Frederick Hammersley Foundation... New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

...and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

CREATING ORIGINAL MUSIC FOR THE HIT TELEVISION SERIES, RESERVATION DOGS, OGLALA LAKOTA MUSICIAN MATO WAYUHI FINDS "LIFE IS A GAME OF MAD LIBS".

LISA MARTIN SMALLWOOD, A.K.A "LIASI" PAINTS MUSICAL IMPRESSIONS OF ICONIC JAZZ SINGERS AND MUSICIANS.

WITH THE STREET AS HER CANVAS, SKYLAR SUAREZ RENDERS BOLD, MURALS.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

A NARRATIVE OF SOUND.

>>Laura Paskus: Hi, thank you so much for joining me today.

I was wondering, could you talk a little bit about your upbringing and how that affected your work as a musician?

>>Mato Wayuhi: So I grew up in South Dakota and my whole family is from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

I grew up raised pretty traditional in my Oglala Lakota culture, that's the tribe I'm from, going to a lot of ceremonies and just going to family functions and reunions and what not and so, I was always raised kind of with that and you know, South Dakota in the more whiter spots is very... it's very religious, very Christian; and so I didn't grow up with any of that, I grew up just kind of more in our spirituality.

So that was always kind of my understanding.

And that, you know, informed a lot of my ideas of music because music is such a integral component to different ceremonies and different, you know, forms of expression through Lakota culture, and so that was kind of my understanding of music.

But then on the flip-side, you know, we were listening... my grandma loved Dancing Queen by like ABBA and my parents were huge Tupac and Bob Marley fans; so I got a large, you know, exposure to different types of music and then I started falling in love with music: Punk Rock and Hair Metal and all this different type of stuff... yeah, I've lived a lot of lives [Laughs] so, yeah.

I'm just a sponge when it comes to music and art, I just... yeah, I love absorbing things and understanding them and analyzing them.

And I started making music when I was 15 or 16 and so, before then I was always finding ways to express myself; I was in theatre or making little videos.

I grew up in a really fun pocket of the internet because we got to grow up with these different apps before they got scary as they are now, but when they were just fun and, you know, more trivial and so... yeah, I've always been expressing myself and I think when I started making music, when I started rapping that was the key; there was no second question, there was no... yeah, I was just completely, yeah, inclined to do that and so... yeah, that was my upbringing.

>>Paskus: So you use a lot of Jazz beats and Hip Hop to compose your score; how do you work to connect the music you make for Reservation Dogs to the characters in the stories and stay true to your inspiration as an artist?

>>Wayuhi: It depends on the specific, i guess, their request, you know, Res Dog's request of me and what services can I provide.

So sometimes you know the songs will, you know...

I will write things for the show that I would personally, wouldn't have thought of because I didn't have that sort of, you know, inspiration and that influence- which is really nice because the show, since it's set in Oklahoma, there's a lot of like, Blues and, yeah, Country influence.

And so that's something... you know, I'm from South Dakota but I have no understanding of that, no inkling of what it is to make Country Music or Blues Music.

And so it was nice because Sterlin (Harjo), before we started, he made me a playlist to kind of inform some of the musical choices that he wanted for the show, so I listened to that pretty intensely and got kind of absorbed it and soaked it in a little bit.

And, yeah, but on the flip-side too there's...

I got some notes from him that he said make it more 'Mato' make it more your music and that was the most gratifying thing, because as an artist, you don't know what your music sounds like; you're just kind of putting it out and it's just... you know what you feel but you don't know what others feel.

So that was a, yeah, that was a very, I guess, like a validating moment because I got to zhuzh it up with my own little ideas and my little accents of the songs and stuff like that.

So, yeah, that's kind of been what it's been like to kind of, I guess, kind of keep some semblance of authenticity but also, I really love getting pushed too.

I love when there were some notes and like, 'well let's try this' or 'let's simplify it' and things like that because those are really important, I think, for an artist.

And, yeah, and you see the tangible results in that, in your growth and things like that, so.

>>Paskus: ...yeah.

What's really tough about creating the emotion that >>Wayuhi: It's the definition of emotion, because it's such a subjective quality to music.

You know for me personally, I mean, sometimes bass lines make me cry or, you know, sometimes the weirdness of a song, like the glitchiness of a song can really impact me emotionally and... but that's not the case for, you know, a large majority of folks.

