- [Narrator] Production of Applause, on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas Foundation and by Cuyahoga County residents, through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(upbeat music) - [Kabir Bhatia] Coming up, we go inside the studio of a Northeast Ohio painter celebrating her Arab heritage.

Plus a happy accident helps an Akron artist discover a new color palette.

And the Cleveland Orchestra performs a classic symphony by Shostakovich.

Once again, it's time to share another round of applause.

I'm your host Ideastream Public media's Kabir Bhatia.

(upbeat music continues) - [Kabir Bhatia] We begin with an artist who came to Cleveland in 2012 as a refugee.

Today she's an American citizen and a full-time artist, whose work has led her from tragedy to hope.

(Arabic music) - [Kabir Bhatia] Kubra Alhilali was born in Baghdad, Iraq to a family of artists.

- My dad, he's an artist.

All the people around us do art, music, drawing different things.

And my sister, she's an artist too.

All the family they was, they do a lot of different kind of art and all the people around us.

So I start to paint when I was maybe six years old - [Kabir Bhatia] In 1996, her father, a poet, was forced to flee to Jordan and separate from Kubra and the family.

They joined him there seven years later.

- So when the war, like American war happened in Iraq in 2003, we left Iraq to Jordan.

- [Kabir Bhatia] Kubra and her family lived in Jordan for almost a decade but had to return to Iraq every six months to renew their visas.

During this time, Kubra decided to return to Baghdad and enroll in art school, but it was a challenge.

- It was really dangerous there in 2006.

It was a problem like especially for the women too.

It was hard to go to school and not wearing hijab and study art.

It was so hard they don't accept it.

(dramatic music) - Then tragedy struck.

- And last day I was there, it was like a big car bombing in the front door for the school.

- [Kabir Bhatia] Two colleagues from her school were killed that day.

- Art school, it was really close to my grandma house and when they hear the bomb, my uncle, he was running with no shoes to the school to see like he think like, I'm not there.

So he was running to school with no shoes.

So that's, and everybody call, my mom she was calling.

It was really hard and there's a lot of friend, we lost a lot of friends.

So that's why I left school back to Jordan again.

- [Kabir Bhatia] All the while, Kubra's family was seeking asylum in the United States and because a relative lived in Northeast Ohio, she and her family eventually moved to Cleveland.

- It was like a new life for us.

- [Kabir Bhatia] The Ohio Humanitarian Group, US Together helped Kubra and her family move to Parma and got her work as a seamstress.

Us together also helped Kubra pursue her passion.

- [Kubra] They helped me to do artshow and to do mural, to do a lot of things, and also workshop for students.

And then I have my studio, I get studio and I do the art for full-time, like a full-time job.

(guitar playing) - [Kabir Bhatia] Kubra's first art exhibition took place in 2015 at the Negative Space Art Gallery in downtown Cleveland.

However, she realized those initial paintings were too challenging for her audience and for herself.

- It's painting of kids during the war, what the war do to the weather and do to the people.

It was sad and I know it's something really hard to show it to people, but it's like it's happened.

There is a lot of kids, they're dead or they are sick of the war.

So we have to show it and it was nice but it was so hard to me to paint this and to be there front to my frame and front to the picture, the real picture.

I have to paint it.

It was so hard and I see what, like in 2003, I see what happened there.

So it's all in my memory or what can I do for, or just to show people because I'm here so happy to be here in America.

So I have to show people something, what happened there.

(instrumental music) - [Kabir Bhatia] Following the catharsis of that first exhibit Kubra has moved on to broader and more hopeful themes.

- Because I'm Iraqi so I have to show people, we like peace, we love art.

I have to show it to people.

So I focus on calligraphy, Arabic calligraphy and like I'm not focusing on it, but I added to my art to show where I'm from and also to paint more things for life and freedom and ease, love.

(instrumental music continues) - [Kabir Bhatia] She's also found inspiration in University Circle at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

- Actually the museum inspired me to do more work and when I go there I see myself there and I feel fresh and I get more ideas, more things.

So it's my home.

