Coming up on Gallery America.

We meet an artist who collaborates with nature to make art that's meant to be temporary.

Then we meet someone who takes the stuff we throw away to create massive installations.

All that coming up now.

Hello, Oklahoma.

Welcome to Gallery America.

I'm Jonathan Thompson.

Whether it's the seasons, blooming of a flower or even our own lives, our world is one of impermanence, of beginnings and of endings.

Today we're going to Tulsa to meet artist Lydia Cheshewalla In her work, she explores ephemerality, meaning that her pieces are designed not to last.

She does that so she can explore the world's natural cycle.

Let's check it out.

We really live in these cycles of emergence and then receding, being born and also dying.

Humans have an inclination to want to put things in a static mode, or to keep things you know, forever.

How do you convince people to undo every thought they've ever had about art, or about nature, and come with you on this big adventure into not thinking that way ever again?

This one's really pretty.

My name is Lydia Cheshewalla.

I'm an Osage ephemeral artist living and working in motion across the Great Plains eco region.

Ephemeral art is just simply art that doesn't last.

It's not meant to be kept forever in a museum.

They're composed of beings that don't last forever, that are part of seasonal cycles of emergence and decay.

Wherever I'm at, I'm looking at what are the vibes coming off, who I've seen before, who is new.

So it starts with the gathering.

It's happening all the time.

When I know that I have a show, I tend to start becoming more specific to that place.

The way I go about design is I bring everybody into space, and then I just start playing.

I think this is what Im working with.

This walls like the perfect size.

And so this makes me excited because I feel like I can just, like, eat this whole space.

Okay, so if those go like that and do it like that, I just start moving materials around.

I start putting relatives next to other relatives and seeing what that seems like.

Some things really seem to go together well.

Some things seem like they don't ever want to be near each other.

That whole part is just very intuitive.

In many indigenous belief systems.

It's the idea that this is all my relation animals, siblings, plant beings, whether forces.

It's really just the expansion of relationality to include all of the family.

Two.

Four.

Six.

Eight.

Ten.

12.

14.

16.

Perfect.

I do think of them as collaborators.

I am trying to express within the art world and also just in the world, that these relationships are not only normal, but they're healthy.

Once I get everybody together, then I start thinking of design.

And I think double curves face each other, Okay.

My brain is mush yall.

I'm like, drawing this shape, and I don't know what I don't understand about it.

I don't even know really why I'm trying so hard to have a double curve in here.

Other than thinking about, like, this idea of returning.

Because then yeah.

All these could come this way, like that.

I think I figured it out.

Don't worry.

Guys Ive got it all figured out.

I can see how, like in the early days, it freaked people out to just be out in what feels like a sea of grass.

To realize how small and alone you can be.

I'm totally smitten.

I think people who don't consider this eco region just haven't really met it yet.

There is so much biodiversity in a prairie.

I moved to Omaha, Nebraska to do land management work.

I had gotten a sweet invitation.

We're going to be doing prescribed burning.

We're going to be maintaining the Prairie Corridor project.

And I was like, yes, obviously I care about this.

Being up there is really what took me in this direction.

I was working through these issues of accessibility and of, you know, responsibility in a time of climate change.

So I was like, you know, where do I go?

And then I realized like, oh, you just go outside.

Then I was given like the first real invitation to show in a gallery in Omaha at the Union for contemporary Art.

But that was the first time I had put an installation that was ephemeral on a wall.

I tend to rely on the Maple Samarra a lot.

It can take a lot of space, and it makes really interesting designs.

When I've been presenting my work, people in the audience have kind of asked me like, don't you ever just want to keep it?

And I was just like, I mean, no, like, frankly, no, I'm giving this answer in front of a window where there's just the forest behind me.

And so I was like, you know, if you want this and I point to the install on the wall, I was like, you got to protect that point to the forest, because that is the point.

Looking weird again.

Like, I don't know if I like this weird squid shape that I've made.

I'm interested in the refusal that happens when you make something that isn't meant to last forever in the art world, and the people who really like it, really like it.