I'm not saying I'm special or anything, but it's just some people, you know, they resonate with different things- it might be the lyrics, it might be the, you know, the embellished strings what have you.

And so, I think, I guess finding... just communicating, I guess, was the most important thing with the show.

And there was a lot of communication, it was a really, yeah, it's a really healthy, really, yeah, constructive and just, it's a really good workplace.

I really love the people that work on that show.

And so, they're always open with me and always, yeah, willing to give me notes and everything and so, and different comments and so, yeah.

I think that's the hardest part though is just finding out, like, what is it specifically.

And what's nice too is, like, I see the episodes, obviously, months ahead so I can kind of read maybe the facial expressions of the characters or understand that...

I think that's the beautiful part about composing, is you know it's not...

I'm not centering myself; I'm just servicing the narrative which is really nice because within Western Music it can get very egotistical, and I fall victim to that all the time, and so it's nice to kind of have this different position, and so... but I think that's the biggest part is just communicating what the specific emotion is and how I can articulate that through just different sounds and stuff like that.

>>Paskus: And what do you really love about composing a score?

>>Wayuhi: I think the diversity of sound is really exciting because I listen to a lot of different types of music and a lot of different music piques my interest in terms of how they do it and why they do it and who they do it for.

And so, I think with scoring it's been really beneficial because I get to just try different stuff, you know, and I get to represent a very small community of, like, indigenous composers.

And that to me is really gratifying too because I want to be able to show different communities that it's possible.

Like, if you look up film composers, none of them look >>Paskus: Speaking of the creative identity, how do you relate to the narrative themes that played out in Reservation Dogs?

>>Wayuhi: Oh, there's a lot.

I mean, I was...

I escaped to California, in so many ways, going to school.

And so, that...

I related to that.

And then also, yeah, you kind of find a...

I think every young kid, you know, teenager and on, you kind of find...

I guess, you kind of reorganize your feelings with foundation and home and things and that's a lot of what these characters deal with in the first season- is kind of situating themselves within where they grew up and understanding, I guess, the blemishes of where they might live and how it informed their experiences and also cultural ties.

Yeah, there's a lot of different things I feel like with indigenous youth that the show represents.

And I love the characters because we all know, as like native kids, we all know those characters so well.

And it's not even from a stereotype it's just from the specificity and so that's really fun.

But yeah, I think the show...

I relate a lot to the show, just about being young and finding that balance between some traditional qualities but also just from a contemporary lens and I think that's what the show kind of shows.

And it also, you know, yeah, the idea of home and place and space is really important too and finding healing elements with that and, yeah.

And then it gets into just normal stuff like friendship and backstabbing and stuff like that.

So that the stuff that...those are very human things, but yeah, I relate a lot to the show.

>>Paskus: Is there a particular character that you relate to the most or loved the most?

>>Wayuhi: I think about this a lot because there's a good amount; I mean, Spirit, Dallas Goldtooth's character...

I mean, that show... like, I got the pilot back in, I think, February 2021 and, yeah, I loved the show from the start; just the whole scene with the Flaming Flamers truck and everything.

But i think that scene was, it was just beautiful, like it was so well crafted and his character is so... it's so vital to deconstruct the stereotype of a lot of native and indigenous representation and he's just so funny!

And I know Dallas too, and he's just a great guy.

His character is amazing.

They're all, I mean... it's really hard to pick.

I think Willie Jack is amazing too; she's just so emphatic.

And it's great to know some of the actors too just on a personal level and seeing what they bring to the table and, yeah, it's a really beautiful thing.

Officer Big is obviously amazing too; he's the most... he's the person I've met the most in my life, in my own community like, 'Hey ya, hoo'- and just all these different sayings and the way he acts and the sacredness and, yeah so, he's super relatable; I have a lot of people in my life who are like that.

But there's a lot of great characters, I really love all of them.

>>Paskus: What do you hope to achieve with your work and why is your work important to you?

>>Wayuhi: It's a large reason of why I'm here, you know?

I think that's like the service that I provide for folks, is to just be a source of representation, but also be a source of entertainment and escapism and inspiration and influence.

And I just held so much...

I held the people who I looked up to in such high regard and not from, like, a moral standpoint but just from a creative standpoint.

Like, they gave me these tools and they gave me the keys to know that I could do it as well.

