[upbeat piano and drum music] - In this edition of WLIW Arts Beat, the creative perspective of students.

- I felt like the way the work that we exhibited through this show really gave a perspective and a voice to the students, and we could really understand what they were going through.

[gentle violin music] - [Diane] A chamber orchestra.

- Music is interesting because you can't see it and you can't touch it, yet you feel it so intensely.

[audience applauds] We're thirsty for music.

- [Diane] Aerial photography.

- Most of the time I probably fly, I don't get any photos worth printing, but who cares?

I'll get the next image the next day.

Every day I get to fly is a great day.

- [Diane] A public sculpture.

- There was a theme of the public square.

So it's very much about exactly that, the sort of intersection of all of us, you know, where we all meet.

- 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.

In Utah, the exhibit Up Close and Far Away at the Springville Museum of Art allowed students to artistically reflect on their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this segment, we see some of the work and hear from students who participated.

[gentle music] - I'm not a very social person, so I didn't think social distancing would be hard for me because my family is very close knit, so just being at home with them was like a great opportunity and it felt good to be home.

But then it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, 'cause I had to do the entire art process on my own and just like the entire process of, okay, I literally have to take my education into my own hands at this point.

- It was really difficult 'cause a lot of my classes as a senior were communication based.

So the assignments were a lot harder to complete because of that.

They couldn't reflect that communication in a way that would be the easiest for seniors.

And it was also really difficult because these last few months of school would've been where the senior traditions would've been the most.

And so it was definitely a bummer to keep going with school and not be sad about missing out on those senior year traditions.

So yeah, it was hard.

It was difficult.

[upbeat music] - The staff suggested to me in as much as we weren't able to continue having groups and festivals of students come to the high school show, that we give students K12 ages an opportunity to express their concerns, their fears, the changes in their lives.

- I felt like the work that we exhibited through this show really gave a perspective and a voice to the students and we could really understand what they were going through, how anxious they were about what was gonna happen, the optimism of some of the students, the heartbreak of others, the worry about their families.

And then again, just to document the student's experiences.

At the museum, we're historians too and we wanna document history.

And I think this 20, 30 years from now is gonna be such important primary source material for people looking back at what was it like for school children in Utah during the pandemic, and these artworks and their artist statements will really give good insight for that.

- I was trying to show firsthand what the graduates of 2020 were feeling.

People were really sympathetic.

Just reading online and seeing people in posts about how bad they were feeling about the class of 2020.

And the message I was trying to convey was how we feel you know, being at home, just getting our diploma online.

Even if we didn't get our diploma necessarily online, we had to complete those classes online and having to finish our learning without any of our classmates or anything.

I just wanted to show the true emotion that we were feeling and how sad we were that our senior year was cut short and that it's sad, but it's a reality.

And when I posted it, I said I'm sad but I'm happy my friends and family are healthy, and that's how I do feel.

I'm glad that a lot of kids were able to avoid getting sick by being quarantined, and that's the most important part.

- With the piece, I wanted to create something that...

I've always been fascinated with the idea of, you know, really long hair, because I think it's such like a dedication and everything.

And so, you know, going through these ideas of self quarantining, I just kind of thought about the idea of like watching someone's hair grow is a way of seeing the passage of time.

And so how like these past months have felt like forever.

They felt like my hair grew out to the floor and drug around behind me, kind of like that was a part of who I was.

I am sitting at home on my couch, playing by Nintendo Switch and my hair is everywhere, you know?

So that was kind of the idea behind that was my hair being a way of telling, like, I've been sitting here forever.

One of the things that I incorporate into my art a lot is this figure that is in the image.

One of the things I struggle a lot with is gender identity, expression of self, and also connection with my cultural roots.

It's really hard to understand the gender roles in a society that's almost gone, a society that has been almost completely destroyed.

So I created this figure in which red is a sacred color.

In traditional Assiniboine culture, it's a traditional, it's a very, very sacred color.

So I wrapped red cloth around the groin area of the figure as a way of almost, you know, just kind of like putting it in this gender neutral space, even though I feel as though sometimes I do project myself a lot onto this figure.

This figure is me in this visual context and this is sort of like what I'm trying to get across, but as well as like it being neutral enough that other people can put their perspective on it.

- And I think everyone has learned to appreciate school and what it means and actually going to school.

So it's given me a major appreciation for that and for my family, spending so much time with them in quarantine.

It was actually really special for me, just being able to spend that time and be healthy and help our community with staying safe and preventing the spread.

It's okay that we had to sacrifice our senior year to be able to go to school in the next fall, and that's what I was really focusing on.

[gentle piano music] - I don't feel like anything has stayed the same.

I think my plans for life have changed completely since the beginning of the pandemic, and everything has just shifted and it's like in a shifted in a good way, you know?

I think that I've learned through the pandemic that I'm stronger than I think I am, which is weird because my entire life I feel like that's been my family's mantra sort of, is that you can do things that are difficult.

