- [Alessandra] The San Diego region is home to many artists who work in an assortment of media.

As a curator and educator, I want to know what inspires these creatives.

This is "Insights Into Art".

(birds chirping) (gentle music) In this segment, we're gonna learn about one artwork by one San Diego artist.

Artist Francisco Eme is going to show us how he conceptualized and created his piece, "The Calling".

Hola, Francisco.

Buenos dias.

- Hi, Alessandra.

Morning.

- [Alessandra] Francisco Eme goes into his canyon to gather the sounds of birds, insects, and coyotes.

He incorporates this element into compositions that he uses in his artworks.

Ooh, and you got a view.

- I feel very privileged to be in this space right now and to have this view.

It's very difficult to live in a city and have a view this wide.

You know, our eyes usually don't get farther than the closest building.

- Let's go.

- Let's go.

Coming down here, as you can see, it's not that easy.

It was so amazing for me to have this opportunity, this space, to come here and think, come here and sweat and exercise and at the same time feeling that I was helping the environment that was helping the city, my family, and the animals.

We have some invasive weeds.

These species are invasive, so at some point I'm gonna get rid of those before they scythe.

- [Alessandra] So now we're in choya.

- Choya territory.

- Choya territory.

- So those choyas are pretty aggressive, careful.

- And I'm hearing the birds, lots of birds.

- Here at the bottom of the canyon, you can listen more to the birds and less to the cars.

So once you get down there, you forget about the city for a little bit.

I think one of the most important things is listening because since when I came here and listen and pay attention that you start to, you know, notice not only the birds, but also the insects, the changes, the seasons.

And that is just a, you just need to stop and pause a little bit and then voila, it's here.

- [Alessandra] Francisco has taken hundreds of photographs, videos, and audio recordings.

He gathers the sounds of nature, birds, coyotes, and insects to incorporate into melodic compositions.

We're gonna go in more deep and deep into the canyon, down this ravine.

- Yes, we're going to the little creek.

- Oh, there's a little creek.

- There's a little creek.

It might be dry now, but when it rains, it gets very pretty.

- Ooh, it smells so good.

- The one that smells is the Artemisia californica, - Uh-huh.

- which is this one.

- [Alessandra] I know a lot of people don't like coyotes, but I feel they're just so important to the ecosystem.

- Oh, yeah.

And they get loud.

They are punks.

They are like punk rockers, literally.

They live in this society because they live here, they go, walk the street, but at the same time, they are apart from society.

- As a sound artist, you're thinking of these recordings of the birds and other creatures.

Those are the notes that you play with in your compositions.

- Exactly.

I always tell my students that the most important thing as a sound artist is to listen.

Listening is the first practice.

And when you start to listen is when you start to noticing the music, the ambience, the environment, the birds, all those things.

So listening is the first practice, and then you hit Record.

(chuckles) - So at some point from recording these sounds, you started to think of an object, right, that would amplify or how did that come about?

- I always do my sound installations with speakers and I thought, "I want to try something different."

I was also interested in using materials that are more friendly to the environment.

So I thought that clay was a, you know, great choice.

And I drew some of these speakers, thinking I'm gonna make them in clay.

And I realized that here in the canyon, we get pretty good clay.

This is actually clay soil, and yeah, you get pretty good clay.

So I was able to share some of this clay with a ceramic artist, and he introduced combined commercial clay with a little bit of this and made the first piece.

And that's how the whole thing started.

So I started to collect clay and then share with other ceramic artists in Mexico and here in San Diego and they made these beautiful pieces.

And more recently, I've been doing pieces myself.

- Thinking of the artist as working in a studio is not always the case.

You know, a lot of the things that the artist does is actually out in the world and kind of discovering things out in the world.

- Exactly.

We are playing.

We need to play, and artists are allowed to play, you know, that's our profession.

- That's right.

That's right.

Very cool.

Wow, this is awesome.

Well, thank you for bringing me to your, you know, kind of secret spot here.

That's very, very cool.

(birds chirping) So now that you've gathered all of those sounds from the creatures in the canyon, so then this is where you start playing with them?

- Exactly, I import the files into the computer and I start listening to what I got.

You know, sometimes there's good recordings, sometimes they're not very good and just cut, edit, you know, get the best of it.

And sometimes I add some processing.

Sometimes I just keep them as they were recorded because they are good.

And I basically make music with them.

(birds chirping) - What are these like prototypes as you were working out?

- Exactly, so the first thing that I did was draw images of what I thought could be a speaker, something that amplifies the sound.

For instance, with your hands when you go to this, you know, your sound is different.

So I was basically, I would, I'm basically doing the same thing with these pieces and the speaker.

- And then this is also where you provided some of the clay that you dug from the canyon.

- Yes, exactly.

So the ceramic artist used between 10 and 15% of the native clay.

So it was more like a gesture, you know, like just including some of this canyon into these pieces.

- It's like some of the essence of the canyon was part of the piece.

- Exactly.

- So now that you've developed these prototypes, I'm really curious to see the final piece as it evolved.

Let's see it.

Wow.

That's very beautiful.

Very beautiful.

- This in particular was made by Anabel Alarcon, an artist from Tijuana, ceramic artist from Tijuana, based on the original designs.

And this one includes two different colors of clay plus the native clay.

And the sounds that I decided to put into this piece are the sounds of a mockingbird singing at 3:00 AM in the morning.

I show you in the studio, the sinsonte singing at 3:00 AM in the morning.

And it's a calling and I call the series, it's called "The Calling".

I have a calling of insects, birds, coyotes, and I'm gonna keep recording.

- And so you saw them as when they're presented all together, kind of this orchestra of this different creatures from the canyon kind of having this conversation.

- They have a conversation and they even look like little beings.

You know, this is not just a vase or you know, it looks more like some, like song.

So it has some kind of a quality that makes it look like glossed also.

So they're like a rare presence in the gallery, have this piece and the sound that it's making.

(birds chirping) - Well, Francisco, thank you so much for inviting us to your studio and into your canyon and giving us an insight onto your process.

- Thank you so much for coming.

I hope that you enjoy the canyon and the visit.

- [Alessandra] Wonderful.

(catchy music)