[elegant upbeat jazz music] [elegant upbeat jazz music fades] - In this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat," the career of a professional woodcarver.

- There's something about wood that pulls you in.

It's organic, and I think it's in our DNA.

[upbeat music] - [Diane] Black-and-white compositions.

- While creating, I'm in this place of peace.

I'm not thinking about anything besides painting.

- [Diane] An artist connected to his memories.

- I usually don't go and take photographs or see the scene and enjoy it or sketch it.

No, I just sit in front of the paper or canvas, and I start putting together what I remember.

- It's all ahead on this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."

Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

Welcome to "WLIW Arts Beat."

I'm Diane Masciale.

We travel to Grass Valley California to meet professional woodcarver Raymond Kinman.

With a decades-long career, Kinman has sculpted signs for Disney parks and is now teaching beginners his craft.

Here's his story.

[upbeat rock music] - Playing music is my passion.

That's where I lose my mind and am in the present moment, and that's really my thing.

Every musician wants to be a rockstar when they grow up, and I figured that's what I was gonna do.

I remember I had this conversation with my dad one time.

I was like 14 or something, and I just told him, "Dad, I know what I wanna be when I grow up."

He's going, "Oh, what?"

I said, "A drummer."

[drum music] He said, "I know Raymond.

Yeah, it's great.

You know, go for it.

But you might wanna think about having something to you fall back on in case the drummer thing doesn't work out."

Thought about it for a while, so I took up the bass guitar as a backup.

I was living in Kings Beach at Lake Tahoe and Marty, a friend of mine, was gonna open a restaurant.

Just off the top of my head, I said, "Well, who's gonna make your sign for you?"

And Marty looked at me, and he goes, "Do you know how to do it?"

I told him, "Yeah, I can carve a sign for you."

[laughs] And I think about it now.

It's like I had no money, no tools, no woodworking experience.

I'm a working musician barely making it and a baby on the way.

But I was pretty sure I could do it.

You know, when you're young, that works to your advantage sometimes.

So that's how I got my start.

[gentle upbeat music] I borrowed 30 bucks from my dad, and I bought my first two tools, which I still use every day, a mallet and a gouge.

The gouge itself used to be about this much longer than it is now.

By sharpening, it's gotten shorter and shorter.

You can just see the soul in it.

My studio's in my home.

When an artist says studio, that's codeword for garage.

So I've been working out of my garage for 46 years now.

It's in Northern California in Grass Valley, nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

Most of the wood I use is a Malaysian hardwood.

It's called, get ready for this, jelutong.

It comes from a rubber tree in Malaysia.

[saw buzzing] It's the type of rubber that they use for chewing gum.

So it's hard to find.

It's expensive, but it carves like nothing else.

It's beautiful, nice blond-colored wood.

So it goes from raw wood, and then there's a stain/sealer, a penetrating oil stain that goes on, just like really a lot of it.

So the wood just drinks this up.

It goes from a drawing to transferring it onto the wood.

What I do is called relief carving.

It's an illusion.

There's some things you can do to fool the eye into thinking that it's deeper than it is.

One of those tricks is the use of perspective.

There's a specific process for doing that.

Cut in your outlines.

Take away the background.

Put in your layers.

Add shapes.

Add detail.

A good composition will have many layers of overlapping objects.

For example, if you look at my chest here as a level, and when I put my arm over my chest, now there's two levels.

Then I put my other arm over here.

That's three levels.

So the more layering that you get, the greater the illusion of depth to the viewer.

Objects that are closer to the viewer are larger and more detailed, and as they get further away from the viewer, they get smaller and fuzzier.

And then to take that into the color stage, which is where it really comes to life 'cause you can do some things with color to increase that illusion of depth, too.

Dark recedes away from the viewer, and light comes forward.

My favorite part is the very end when I'm putting the color on.

It's like, wow, that looks really good.

It looks really magic.

[playful frantic music] I was getting near my 40s.

