(inspiring music) (soft music) - [Announcer] Bring the natural world inside with the felt forms of artist Joy Muller-McCoola.

Here from "Art Lover," and Two Selves Gallery founder, Howie Silverstein.

♪ The shadows may haunt you ♪ (upbeat music) And catch a performance from ERIE.

It's all ahead on this episode of "AHA."

♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ - [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include The Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.

(inspiring music) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz, (exciting music) and this is "AHA, A House for Arts," a place for all things creative.

Today, we're heading to Glens Falls, New York to visit with artist Joy Muller-McCoola, who uses wool to create art inspired by water and stone.

(soft piano music) - I'm a fiber artist, textile artist, working predominantly with wool.

I mainly focus on water issues and create things that look like water and look like natural stones.

I love the relief quality of the wool, that I can bend it and float it.

I can make areas thicker and thinner.

And so then, there's more depth, physical depth that you can actually touch.

(soft music continues) For me, water is our essential element, we can't live without it.

And right now, we're going through a time where either we have too much in some places or too little in some places.

I'm dealing with issues of erodification and flooding, both sides of that coin.

But I also love water.

And this Hudson water that we're right near connects me to where I grew up and then comes all the way up to here.

So, just, rivers are amazing.

We can't live without 'em.

(pleasant music) In my household, everybody made things.

And that's the way we raised our kids too, you can make whatever you need.

So, my parents came to this country in 1950 after surviving the Holocaust.

My dad found a job as a pocketbook maker in New York.

So he was always working with leather, and I would be able to go into the city with him sometimes and sit at his work bench while he would design and cut and sew together leather handbags.

My mom would sew anything only because the first apartment they rented had a sewing machine.

So it was just expected that we would all draw and make things.

So, I've been an art teacher in New York City, puppetry specialist, took a detour and did some preschool special ed, and then came back to teaching art.

And when I finally moved to Glens Falls, I taught here for 30 years.

And now I get to play the way I wanna play.

(intriguing music) The first time I had the opportunity to make a piece of felt with a friend at her studio, I made a flat piece of fabric, and then I thought, "Oh, now I have to sew this."

And as the daughter of a seamstress, I really didn't feel like sewing anymore.

So the second time, she posted, she was giving a class that was to create a cat cave.

And I said, "Whoa, that's sculpture.

I wanna make sculpture."

So she said, "Well, you have to learn how to make a hat first, how to work with a resist."

A resist is a piece of plastic that goes between two layers of wool.

And then I can go over here and use that to lay my fiber around.

So this is sheep's wool in the form of roving.

And then I'm wrapping the wool fibers around the edge, and as I rub them with soap and water, they start to inter-mesh, almost like making dreadlocks.

And it starts to become... Have substance to it.

You're creating surface and form simultaneously.

That's the magic of felt to me.

Once I learned to felt, I never painted again.

My work kind of goes in three different directions.

There's the water work, there's the stone work, and then the third branch is locks, using locks of sheep wool that haven't been washed.

And I can felt them in with my fingertips so that the locks stay up and curly.

I start with sketching when I start a new piece.

And, you never get enough time to make everything that you sketch out, but you choose one, a concept.

Sometimes that concept comes from what I'm hearing on the radio or what's affecting me at the moment.

(inspiring music) I hope people enjoy seeing water, but at the same time, I hope that maybe they'll look a little bit beyond and think about the issues that we have to deal with.

Last summer, I was hearing all about the fires in Maui and came up with a piece that I ended up calling "Scorched Earth."

I have another piece that's called "Flow Free" and that's about dam removal.

And nobody would know that, they would enjoy looking at this flowing free bits of water, but to me, it's also saying the more we remove little nuisance dams throughout the Adirondacks, the more opportunities wildlife and fish have to get back to their spawning grounds in places where they need to go.

Another piece I'm really pleased with is "Running Out" and it's my largest piece that's one piece.

It's ten and a half feet long, and it starts full and roaring with lots of white curly locks, but it ends in little drips of water, and it's about aquifers and other water sources running low.

There's something about the tactile feedback from rubbing the wool through my body that I just respond to.

I like also not having a pencil or a paintbrush.

It's directly my fingers on what I'm working with, there's no intermediary thing.

Why do I need to make art?

Like, I don't... I just have to, like, everybody in my family has to make things.

It's just who we are.

