Craft in America - Season 16 Episode 02- COLLECTORS
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00:00Now, an art collector.
00:02Evet, bu güzel bir şey.
00:04Ha ha ha.
00:06Biz biraz biraz, biraz daha komfort ve biraz daha biraz daha.
00:10Biz de çok milyon bir teapkiz var.
00:13Bunlar var.
00:16İzlediğiniz gibi bir şey.
00:18Evet, ben.
00:19Mümkün.
00:20İzlediğiniz için iyi bir şey.
00:22İzlediğiniz için çok iyi.
00:24İzlediğiniz için çok iyi.
00:27İzlediğiniz için.
00:29I work with making things. I live for making things.
00:33If I find artists that have imagination, I give them that little push forward.
00:42I was the only guy buying Chicano art.
00:45Being a collector, what you learn is what is original, what is different.
00:50There's two images of Cheech in here. You got to find them.
00:59People equate quilts with hearth and home.
01:27Comfort, safety, and security.
01:33I'm a curator and an artist, but I'm also a collector of quilts.
01:42I taught myself how to quilt.
01:46I have never had lessons, but it just became a passion.
01:51I make narrative quilts.
01:56Either they're about my family or African American history or the status of women.
02:08To be able to use quilts to tell a story, I feel I'm just fortunate to do that.
02:17I draw out the images first, and a textile company prints it on fabric.
02:27Then it's sandwiched with cotton and a backing, and it's then quilted.
02:38This quilt is called Strange Fruit, inspired by Billie Holiday singing the song Strange Fruit.
02:51And it is about the history of lynching in this country.
03:00It's very important for me now to make quilts about these untold stories that are very difficult for people to hear, see, and deal with.
03:11This is the best part of quilting, when you're doing the last, last little step, putting the sleeve on.
03:2738 years ago, I founded the Women of Color Quilters Network.
03:33Currently, we have about 500 members.
03:39I ask them to create quilts surrounding a certain theme, some facet of African American history.
03:49And then I curate exhibitions of their works.
03:54And Still We Rise was a show about events and people that impacted Black America from 1619 to present day.
04:09There's a quilt by Carolyn Crump that depicts slaves on the ship, and she has one that has jumped overboard.
04:19There were quilts celebrating sports figures, quilts about historic Black women, and the era of civil rights.
04:33That exhibition traveled for six years to museums all around the world.
04:41That says a lot for the power of quilts.
04:45This is one of the largest quilts that I have in my own collection, and it was made by Sharon Carey Harlan, and it's called On the Face of It All.
04:59This is dozens and dozens of these squared patches here, and each one has a different face and symbols.
05:08And what the artist was trying to depict is the complexity of individual lives.
05:16Dr. Maslumi, how are you doing?
05:19Oh, I love it.
05:19Good to see you.
05:20Good to see you.
05:20Yeah.
05:21You have to tell me about these new quilts.
05:26I love Cynthia Lockhart's quilts.
05:29She uses fabric.
05:30She uses found objects.
05:32This is a lot of things going on that kind of looks like it's chaos, but it's not.
05:39It's dreamy.
05:39It's got that mood of the whirlwind and being in the stratosphere.
05:45I love it.
05:46Is it for sale?
05:47Of course.
05:48I keep telling Res Vaughn I'm not buying any more stuff, but I just can't help it.
05:56Ryan, Dr. Maslumi has been incredibly important in my life.
06:02She took me in under the Women of Colors Quilter Network.
06:08She invites you to these shows, but she is very demanding, and you have to do good work.
06:15But it was just a phenomenal learning process.
06:23I learned I wanted to approach quilting by telling stories, by being impactful.
06:32Cynthia Lockhart's Levi Coffin quilt was a part of And Still We Rise, and then I purchased it.
06:41Levi Coffin was a white pastor who was risking his life to help slaves journey to freedom.
06:51These circles represent the Underground Railroad Stations, and this would be Levi Coffin's home.
06:58It's a pivotal point.
06:59Right, that was the meeting place.
07:03I'm an artist, and I enjoy being an artist, but a lot of times I wasn't selling.
07:08But being in her shows, I helped my work to be accepted by collectors.
07:22My day job is in advertising.
07:25Want a snack?
07:27Yeah.