When I feel like I need to fresh myself to go somewhere, it's really fun for me and it's beautiful to fresh my mind, see the work there and I really love to be there.

- [Kabir Bhatia] One of the works in the collection is of an ancient Iraqi guardian from the palace of an Assyrian king.

- Yes, I did cry and my dad he cried too and it was very painful because like, it's actually the history of Iraq.

It's all around all the countries in the all the world, not only in here.

So I'm happy to see it here but it's painful.

There's actually a lot of our history there in Cleveland Museum and it's really reminding me of home.

(instrumental music continues) - [Kabir Bhatia] During the pandemic, Derin Fletcher grew her art practice.

She attracts attention and business from social media and seeks to help others with their art through her gallery space in Akron.

Ideastreams' Carrie Wise has more.

(chilled music) (Derin searching through colored pencils) - [Carrie Wise] Colored pencils are a staple for Derin Fletcher.

They have been for years since picking them up in high school.

- I went to Firestone, which is a performing art school and I had a really awesome art teacher, Mr. Dolphin, who pushed me and saw the potential in me and he was actually the first person to give me colored pencils.

- [Carrie Wise] In 2020, as the pandemic was just getting started, video of her colored pencil portraits took off on Instagram.

- It came about because I could not find brown pencils during the pandemic - [Carrie Wise] So she turned to greens, blues and other colors for her drawings.

She ended up creating a series of monochromatic portraits resonating with tens of thousands of viewers on social media.

- That's when I was like, "oh wow, okay, yeah this is happening.

Okay, well let me keep it up."

(chuckles) Because I wasn't expecting the reaction.

I was just doing what I usually do in creating and I created the green image.

Had to be like maybe a midnight, took me a couple hours and just kind of experimenting but I was not expecting it to go the way it did.

- [Carrie Wise] Fletcher says she's always been drawn to portraits.

While she does commissions of real people, her preference is to use her imagination and create freely.

- So I enjoy being able to kind of come up with different characters in my head of who these people are or what their personalities are like.

It's kind of like creating a different character who doesn't exist really.

- [Carrie Wise] Since sharing her portraits on social media, Fletcher has landed work for Hulu and Akron Metro and now she's creating art full-time.

- It jump started with the monochromatic drawings.

It was like, okay, I can do this.

I can become a full-time artist and that's where it began.

- [Carrie Wise] On a recent afternoon, Fletcher was working outside of her comfort zone on a larger piece featuring two women connected by a braid of hair.

- My goal is just to do more drawings of that style, bigger colored pencil drawings and push myself on a bigger scale 'cause I'm used to working small.

I don't usually go beyond the nine by 12 or like 11 by 14.

So I'm trying to push myself to work at a bigger scale.

(chilled music continues) - [Carrie Wise] Fletcher seems to enjoy new challenges.

She opened her own gallery near the campus of the University of Akron for both teaching and displaying art.

She says before opening the gallery, she struggled to get her art on view.

- It was hard finding a space that would either accept you.

I know a lot of different galleries you have to have, they want you to have at least so many solo shows under your belt and it's like, "well I'm trying to get one."

(chuckles) And you know, before opening the gallery, I only had one solo show.

- [Carrie Wise] Part of Fletcher's vision is to help others exhibit their work.

- [Fletcher] It shouldn't be that hard for artists to showcase their artwork.

So that was a goal of mine.

Like when I get a gallery it's gonna be so easy.

- [Carrie Wise] Fletcher's work as an artist, has been a bright spot and what's been a tough time for people in general due to the pandemic, she says art provides her a break from all of that.

- That can be tough to think about on a daily basis.

So having an outlet, like art, to kind of escape that reality sometimes it's amazing.

(chilled music continues) (upbeat music) - [Kabir Bhatia] A new show at Summit Artspace in Akron puts the focus on student voices.

On the next Applause, hear the compelling personal stories behind 'Our voices matter'.

Plus, see how Cleveland Printmaker Dexter Davis responded to a life altering attack through his art.

And RnB crooner, Alvin Frazier, gets us into a groove with his silky smooth vocals.