- Two Selves Gallery is a contemporary fine art gallery in Troy, New York, featuring work by established and emerging artists from across the globe.

Jade Warrick sat down with the founder, Howie Silverstein.

- Hey Howie, welcome to "AHA, A House for Arts."

I'm super excited to talk to you today about Two Selves Gallery.

- Thank you for having me, I appreciate it.

- Of course.

So to begin, I know you started this gallery, kind of, helping one artist, kind of like lift off.

And, like, help support their career and eventually that kind of branched off, but you kept building the gallery up.

So what made you continue, I don't know, building towards this project and this gallery in Troy?

- Well, first, I loved it.

So, like, that helped a lot.

You know, I just absolutely love everything about it, connecting artists with their collectors, connecting collectors with an artist they may like, introducing people to new art that they then love, you know, that just was awesome and I couldn't love that any more.

And it really just was like an organic thing that kind of grew from that one artist and meeting other artists that wanted to work together, and having fun planning cool projects together with the artists, so... - Yeah, just having a cool, fun time, right?

- Exactly.

(Jade chuckling) That's what it's all about, right?

- Yeah, so I know you started off as a collector.

You even had, like, online galleries and it was more into that world until you, like, had a physical space.

So, how did those intertwine and what made you actually want to go to a physical space coming from like that type of background?

- Yeah, I was... I collected art myself, and a big fan, I love art.

And then, it was a very big online community of artists, you know, promoting themselves, groups and people just, like, kind of collecting and sharing with their love of art.

- Yeah.

- Art appreciation stuff.

And so, that online community just really lent itself to being an online gallery.

And so, we were able to do that and build a community around the gallery and around the artists that we worked with, and we threw our own kind of pop-up events.

And they were a lot of fun, but I didn't want to constantly take down the art.

I wanted to have a space for people to come and see the art, not just, you know, for that one weekend or that one opening.

And so I wanted to have a home for the art where, you know, people could just stroll through and enjoy it.

- Yeah, and that's what made you really wanna have, like, this gallery space?

- Yeah, that's what... Yeah, I was online for seven years or so.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And I just felt that I needed a home, I needed a place to hang the art permanently.

- Yeah.

- And I wanted to do more.

I wanted to have more events and have it not be such an endeavor to throw a... Put a show together.

- Yeah, and how does you being, like, a collector, and you still are a collector, but I know you really were intentional and started as, like, a collector within the arts.

- Yes.

- How has that, like, influenced what you, like, put in the space or how you run the space?

- I think, entirely and 100%, it influences everything about the gallery and my approach to running the space and what I want it to be.

I was a collector, I am a collector.

I'm on both sides of that transaction.

I run a gallery and I also am visiting galleries that I love and artists that I like.

- Yeah.

- I always wanna stay true to what a collector would be happy to see out of a gallery.

- Yeah, like, what really brings them in and kind of enamors and captures their attention, also based off of your own.

- So yeah, for the stuff- - [Jade] Yeah.

- that I enjoyed and loved, I wanted to, you know, either do my own taste on that or, you know, continue that kind of vibe of just making it fun and not just, you know, as stuffy as it can be sometimes.

- Yeah, I will say when I walk into your space, it's like colorful and, like, in your face and, like, so many interesting pieces of art.

It's like you immediately walk in there and you just see, like, just so many beautiful, like, loud and proud pieces.

- I appreciate that.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And I do love that.

When people come in for the first time, they're... 'Cause it's a little... You wouldn't expect it from the sidewalk - - Yeah.

- and then you walk in, you're like, "Whoa!"

- Whoa, full on graffiti everywhere.

- Yeah.

- You know, these giant monsters, like, cool stuff.

(Howie chuckling) - I love that.

- So, you talked about, like, making art accessible but without like cheapening it.

So, what does that even mean?

What does, like, accessible without cheapening it even mean to you?

- What it means to me is just art, artwork, what the artists are doing.

Creativity is so very important and it's powerful and it should be respected.

And so, I don't wanna do anything that hurts that and I wanna keep that in its place, but it also should be enjoyed and loved by everyone and I don't wanna gate-keep it.

- Yeah, like you put it, 'cause it is important.

And, when do you think like... I don't know, I think we even spoke about, like, people who may just make the same thing a million times and just sell it like that.

- Yeah.

