Everybody with Angela, Williamson it's made possible by Fireheart Pictures and viewers like you.

Thank you.

Imagine our world.

If nobody shared their talent, we wouldn't have electricity, emails, smart phone and my personal favorites.

Candy corn, cupcakes and chocolate.

What a gloomy world it would be.

We benefit from other people's talents.

Most importantly, our gifts and talents aren't ours to keep.

We must share it with others.

Like candy corn cupcakes.

So tonight we meet an artist who shares his talent to bring meaning and understanding to global cultural issues like candy corn cakes.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

From Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to Everybody with Angela Williamson, an innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

It looks interesting.

I'm Richard Wilkes, and I am a sculptor who works in waste plastic.

I attended Burning Man 15 years ago, and really love the whole concept there of participating with art.

So all of my work has that level of participation.

it's something that you can walk up to and, you know, get hands on.

Mostly what I do is artwork that rotates and spins.

And part of the reason why I do that is I'm really fascinated by isotopes.

And so I use to incorporate some kind of zoetrope, that relates to nature.

And I really have a strong, interest in the environment and, and all the waste that's happening with waste plastic and, I decided to move my art into a place that really respected materials and didn't create more waste for the world.

And so that's why I'm working with waste plastic these days, at the beginning of any waste plastic process.

You've gotta gotta grind up your waste.

And so this is the shredder that we use.

This is, part of a suite of machines that I built based on the precious plastic open source plans.

So I'm gonna go ahead and turn this on to fit loud.

And so this is breaking it down to small little flakes.

And ultimately, there's some white flakes in there.

But this is what they ultimately look like.

The problem is large scale.

So my art is is big.

And I really want you to, you know, be impacted by it.

And also, there's a level of my art that's kind of speaks to what's happening with plastic.

It's plastic in our environment.

It's it's such a an easy thing.

It's very convenient.

And I think we're all seduced by the convenience of plastic in our world.

And so what I wanted to do is, is sort of have that same concept where you're, seduced by the art, your what is that?

You kind of walk into it, you start participating with it.

You you meet total strangers who are also participating in it.

You start a dialog and that's kind of the crux of and the foundation of what inspires me to do this large scale work for anything.

I gave you that canvas and this big open canvas.

So you want to do something big.

And, you also get to meet a lot of really interesting people.

So part of my process, in creating Zoetrope, is designing them in a way that's structured.

So it's called sequentially design elements.

And so what I do is on the computer, I end up doing a 2D version to make sure all of my elements are doing what, what I want them to do there.

It's really rough.

It's a really quick mockup.

And I built this wheel that spins, and I've got hooked up to a battery right now.

So it spins, and then I use my aluma scope.

App to see what the action is looking like.

And I can control the speed.

So what I'm what I'm getting is the large pedals in the background are moving into center.

And then I've got, the tentacles of the center of the flower.

They're growing and opening and closing, and then the middle part, I'll have these mushroom like elements that, also move into the center.

And this again allows me a 2D look at what the elements will end up becoming.

the action that they'll perform.

This is a little mockup.

I'd like to do a little steadies.

And so you can see it has this very, and a fungi sort of organic looking feel to it.

And that's what all of this will look like, eventually.

And this is all waste plastic.

So if anybody would like to learn more about what I'm doing or volunteer, participate, you can check out my website at Richard Phelps artist.com.

or better yet, come in person.

We have Art walk that happens twice a year.

I'd love to share what I'm doing.

And if, anybody again wants to participate, I'm always looking for volunteers and help.

You.

Richard.

Oh my goodness, I learned so much from you and that filled report.

Thank you so much for being with us.

Oh.

You're welcome.

Glad to be here.

Well, I can't move forward until we talk about the normally, say, the elephant in the room.

Right.

But we're going to say the candy corn cupcake in the room.

And I will try to get through this entire interview without my stomach growling as well.

But, okay, candy corn.

I see that by itself.

Cupcakes, of course.

But you put it together.

What's going on in Richard's mind that he comes up with this incredible art piece?

Well, so, about 12 years ago, I started attending Burning Man out in Nevada.