07:28When we built this home, I wanted lots of space from my art collection.
07:32And my wife wanted windows.
07:37And our architect did a really good job of combining both elements.
07:43No matter where we go throughout the house, you will see art.
07:46In the bathrooms, in the closets, down in our workout room.
07:50And even I got some art in the wine cellar, so I'm kind of a crazy collector like that.
07:54I have felt in my collecting that women are marginalized.
08:01Their art doesn't always garner the support that male artists do.
08:08Promoting women artists is kind of what I call my jam.
08:14And so my gallery in our home is only women artists.
08:19This crocheted AK-47 is by a local artist named Jen Edwards.
08:29It's just very soft and very pretty, but yet very violent as well.
08:36I collect things that focus in on issues of today.
08:42A lot of the collection is political.
08:45A lot of the work is emotional.
08:47This piece is by Ashley Carroll, and she likes to bring homage to black women's hair.
09:00I actually acquired this piece while Ashley was still in grad school at Miami University.
09:05It's just so exciting for me when I collect work by young emerging artists,
09:11and to see them blossom, it warms my heart.
09:14This beautiful quilt is Cynthia's.
09:20I like that she's telling us to do what we need to do.
09:23Exercise our voice, our rights, beautiful craft, and yet talking about voting.
09:30Every quilt has a story.
09:31Every quilt has a story.
09:33This is your work.
09:34Meeting these artists just adds to the collection and adds to my whole realm,
09:39because I love artists.
09:41I'm like an artist groupie.
09:43This is one of my favorite quilts, and it's called A Lady Sings the Blues.
09:48Many years ago, Cynthia suggested that I be in an exhibition in Cincinnati.
09:55I put it in, hoping that no one would purchase it.
09:59I even raised the price to make sure no one would touch this quilt.
10:04I went on a trip somewhere, came back, and called the gallery manager.
10:10Then she told me, well, the quilt was sold before the show opened.
10:14I said, what?
10:15I want it back.
10:16I want it back.
10:17So she says, I don't think you want it back,
10:20because the person that got it is a well-known collector.
10:25Carolyn and I became really close,
10:30and it was through Carolyn that I met Cynthia.
10:33So it's just, it's this, I don't know, this sisterhood of friendship.
10:40I can almost feel, I can hear her singing this song.
10:44We're all under the banner of needle and thread in the spirit of the cloth.
10:50We both collect kind of similar in some ways, Carolyn, because we go after things.
10:56I have a responsibility as a collector to the artist,
11:01because I know I can't keep it forever.
11:04I have a surprise for you.
11:07It's going to a special museum.
11:09Really?
11:11Oh, my God.
11:12That's a huge significance for me.
11:15It's going to be shown, and people will see it,
11:18and it will exist so much longer than I will exist.
11:22That's just amazing.
11:22I'll let you know soon.
11:24Okay.
11:24Okay.
11:25Which one?
11:26I'm excited.
11:27I'm excited.
11:28Yeah.
11:28We need our collectors.
11:30We need our curators.
11:32We also need our artists to tell the story of what's next.
11:37What is the next?
11:38The mission of the American Craft Council really has two parts.
12:03The first is to help craft artists make a living and a life in craft.
12:10And the second part is to foster a broad, appreciative audience for the handcrafted.
12:16We all do live in the material world.
12:19We are surrounded by objects, and that has all kinds of consequences,
12:23environmentally, socially.
12:25So we, as the American Craft Council, want to get people thinking differently about the
12:30stuff that they live with, and to choose to live with things that are well-made and
12:37thoughtfully made, to have a craft-centered way of living.
12:41Collectors are an extremely important part of the equation when it comes to supporting the
12:51lives and careers of craft artists.
12:53Good to see you.
12:54Can you tell me a little bit about the process that you used for these?
12:58I collect many things, but primarily jewelry.
13:06I think I have just about 200 pieces of jewelry, and it started pretty small, just something
13:12that I would do at craft shows.
13:14And then it became something where I was following artists and really getting to know artists.
13:19Can I try these on?
13:21Yes, sure.
13:23And from collecting jewelry, I started to collect other objects as well.
13:26Some ceramics, a little bit of glasswork.
13:30Being able to come home and see the objects that I collect reminds me of stories, reminds me of memories,
13:36and it makes me feel like my life is decorated in a really wonderful way.