I get a phone call.

It was from the senior graphic designer, a top guy at Disney Imagineering.

He saw some of my work at a restaurant, and he got my number from the owner of the restaurant.

And that's how I got that lead.

That is just a lucky break.

I've done quite a few carvings for Disneyland.

Last time I was there, I counted there was 14 still there.

So those would include the Indiana Jones Adventure, Country Bear Jamboree, Country Bear Playhouse, Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh, Pooh Corner, Splash Mountain, Hungry Bear Restaurant, and more.

The work I've done for Disney, their theme parks, have been seen by hundreds of millions of people all over the world.

This is part of people's childhood.

It's a powerful thing.

In addition to the signs that I carve, there's doors, fireplace mantels.

And I'm doing these serving platters right now.

I recently gotten into doing tikis just 'cause I always wanted to try it.

And I'm not pretending to be a Polynesian tiki carver, just playing with it.

Super fun.

I've been doing this a long time, 46 years now.

And you know, you can kind of look back and learn some things.

So what I learned there was your greatest asset isn't your education.

It's not your ability.

It's not your good looks.

It's not the quality of your work.

It's your persistence.

And here's another one.

Always do your best work 'cause you don't know who's gonna see that.

And that turned out to be true in my case.

Everyone is an artist, whether you know it or not.

Part of the human condition is to create.

And when we do that, it really puts us in touch with our core spirit.

And we are, that's why we're here.

We're born to create.

- [Diane] For more information, head to woodcarverguru.com.

And now the artist quote of the week.

[elegant upbeat jazz music] [elegant upbeat jazz music continues] Born in Hampton, Virginia, Dathan Kane is a contemporary artist who paints in black and white.

With just two colors, he renders bold compositions featuring abstract shapes that represent what he's going through in life.

Take a look.

[relaxing music] - When you think of art, you tend to think of color, but black and white to me represents the basis of this form of expression.

What can I do with pencil?

What can I do with pen?

What can I do with charcoal?

It's just something that really speaks to me, and I wanna see how I can push that forward.

I've always known I wanted to be an artist.

I grew up as the only child, so started doing a lot of drawing.

It was like a form of entertainment.

My folks recognized the hand talent, and they decided to put me in programs to further develop my skills.

My love for art began to be something I could not ignore anymore.

Virginia State was just a different world.

My major was art and design, and my concentration was in illustration.

So there was always that constant thread of black and white.

Right out of school, I was having a show honoring different dignitaries, men in position throughout Virginia.

It was my first major opportunity.

And while I was working, I knew that I was done with doing something that wasn't really true to myself.

I wanted to just evoke emotion and have people respond to a feeling more so than something that's representative of something else.

So I started sketching out shapes in a sketchbook and seeing where that could take me and been doing it ever since.

[slow dreamy music] While creating, I'm in this place of peace.

I'm not thinking about anything besides painting, and it allows me to break free from the world for a second.

It's therapeutic expressing myself in that way, and I'm able to find this balance of the negative and positive.

These shapes translate what I'm going through, but then it's also something that people can form their own relationship with.

The circle's representing discontinuous things.

It's something that's like ongoing, even with reading from left to right.

Going larger represents moving forward in life and not looking back.

People see all types of things within the work.

"Oh, I see a panda or a teacup."

Then each time you look at it, you see something different.

And that's the fun of exploring different shapes.

If it does impact your audience, that means you're doing your job as an artist.

So it's definitely something on my end that I wanna continue with as best as I can with the tools that I have.

♪ Make it hot, make it hot, make it hot ♪ Working on murals, it's the small areas that make the difference.

Muralists have a different mindset.

It can be challenging at times, but then that's why we're doing it.

I want it to appear flat as possible.

You have bolts and curves and different things.

So it's the surface telling me what to do.

Projects like this, it's extremely important because it's bringing art directly to the public.

So it's having that exposure is something that can encourage or inspire the next artist.