And so there's so many influences that I had growing up and still do, but I think that's something I've learned through my music and just from doing shows and interacting with a lot of younger kids and older people as well.

It's just like, sometimes people need something to show that they can do it themselves; they kind of need the motivation or the momentum or the familiar face or someone from their communities.

And so, I'm really honored to be able to do that for people and create that space, that's really important to me in my music.

And, I think...you know, for future goals is just to continue doing things that I love and creating an infrastructure for other native and indigenous kids and non-native as well, just to show... because I think there's things that can be improved on and things that can be explored more and things that can be amplified more and more groups that need empowerment and different things, and so I'm always excited to be able to exist in those spaces.

It's really great, super fun, super fun where music has taken me...and I'm excited to continue to do it, and just on a fun level: just make music and rap and be silly and, yeah, I love that type of stuff.

PAINTING MUSIC.

>>Lisa "Liasi" Martin Smallwood: My name is Lisa Martin a.k.a.

Liasi.

I'm originally from Philadelphia.

Currently, I'm living out here in Tampa Bay and I am a visual artist.

I work with different mediums such as ink, pastel, and acrylic.

The style is more like impressionistic.

It's like I'm making a suggestion, okay?

And I'm going to give a little bit of detail, but I'm not going to go into it completely.

I'm going to create an illusion to the brain of like, okay, wow, you know, oh, he's really blowing that sax or that trumpet or, you know, playing that piano like my Nina Simone.

I love Nina, you know, and the shades that I use suggests that it's abstract, but at the same time it has a surreal, a surreal feel to it.

I can paint some, a painting and make it look like a photograph, but I like to experiment and to project, you know, the feeling that it gives me.

>>Dr. Tylisha Johnson: I think what really separates Lisa from other artists is that she really adds depth and passion into her artwork and I think also the use of colors to capture the ambiance and give the viewer that, that in depth expression so that they feel like that they're actually a part of that piece.

>>Lisa: Is Jason here?

Okay.

Hey, Jerry.

>>Jerri Menaul: Hey, how are you, Lisa?

>>Lisa: I'm good.

I got my Aretha Franklin piece.

Jason, how's it going?

>>Jason Nowell: Excellent.

How are you?

>>Lisa: I'm good.

>>Jason: Oh, this looks magnificent.

>>Lisa: Thank you.

My favorite art place is one of my favorite places.

I love that piece.

>>Jason: You and me both.

I wish she was singing to us right now.

>>Lisa: Well, you know, I would sing, but I don't do that.

They have welcomed me into this establishment.

I mean, to see the whole production is like to me, a class trip.

And they work on my art.

They treat it great.

They do my reproductions.

Now, why are you rotating it?

>>Jason: Basically so the highlights from the, from the shiny of the metallic... >>Lisa: Right.

>>Jason: I first met Lisa while she was doing a live painting exercise in our gallery in St. Petersburg.

We had a musician playing there and she was painting him live as he played.

And I was just blown away by what she did.

So we talked her into coming here.

>>Jerri: She showed me some of her artwork, which I fell in love with immediately, and we just kept talking about artwork.

We hit it off right away.

She ran into a situation where she needed a framer to have a piece fixed up, and she came out to visit us and met the team and saw our operation and was very >>Lisa: Oh, that looks good.

>>Jason: We should save this and then we'll get a shot...

So once we get the artwork captured and the color correct, then we can spread it out onto a myriad of things, depending on the venue of where the artwork is going to be sold at or displayed.

>>Lisa: R-E-S-P-E-C-T >>Jason: I knew we'd get her singing.

(LAUGHING) >>Lisa: The music actually, I don't know, it's just like in me, you know, every guitar note you plug or whatever it's like every stroke for me, you know, and that's how the two come, you know together.

>>Jerri: Lisa is from Philadelphia and Philadelphia has a music scene unlike any others, and her father was in the music world.

And you can just tell that it's in her blood.

So when she paints musicians and performances and that type of stuff, it just, the paintings sing.

You can see the music, you can feel the energy, you can feel the emotion that comes out.

And I think that that's one of the things that makes her such a successful artist and makes that her paintings of musicians so popular.

>>Lisa: So my father, Dowell Smallwood Jr., he, was a drummer, a native from Philadelphia, and he played with Johnny Stiles in the Manhattans, which was a jazz group back in the 1950s into the 60s.