13:42Good morning.
13:43I was astonished to learn how many craft items are made in Baltimore, so I was proud, because
13:51I reside here.
13:52How about the eggs?
13:55The eggs are enameled.
13:56They're silver.
13:56Whether it be visual arts or porcelain or jewelry, I collect them.
14:02Whatever I can afford, I collect.
14:05So now that does have about two carats of pavisette diamonds in the center.
14:10Rebecca makes incredibly beautiful jewelry.
14:12We design, make, and set everything here in Baltimore.
14:17Oh, Rebecca, this is so beautiful.
14:20Collectors are important to our business, and Dahlia is just a very dynamic person, so
14:28having her in our camp is always wonderful.
14:33I came by earlier.
14:35I collect any artifacts that bring me joy or support artisans that I know.
14:42The cheese board, ingrained cheese board.
14:44Daryl Patterson, a dear friend of mine, is a wood artisan.
14:48Oh, wow.
14:49Eliminated.
14:50He makes cutting boards, vases, furniture, you name it.
14:55It breaks down.
14:57In 2003, I lost my index finger in a car accident, and the doctor told me to do fine work, so I
15:05got to make a tabletop, and this tabletop became a profession.
15:08So it means a lot to me when someone invests in my art.
15:14It's perfect.
15:16The object tends to speak to me, and it gets me excited.
15:20I can't stop thinking about it.
15:22It makes me happy, and it typically makes everyone else happy, so it's transcendent.
15:26After water, tea is the most consumed beverage in the world, and wherever you find tea, you
15:50find teapots.
15:51Our collection comprises over 20,000 objects.
15:58We don't live with all of them, because the collection is too big for our house.
16:05Of course, they're ours, so it's like your children and grandchildren.
16:14As an attorney, I did estate planning, so I learned a lot about objects.
16:19I think Gloria has a better eye than I do.
16:23I was more the acquirer, and Gloria was more the appreciator.
16:29Definitely the appreciator.
16:31We have a big antique collection, things from the 1700s on.
16:37This one that looks Chinese because of the bamboo is actually British, and this one came
16:43from China.
16:44We have a collection of miniature teapots, particularly from Victorian times on.
16:54I feel like I'm four or five years old again when I look at some of these.
16:59I used to go Sunday morning to the flea markets, and I saw these production teapots.
17:07These are made by companies.
17:09There's houses, and there's cars, and there's people.
17:12I found them fun, Gloria less so, but...
17:16Such sincerity, you know.
17:19We love contemporary, one-of-a-kind teapots.
17:28We refer to them as containers full of ideas, because I think what the artist was thinking
17:35of or celebrating or worrying about came through in their work and their hands.
17:40Richard Notkin, his works are often very political.
17:49This is from his Broken Heart series, The Chain Around the Heart, a reference to the prisoners
17:56of war in the Vietnam War.
17:59This is one of my favorite teapots, because years ago, I would run seven miles a day, every
18:05day, and if you call it a teapot, it's a teapot.
18:11We have a collection of ephemera or paraphernalia, things that aren't teapots, but that have teapot
18:19or teapot images on them.
18:24Sitting down and having a cup of tea with someone, you know, it's a universal symbol of friendship
18:29and hospitality.
18:35Many of the pieces in our collection have been commissioned, and commissioning was a real
18:45adventure, because you never knew what you were going to get.
18:49And we would talk to...
18:50It's like a blind date.
18:51Yeah.
18:53You would talk to an artist to say, you know, we want you to do something in your language,
18:59your artistic vernacular, and sometimes we were absolutely amazed with what artists would
19:07do.
19:08We have our teapot made of teabags, used teabags.
19:14This is window screen, pistachio shells.
19:17We met an artist who said, I have all these watches, and I can put them together and call
19:24it the watchdog teapot.
19:26There's probably a hundred different watches on there, none of which work very well.
19:35This is Peter Shire's wonderful teapot.
19:38We have a lot of his work.
19:43Teapot Madness, boy.
19:45I come to my studio every day and do different things.
19:58Sometimes it's making coffee.
20:01You guys want an espresso?
20:03I work with making things.
20:05I live for making things.
20:07I'm arguably happy when I'm actually making things.
20:15And sometimes it's making ceramics.