And, when you go there, you can't really show up with anything.

It's usual.

You got to come up with something that's really mind blowing or, you know, and it's big.

It's a big size five, five mile diameter, you know, area.

So you need to get around it.

So I thought, well, let's create a vehicle that can get, you know, at least myself around and whoever else wants to join in.

And, so I actually, this is not my original art concept art.

There's a woman, Lisa Pon Grace, at a Berkeley, and it's, part of an art car collective that I joined.

And so everybody has cupcakes.

So we all have different flavors, but they're all scaled the same size, so it's 18 times the size of a regular cupcake.

And so how you jump into the group is you come up with your own ingredients.

In this case, candy corn was kind of the primary ingredient.

And there's other types.

There's one that was called an English muffin.

Had the Union Jack on the top.

Yes.

And, and so that actually the candy corn came from my daughter, who was just getting learning how to drive at that moment.

So this was her first car, and we built it together.

So my family and I, we built a lot of stuff together.

So we're always crafting when they were younger and then, you know, vehicles when they're older.

Now.

Okay.

So you come up with this concept and you present it to your cupcake friends.

Yep.

And then you take you just build it and decide, I'm going to take this to Bernie man.

Yeah.

So yeah.

So what happens is that depending on your build skills, I can I can start from scratch.

Just I've got a lifelong passion of building and I used to work at Disney and up.

So a lot of building environments that I've learned how to tell a story and build something from.

Starting to see who Richard is.

Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Keep going.

So, so so I can build.

So, sometimes people will get, like, a, utility vehicle, like a small scooter, and they'll drop that in.

So this one's built from scratch.

so depending on your build skills, you can you build to the level that you're comfortable with.

and but that's, but the base idea is that it's a certain size and you can come up with your own topping.

It seems that this has caught on because you've had some really, incredible people that we know driving this.

Yes, I have creations.

So how does that happen to these walk up to you say, I want to drive your candy cupcake.

Yeah.

And so I'm very open with sharing.

And I love people.

And that's part of what you do at Burning Man is you participate and share and, and and that influences, you know, my other artwork, which I know we'll get into a little bit.

so I'm always offering jump in this, take a ride.

How often do you get a chance to jump into some artwork and actually wrap it around you and, and you get a lot of attention, which, you know, can be good or bad, depending on the kind of person you are.

but it does bring people to you.

This has actually been on like The Bachelor.

And, you know, if you live in L.A., you these opportunities come up, you know.

Yeah.

And so it's, it's it's seeing a lot of, interesting experiences and met a lot of people and continues to and now it's my wife's full time Burning Man vehicle.

Oh.

How fun.

Yeah.

Oh, such a good husband.

Yeah.

Wow.

Now, before we move on from the candy corn cupcake, one more thing.

Do you see yourself doing any more like in the series of cupcakes?

Another vehicle?

Like you said, this is your wife's.

Are you going to do one?

Like we have a his and hers.

that's a good idea, actually.

Thank you.

Yeah.

No.

You know, I think for me, once I build something, I'm.

I'm pretty much ready to move.

On, and.

Yeah, we're.

Starting to move on.

Actually, at the end of it.

and so I'm got too many ideas.

I don't have enough time, you know, to build them all.

So, I've.

Yeah, I'll have another vehicle developing.

I do.

You're an artist.

You have so many ideas, and you cover a lot of different points of view.

I mean, this one, this one's fun, but you take the environment into consideration when you're doing this, but a lot of your other pieces to actually get people to talk about different global issues.

And has this always been part of Richard, or has it been something that's evolved over time?

You know, I would say it's always been a part of me, but I've been kind of revealing it as I've gotten older, as I've developed, you know, more, hand skills and conceptual skills, I guess all the way along through my education.

high school, I went to a junior college for three years, save money to get into college.

I actually went to art center over here in Pasadena.

And, and so all along the way, I can see kernels of, like, candy corn kernels, little nuggets of of, you know, how I was interested in learning about another culture or other people or the unknown, that kind of thing.

And and and then when I graduated from college, I went into had a very commercial career for 25 years, had my own studio and, worked for companies like Disney and, and, target, Nokia and, and that kind of thing.

