(soft music) - Hello again, and welcome to monograph.

I'm your host, Jackie Clay.

To wrap up our third year of monograph, we're visiting the Gadsden Museum of Art.

The museum has been open since the mid 1960s and has been serving the Gadsden community ever since.

We'll sit down with museum director and curator, Ray Wetzel and gallery coordinator, Autumn Baugh.

Before we get started, here's Birmingham based DJ and music producer, A.P Sways.

(upbeat music) - I cut hair and I play records for a living.

That might not sound glamorous to some people, but to me, it's kinda everything, you know.

And my family eats off of it, so that's perfect.

Birmingham Classic Cuts is a barbershop inside of Seasick Records that I co-own with Newman Evans.

Our barbershop is, I mean, it's a natural thing.

Like hip hop is about being fresh.

Even if your clothes aren't the best, like you wear them a certain way, you tilt your hat a certain way, you move a certain way.

Like it's as a flavor.

(soft music) I did start playing instruments really early on.

When my dad would go to different churches to preach, he would make me bring my guitar.

He would write these Christian songs and he used to listen to like these Argentinian, like funk, like groups from back in the day.

And then he'd say, "I want you to do that solo in here."

And I'm like, "Dad, is God cool with this?"

'Cause I am this lapse, you know.

I remember wanting to make hip hop and I was just passionate about it.

I didn't know music well enough to know that there were sampling.

So my buddy and I back home somehow convinced our pastor to let us record in the church.

Shout out to her, 'cause like she was really progressive for her time.

So we started trying to play like songs from A Tribe Called Quest, like The Beat Nuts.

And when we finished, pop the tape in and we would listen to it.

We were both like, "This is just awful."

Like, "We suck."

Like, "Why are we not... Why can't we get these sounds?"

Just by chance one time, I turned it off and we turned on the radio.

And you know, when you're young, you wanna sound as impressive as possible.

So we're like, "It's on the jazz station."

You know, 'cause we're like, we're that much cooler than everybody else, which we weren't obviously.

But I know this song came on and I just, it blew my mind.

I turned it up all the way, because in the background of the song, I can hear a sample to a hip hop record.

And I was just like, "Oh, snap.

That's what it is."

For hip hop it's like a collage of sounds, right?

My process starts with looking for records.

So I find records that either look interesting.

And after you learn about different musicians and different sounds, you start recognizing the players on the record.

Like, okay, so-and-so played keys on this or bass on this.

So you start developing an eye for finding records and an ear for it as well.

So you run it through your sampler and you find like little pieces that speak to you.

Chop it up is what we call it.

It's just basically, I guess, truncating the sounds.

And you add drums to it.

You add, sometimes other records that kind of match the tones or the BPMs and stuff like that.

It's really nerdy, which is funny because hip hop is such a like aggressive, like cool thing, you know?

And then once I bounce it into my laptop from my sampler, I start playing instruments over.

(soft music) It Kind of makes you feel like you're a part of something bigger.

Like, you know, if you take six seconds from, like a jazz band, like, you know, for those six seconds, you're part of that band, you know.

And you're also the band leader 'cause you've reconstructed it it, and, you know, done something different.

That's one way to look at it.

(soft music) The whole time that I've been making music is I'm just really kind of trynna capture like a feeling, right?

As humans, like we go through so many emotions.

And I work really fast.

I don't sit and look for sounds for too long.

I just, I find something that made me feel a certain way.

I commit to it and I try to get it done as quickly as possible.

And it's not always the cleanest and it's not always the best.

Sometimes I don't even track things out.

I just record it all at once.

And I'm okay with that, you know.

I don't need it to sound perfect because again, the goal is to capture that moment, that feeling.

Deejaying or spinning records in front of a crowd and playing my beats in front of a crowd are two totally different things.

Like got deejaying is all about, you're playing one record here and you're listening to this side on your headphones and you're just trynna match a snare to this one.

And once the snares match, you can let it go.