20:23You know, this clay, when it fires, will be white.
20:26But I want this to be very distinct on top, not too transparent.
20:35In the 60s, my direction was towards pottery because it hearkened to a trade, which of course
20:43made it declassé in the art world.
20:46But there was a moment in California clay by John Mason and Peter Volkus and Ken Price using
20:59ceramic as a sculptural medium and had taken up the flag of abstract expressionism.
21:06Peter Shire is a Los Angeles legend.
21:18I'm always attracted to artists who have a vision, a whole artistic vocabulary that's beyond just
21:27making the object.
21:28And for Peter Shire, it's through and through their ceramics that are not very expensive.
21:36It's art for the people.
21:39But his vision extends through his sculpture, his very sophisticated paintings.
21:54It extends to his truck, even to his scooter.
21:59We wanted Peter to bring his special artistic world into the gallery.
22:11I came up with the Rumpus Room from that kind of 50s notion of the Rumpus Room as a place
22:18where anything can happen that you can't do in any of the other rooms.
22:22These works are a cross of design language, craft language, and what we call art.
22:37The teapot is maybe the ultimate object within the lexicon because it's got the most parts,
22:47that we call art, spout, handle, on an axis, and then there's the lid.
22:55I had an idea of combining sculptural values into the teapot.
23:02Yet still, this hydraulic situation could be operative.
23:09How does the liquid go in?
23:10Where does it go?
23:11How does it move within the piece?
23:14This is my Mickey Mouse teapot.
23:16You know, of course, the nose is the spout, and the, uh, one of the ears is the entry for the tea,
23:24and the handle is the other ear, got its balance.
23:33We talked to him about commissioning a mailbox for us.
23:39It's sort of like a giant teapot in a way.
23:41And he has all these little flying figures, kind of oiling the works to keep our mail coming.
23:53But after it was installed, we didn't get mail for a few days because the mailman didn't know what it was.
23:59It was such a funny endeavor, but I'm a collector, too.
24:08My wife, she says, you're a hoarder.
24:11These things I work with, and yes, there are certain things that don't get used, but we take joy in looking at them and maybe remembering a moment.
24:26These two hammers, uh, one was my dad's favorite hammer.
24:33He used this to frame houses, and this is the hammer that was my grandfather's.
24:41They're virtually the same hammer.
24:44It's so nuts, hammers and teapots, but God bless the collectors.
24:58The Renwick Gallery is the Smithsonian American Art Museum's branch dedicated to contemporary craft.
25:14When people walk through our doors, they get a totally different kind of experience than they're used to.
25:20We're not a gallery full of paintings.
25:22We're objects, and people respond to objects.
25:27We try and keep a pulse of what's going on through the arts fairs, through the galleries,
25:32and some of the people that we learn from are the collectors that we work with.
25:37Fleur Bressler is one of the, the quiet supporters who's had just such a broad influence.
25:47She's given many, many objects to the Renwick and other museums.
25:52Collecting for me is like a high.
25:57I was born in 1926.
26:07Washington was really a small southern town when I was growing up.
26:13My family had a jewelry store, and on the top floor was the engraver.
26:25And that was where I would be deposited to be quiet and stay out of the way.
26:30And I'd watch them hand engrave.
26:33So I know what it takes to make something perfect.
26:39The most interesting collectors are the collectors that got in before an artist was very famous.
26:47They had a good eye.
26:48They started collecting early.
26:50They found affordable objects.
26:53Well, my husband was involved politically,
26:56and I was looking for something that was indigenous to Maryland.
27:02So duck decoys was where I started collecting.
27:06She quickly expanded the scope of her collecting to turned wood objects.
27:14I was in the vicinity of the Renwick, came in and out of the rain.
27:20The guard said, there's a wood show upstairs.
27:24I had never seen wood in that many different colors, all those patterns in it.
27:31And if I could have taken the tops off of the cases, I would have.
27:40Fleurie has a very particular way of looking,
27:43and she likes things that are sometimes more avant-garde.
27:48It's got to show imagination.
27:51It's got to show skill.
27:53And it's got to show that it all comes together to make an object that is attractive.
28:03I like whimsy.
28:05And I seem to like animals.
28:09I will buy some wild and quirky sort of things.
28:18Why?
28:19I don't really know.
