- [Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by: The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. U.S. Bank Foundation, and the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, proud supporter of the arts in our community.

Additional funding provided by... And viewers like you.

Thank you.

- In this edition of "The Art Show."

A celebration of Nigerian heritage using bold and colorful textiles.

(bright music) A public school music program has been educating for over 90 years.

And preserving the history and architecture of cottages through art.

It's all ahead on this edition of "The Art Show."

(bright music) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to "The Art Show," where each week we provide access to local, regional and national artists and arts organizations.

Yetunde Rodriguez is a Dayton block and screen print artist.

She uses her Nigerian heritage to create bold and colorful textiles for lifestyle and home decor.

Yetunde is branching out and adding her designs to the Gem City Market.

Here's her story.

(light music) [Yetunde} - I was born in Nigeria, and textile fabrics are a huge part of our culture.

We celebrate a lot of different things, births, marriages, deaths even, and fabrics are an integral part of that, because, we use it to denote groups of people within the celebration.

I came to America when I was 13 years old.

We pretty much immersed ourselves into it.

Our parents thought it was best that we speak English at home so that we can really get fluent with the accent and everything, so though we understood our traditional language very well, we spoke English at home, and I kind of, I wish that they hadn't have done that, because now I think in English.

And once you lose, once you start thinking in a language, you lose any other language.

I was 19 when I joined the Navy.

And then I entered a program that would send me to school.

The Navy was paying for you to go to school, you just pick a major.

So I was like, "Well they have graphic design so I'll do that", you know, and I am so glad I did because it did work out, ended up working out.

So I enjoyed it greatly.

So that's how I ended up there (laughs).

I got to screen and block printing purely as a means to an end.

Going back to growing up with all the textiles that I did, all the colors and some of the older African design, I just though, "Wow, it would be so great if I could see home decor with these patterns," because back then, of course now it's all the rage, but back then, there wasn't a lot of that.

So I said, "Wow, I would love to make throw pillows and bedding and things like that with these patterns," but I didn't know the first thing about getting fabric made.

So and I remember, you know, when I was in school for graphic design we did a unit on block printing, and I said, "Oh, you know, this would be a great way to produce this stuff."

I've always been the type of person, if I don't know how to break into it, the quote-unquote "right way," I'll figure out my own way.

So I just kinda started experimenting.

I first started out with screen printing but it was such a much more technical pursuit and block printing gave me that instant satisfaction that I wanted because with very simple materials you could create a design that you can then use to print on all kinds of fabric.

So, that's how that started (laughs).

I started out with Adinkra symbols.

They are actually Ghanaian symbol.

It's a pictorial language form where a symbol means a certain concept.

So you might have something that's kind of heart-shaped, but with a little more, with some scrolls in it and it represents love.

So I thought that was, it would be really beautiful to create fabrics for the home with these concepts, with these symbols.

When people look at like Africa design, the traditional African design, they tend to only interpret it in very primitive kinda colors.

To me kind of drab a little bit.

So I wanted to see them in pinks, and greens, and just different colors like that and also like I could combine symbols to make a new symbol.

I could create another motif similar to that symbol but work them into a repeating pattern.

The beauty of stamping or block printing, you can use something as simple as a potato or the stem of a celery stalk or something.

So you don't have to go out and buy a bunch of materials, you can use what's already there.

Each print is never the same even when you use the same stamp because if you apply pressure and you didn't get enough pressure in parts, it's gonna be a little fainter.

So each time you go to press because it is human, it's never exactly the same.

And I love that about it because it gives a variation.

You can pull a second print from the same stamp and have a totally different look.

Something that I feel like gives it soul, you know, because it reflects the hand of the person that's making the print.

With my block and screens, I've created tote bags, little pouches, little small bags, the bulk of my stuff is bags.

And then I've got these fabric plant pot holders that are very popular, I sell those wholesale.

I've made, pillow covers like toss pillows, curtains, bedding, tile coasters.

I've painted mirrors, just really any surface that can take a design, I'm gonna try to put a design on it (laughs).

So with the Gem City Market, I had never done anything like this before and it was very exciting.

I was a little scared a little bit, like, "Okay will I know what I'm doing?"

And I'm really appreciative 'cause they really took a lot of my input working with the rest of the team of course, we came up with the color scheme for the building, the interiors and the exteriors, the paint colors, I designed like the bathroom tile, the placement of the tile.

I did the aisle markers, the little lighting at the check-out.

It was all a very integral part of the work that I supplied for them.

I basically gave 'em about four or five designs, I can't remember, and then we, together we decide what should go where and, you know, I designed also like the department signs where it says like, "Produce" or, "Deli", or whatever.

So it's been a really wonderful experience.

Some days I just sit here and I marvel like, "Wow, all this from me playing with my little foam stamps and (laughs) carving my little blocks."

So, what's been helpful for me is to not see my work as just limited to the surface.

I'm just like, "Wow, we really did it!"

This is been a long time coming and is just a testament to the will of the people, and now it's here and I'm very honored to have my designs grace their building in, you know, whatever different form it is.

With this art form for me, it's been a way to connect with my heritage and home.