And and so in each of those proj you know, this ability that we're all connected.

Yes.

And, and we need to kind of really listen to each other and, and try to even the playing field as far as, like, the power hierarchy of that kind of thing.

So I was seeing that in all of my work.

And so eventually I just said, I've got to get my own ideas out there and not, you know, it was great to make money and work with other people and that kind of thing.

But it's burning in your soul and you need to get it.

Out well and burning.

That's when I went to Burning Man.

it was 15 years ago.

I went to Burning Man.

But, right after that, I really felt like I needed to get my own ideas out.

And Burning Man gave me that canvas.

Really big open canvas to do that.

So well.

When we come back from our break, I would love for you to tell us about some of those pieces in the meanings behind that, so that we can not only, get this information out to our audience, but to show how you've taken your art form to be allow us all to be better in this place that we're living in.

So stay with me.

You'll come back after the break, and then we're will.

You'll personally walk us all through some of those art pieces, or to thank you, Richard, and come back as Richard tells us stories behind his phenomenal art pieces.

I do my part, I recycle smart, I do my part.

I read from cosmos.

I do my part to save our planet.

If you drop it for a minute.

If you try to save our planet.

If you tried before, I can.

It can be, dry, pretty and dry and dry.

For more tips on proper recycling, visit our Recycle smart.com.

Do your part.

Recycle smart.

Welcome back.

I'm here going to continue my conversation with Richard.

And we will be students and learning how art can really impact and change our lives.

Richard, you were telling us we spent the first segment just talking a little bit about, you know, the candy corn cupcake.

But really, we were able to transition to the meaning of why you create this art and what's really interesting is that you create this art.

You build it so that we can learn that you're learning, and you start with research.

And normally people don't understand that with artists it is about research, especially if you want to share your message with the world.

So how does that start with Richard?

Well, it starts actually with me, you know, and that's kind of my own personal philosophy that, that I've been developing, you know, throughout my 58 years on this planet, which is if I can check in with myself and understand myself more clearly, more deeply, then I'm not going to, I'm not going to allow anything that's negative or, or any of that kind of toxicity to come out of me.

I'm going to heal myself.

And that's what I've been doing.

And then with my art is actually been a healing process for me.

So, and, you know, to your point about, learning, you know, so it I, I tackle a, like, a simple subject, like one idea was born was water, right?

Yes.

And so, with water, we all take it for granted.

And know I was just drinking for myself.

And so, And then we'll get into the waste plastic thing in a little bit.

But back to the water.

So, I, I did a lot of research.

Took me three years to, to do the research and to build this project called Aqua Trope, one of the, I chose like eight different sort of portals, a ways of thinking about it.

And one of it was, very literal, which is like we have over 30 different types of water within us.

So I'm calling like the ocean within.

And so if you can back to my first point, which is if you're taking care of yourself and hydrating and eating right and exercising and all that, then you're going to stay in balance.

And, and so that was just one of the so it's that that's how it affects us personally.

Yeah.

And then some of the this deal with how ancient water is and, and and how it was revered and in different cultures all over the world back in the beginning of, you know, human.

Like a god in a way.

I mean, people worshiped this, worshiped the water, right?

And it was a level of respect for the water.

Very sacred.

Very sacred.

And we've lost that.

You know, and I was just going to ask you.

Yeah.

How how through the evolution of that do we move away from we were sacred, honored it.

And now we treat it completely different.

Yeah.

Well, I think that goes back to, you know, how you treat yourself.

So if you're if you think of your state self as a sacred being, then you're going to look at everything in a sacred way, you know, so, so that that's that's where I was coming from.

So there's six more discs, you know, there's there's a couple of this that deal with evolution.

And those are the wheels.

There's, there's a disc in the middle that's actually a gear.

And I call that birth because we're all born from water.

Yeah.

Right.

And so that actually is the power mechanism that drives this whole vehicle.

so there's, there's, you know, a few more.

So each disc has a different idea.