The people who are like, not about it are really not about it.

I want this practice to change how institutions think about interacting with art.

I want art consumers to really consider what they need.

Art is expensive.

Making art is expensive.

Being an artist is expensive.

I started thinking through like, what can I make when I can't afford supplies?

It's really just about like how you perceive or how you look, which I think this practice has really developed for me.

These are maple samaras.

They're they're growing in downtown Tulsa.

And the sidewalks.

I've learned actually, nature is quite accessible if you are considering things growing out of the sidewalk as part of the natural world.

I'll draw out all the maps onto the wall, and then I basically just piece by piece, transfer it from the ground.

I use just a little bit of hot glue, its low damage to a wall, easy to repair, and it's easy to peel right back off.

I return everything at the end of my installations because it's part of honoring that agency.

It's like, here are my collaborators.

I don't own them, so they get to go home.

That is so that they can complete their own process, their own purpose, their own destiny.

I'm going to have to figure out another set up, because what I found out on one of my last year's installations, yeah that seems better.

I like lost feeling in my back.

It traveled up my leg.

The whole thing went numb and I was like, oh, that's new.

I need a little table for this part.

I think this one will probably end up being like 16 plus.

Then however long it takes me to get through to today, maybe like 20 hours.

I've got like my log of who came from where.

It's really just a small pink journal.

I list year, state and what all I collected.

I'm also able to go back through and mark out when those have made their return journey.

Still sovereign is an exhibition of 21 indigenous artists from 15 different tribal nations It explores sovereignty not as an abstract idea, but things that we deal with every day.

I love Lydia's work.

I think it's beautiful.

Her connection with plants and the land brings a different aspect to the exhibition.

Yes, this is hard work, but I'm doing it because I am in love with this world.

We mess up, we're going to continue messing up.

But we've got the medicine.

It doesn't have to happen all at once.

We just have to see it as our responsibility that it happens.

We've got a really fascinating set up here.

Existence is kind of crazy.

Consciousness is insane.

We live on a beautiful planet.

Everything is great.

Like, what if we just stop complicating it so much?

You can keep up with Lydia by following her on Instagram at Good with Coffee.

Last year we met artist Leticia Bajuyo.

She's an OU professor and like Lydia, she uses unorthodox materials for her installations.

Let's revisit her story.

We'll go a little further.

This way anymore.

Bungees so nice.

I think it asks like, how long does it take to make these?

There's the answer of, like, how many hours here at the site.

I recognize how much went into all of the collecting.

and tying.

But then there's also all the prep before then just figuring this out.

So even though this is this piece, it took all the other ones to get here.

Oh, friends.

Season four.

Season six.

Disc four.

I tend to often joke that the line between a sculptor and a hoarder is a very small, small line.

So I'm basically knitting the biggest, most awkward sock as I put these sculptures together.

My name is Leticia Bajuyo and I'm a sculptor, so that way is like over under this projection and that.

Right, I am a little bit of a materials junkie.

I look for voices inside each of the materials, and find a way to be able to incorporate them into a new object that they become, but still retain something of their original identity.

I don't want to hide what they are, I just want to sort of highlight it.

And then I combine those objects together and like kind of like a visual poem.

So I basically will take a stack of CDs and I'll drill for holes in it, and then those holes become the anchors and I stitch those together to make strands.

This sculpture is specifically for the Art now biennial exhibition at the Oklahoma Contemporary Art center, and it's going to be a site specific installation.

So it's a large sculpture, but it can only be built in that site.

It's built and designed based on a Hot Wheels track, like the loop that a Hot Wheels track would make, or a roller coaster.

So it's kind of like weaving or knitting.

So basically making my thread with CDs, and then I get to like weave those together like a basket.

But in this basket, each of the threads again are all of these memories, the memories that we have of the disc where you recognize, oh, I watched that movie.

And so I weave those together onto a substrate.

These can't stand alone.

They need some kind of structure.