28:20I'm a gastroenterologist.
28:29And I'm an internal medicine doc.
28:32We were both in medical school, and so I called her up.
28:36That first date turned into four more dates that week,
28:39and then got married and took off on our adventure.
28:42We had a house geared toward the kids.
28:49All the rooms were playrooms.
28:52Then we purchased this kinetic sculpture by David Roy.
28:57At that time, the word collector was totally foreign to us.
29:02We started going to the craft shows.
29:07Oh, here's a good wood booth.
29:09Going to the shows was learning about what there is in the craft world.
29:12And this is all manzanita.
29:15And the leaves can be moved around.
29:19Looks like flame.
29:19We were getting to know the artist.
29:21We learn about their latest series.
29:25Is that paint or rope?
29:27About their techniques.
29:29This is wool that is dyed.
29:31We would buy a little bit and get more comfortable,
29:34and then buy a little bit more.
29:36Oh, my gosh.
29:37Beautiful.
29:38Over about six years,
29:41we found we were leaning towards the wood artists.
29:45The wood artists were very open about their work and explaining it.
29:50The first stage of our collecting was for simple bowls
29:54that brought out the beauty of the wood,
29:56the grain and the figure.
29:58Eventually, we started to understand the abstract nature
30:02of what some artists were trying to do.
30:06We'd like to tell you a little bit about Stoney Lamar,
30:09who we've collected in depth.
30:11This is an early piece of Stoney's,
30:14and it does not look like a brown bowl.
30:17That's because it uses a technique called multi-axis turning.
30:21You still have the vessel in the center,
30:24but the bulk of it is holding up the vessel with the flanges here.
30:29The way that Peter Volka shocked people in ceramics,
30:32I think this was a shocking piece.
30:34So the next series that he did started introducing metal.
30:40Metal adds attention.
30:42Wood is warm.
30:44Metal is cold.
30:49This piece was done later on in his career,
30:53and this is called A Well-Lit Dark Path.
30:57It's a homage to Stoney's experience going through Parkinson's.
31:02We like the piece to begin with,
31:05but once you know the story behind it,
31:07it adds so much more feeling and importance
31:10to owning a piece like that.
31:19An artist's life is not easy.
31:24And if I find artists that have imagination,
31:30I can start giving them that little push forward.
31:38Fleur Bressler has over 70 of my peculiarly shaped wooden spoons,
31:44and she has been the single most active
31:49and supportive collector that I've had in my career.
31:52The first piece of Norm's that I bought
31:57was a spoon-like spoon with a long handle.
32:02But Norm went through a long progression.
32:06I switched from making a variety of things,
32:11canes, knife racks, cutting boards,
32:14letter openers, shoehorns,
32:17to almost exclusively spoons
32:19as sculptural art objects.
32:22But I felt some doubt about what I was doing.
32:32I went to Boston three times for a show.
32:36I think I only sold a couple spoons up there.
32:39People would say,
32:40this is beautiful, but this is too nice to use.
32:43This is a piece of maple that was extra,
32:49left over from the making of Fleur Bressler's
32:52huge, beautiful bed.
32:54I knew the woodworker doing it,
32:56and he saved some of the wood for me.
33:01I begin by cutting out what doesn't belong.
33:06I'm looking for what the wood has to offer,
33:09thinking, what can this be?
33:10I think the best work comes
33:15when I'm receptive to
33:17call it whatever you want.
33:19Intuition or the voice in your head.
33:22It's your head, but is it?
33:25What's that voice?
33:30The inspiration comes from his heart.
33:35I am the spoon maker's wife.
33:38For 41 years,
33:42I have received a heart for Valentine's Day.
33:46Wow.
33:48I always encouraged him
33:50to take it to extremes.
33:53Make a spoon as far out as you can make it.
33:57The less conservative it is,
33:59the more successful it is.
34:02This is a pneumatic drum sander.
34:08Using a sanding drum as a sculpting tool
34:11to refine the shape
34:13came from my very first teachers,
34:17Phil and Sandy Juris,
34:18before I knew anything.
34:20I was a social worker
34:23who gave that up
34:25to do a woodworking apprenticeship
34:27with them.
34:32There are parts of a spoon,
34:33you know,
34:34there's a bowl and a handle
34:35and there's finials.