♪ I couldn't ever ask for much more ♪ - [Kabir Bhatia] All that and more on the next round of Applause.

♪ You have opened my eyes to see ♪ ♪ Just how beautiful life can be ♪ ♪ All in the meantime ♪ Till I find someone (instrumental music) - [Kabir Bhatia] How about now we sample some delectable brews and pair 'em with some collectible art.

It's a perfect pairing that takes place once a year in Columbus between local craft breweries and graphic artists.

(upbeat music) - We're here at Upright Press, independent screen printing shop in Columbus on the South side preparing for our fifth year of Prints and Pints.

(upbeat music continues) - Prints and Pints is a screen print poster fest.

It's a collaboration between the Daily Growler and Upright Press and then we bring in 12 breweries and 12 local artists to create unique posters.

- So the artists treat this project kinda like a gig poster where they have an idea for a beer that the brewery makes and they work with the brewery on what that imagery will turn into.

And I think it's worked out really well that the breweries have given a lot of artistic license to the artists and that's why these posters have been so amazing.

(upbeat music continues) The posters are limited edition there's only 30 and they're numbered by the artists.

One of 32 of 30, so on so forth.

And that's it.

So I think that's contributed a lot to the excitement about the event.

- Which is just a one day event every year.

So only available in person, no like online sales and it's just a really special event for us and for the the community and the artists and the breweries.

- [Jess Hinshaw] Once they had agreed to it, then I let the artists choose which brewery they wanted to work with.

(upbeat music continues) - My name's Dustin Brinkman and I'm working with Seventh Son Brewery.

Yeah, for Prints and Pints.

(soft music) I have a really kind of soft spot in my heart for Seventh Son because when I first moved here, I didn't know where anything was and I just kind of a bit overwhelmed by like one way streets coming from a really small town.

So I lived down the street from Seventh son but I had no idea it was there and I stumbled upon it and I would just go there every night after that.

(soft music continues) Loved their atmosphere that they kind of cultivate there and the drinks and cocktails were always absolutely amazing.

But yeah, I think I just really wanted to kind of, in some ways, like give back to them like by working with them, I wanted to kind of participate in that way because I had such a warm experience there from the get go.

(soft music continues) Talking with the brewery, it's not just Seventh Son and they have the two other breweries the Getaway and then they have Antiques on High.

And so I try to take little components from each sort of location taking the airplane from the Getaway 'cause it has this sort of like plane and travel theme to it.

Taking the Seventh Son cat which is Horatio, also known as the assistant manager.

The Antiques on High van and all those sort of different things.

Really wanted to try and culminate all those different things into one poster that still centers around like that specific brewery which is Seventh Son.

(soft music) Yeah, my process, it feels like there is like a lot of steps in it and it takes quite a bit of time.

So normally I start off with like a very, very generalized sort of like gesture sketch.

The digital collage comes from either photographs I'll personally take or things I'll find on the, like, internet.

And then from there I print it off at scale, like the exact scale I want to print and carve that at.

Transfer that onto the linoleum block that's cut down to that exact scale as well.

So that is fully at like 18 by 24 like what our posters gonna be.

And then from there it's just the sitting and the kind of process of carving which usually takes quite some time.

And then I come in here and I use the presses that are just behind me and then I'll pull that first relief proof.

Once that's dry I'll scan that in and then do a sort of photo merge and Photoshop, transfer that into Illustrator for a live trace and then come back to Photoshop and do all my, like, brushwork and tools and do all like the color layering and stuff like that.

I think what I'm gonna do for the poster like when we go layer wise is like start off with this like super intense very bright yellow that'll get like dulled down a little bit in the shadow areas and stuff.

Like this layer is just meant to only purposefully be like foreshadows to give stuff some depth.

Then red will go next with this sort of background sort of tone that like makes it not just flat in there and then the last color will be that blue that kind of transforms like all that yellow into a green.

I think by the end of this week I'll be done and I can send the images to Jess to get them ready for printing.