And so one of my favorite parts to do is to design the different armatures, the different skeletons.

Sometimes it's an inner skeleton.

Sometimes it's an exoskeleton, sometimes it's a little bit of both, depending on what the specific site needs.

And it varies based on everything from installation, time frame, budget, size of their door, how long the show is going to be up.

All of those things go into the recipe and the magic mix, where I have all these logistics, and then I get to design for that site.

So art now is our biennial exhibition we have here at Oklahoma Contemporary, really a celebration of Oklahoma's creative ecosystem by featuring some of the best contemporary artists for not only living but working in our state.

Past and many drawings and plans.

But it's not until you're actually here and you find out what the parts around you are.

Come in this way.

Lift up.

I like that because then I get to continue to explore and design on site.

So right now this is what I'm envisioning.

I would like it to rain if possible.

So in that way, when you're standing in front of it, it feels like you're in it.

So after we talked about exact placement, the first thing that we'll need to look for is to do those mouths with.

Yeah.

Go into a second one if they're in.

If it does look like it, we might later might go to that one over there.

When we were attaching that the initial ratchet straps to pull the piece in whichever way we wanted it to.

There's a few different tries of repositioning the I-beam clamps in a certain way, and it might be six inches over here, or it could have been two inches the other way.

This was very, very hands on in working with her, collaborating with her.

We never ran into an issue.

There was always a way to solve it.

We've worked together and we bounce ideas off of one another.

Very rewarding.

It was a milestone in my life to bring this up a little higher, though, because that means that these two right now, at the same height.

I grew up in southern Illinois, a little rural town, about 7000 people.

So my dad's from the Philippines.

He moved to the US in 1968, during a time when there weren't enough doctors in the Midwest.

My mom was a resident nurse.

They had a little air romance.

They moved to Metropolis to raise a family.

Being in this multi-generational, bilingual, multicultural household, in this quiet landscape created some joys, but also some complications.

And that has a lot to do, I think, with my my work I do now, and the way that I spend time thinking about each object and whether or not it's wanted or included.

My goal meant I'm going to move today and Heart of Hearts.

My goal would be to get all of the armature set and the ratchet straps change out for cable.

Once all of that's done, then I can start using the bins of all the tied together CDs and start filling in the gaps between and so.

But I think, I think we should be able to get that.

I don't want to jinx it, but.

I'm.

In my particular curatorial practice, I was intentional about choosing a wide variety of materials and mediums and how those specific materials really pushed the boundary of their traditional ways that they've been shown.

Leticia is specific installation.

It's going to invite the audience to not only look at the form, this beautiful, massive architectural form that she's making, but also think about their relationship to the CDs and DVDs that she's strung together to create this piece.

I think at the heart of it, it's a dialog about value allotment.

What is it that we find to be important?

We tend to be a pretty fickle society.

If you change your mind a lot.

And so what is it that had been our favorite song yesterday, or maybe the most desirable approach to communication?

And then it hasn't changed.

But we have.

But it's not its fault as a material that is now just in this junkyard.

So you can find that there's a hole in it.

The outside.

Yeah.

So that's where we.

Yeah.

Right there.

So my expertise in hanging the scenery and lighting equipment, audio equipment over people's heads.

So in here in the art space, I use that to hang different types of big, unique pieces from ceilings and stuff like that.

Leticia is great.

She's an amazing artist.

I learned a lot working with her and then just being a part of her experience and figuring it out was very, very fun and very cool to be a part of.

Oh, wow.

You like that coming to life, right?

Getting closer to.

It.

I'm just learned that I would be able to stay late today, which is like magic words.

You guys.

I teach tomorrow at campus, so I want to make sure I have enough energy for my students.

But if it can help set Thursday and Friday up to be even more just copasetic, that would be good for that.

So.

I've been a professor for 24 years, and that has been part of my making almost as long as making as far as like as a professional artist.

And so the two for me are really connected.

Device not moving and then.

Yeah, just straight cut Looking okay?