You can do things that are hard.

And to a certain degree, I always believed that but I think it really took a global pandemic for me to truly understand what that meant to me as an individual, because this has been hard.

This has been a hard thing to go through, especially because it feels like for a while there like I did have to do it by myself.

Even though I had family around me it was something that I had to go through.

Like I had my own struggles that I had to deal with.

And I think I've also learned more about myself.

I've learned who I am.

If I were to redo this piece that I did originally for the Springville online art exhibition for the high school about the COVID-19 pandemic, I think I've come to a place with my body image and my self image that I would want it to be a series of portraits, photographs, that have been modified digitally to be similar to the the sculpture itself.

I love the sculpture and I love the format that I used to display it, but I think, you know, I kind of was like, oh this is just anybody, when it really felt like it was me.

And so I think because I've come to grips with my identity and with my body and with who I am unapologetically, I would want it to be me.

So whether that's a painting or another sculpture, I would want it to look more like me.

It's weird how, when I was younger, I used to love pow wows, and then during the pandemic, it felt like I fell out of love with them.

And now that I've accepted who I am identity wise, I think it's going to make it easier.

And so that is what I'm most excited about is seeing my people again.

- For more information, head to SMofA.org.

And now the artist's quote of the week.

[upbeat music] Since 1974, the Reno Chamber Orchestra has performed classical music for audiences in Nevada.

Up next, we meet the talent behind this instrumental ensemble and hear about its 47th season.

[bright orchestral music] - The Reno Chamber Orchestra is a wonderful musical organization that provides intimate, inspiring classical music performances through both our chamber orchestra and our chamber music festival.

Our chamber orchestra is about three dozen people.

Our chamber festival is often two to five to eight people at a time per piece.

So it's much more intimate.

You hear individual voices much more directly and there are many people, vis a vis, a large symphony orchestra who really enjoy getting into that connection, feeling that directness, and also getting to know the personalities of the musicians as well.

The traditional orchestra will have a music director, as we did for the entirety of our history.

However, we actually had the opportunity with our chamber festival and a chamber orchestra to explore two different artistic leaders who could really have specialty both in performing chamber music and presenting festivals, and leading an orchestra and developing an artistic vision for the chamber orchestra season.

- This is a new beginning for the orchestra and it's, I think, the beginning of an even closer bond between the orchestra and the chamber music festival and that's very important going forward.

- As it turned out, we found two fantastic leaders who respectively have decades of experience in their roles as a conductor or a chamber musician respectively.

- My principle role as an artistic director is to think about the programming, put programs together, and to invite the musicians and then to think which pieces would go well together and then which performers would be the best advocates for those pieces.

And of course I'm a player as well, And so I'm often to be found playing in some of those programs myself.

[light orchestral music] - My name is Kelly Kuo and I'm the third music director at the Reno Chamber Orchestra, having just been appointed in July of this year.

I love playing piano.

I think it keeps me honest as a conductor because as a conductor you make absolutely no noise whatsoever.

Your job is to inspire other people to make beautiful sounds on their instruments.

So unless I'm yelling or just primal scream because I'm so happy with joy, I shouldn't be making any sounds whatsoever.

And so piano is an outlet for me to be able to make music with my colleagues.

- We have a wide range of players, some younger, some more seasoned, and all coming together to make beautiful music together.

- This weekend's performances are my first as music director of the Reno Chamber Orchestra.

In that capacity, I will be conducting three pieces, opening with Quinn Mason's "Princesa de la Luna," Mozart's "Piano Concerto Number 22," with James Wynn, local legend, followed by Mozart's "Jupiter Symphony," an unbelievable mammoth work to conclude the program.

[bright orchestral music] - by selecting two different artistic leaders, we are attempting to have two different entities, so to speak, two different specialties, as well as an overarching theme where we bring chamber music and chamber orchestra together under one umbrella.

So going forward, I think our goal really is to get Kelly and Clive deeper roots in our community, a deeper understanding of what makes Reno tick, and in the process I think they will be very helpful in trying to craft programs and explore really interesting artistic ideas that are not only based in classical music, but really relevant in connecting to Reno and Northern Nevada.

- Music is interesting because you can't see it and you can't touch it, yet you feel it so intensely.

You can feel it at a rock concert.

You can feel it when you go to the opera.

You feel it when you turn a CD on a home or hit play in the car.

You might go to a concert and make friends with somebody that you didn't know was gonna be there and you become friends for life.

That's happened to me before, because you're brought together for such important reasons.

We're thirsty for music.

- I think, especially in this moment in the world, where there are a lot of divisions and a lot of views of things that are very polarizing, I think music and the arts, and classical music especially, has an amazing ability to bring people together on a really neutral and joyous middle ground where people can, from all perspectives, share and enjoy this experience together.

So I think it's really important now more than ever, and getting to see people back after this period of time during the pandemic, it just reinforces how important this is as part of our community [audience applauds] - [Diane] Discover more at RenoChamberOrchestra.org.