What way can I put my work out there and have it be seen over and over and over?

Katherine Johnson is my great-aunt.

She never really spoke on things she accomplished with NASA.

After seeing the movie and realizing the impact that she left, how can I honor that legacy?

What can I do?

I recently completed some mural in downtown Hampton.

I titled it "Next Door," it being close by to their space center.

I was like, "Oh, I have to do this.

Like, I have no choice."

I've always wanted to hit different markets so people are able to see you being consistent.

At Canvas Coffee, we did two wall murals and into full instillation of paintings, works on paper, works on canvas, and then I also designed one of their bean bags.

I have an installation in the Dollar Tree headquarters at Summit Pointe.

There's a total of six works that were sold to their collection, and you can see them on display.

And I'm also super grateful for all of the work I've been able to accomplish with my peers at the Contemporary Arts Network.

[upbeat music] The show is titled "World of Shapes" really to represent this visual theme park that you can fully be immersed in as you step foot into the space.

I also look at it as a summary of the mural work that I've been doing for the last couple years.

I can bring this inside where it can be viewed on the ceiling, on the floor, on the walls, for them to really just be inside of my world.

It allows me to see that things are possible, be able to get into spaces that may not think that you could.

The gift that I have is for people to enjoy, and it's not just for me to hold onto.

Thank you for collectors, and the different companies wanna be a part of that story, so it's something I'll never take for granted.

[upbeat music continues] - [Diane] Find out more about Kane and his work at dkaneart.com.

Now here's a look at this month's fun fact.

[elegant upbeat jazz music] [elegant upbeat jazz music continues] When Hector Castellanos Lara creates a work of art, he thinks back to his childhood and finds inspiration in his place of birth, Guatemala.

In this segment, we visit Ohio to learn more about his evolution as an artist and the impact he's had on his community.

[upbeat folk music] - [Narrator] Since 1990, Hector Castellanos Lara has made a tremendous impact on the arts community of Northeast Ohio.

From his work on Parade the Circle and Chalk Festival in Cleveland's University Circle, to his beloved Dia de Muertos celebrations in the Gordon Square Arts district, Castellanos Lara loves to share his Latino heritage.

Born in Guatemala City, Guatemala in 1954, Hector Castellanos Lara is the son of a Bohemian artist and a young entrepreneur.

- My mom was a designer for newborns' clothing.

Her name was Marta Reyna Lara.

I remember my mom coming with materials, you know, in the evenings and cutting and measuring everything.

It was a lot of sewing too with embroidering with beautiful designs.

It's in my genes for sure.

I cannot deny it.

- [Narrator] His artist father, Gustavo Castellanos, was a free spirit who died young.

At his mother's bidding, Hector entered the School of Medicine at the University of San Carlos in Guatemala.

But this was the 1970s, and his country's political situation was dangerous.

- 1974 I was in my first year in the school of medicine.

Those days, they were unstable situation with the students and the government also because there were some political issues that were so critical, and many of my friends were disappearing.

- [Narrator] Castellanos Lara's mother and younger brother had already escaped to New York City.

- Because the situation was so unstable, my mom decided to bring me here to the United States.

She decided to get my papers done.

She was already a resident here in those days.

So I came to the United States, New York, in 1977 when I was 22.

So that's where I lived for the first 12 years.

- [Narrator] Castellanos Lara's medical studies did not transfer to the US, so he followed in his mother's footsteps in clothing design, working for an American footwear business in the 1980s.

- By the third year, they knew that I know how to design, to draw and take photographs.

So they hired me to another department to do just that.

So that opened the door for another level into the artistic field.

- [Narrator] By then, he had married, and his wife Liz had family in Northeast Ohio.

- And they told us it would be nice if we can move to Cleveland because, you know, it's a more quiet city, very affordable housing.

If you're raising children, you know, you have better opportunity.

We decided to come in 1990.

- [Narrator] It was in Cleveland where his artistic life began in earnest.