Cultural heritage is very important to me because it informs who you are.

People who feel disconnected to their cultural heritage end up drifting.

And for me in a way, you know, coming here at such a young age and being disconnected from it for so long, I felt torn kind of between two worlds, trying to figure out where do I fit, and remembering my heritage has been a great way for me to feel rooted.

- If you'd like to learn more about this, or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org or thinktv.org.

When you think of a high school music program, learning the harp isn't the first thing that would come to mind.

However, this public school harp and vocal program has been around for over 90 years.

Check it out.

(harp music) - The words that come to mind when I hear the word harp are beautiful, difficult and underappreciated.

- It's something that becomes a passion that you just don't want to release.

(harp music) I began playing the harp in my ninth-grade year at Cass Technical High School.

It's beautiful to look at.

I think it was probably more the aesthetic of the instrument than anything else.

So, I said, I'll try this.

(harp music) Cass has the oldest established harp program in a public school, which began in 1925.

- We've been around for over 90 years first starting with Velma Froude, Patricia Terry-Ross, and now currently Ms. Lydia Cleaver.

- Wanting to come back was the fulfillment of my desire to continue to be a part of the program and to see it go on after Patricia Terry-Ross retired.

And it was a great opportunity to be able to work with older students and do more sophisticated things musically and just come home really.

- Harp ensemble is the class where everybody plays the harp.

And then harp and vocal is a combination of harp and choir at the same time.

(choir singing) (harp music) - And one.

- [Both] Two and three.

(harp music) - I came into this class and I thought it was really hard, like really, really hard because I've never been in a music class.

I didn't know how to read notes, but it got better after a while.

- In Detroit, unfortunately we have suffered significantly in the fine arts area in our school system.

And so when students arrive in my classroom, for the most part, they don't know anything about music.

So we start from the very beginning.

Stretch.

Stretch and slide down a little bit.

It's a practical skill.

They learn to solve problems in real time.

They learn to work collaboratively, in addition to being able to apply principles of math, they make connections to literature through song.

- They say that the harp is the hardest instrument in the world.

So I feel like you can learn a lot of things from the harp that you can use in life, even if you're not going to pursue music in college or in the future.

- I think it prepares me for everyday life in the way of not giving up on things because it's really easy to give up on an instrument like the harp 'cause it's hard.

It's teaching me to accept challenges and use it as an exercise to better myself as a person.

- Look, 'cause that time, we didn't have any problem with what chord to play.

When I see the students can learn how to figure something out that is super exciting for me because they have learned patience, how to break something down into parts that you can then put together again and create a whole and then actually give life to it to create an emotional aspect of it and then share it with other people.

(harp music) (choir singing) I've never sang with a harp before harp and vocal, which is very interesting.

Watching the harpists play as we sing, it's another form of expression.

When we crescendo, they crescendo and decrescendo.

It's very expressive and it's very essential in conveying the message and sharing the music with the audience.

(choir singing) - I find music that is in our library typically, that has worthiness that they can dig some meaning out of.

♪ Going home, going home ♪ - Today we're working on two songs, one called "Steal Away" and then one called "Going Home," which they're both essentially about having peace with yourself and being ready to go to heaven.

- It's a tribute to one of the many songs that slaves used to sing.

- [Lydia] Three and four.

♪ Going home ♪ - [Lydia] Same freedom for everybody.

♪ Going home ♪ ♪ I'm just going home ♪ - As a black singer, it's really important to know the history of the songs.

It really helps to convey the message to the audience, to have people relate to it.

- It means to me that we're doing something good, we're giving people something that maybe they didn't know they needed.

(harp music) - I've heard Ms. Cleaver play the harp and it's inspired me to keep going with what I want to do because she's so passionate about it and her passion has driven her to be great, that it inspires me to be great in what I want to do.

(harp music) - It's incredible.

I always, I play and then I'm like, it's nothing compared to her.

She can play it right at that instinct and it's beautiful.

(harp music) - It's actually very angelic to hear the sound of the harp, especially the way she plays it with such passion.

It only encourages us to sing the same way with a lot of passion.

♪ I'm just going home ♪ - Much better, so now.

I'm extremely proud of my students.

I am extremely fortunate to work with young people who get what it means to be responsible and to grow, and they do it through music.

(harp music) - After I leave high school, I might go to college to play the harp and I want to find a way to incorporate harp into mainstream music because you don't really see too many harpists in mainstream.

So I want to figure out a way to maybe make a new genre of music or something like that.

The experiences that I've had here at Cass Tech have made me grateful for the things that I have, especially with the harp program.

- We know that we'll have connections with people forever.

People that we know, if we need something we can call them up in 20 years from now, and we'll know that we'll have support.

- The great thing about it is that everyone who's come through the program has seen the benefits of it and the beauty of it, they can see, wow, this was really an important part of my life.

And so we have that support and it is one of the jewels of the district.

It's something that is unique and it belongs to Detroit Public Schools Community District.

(harp music) (bright music) - "The Art Show" is going to be traveling around Southwest Ohio.

You might see this logo in your neighborhood.

Follow the travels of "The Art Show" on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @thinktv and @cetconnect.