And you have like a marriage of two records at one time, which is insane.

As an artist, I'm super hard on myself.

So, you know, I don't talk too much about the stuff I'm working on, mainly because I just wanna see it come to fruition first.

And then once it's done, then, you know, I'll share, The music I make is just, really for myself.

And though I want people to hear it, it's still a very personal thing.

My dad passed away and I made a project for him.

It's called Cross and Switchblade.

I went to Los Angeles when he got sick, it was like a time capsule that first week.

I'd haven't listened...

I can't listen to it.

But somebody who I know lost her dad recently and called me and said, "Hey, man.

I listened to that album.

I understood it.

I know exactly what it's about.

Thank you."

So that's my favorite record.

That's my most personal record.

And I'm super proud of it.

I think it's my best work for sure.

It's funny how, like your spirit will speak to you and ask you to create.

Some time, in the beginning, when you start working on music, you know, you're gonna emulate everything that all your favorite artists do.

Once you get past that point, then you get to a point where you're like, Okay, well, but let me like personalize this sound a little bit more.

And let me be honest with who I am.

And that can't be bad because it comes from you, right?

(soft music) - Hey.

- Hey.

- Hi.

I'm Autumn.

- Nice to meet you.

I'm Jackie.

- Nice.

Welcome to the museum.

- Thank you.

- How are you?

- Good.

- Good - Good.

It's a great trip here.

- Yeah.

- Yes.

Fall is here.

So tell me about the Gadsden Museum of Art.

- So the Gadsden Museum of Art has been here for a while.

We have five different galleries in which we show art.

We have a history exhibit on our third floor.

We have three floors overall, but we try to change out our art every two months.

And we have a variety of different artwork that comes into the museum.

We try to show a bit of everything.

In this gallery we have very contemporary works.

- And do you have an application process?

- Yes.

We have that on our website.

The applications go straight to me and then I begin talking to the artist and seeing what gallery fits with them and where they fit into our calendar.

- So if I'm an artist in Alabama, I know I need to visit the website and I know you'll receive that inquiry.

But like, what are the things that you're looking for?

What are those shows that kind of get you excited?

You know.

- So typically what I look for has nothing to do with the medium.

You can be a photographer, you can be a painter, you can just be a fine artist of any kind.

But what I typically look for is something with a story, something with background, something that you can explain that has to do with your history.

Something that has depth to it in any possible way.

- Cool.

Cool.

So I remember you telling me that you are from Gadsden also.

- Mm-hmm (affirmative).

I grew up here.

- Yeah.

Did you have a history of visiting this space?

I actually have been visiting the Gadsden Museum of Art - Yes.

since I was a kid.

It was very different.

It's gone through a lot of changes.

But just to be able to say that I work here now and like how it is now compared to what it was when I was little is just amazing.

It's just to see all the difference.

- Would you say it influenced you?

- Absolutely.

Yes, absolutely.

So growing up in Gadsden, it's kind of a small town.

And when I was little, we didn't have a huge art scene.

And so I've always been an artist since I was little and just to see things and get inspired sometimes I would come here.

And just to see the art here, like when I was little, compared to the kind of art that we exhibit now is just, it feels very personal because of my art that's grown and this place has also grown as well.

You know, it kind of shows how the art world itself can change.

- Oh, tell us about your practice.

So like, you know, what are some of the medium you work in?

Yeah.

Like... - So I am a painter.

I'm a fine artist painter.

I work mostly in portraiture as of recently.

I like to experiment with color.

So I did a series recently that is portraits of my family.

And I did them all in different colors.

Like mine, I'm pink, and my dad is yellow and my mom is orange, my brother is green and my sister is blue.

But I'm also a graphic designer.

So I work a lot in digital media.

So working in something very hands-on and very digital, it's a challenge, but I really like it.

- Is there anything that you, like want folks to know about being an artist in Gadsden and the arts scene in Gadsden.

- Yes.