- Would that be something that you would not be really too interested in or... - Yeah, we don't wanna... Yeah, 'cause that's just... - Replication.

- Yeah, and she seems like they're... They're not saying anything new.

- Mm-hmm.

- They're just kind of... Are they just after more money, and they're just putting it... Stamping their image on another thing - Mm-hmm.

- Or, is it a commodity or are they doing something with their art, you know, I guess, you know?

Even though it is a commodity, I wanna respect it more than that.

- Yeah, you're like, "I just don't wanna see this as, like, a sell, basically."

- Yeah.

- So I know that kind of goes into my next question, which is, I know you bring in artists that you respect their craft, you respect who they are, and in rare form, you're not a, I guess, sales-driven gallery.

Like, you wanna make sales, you know, you wanna make your artist money, - - Yeah.

- but you also don't just wanna have artists who are just coming into that space to strictly just sell, you actually wanna have, like, a mutual respect for the art and the work.

So, like, why is that important to you?

- I wanna stay true to myself and I wanna stay true to what the gallery has always been.

I don't want to sell out just to work with someone that's not really on the same vibe, and I think the gal- It's not just a space, it's not just a retail space.

So if you're not really fitting with the energy and the vibe, it's probably not the right place for you anyway.

- Mm-hmm.

- And so, I want it to be... And I want it to be fun and I wanna enjoy it, and I don't want it to be something... A work, or, you know... It's a serious business, but I want it to be fun and and enjoyable.

- Yeah, and that is important.

Don't you have, like, a gallery going on, like, right now with, like, Well Dunn?

Like, that was an amazing show, you know?

- Yes, yes.

- And you wanna talk a little bit about, like, how he made accessible pricing and like how... - Yeah, his real name is Greg, he goes by Well Dunn.

And he's just an amazing artist, an amazing character, and he's a great, really kind person.

And he just spews art, I think, all day long.

He just makes art constantly.

- Mm-hmm.

- And he made... He has huge paintings and he has small little drawings on pieces of paper.

And that way, if you want to buy a six-foot, you know, painting, you know, for your house and spend a few hundred dollars or a thousand dollars, he has that for you, but if you also have a little... You know, your wallet can't quite afford that, you can spend $40 and bring home some original artwork and have a painting hanging on your wall, or a drawing from Well Dunn on your wall.

And I think that's really neat that he's able to walk that line of doing both without hurting his paintings.

He's just able to make it, protect the integrity, but also make it accessible, - - [Jade] Yeah, and that... - which is perfectly what I want.

- Yeah, and that's exactly what I love about your space too.

It's like, again, when you walk in, it's like, you know, no matter what income... You know, I went in and I bought a drawing for like five bucks.

It's like no matter - - Yeah.

- what income level you're at, you can buy, like, the thousand dollar paintings, but then you also have beautiful prints or, like, maybe sometimes stickers.

It's like, I really do appreciate that about your space, it's like you can become a collector.

There's so many paths to becoming a collector - - [Howie] Right.

- in your space.

And I think that is really important.

So how does Two Selves, like, show... Like, how do you support the artist and show respect to artists?

'Cause, you know, sometimes the industry is not always too kind, you know, to artists.

- I think that I just wanna always support the artists as best as I can, never take advantage of them.

I wanna make sure that they have long-term careers and that we're after... That we're not after short-term gains, short money, and that whatever we do, supports them and doesn't hurt them in the long run.

I want know what their goals are.

If their goals are to price their art and bring it all home because it's... They wanna price it at $5,000 and have no one take it home, like, I'm okay with that and that's what they wanna do.

Or if they wanna price it a little lower and be aggressive and get it into people's homes, I think that's all right too.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And so I just wanna do what is right by them and also what they wanna do.

- You also have a really easy entry point to your space too.

You do, like, these Tuesday night sketches and, like, some other types of events, you wanna break those down a little bit?

- Yeah, every Thursday and Friday night.

- Thursday, there we go.

- Yes.

- [Jade] Thursday sketch.

(Howie chuckling) - Thursday and Friday night, we have a studio space above the gallery, and it's just a open, free to come, no time, come anytime between six and eleven, we're up there hanging out, - - Mm-hmm.

- socializing, a bunch of different artists from all over the area.

Just come and hang out, we have supplies on the wall, you can help yourself, you can bring your own.