I find that my classes aren't classes where I'm necessarily teaching somebody how to make sculpture.

I can see it going in a couple different directions.

So but they're actually empowerment classes and we happen to make sculpture along the way.

Pretty much everyone in this class has already taken beginning sculpture, so they've learned the way around.

Most of the tools in the shop.

But now what do you do with those in a more independent way?

When we get started in the semester, one things I look for is what is it that their goals are for this term, and how can I help them individually, but as a group, as a team?

So what's going on right now is I'm finishing up a few more of the bar structures that go between those basket tubes.

And so I'm now up in the top right area.

They're almost all secured.

And so I'm finishing those up while Kristen is up on that ladder.

And what he's doing is he's changing out the ratchet straps and replace them with the aircraft cable.

When I'm using the CD, I'm borrowing this, what they usually would do, and I'm giving them this other life, but I'm also taking them out of their waste stream.

And so I try to find materials and ideas that I can use that minimize my carbon footprint.

That doesn't mean, again, I can save everything, but I think the more cognizant we are about the choices we make and what we use, it will help.

As we make further choices and be aware of our existence.

A word that I avoid and I try not to use as I don't use the word talent.

People often say, oh, you're so talented.

And it's a way to say that I. Oh, I can't do that.

You must be so talented.

As if it's a compliment.

But in many ways, it discounts your individual ability to take the chance to do it yourself.

That you can do it, but it takes time.

I very much believe in.

And the commitment of time, the commitment of work.

Nice.

Yay!

So I still do like the zip ties in that one section underneath right there.

But other than that, this goes all the way back to, like, when one of my friends taught me how to knit.

I didn't know what an inch was.

Knitting one day as a as a can you show me?

This was years and years before I ever made one of these sculptures, and so I just recognized I wouldn't be doing the work I'm doing now if it wasn't for so many people along the way.

And so I very much believe in thanking your mentors.

But then as soon as you can, I think about that.

You might actually be on the other side of that table, and you actually can lift up someone else.

How is it that we can help bring people to the table?

Leticia recently made another installation, one that includes the musical instrument The Theramin.

She's collaborating with the OCU music program for a very special performance that integrate this piece.

Let's take a look.

I asked the gallery director whether or not sound was welcome, and when she said yes, game on.

Thank you all so much for coming out.

Thank you Heather, and to Oklahoma City University for inviting me to be a part of this and to be able to design a sculpture for this space.

Leon Theramin was a Russian engineer.

We created a surveillance system that when you walk in, it would trigger sound someplace else.

He was also a musician and downsized it into an instrument.

And it came out in 1928.

It did not go viral.

400 and the entire world sold that year.

But 12 years later, as the first science fiction films are coming out, they're looking for an etheral sound.

So it wasn't like the CD that came out with a hit.

It came out with a whisper, but it's found all these ways that it's still desirable and continues to stretch.

And so in a way, this is a very much a digital fabric quilt, tying together all of those unwanted desires The director of the gallery wanted the music department to do a collaboration for this installation.

I knew that I wanted to collab with with Doctor Daniels.

The hardest part is the fact that there's nothing to touch.

I am the composer of our new piece, Signal Convergence, which was inspired by the art gallery that you see behind you.

It's about sort of the Theramin sort of having a slow start and then CDs having a big start, but then a bit of a decay afterwards.

I decide that I want to mirror that in the music and have The Theramin and the Bassoon work together, but not perfectly.

We proudly present Signal Convergence.

Its really a great kind of call and response.

We are great collaborators and colleagues already.

Just a couple of rehearsals in the space, bouncing ideas off of each other, and came out with the final product.

The way that they respond to the sculpture, the ideas, the physical form, the way that the sounds moved in the space they responded to that just a really special night.

Yeah.

Well, that's all the time we have for Gallery America.

Thank you so much for joining us.

As always, you can see past episodes by going to our website, oeta.tv, Slash Gallery America.

And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at OETA Gallery.

We'll see you next time.

Till then, stay arty.

Oklahoma!