So a lot of things that people don't know, and I didn't really know growing up, there is more than you think.

So the process of getting a show here is easier than you think.

We are here to help you.

We want new artists to come in.

We want new types of art to come in.

And all you have to do is really look, and it's not that difficult.

Just a quick Google search, or just reaching out to us and we can help you with, you know, just reaching out to other people.

- Its excellent.

Well, thank you so much.

- Yeah.

No problem.

- Next we hear from Indonesian-born and Montgomery-based visual artists, Cynthia Crown.

When we return, we'll talk with Gadsden Museum of Arts director and curator, Ray Wetzel.

(soft music) (upbeat music) - I'm really interested in deconstruction and reconstruction of materials.

Taking, you know, something that may as well be trash and then turn it into something else.

Rebirth.

(upbeat music) I'm from Jakarta Indonesia.

And we have to leave the country because of the riots and political turmoil.

And since my family are Chinese-Indonesian, we were targeted, basically.

So my parents lost everything.

We lost everything.

Living in Alabama, I'm more interested in how we can kind of come together and not necessarily just language, but what really binds us as a community.

Everybody feels, you know, the same emotion, like anger, sadness, happiness, joy, and all of the hope and dreams.

So a lot of the work that I'm making is trying to kind of, you know, find a common ground, a common interest.

I guess what all my work is about, it's quite autobiographical, you know, on one part of it.

I'm always in between things, in between Christian and Buddhist beliefs, east and west, and I'm in between.

It's a balance of things, it's a balance in life.

A lot of the materials I use are items accumulated over the years, the eggshells, the ashes.

And then eventually those items become the painting or drawing that you see around the studio.

So growing up as Chinese-Indonesian, we always have these rituals.

My grandparents from my dad's side is Buddhists, and then from my mom's side is Christian.

So the Buddhist family member will always have this rituals in the morning, you know, praying with their incense and all of these things.

So I started collecting those incense.

And then I would take those burning and I would collect them and I would create ink.

And then since after my grandparents passed away, I started using those ink to create paintings, a series of work called Letter to Loved Ones.

Because really since then I saw them only one more time after that visit.

So this series is like encompasses of all the things that I wanted to say to them that I never get this chance to say.

But hopefully because I'm using this ashes that are being sent, hopefully the message, you know, come across.

I have many different interests and many different theme, but the majority, the main theme is passage of time and how memory and identity, kind of built upon that.

I started thinking about how do I represent life in a more simplified form.

Then it started with a circle.

You know, a circle is a beginning, but it could also mean an ending, but it is a cycle.

So from there, you know, I started creating work, just focusing on circles and then thinking about what other materials I can use to simplify life and the fragility of it.

I hope that my art provides just that quiet moment just to kind of slow down.

And that's where I'm at right now, is making work that would be able to give a sense of space and place to contemplate, to slow down.

(soft music) - Hi, and we're back here at the Gadsden Museum of Art with the director and curator Ray Wetzel.

How're you doing?

- I'm good.

How are you?

- Good.

So tell us a little bit of history about the Gadsden Museum of Art.

- So the museum has been around for over 60 years.

It started as a... Gadsden, had a large following of art and they formed this kind of Gadsden Art Association.

And so it was mainly due to the amount of industry there used to be in the area.

So there was a lot of steel mill, cotton mill, all kinds of industry.

And so people that were attracted this also wanted something to do.

So they started the art association, which led to the foundation of the museum.

And it's changed.

So originally it was just art and just about local art and community.

And so slowly, it's kind of taken on history and other kinds of things to where we are now, which is a community-based art facility, where we show local artists, as well as, you know, national and regional artists.

- So do you get the opportunity to collaborate with other kind of regional arts organizations or regional organizations?

- Definitely.

I made it a big part to travel and meet people.

So, you know, as soon as I got hired, you know, I went to Low Mille and met the exhibits coordinator at the time there.

And then I started going all over the state and meeting people face-to-face and that's been very helpful.