And so I it took me, you know, three years to do this because I just wanted to learn more deeply about each of those different areas that I define for myself.

so when you see this thing coming down the street or it's electric and pedal powered and, you know, it's this, it's a sphere because that's water's perfect shape.

Yes, a sphere.

Yeah.

so that's it's kind of a ball looking thing.

And then, so I do take it out to different events and, and that's part of what, you know, when you met, you mentioned sharing.

that's part of what I love doing is taking this story out.

I could be on Venice Beach.

I could be at Burning Man.

I could be, you know, in a in a festival.

I could be, you know, an a maker fair.

I could be so many different places sharing those kinds of stories.

And so it's artful, but it's also mobile and it's functional because I takes me from, you know, A to B or Z, whatever I need.

And you're the person that you have this talent and you're sharing it with the world.

And I think that's what's so important about a talent is that you're doing that, but you're also two at the same time.

You said build to learn.

Yeah, you are educating us with, you know, our relationship with water and how we're treating that.

But it all starts from the inside.

So I love that.

Okay.

So let's talk about another one.

evo trope.

That's my actually that's my very that's my very first piece.

And it was actually it was for Burning Man or, you know, I took the burn man the very first time and it's, it's actually primary theme was about myopic corporate farming practices.

So, so any of my work you can walk up to and you get sort of drawn into, there's a seduction kind of quality to come in.

And what is that?

That's interesting.

And then you find out that maybe that cupcake has an underlying story about gluttony, like a how much food waste there is, you know, so it's sweet looking.

Because of attraction.

It's we first with our eyes, but then that's what we follow.

And then it opens up our minds so that we can listen to the story.

Right.

And then we need to open our hearts to what the story's telling us, right?

Yeah.

So.

So that's.

You.

Love you.

Wonderful.

I'm getting it.

Go on.

Yeah.

So.

So the hope is that same thing.

So.

And it's highly participatory also.

So so you're walking up to this thing at Burning Man.

It's an eight foot diameter wheel that you can spin.

You actually walk up and get to touch it.

So all my stuff is touchable and interact bowl.

You can say that.

And so it's mine.

Yeah.

and so you start spinning in this thing and part of, what you'll see in some of the other footage is I also love animation.

And so this there's an image of this, corn with.

It's a, it's got one eye and the eye spinning around the corner.

So while you're spinning that wheel, this corn is actually growing and this is spinning, and, and and it actually seats three people, but you can get up to seven and drive around.

And so it's that kind of, you know, I guess, duality or, you know, functionality and artful, conceptual, artful, you know, messaging is and what I like to do and.

It's important.

And that piece actually was, in a, Amazonian American art museum show about Burning Man.

And it was chosen, you know, because of all the things I'm telling you about.

Yeah.

So I met, so it traveled to different, museums.

So lots of people across the country got to see it and and hear the story.

So that's what I, you know, I love just getting out there like ambassadors.

And then they get out into the community and people get to get hands on and.

And that's really and I think what I'm hearing from you that's very important with the art that you're doing is not only that, it's hands on, but that when I walk away from your art, I'm going to not only tell the story of the art itself and what it look like, I'm going to be able to tell the meaning behind it.

So now you have toured around how.

I mean, I would love to hear because you've toured around the entire country, how would someone like on the West Coast to the East Coast, how would they interpret?

Do they interpret differently?

Or do we all see the same meaning that Richard wants us to walk away with?

I think everybody sees it in their in their own way.

But but you know, my my points are, pretty simple, you know, I mean, it really starts a dialog.

And so wherever that goes with you, with a total stranger or friend or whatever, you know, it just it I think it kind of ignites and sparks conversation.

That's what I try to do.

And that's actually with my current work.

Now that's all about waste plastic.

Yes, there's lots of layers to that.

That's what I want to talk about because we have you have a few minutes left.

So go into that okay.

Good.

So, so the, the current work I started about three years ago.

And, you know, the waste plastic problem is just it's terrible.

And they put you on about recycling.

It's not happening at all.

They say 9%, but, you know, and it's toxic and we're all feeling it.

And microplastic plastics in our, you know, in our bodies and all that, you know.

So it's not getting any better.

so I wanted to build some bigger pieces that were at the same scale as the problem in a way, you know.