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

[bright music] - Gordon Campbell is an aerial photographer.

From above, he captures the impressive landscapes of the Eastern seaboard with his camera.

We head to Virginia to find out more.

[calm music] - I love a soft light.

I love when there's a little texture in the sky.

I fly typically at about 40 miles per hour when I'm out photographing.

Very low noise profile, so when I'm flying down low along the marsh grasses and things like that, you're really not bothering anything.

Even birds just sit there and look at me.

Most of the time I probably fly, I don't get any photos worth printing, but who cares?

I'll get the next image the next day.

Every day I get to fly is a great day.

So I started in high school.

Became fascinated by developing the negatives, printing in a dark room, things like that.

But to do that, you had to take photos, so I did a bit of both, and I took photographs all throughout high school and then college as well.

And then after college, it just snowballed into one thing after the next.

But I did not start flying until after college.

And when I was working just outside of Manhattan in New York City area, flying was a weekend escape for me.

Allowed me to jump in a plane after a week of working and go fly places.

[bright music] I try to find those areas that are unknown to other people.

And I sort of like the uniqueness of the Eastern shore.

We're surrounded by water.

It's rural.

And there was this airfield for sale, used to be called Kellum Field Airport, just a fantastic place.

150 acres, total property size.

Late 2002 I came down here.

I looked at the property.

I had an offer in on it the next day.

Fast forward a couple years in 2005, we decided to just make the transition and move on down here.

There's just something to fall in love with for everybody on the Eastern shore.

I became fascinated with these barrier islands that line the Virginia coastline.

They are all preserved and none of them have been built on, and they're just left to nature.

And I started photographing them back in 2006.

I thought it was just amazing and I wanted to document every square inch of these islands.

I can fly over any island and tell you exactly which island that is just by its shape, its form, how it looks, and so they all have a unique nature to them.

Sure enough I saw these photographs.

I said, wow, these are beautiful.

And as I kept doing it, I had a great retail space down in Cape Charles that I was renovating.

I said this would really make a great gallery.

And I said I think my aerial photography might be good enough, but I'll make a beautiful gallery and if people want to come in and look at my aerial photographs, then so be it.

If they want to buy something, then that's even better.

A year prior to that, I bought the aircraft that I'm still flying, which is called a Dragonfly.

It's designed as the perfect aerial photography platform, very maneuverable, very efficient aircraft.

And that's when everything came together, the building, the gallery, the aircraft, the camera equipment, and I was able to present something to the customer right out of the gallery that's ready to put right up on your wall.

I literally just took a gamble.

- When we went down to the gallery and saw his incredible photographs, we knew that his images would be such an enhancement to the Bear Island History and the stories that we try to tell here.

- [Gordon] The Barrier Islands Center Museum is a fantastic supporter of mine.

And they were the first outfit that did a big installation of my imagery to show people this is what the barrier islands look like right now.

- [Sally] We use Gordon's imagery to educate and inspire.

[calm music] - I've covered from New England down to Georgia in this small plane here.

Barrier islands that are built up just don't have the same charm and they're just not photogenic the way these barrier islands are.

It's just wonderful that they're protected.

They're always evolving, always migrating, and then there's always some erosion as well.

And so photographing them as a new experience every year.

[bright music] Not everybody's in love with their job, but fortunately I found something that I'm in love with doing and people have embraced it and people enjoy coming in my gallery.

It's purely 100% passion.

And I think in most careers, you have to have some passion in what you're doing or you're not gonna be successful.

- [Diane] To see more of Campbell's work, go to AtAltitudeGallery.com.

And here's a look at this week's art history.

[bright music] We take a trip to the Florida Keys to see the sculpture Red Nun.

Designed by multidisciplinary artist James Emerson, viewers are invited to step inside and become part of the artwork.

Take a look.

[bright music] - My name is James Emerson.

I'm a multidisciplinary artist.

In general, my artwork is largely focused on representation of the human condition.

This sculpture in particular was executed, there was a theme of the public square.

So it's very much about exactly that, the sort of intersection of all of us, where we all meet.

It's designed to be entered into and it's sort of a panorama.

I've tried to build a place where people can bring what's inside of them into the sculpture as well, you know?

And so that I hope that people get that out of it.

They're part of it.

All of those are real people.

They're all portraits done from life, so they're all of us.

The title is Red Nun.

Calling it Red Nun was something that we learned when we came down here to do the first part of the installation.

As it's been explained to me, as it said it's a marker that helps bring you home.

- The walls are on this 36 degree slope.

Because of the science of optics and line, right, the drawings have to actually be distorted in order to be improper perspective for the viewer.

So it is an incredibly difficult task that I sort of created for myself, but I'm getting an opportunity to make all the elements of the piece better.

- Learn more at KeysArts.com.

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.

[upbeat music] Funding for WLIW Arts Beat was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

[upbeat music]