes that were designed by the designer maintain their look at the performance space and it's their job to wash what needs to be washed after each performance.

Iron and steam, what needs to be ironed to make sure that the performers are wearing pants when they should be wearing pants and not wearing them when they shouldn't be, and that they're the correct pants and not the wrong pants.

You'd be surprised.

And then when we strike the show, striking the show means that you take it all down and bring it all back to wherever you're storing it, or if you rent it or borrowed it, that you pack it up and send it back where everything will get washed.

And then after it's clean, it all gets sorted back into our stock and some things stay together as a show.

So right now, Cincinnati Opera has Don Pasquale, which we did a couple seasons ago, and that whole show in our stock stayed together because we knew when we struck that show that that show was going to be rented.

It just depends on the actual style of the show and if we have companies that we know want it immediately, whether or not it's kept together or it's separated out by time period and by men, women, child, it's nice for people to realize when they see something that's lovely on stage, to just sort of at some point be a little bit aware of the amount of work and heart that goes in to the thing that's on stage as well.

Because often our blood a little bit and sometimes tears goes into the garment that's on stage.

Matthew Saunders is a native of Central Florida, but right now he's studying Celtic music and dance at the University of Limerick in Ireland.

Matthew plays a this time on art rocks.

A Shreveport artist builds a following for her arresting, distinctive portraits of women.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

We get dolled up in an opera costume shop.

We are making the things custom a lot, like couture fashion.

It's made for a specific person.

Explore one town's history as told through murals.

We have a history of art, and so it's important to share that.

And it's important for anybody coming to visit here.

They're going to be able to learn through art.

And consider the lasting legacy of Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hyde.

That's all coming up on art Rocks.

Art Rocks is made possible by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by viewers like you.

Hello, I'm James Fox Smith from Country Roads magazine.

And I'm glad you're with us for Art Rocks.

Have a look at this work by Shreveport.

Artist Rachel Stewart has most of Rachel's huge symbolism.

Rich paintings focus on the same few mysterious, enigmatic women.

The artist, who is also a professional astrologer, gets together with some of her fans to talk about what the work says to them.

I paint women, and usually it is just one single person.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

I don't use anyone to look at while I'm painting.

It's more of what I'm feeling at the time or a specific mood that I'm trying to create.

I'm also an astrologer, so I love to utilize symbols and mythology, and I kind of interpret that into everything.

I went to Kansas City Art Institute and I studied design and illustration, and it was there that I really kind of found this female figure that really spoke to me that I really thought, I'm not bored of this girl.

I want to keep seeing where she goes and seeing where where I go.

And I wanted to watch her evolve and.

This time on Art rocks.

A Shreveport artist builds a following for her arresting, distinctive portraits of women.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

This time on Art Rocks?

A Shreveport artist builds a following for her arresting, distinctive portraits of women.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

We get dolled up and and up for a costume shop.

We are making the things custom a lot like couture fashion.

It's made for a specific person.

Explore one town's history as told through murals.

We have a history of art, and so it's important to share that.

And it's important for anybody coming to visit here.

They're going to be able to learn through art.

And consider the lasting legacy of Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hyde.

That's all coming up on our rocks.

Art Rocks is made possible by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by viewers like you.

Hello, I'm James Smith from Country Roads magazine.

And I'm glad you're with us for Art Rocks.

Have a look at this work by Shreveport.

Artist Rachel Stewart has most of Rachel's huge symbolism.

Rich paintings focus on the same few mysterious, enigmatic women.

The artist, who is also a professional astrologer, gets together with some of her fans to talk about what the work says to them.

I paint this time on art rocks.

A Shreveport artist builds a following for her arresting distinct portraits of women.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

We get dolled up in an opera costume shop.

We are making the things custom a lot, like couture fashion.

It's made for a specific person.

Explore one town's history as told through murals.

We have a history of art, and so it's important to share that.

And it's important for anybody coming to visit here.

They're going to be able to learn through art.

And consider the lasting legacy of Baton Rouge sculptor Frank Hyde.

That's all coming up on art Rocks.

Art Rocks is made possible by the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and by viewers like you.

Hello, I'm James Fox Smith from Country Roads magazine.

And I'm glad you're with us for Art Rocks.

Have a look at this work by Shreveport.

Artist Rachel Stewart has most of Rachel's huge symbolism.

Rich paintings focus on the same few mysterious, enigmatic women.

The artist, who is also a professional astrologer, gets together with some of her fans to talk about what the work says to them.

I paint women, and usually it is just one single person.

People often ask me, Is this a self-portrait?

And I know it's it's not intentionally, but I paint her from memory.

I don't use anyone to look at while I'm painting.

It's more of what I'm feeling at the time are a specific mood that I'm trying to create.

I'm also an astrologer, so I love to utilize symbols and mythology and I kind of interpret that into everything.

I went to Kansas City Art Institute and I studied design and illustration, and it was there that I really kind of found this female figure that really spoke to me that I really thought, I'm not bored of this girl.

I want to keep seeing where she goes and seeing where where I go.

And I wanted to watch her evolve.

I do have a family.

I have two redheaded children and I have a husband who is my best friend.

And we have been together really since high school.

So a lot of my images do involve children because you will see the kind of feelings that I have, the overwhelming emotions of motherhood, the fears of motherhood, so much fear, all of that that I try to incorporate into working.

The Foolish Matriarch was a painting I did several years ago when my son was very small.

Of course it's wonderful, but I was just so nervous.

There's a lot of you know, he's got this little tiny, precious child, and it's so important that you you have to protect him.

And there's there's so much fear in the world.

So to me, it was in the in the picture, you'll see dead birds in the background and you see the woman's hair kind of enveloping over the child because the world is a scary place.

The foolish matriarch is just fat.

She's foolish to think she really, really can't protect him.

And then there's another piece I did that is kind of like the aftermath or the ongoing story with this is it's called the Haircut.

And it is that same little boy who is now around prepubescent kind of age.

And in the painting, you'll see him actually cutting out of the hair of the woman that he is breaking free.

And that that's a lot of what I felt when I painted it.

What was going on is I felt you know, here's this child who's becoming independent.

And it was bittersweet.

The piece, the Deathly Fox, it's a very large painting.

I did a show here in Shreveport called Cheesecake, and it is really about the whole pin up kind of error pinup girls.

I was looking at a lot of those and I remember thinking that they're not being manipulated into this and that they're in control.

So that's kind of how the Deathly Fox came about.

Usually when I paint pictures of snakes with with women that, yes, there there's something very much mischievous going on there or there is something kind of happening.

I really like my paintings to kind of tell a story that the viewer has to kind of interpret.

And I don't want to be completely literal.

Sometimes they may be more literal than other times.

What I love so much about all of Rachel's work and all of its.

Diversity.

Is that it's as though there's something sort of familiar about it, but in this other worldly way.

So it's like I'm remembering a dream and it's sort of this otherworldly dreamscape.

It's a pond with several lily pads and there's beautiful.

Like ornate flowers that are growing.

Out of the lilies and along the side of the pond, and there's two girls that are sitting with their feet dangling in the water.