One of his earlier exhibits harken back to his beloved Guatemala.

- People are always asking me why I don't make scenes from Guatemala.

And Guatemala is one of the most important art that is very easy to recognize because the Mayan population, they dress with these beautiful dresses representing different local areas where they live.

All the ideas that I have in my paintings come from my mind, you know, from my head.

I usually don't go and take photographs or see the scene and draw it or sketch it.

No, I just sit in front of the paper or canvas and I start putting together what I remember.

You know, in this case, people from the market, people with sombreros, or people taking a good rest on a sidewalk, those scenes are part of the daily life in Guatemala.

- [Narrator] In the late '90s, a chance meeting with the Cleveland Museum of Art's Robin VanLear led Castellanos Lara to the pageant of a lifetime, CMA's Parade the Circle.

[festive music] - I have been part of the family, working for almost 22 years with Parade the Circle, preparing floats, making giant puppets, also training school kids, the teenagers to adults, and the Cleveland Public Library also.

I did it for many years.

So much fun, so much creativity every year.

Robin VanLear has these great events like Parade the Circle.

She has the Chalk Festival.

So that was another invitation directly to me, and I said, "Yeah, I'll try this new media."

Since then, I haven't stopped it.

[playful electric organ music] - [Narrator] A fellow Latino artist, Salvador Gonzalez, invited Castellanos Lara to help him create a new festival for Northeast Ohio in 2005, Dia de Muertos, at the St. Josaphat Arts Hall on East 33rd Street.

Gonzalez retired two years later, leaving the festival in Castellanos Lara's Hands.

- 2008, we started here on the west side, Cleveland Public Theatre.

Raymond Bobgan was so excited about it and Matt Zone, the councilman from Detroit-Shoreway, also.

And we started doing face painting.

In the beginning we thought it was gonna be mostly children, you know, and teenagers.

But no, there were adults coming and some grandpas, people from all colors.

The honoring our loved ones, it goes to everybody, you know?

It's not just one country, you know.

And even they have different customs or ways to celebrate.

And in one way or another, we sympathize.

We remember them, well, at least once a year.

It's something very good, you know?

It's something that will be very positive for the new generations 'cause we can tell our kids about who was grandpa or who was the uncle who passed away 20 years ago, you know.

So that stay in their memories, and they will continue and pass it on to another generation.

That's why it's so important to keep this festival alive.

- [Narrator] Arts education is a big part of his career as he works with area schools on projects like traditional sawdust carpets for the holy week of Easter.

His most recent activity is at the Art House in Cleveland's Brooklyn Centre neighborhood, working with young immigrants currently living in Akron and Canton.

Castellanos Lara christened it the Gateway Project.

- The idea was to welcome the refugees, welcome everybody, immigrants, to go to this installation.

And we're gonna have some wind chimes made of bamboo materials.

Like you can see, there is no walls, so you can come to different directions inside.

And that was the main idea.

You know, we don't need walls, you know?

So we just need like a foam part of this installation.

They can see new elements.

They can feel people like happy and welcome and gathering at the same time.

- [Narrator] During his three decades living in Northeast Ohio, Castellanos Lara has witnessed incredible growth in the Latino arts community.

- One of the main things for me to tell them all the time is like don't stay with one discipline in the arts, you know.

If you're a painter, that's great, you know, but explore other disciplines because that opens the doors in other directions.

I jumped into making masks and giant puppets for floats, or I go and make sawdust carpets, or I do chalk art.

I really motivate them to explore more because that give you more chances, more opportunities in life, especially in the arts.

[festive music] [festive music continues] - And here's a look at this week's art history.

[elegant upbeat jazz music] [elegant upbeat jazz music continues] That wraps it up for this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."

We'd like to hear what you think, so like us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, and visit our webpage for features and to watch episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time.

I'm Diane Masciale.

Thank you for watching "WLIW Arts Beat."

Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

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