So I'm doing these giant they're about 15ft tall and 15ft wide.

And in this case, there's this project I call Liquid Forest and there's this one spinning jelly that I, that I've been working on.

I'm working on more of them now, but in that case, you actually walk up and you have to power it.

So you're spinning this thing with, again, total strangers because you need a few people to do it.

So I'm bringing people together and then they don't even know it's plastic because it's, it's it's they know it's plastic, but they don't know it's recycled plastic.

And it's got 10,000 LED lights in it.

So it's it's lighting up.

And then that same idea with this, it's spinning.

And so I have strobe lights on that.

And then I have a zoetrope that's built up into the belly of this thing.

and so it's, it's getting all kinds of comments and experiences.

And, I mean, if you just walk up to this and experiences with a few other people, friends or not, and you just have a really great feeling like, wow, this is magical, then then I've kind of done my job in a way, you know, like this, to forget about the hardships in the moment and just be in that moment is what I'm about as well.

So.

So basically, there's a whole series that I'm making, art pieces, and I've been building these machines that help grind up the plastic that it's all found, you know, that I get from the community and, friends and sources and so one grinds it up, one melts it like an injector.

One is an extruder.

and I think you'll see that in some of the footage that we have.

But so I built all that because they weren't available, the machines weren't available to do this.

And so this is.

It was a good thing that you build as well, because sometimes you have to build in order to create your art.

So much of that.

Yeah.

So much of that.

Wow.

Yeah.

New territory.

So you're building new things to get to new territory.

You know, that's.

And that makes sense too.

But so you're telling me it's taking you three years?

You're still working on it, correct?

Yeah.

Well, different pieces are, you know, being finished.

And so those can exist on their own.

But I'm building this bigger experience at some point that will be called liquid force.

Okay.

So my question to you, as we finish our time together, you are building these pieces and you come to completion and you have liquid force in your mind, where would this exhibit be and why should it be there?

Because it gets maybe the most exposure.

You know, you take it back to Burning Man.

We I say to me because.

And we both are educators at heart.

I mean, I see our greatest joy and the greatest, the greatest generation we can fall into is the generation that will be living here when we're not here.

Second young, getting those young kids into that maybe too much for them to turn that with, to get them to experience that.

How do you do that, Richard?

Well, so, I would love to see it in, like, Grand Park, you know, because and they want to be in it's really I know it's influenced by Burning Man because there's no white boxes at Burning Man.

You know, you're out in, in and it's a city.

So you're right.

So that's my model.

So I'd love to do more placed pieces and experiences within LA.

Yes.

And and that way all age ranges can see it.

And at my studio I'm part of this larger, it's called the Precious Plastic Community.

And, and it's a global, you know, kind of network of people that I do what I do, you know, and as far as, like, working with plastic and recycling and repurposing, and so I always I actually have, school groups at my studio.

I have workshops that we're putting together.

So we're, we're, we're trying to educate the community.

you know, they don't have to see my art or experience my art.

They can come to the studio, get hands on that kind of thing.

So that's part of what I love about building community and where I, my studio is, is a big community of artists.

And, and we open, you know, our studios a couple times a year too.

So we're always sharing.

It's doesn't do us any good to sit with it ourselves.

Just let's get it out there.

And and I've loved our time today, but I almost wish that we were sitting in your studio.

Yeah, anytime and everything.

I'm going to make sure I get over there.

So we'll definitely have to do.

As you start to build this, we definitely need to come together again at your studio so that we can I can get my hands and and everything too.

But so my my last question to you as we're here today is you have chosen to share your talent with the world because you have a desire in your heart to show us about global issues.

What's one thing that we could take away with every piece of art that Richard does creates for us?

stop using plastic.

Stop using plastic.

Live a life without plastic.

Live life.

Love it, love it.

Well, we are going to let our audience know how they can reach out to you.

And when that exhibit is ready, even though you have some pieces together, we want to come back out there and do another show with you.

So thank you so much.

Thank you.

And thank you for everything you're doing to educate us and educate that next generation so that they can live a better life.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

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