Keeping those relationships have been fantastic.

But the thing that I've noticed the most is like, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, there was this thing of like tearing down the arts.

And it was very hoity-toity.

And like there people weren't working together.

And then you have Sara Garden Armstrong, a ground floor contemporary.

You have, you know, Peter Prinz at Space One Eleven.

But I've been in contact with all of them, and it's fantastic, so.

- And I've heard a rumor, or maybe even attended an exhibition of your work?

(Ray laughs) - Yes.

(Jackie laughs) - Tell us about your practice and what it means to be an artist and also like a curator and a director.

- So it's changed over the years.

I started painting when I was 12 years old, and it was just to get something out or whatever.

But now it's just, I guess, just a commentary on my life basically.

And so trying to divorce the curator, director part of it and just doing what I want instead of something that's kind of palatable.

- As I alluded to a moment ago, I did have the opportunity to see your exhibition.

Tell us just a little bit more about that.

- Shame-based man comes from a...

It was a comedy record in the nineties from one of the members of Kids in the Hall, but his name is Bruce McCulloch.

I noticed that a lot of correlation were happening with the song titles.

So I started like building artworks based on the song titles.

Like I turned it into a party with all these dark themes.

So like, it was all these memories being unlocked from going to therapy and ...

But there's all these thousands of balloons in the room.

And that I even screwed the paintings to the wall to ensure that like people kicking the balloons and children there wouldn't knock the paintings off the wall, so.

- 'Cause they are rather large.

- Yeah.

They're rather large.

- [Jackie] Yeah.

Yeah.

- But it was fantastic.

Getting that out was fantastic.

And I was very happy with the results.

- What was it like being an artist and hanging a show at Walnut Gallery versus like your experience of having artists come to you and you facilitating.

- It feels weird.

So like, I've been hanging art shows since I was 19, 18 years old and I'm 37 now.

And when I was hanging the show, I couldn't even hold the hammer correctly.

Like I was just in the odd, like I was too close to the work.

And so here, I'm very easily saying like, you know, you need to move this, this doesn't work.

We need to cut this, that kind of thing.

And there, I was just like a little kid and like having to make decisions to cut.

So like I was on the other, you know, side of the thing, which made me afterwards very soft when I didn't like something that artists did.

- Are there things that you, like want folks to know about the art scene in Gadsden?

- I just want people to know that we exist.

We're free to the public and it's fun.

There's some cool things here.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having us here today.

- Thanks.

- That ends our third season of monograph.

We can't wait to see you again in 2022.

To take us out, we'll learn more about Birmingham-raised jazz musician, Amari Ansari, who now calls new Orleans home.

(soft music) (instrument playing) - My name is Amari Ansari.

I am a musician, a composer, and a music teacher On any given day, regardless of how I feel, I'm always, always inspired by the idea that there will always be creative minds living in the world.

The human condition essentially is what draws me, just the need to express ourselves, the need to like communicate and connect with other people.

Regardless of language background, the human connection is kind of what inspires me.

You always has to pay homage to those before you.

In order to know where you wanna go, you have to know where you've been.

Its super and super important to be aware of where your music sits, where your creativity sits in this realm of consciousness.

(instrument playing) Music has always been around.

My grandmother was a big band singer.

My mom grew up in the church playing Organ and flute as well, so the first instrument I tried to play was flute.

And when I was eight, I started playing saxophone, was the first instrument I've ever really dedicated my time to.

So at the age of nine, I met my mentor.

His name is Dr. Frank Adams, Sr.

He was the lead alto player for the Birmingham Heritage Band.

I met him through my grandmother and he was my mentor up into his passing.

And he taught me a lot about music.

"Doc" taught me a lot about life, taught me a lot about what it meant to be a responsible human being, a human being that like contributes to society beyond just music.

I mean, it's about the music, but spiritually it's about creating something that is more than yourself.

If anything, from my music.