My father was a great guy and he has really inspired me and he always encouraged me to continue to paint.

Just the memories and the stories that he would tell me.

I try to put myself there for that moment.

Some of the paintings that I have painted are a lot of times are memories.

It could be his memories that he shared with me.

And I'm just painting it out and laying out, you know, everything in my mind, in my heart that I felt during that thought process, of, you know, processing his story.

>>Dr. Johnson: I think Lisa's artwork really has a very poetic vibe to it, and she's actually able to capture those poetic expressions, which creates a real synergy with her work.

You can just look at it and begin to just talk about it in a very poetic manner.

Oh my.

Oh, this is so beautiful.

>>Lisa: I hope that my artwork can hatch a memory.

Art is very therapeutic and I just want people to enjoy what they're looking at and, you know, open that box of memories.

GIVING ART TO THE PUBLIC.

(HATCH-BACK OPENING) You see all these houses, all these buildings all the same color, cookie cutter and I just feel like that is so dry and lifeless and if I can do anything to bring more personality or life or color, any, any sort of expression to something, more than just this is a white slab of concrete, then that is what I wanna do.

(TRAFFIC ZOOMS BY) (SHAKING SPRAY SPAINT CAN) When I came to the US, first I had to learn English, the way I learned English mainly was watching a lot of TV, so I watched a lot of cartoons, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, that kind of stuff.

Fairly the Odd Parents, yeah, right That was probably where I started getting interested in as far as like drawing different styles and why one person can look the same in one show, but different in the other, especially when they did like crossover episodes.

Sorry I was such a jerk.

Some other sources of inspiration have been anime.

So at first in my art career, I didn't actually start by just being a muralist, I started by doing fan art and selling at conventions like Tampa Bay Comic-Con and Megacon, Metrocon, all of those, then I started to realize that I liked, you know, painting on bigger canvases.

The first gig I ever got as a muralist was I put an ad on Craig's List saying I'm looking for projects, work at a very discounted rate.

So I got one or two gigs off that and from there eventually they start coming to you.

There are fears that a serial killer is on the loose in Tampa, Florida, police are warning people not to walk alone at night in the Seminole Heights neighborhood, that's after a third person in 10 days was shot to death on Thursday night.

The way that the Seminole Heights memorial mural happened was Facebook, someone posted in the Seminole Heights group saying I own this building, I have an idea of how we could use it to help the community and there were some ideas floating around in that thread at that point and I said hey, I'm a mural artist, I'm relatively new and I wanna help out, so I will do the mural for free, I don't mind, I will do the mural for free, I'll help.

So basically I got up on two big scaffolds and sketched this out, I had someone, a couple of people actually help me paint it and my name is down here next to the garland situation that they have here Then about a day or two after this was finished, we installed these panels, these are attached to the wall permanently and each one of these is for each one of the victims and then we invited the community, the Tampa police and everyone to come here and to write down any messages racking, but it's great, we're a great, strong community and it's fantastic.

>>[Broadcaster]: For the longest time, the Francis House in Seminole Heights didn't wanna draw your attention, it's an HIV support home extremely protective of its clientele.

Because of the work that we do, there is stigma, we've never had issues, our neighbors have always been supportive.

>>[Broadcaster]: The new mural, titled Rooted Bloom was painted by Skylar Suarez, Skylar is best known for this, her first memorial for the Seminole Heights victims, a place that's become a refuge to mourn and pay tribute.

When you create something from scratch, you definitely get attached to it.

The point is I made that, that is there, but it's not as tangible, because this, I can keep if I want, right, this is mine, I could sell it, but it is mine, the moment that I put something on a wall that isn't mine, it's not mine anymore, it's everyone's, so everyone gets to enjoy it and of course you get to enjoy it too, you can go there and look at it if you want, if you ever feel like you miss your mural, you can go visit your mural.

(SOUNDS OF TRAFFIC) I know people who have had their work tagged like more than once, so it's probably not the only time I'll have to come out here and repaint an area, as long as they don't touch my name, that's gonna make me mad, if they do that, if they touch my name.

Life is really short, I'm not gonna be here forever, the bigger legacy I can leave behind, the best, right, so if I paint this big mural somewhere, that stays there long after I'm gone, there will be a piece of me left behind.

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"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Foundation... New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

...and Viewers Like You.

(CLOSED CAPTIONING BY KNME-TV)