And check out "The Art Show" hashtag.

It's called Canvas With a Cause, a group of Florida painters is helping to preserve the history and architecture of their city through their paintings.

Take a look.

(tranquil music) - You can take a look around Indian Rocks Beach and see that it is very different from other communities around.

- Indian Rocks Beach prides itself on preserving the best of the past.

- The Island, there was really nothing here in the '20s.

I mean, there were just a mile without any cottages.

So it really wasn't until after World War II, then people started building cottages, and mostly people from Tampa.

And this was a second home.

- Here is a place that you can time travel back to the 1950s and feel what it was like.

- Indian Rocks Beach uniquely has managed to maintain a small town character.

- [Wayne] And there's a strong local desire to protect and retain that character.

- Our plein air cottage artist took the plight, and instead of tearing down those old homes to create a sense of what yesteryear was like and refurbish those homes back to the way they are today.

- Not only is the artwork incredible, but the story and the advocacy, it is a story in and of itself.

- If you've probably seen them, but they were these glorious dresses, and they're very free spirits.

And they're basically our Hollywood.

- My name is Helen Tilston, and I was born in Ireland, and have been painting since I was young.

- Mary Rose Holmes, I'm one of the plein air cottage artist, and enjoyed art all through my childhood and up through college.

We moved here approximately 22 years ago.

We came only for one night, and we never left.

- And then met Mary Rose about 18, 19 years ago.

So we met at a course in our course and just got along famously, it was a life drawing, and we both agreed we love painting outdoors, so we took our easels outdoors and great comradery, and painting daily.

- [Mary Rose] We'll paint in the morning, we'll come in and have lunch, go back out because of the shadows.

We love the shadows in the late morning, great shadows in the late afternoon.

- Plein air painting is a painting in situ or on location.

- Plein air is painting outside.

You see the light, you see the shadows so much better.

If you paint from inside, you're usually painting from a photograph, and a photograph makes the painting flat.

You don't see around the tree.

You don't see around the cottage.

- Once you paint outdoors, it's very difficult to go back to the studio, because there's reflected lights when you're outdoors.

You're aware of the sights, the sounds, the smell, the mood.

And I think as an artist, you put that into the painting.

- When you take a look at some of these works, you can't help but look at the beauty of it.

There's color in here that is amazing.

There's the scenery.

There's the architecture.

There's the plants.

It's absolutely stunning.

And then when you actually see it in person, you're like, "Oh, this is just amazing."

- We love them.

- They really are our royalty.

- Many paintings capture my sight, but not all capture my heart.

And we only paint originals.

We do not duplicate our work.

So then when the painting goes on to you, some of you is also included in that oil painting.

- We are often approached while painting, and we love it.

We can paint and talk at the same time.

And it's really neat, because as we're painting, they are noticing these wonderful cottages, also they're noticing our paintings.

And a lot of times they buy them right off the easel.

- They approach us because they're curious, it is not often that people see plein air painters.

So, people are quite surprised when they see us.

And some say we're like the dolphins, it's gonna be a good day if they see us painting, because it's a rare day that you see dolphins too.

- We adore them.

They are our treasurers.

They're really connected with the cottages.

- I think the plein air artists have had a tremendous impact in raising general public awareness, not just in Indian Rocks Beach, but in the surrounding area about the nature of the cottages and the fact that they're threatened.

- What started all this was the fact that developers are starting to tear down cottages and old places along here.

- Places that have been ruined and have been destroyed forever by the large concrete condominium buildings.

- Great wall of Florida.

- Just wall to wall condominiums.

- [Jim] And so they wanted to recognize the need to keep those places.

And so they've painted a lot of them.

- I think by preserving some of these beautiful cottages and allowing future generations to see what Old Florida really was and how beautiful and quaint and just absolutely drop dead, gorgeous old Florida was.

- We wanted to capture the essence of the cottages, the beauty of these little cottages, just get their memory on a canvas.

- Each cottage that was demolished and each condo that went up got a variant.

So city hall had planning and zoning, had to give out a variant.

So we were telling people as we painted, they said, "Why are they pulling down this cottage?"

Well, you could do something about it if you went up to city hall and objected to the variances.

And people started to do that.

- But to be able to encourage others, to fix them up and rehab them and preserve them and keep them so that there isn't some big concrete wall that goes up between beautiful Shell Road and the Gulf of Mexico.

- Once you smash a tree, you can plant another tree.

Once you smash a cottage, you'll never get it back.

It's gone.

- I think they've been a great asset as far as letting folks know that, okay, this is something unique to our community and we need to do everything possible to preserve these structures.

And can't think of a better way to get that message out than through what the plein air artists have done.

- Did you miss an episode of "The Art Show"?

No problem!

You can watch it on demand at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes, as well as current episodes, and links to the artists we feature.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "The Art Show."

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal.

Thanks for watching.

(bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for "The Art Show" is made possible by: The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. U.S. Bank Foundation, and the Virginia W. Kettering Foundation, proud supporter of the arts in our community.

Additional funding provided by... And viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has been made possible through a grant from The Bahmann Foundation.

Thank you.