I want people to feel joy, feel jovial, to feel happy, to be like spiritually moved in a way that inspires them to like create something, to like search for something in their own day-to-day life.

Whether you wanna be the best dancer or you wanna be the best omelet maker, or if you wanna be the best driver.

Anything you wanna do, do it to your best ability and like really enjoy it.

I want people to like leave after they hear me play, after they listen to my music and be inspired to essentially be a better version of themselves.

I originally came to new Orleans for school.

Actually, I got the Ellis Marsalis Scholarship to go to the university of new Orleans.

So I came down, right now I really love the city, I really love the energy, I love the people in the city.

Also I love the history behind the city, musically, and culturally speaking too.

And also there's just a lot of personality to this city.

I stayed here.

I've been here, I guess it's been 12 years, I've been living in new Orleans.

But it's different.

It's different than like my Birmingham roots.

I love everything that Birmingham has instilled in me growing up.

And new Orleans is just like, an addition to that.

(saxophone playing) Currently my main gig is the St. Paul and the Broken Bones.

And I love that.

They are some of my honestly oldest friends in Birmingham, the bass player, I've known the longest, Jesse Phillips.

I actually bought, if you can see, this saxophone from Jesse Phillips when I was nine.

And Jesse, actually, he stayed in touch with me.

He like really showed up.

And eventually I was like, man, I wanna see what you're doing.

And Lo and behold, this is where I am now.

I think last year or the year before we were on tour, maybe 175 days out of the year.

So we do a lot of work.

So when you're on stage and you're performing with other musicians, there's a lot of trust you have to have.

It's like, you're holding each other's hands really.

But you have to at least agree on a lot of different things in very split seconds.

It's a conversation, without words.

A lot of it is body language.

A lot of it is eye contact.

A lot of it's so split second that you make the decisions before you even realize you're in that position.

Even to the students that I keep, like I want them to feel and I want them, the people I play with, the students to feel that they can trust me, as a person, but also as like a creative mind.

Like I got you.

Don't worry about it.

I love when people talk about goals as a musician or just anything with the creative mind, because it's a passion so you wanna do it every day.

But you don't wanna burn yourself out.

So you have to like train yourself to like rest your mind, to ease your mind.

'Cause then when you get 100%, 100%.

If you're gonna do that, do that, if you're working, work, but if you're relaxing, relax.

I know for me, it brings me a lot of peace of mind.

Like setting goals, I have a vision board, I write things down.

And it really helps me, like get to the next level.

2019, I released my debut EP voices, which is an ode to all of the ancestors that have come before me, that allow me to do what I do today.

Even the song content, like the titles of the song, KinFolk is one of the singles I released that is a immediate homage to, like "Doc", Frank Adams and my grandmother, even my great-grandfather, who I actually didn't meet, but they say I'm like the reincarnation of.

For the EP release, I had some of my closest friends, a bunch of people that to me are great musicians, but also great people.

It's good to hang out with people that you love, people that are close to you spiritually, people that push you as a musician to like search for things.

You know, as artists where we're constantly searching for personal worth, efficacy.

There's a lot.

There's a lot to be found in like the journey for purpose, essentially.

So being able to do that with friends and brothers and like a community that is as rich as new Orleans community is a privilege.

To work as a musician is like, it's a beautiful thing, but it also comes, like with any career, with this downfalls.

Like if I'm being honest, there's a lot of highs, but also a lot of lows.

The beauty of that, you have to be able to appreciate the highs when they are there and understand that who you are on the low, it wasn't always beautiful.

Many times as musicians, we define ourselves by like our successes in the music industry.

But the music industry within itself is this somewhat fickle industry.

You need to be able to play music, you need to be able to teach music.

You need to be able to write music.

You need to be able to record music.

Again my mentor did a very, very good job, Dr. Frank Adams in instilling in me that, yeah, this will be hard, but if you love it, if you do what you believe is your best then good things will come to you.

And I would like to think that's what I've been doing so far.

(saxophone playing)