And it's just a nice space to be around fellow creatives and be inspired and, you know, have fun.

- Yeah, and I remember I went to an event of yours and I heard artists who are part of that Thursday sketch or your sketch club, being like, "Oh, my God, this is like the first time I had, like, a piece of work, like, hung in a gallery that was mine."

So that was, like, really cool.

You really built the confidence up of a lot of folks - - Yeah.

- who were in that.

- That was awesome.

Yeah, we call it sketchbook club.

- Yeah.

- And so, we had a sketchbook club art show.

And so, it was a show for everyone that was part of that sketchbook club.

And some of them are professional artists that have shown in galleries before, and then others are, you know, amateur artists, or, you know, burgeoning professional artists that have never had their art in a gallery before.

And so it was really fun, there's no entry there.

All you had to do was show up, you know, be part of our club.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- And then your art was in that show and everyone submitted two pieces, and it was just such a fun show.

That was a really good time.

- Yeah.

And you being like, kind of, like a newbie to Troy, did it surprise you how many amazing artists are in the area?

- Yeah, that is the biggest surprise I had, that coming to Troy, that I've... Yes, sketchbook club does bring a lot of artists that wanna come to the studio and hang out, but I've met so many amazing artists, I would've had no idea, live in my area.

And there really is a ton of amazing talent in Troy.

And they really come out in support of each other too.

They're not... It's a nice community of artists that all want to see each other succeed and show up for each other.

- [Jade] Yeah.

- So it's been really awesome.

- Yeah, and it's really awesome to have a space like yours that really just supports that ethos and really just supports our community because we really do need a space like that.

- Thank you, I appreciate it.

I'm stoked to be able to be, to do it in the first place, so I appreciate that.

- And I'm stoked you exist.

(Howie chuckling) So, all right, well thank you, Howie, for joining us today.

- Thank you.

- We appreciate you so much.

- I appreciate you as well.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Please welcome a band called ERIE.

(drumsticks ticking) - Four, five, six, seven.

(upbeat music) ♪ Lay it on me once you are ready ♪ ♪ Go and seize control ♪ ♪ Make it all your own ♪ ♪ Pace yourself, take it slow and steady ♪ ♪ Come on, heal your soul ♪ ♪ With your story told ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ (upbeat music continues) ♪ Your youth was stripped before you were ready ♪ ♪ Yeah, you lost yourself ♪ ♪ In a private hell ♪ ♪ Take a breath, let your hands go steady ♪ ♪ I will walk you home ♪ ♪ No, you're not alone ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ ♪ The shadows may haunt you ♪ ♪ I can't even fathom, no ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I want to see you shine this time ♪ ♪ The shadows may haunt you ♪ ♪ I can't even fathom, no ♪ ♪ Step out in the light, step out in the light ♪ ♪ I wanna see you shine this time ♪ (upbeat music ending) (drumsticks ticking) (bright music) ♪ I see no way around it ♪ ♪ Growing up is for the meek ♪ ♪ And the trials and tribulations ♪ ♪ Are all things that must be seen ♪ ♪ When I look out at my children ♪ ♪ With their hearts upon their sleeves ♪ ♪ There's one thing that I hope they learn from me ♪ (bright music continues) ♪ My id was all compounded ♪ ♪ On the wrong side of the tracks ♪ ♪ And peace of mind was something ♪ ♪ Even the best days seemed to lack ♪ ♪ We all want to start a fire in the places we come from ♪ ♪ While trying to outgrow the things that we have done ♪ ♪ But still I can't ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ But still I can't ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ I always craved attention ♪ ♪ But was shy as all get out ♪ ♪ And the friends that keep you going ♪ ♪ Will not always stick around ♪ ♪ But I kept my guitars so I hope you still play the drums ♪ ♪ I've tried to leave behind the songs we sung ♪ ♪ But still I can't ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ I wanna show you while I can ♪ ♪ You don't have to suffer for your plans ♪ ♪ Even devils have to dance ♪ ♪ My friend ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ May your heart always be ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ Still I can't ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ ♪ Young ♪ ♪ May your heart always be young ♪ (bright music ending) (soft music) - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit wmht.org/aha, and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Matt Rogowicz, thanks for watching.

(soft music continues) (soft music ending) - [Announcer] Funding for "AHA" has been provided by your contribution, and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include The Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and The Robison Family Foundation.