(country music) - I'm Natasha Wheeler and I'm working with Yellow Springs Brewery.

I wanted to work with the Yellow Springs brewery because I grew up in a neighboring city so I was really familiar with the Yellow Springs area and it was just a place we'd visit, you know, with my family.

As I got older it was just like the place we'd drive to ,you know, hang out for an afternoon at the shops and things like that.

Lots of natural trails and hiking and it's just one of the more unique spots in Ohio.

(country music continues) When I was paired with Yellow Springs brewery they already knew they wanted to have a poster for a beer.

And the beer is Creative Space, one of their, I think NEIPAs.

Kinda had a few ideas about how it might represent Yellow Springs.

(country music continues) My process for creating the print, I usually like to start with just a messy sketchy thumbnail to try and get out the idea and how I kind of want the eye to move throughout the piece.

And then once I kind of establish that flow, I like to bring the sketch to the iPad.

I wanted kind of a loose freehand approach to it.

So with the iPad I could really get in there and just touch up all those details.

And then once I kind of have that really nice refined sketch I'll bring it to the computer and I'll use a program like Adobe Illustrator to actually separate out the colors into layers and really refine anything that didn't translate well.

One of the ideas was representing this idea of a free spirit, so I wanted to use kind of like flowing lines cause you think beer it flows, ideas flow, creativity flows to then help tie all these different scenes together.

A lot of outdoor elements because the brewery itself is kind of a hub for outdoor enthusiasts.

Hiking obviously is a big one.

Cycling, the brewery itself is positioned right on a bike path.

We've got some repelling hidden in there.

There's skateboarding, kayaking, there's a river, got somebody bird watching, butterflies, flowers, just more natural elements that you might see there.

(cars passing by) I'd kind of say Jess is like a master printer.

I'm always really pleased and surprised when I see like the actual print.

It's really cool.

There's just something about that ink on paper and like the matte quality to it all.

When you've been looking at it through like an illuminated computer screen, it's just so cool to see those colors and it come together.

(upbeat music) - What I see from people who come to the event and buy the posters is kind of his general excitement.

I think it speaks to people's relationship with the breweries themselves and the scene.

- This is a big beer city, you know, there's over 60 breweries in this city, so it's an important thing to people.

- [Dustin Brinkman] People love beer and people love art and so it's nice when they come together like that.

- I think it makes artwork kind of approachable, you know, it's very affordable.

- [John Blakely] To be able to put a poster from a local business by a local artist on your wall is something that's pretty unique.

(upbeat music continues) - A lot of the artists that have done this have gone on to be kind of mainstays at that brewery designing cans, t-shirts.

- Being able to participate in Prints and Pints has like really opened up my like sort of circle of artists and designers and things to work with.

And then I think being able to bring in those different types of artists within that community and see how everyone's kind of taking on these designs a little differently also broadens that horizon to like what poster printing is or what sort of graphic work and imagery kind of really can be through different sort of lenses.

- [Natasha Wheeler] If you're into the local craft beer scene in Columbus, I definitely think it's an event worth checking out.

- Again, just like uniquely positive and good vibes abound.

- [Dustin Brinkman] It's the most relaxed sort of event art exhibition I've like been to in quite some time.

- We're looking for five more years.

- [Kabir Bhatia] Is there an art story you'd like to see on Applause?

Your suggestions are welcome.

Please share your arts and culture story ideas from around Northeast Ohio via email to arts@ideastream.org.

Still in his twenties, Finish conductor Klaus Makela star is rising internationally and locally here with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Let's enjoy a recent performance by the orchestra at Severance as the young Finn conducts Shostakovich's symphony No.

10.

(orchestral music) This performance is one of many available on demand on the Cleveland Orchestra Adella app and a friendly reminder that you can catch up on past Applause programs via the PBS app.

(orchestral music continues) (upbeat music) Well, we gotta go, but you know where to find us.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's Kabir Bhatia.

Let's make a plan to meet up again for the next round of Applause.

(upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] Production of Applause on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by the John P. Murphy Foundation, the Kulas foundation and by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.