34:37These little things on the ends of handles
34:40keeps both your eye
34:43and your hand in the piece.
34:47For me to go toward unique
34:50and different forms,
34:52I wanted to see
34:53what I think of as sculptural spoons
34:55in other cultures.
34:58At the Smithsonian,
35:00they store over 3,000 wooden spoons,
35:03ladles, or dippers.
35:05They're mostly gathered
35:06by anthropologists in the field.
35:08and I would open the case
35:11and here's 100 beautiful Filipino spoons,
35:15or spoons from the northwest coast of U.S.,
35:18where some of the most wonderful spoons are carved.
35:21That just added into the mix.
35:30Once I get it to the depth I want
35:33and have enough wood cut out,
35:35then that leaves marks in the surface
35:39that need to be mostly scraped out
35:43with scrapers that I make out of old putty knives.
35:46I'm working first to please myself.
35:57It's about an emotional response to the piece.
36:01That's part of how you know when you're done.
36:04Does it do that feeling?
36:06And if it does,
36:07then I think probably somebody else will like it.
36:11One of the series Norm did
36:25was this series called
36:26A Spoon of Forgotten Ceremony.
36:28And this was a commission piece
36:30that we did from him.
36:31It gives the implication
36:32that it's a spoon
36:34that was passed from person to person,
36:36so therefore there were two handles,
36:38and that there was some kind of ceremony
36:40that was important,
36:41but it was forgotten.
36:44We don't know what the ceremony was,
36:46but still you have the object.
36:51Our collection got so big
36:53that we wanted to deaccession a little bit
36:56and we wanted more people to see it.
36:59You can feel how light it is
37:00because it's very hollow.
37:01It's so light.
37:02And I was able to work with them
37:04to select 43 works of art in wood
37:07for the Renwick Gallery.
37:10Before they left,
37:11we took all 43 pieces
37:13and put them on the tables
37:14in the dining room and the living room.
37:17Of course we miss them.
37:19We miss holding them.
37:22One wonderful thing
37:23about collectors of the craft world
37:25is their commitment.
37:27They are able to let go of it
37:29and then let it live with the nation.
37:31Jeff and Judy's works
37:35were included in our exhibition
37:36This Present Moment,
37:38Crafting a Better World
37:39that celebrated the Renwick's
37:4150th anniversary.
37:43When we walk into the room
37:45at the Renwick
37:46and see our pieces,
37:47a smile comes to my face
37:49because they're all friends.
37:53But we see the inspiration of people,
37:56we see the inspiration of nature,
37:58and it all interacts very well.
38:02Mexican Americans
38:19don't like to just get into gang fights
38:22They like flowers and music
38:25and white girls named Debbie too
38:28I've been a comedian
38:31and an actor
38:32and a singer
38:33and a writer
38:34and now I'm an art collector.
38:38Chicano art collector,
38:39that's what I do.
38:40That's my new profession.
38:48I like to surround myself
38:49with really good paintings.
38:50And all the things that I've learned about art
38:55informs my appreciation of Chicano art.
38:59I discover stuff every time I look at them.
39:03Adios.
39:04Originally, the term Chicanos
39:11was an insult from Mexicans
39:14to other Mexicans living in the country.
39:17The concept being that
39:18the Mexicans who were now living
39:20in the United States
39:21were no longer truly Mexicanos
39:23because they had left their country.
39:25There was something less.
39:26There was something smaller.
39:27They were chicos.
39:28They were Chicanos.
39:30I was really comfortable with the term
39:33because I had never been to Mexico.
39:35I didn't speak Spanish.
39:37But I know I'm part of that.
39:39All of a sudden,
39:40you stop being defensive
39:41about being a Chicano
39:43and being very proud of being Chicano
39:45because this is who we are.
39:48We're original.
39:52I'm of the opinion
39:53that all the Chicano artists
39:56somehow describe
39:58what's going on in their neighborhood.
40:00I always call it news from the front.
40:04This is what my neighborhood looks like.
40:07This is what the people
40:07in my neighborhood look like.
40:09This is the products that they buy.
40:11This is how they fall in love.
40:16This is a painting by Shizu Saldamando.
40:20She's the perfect Chicana for me.
40:22She's half Japanese, half Mexican.
40:24And this is one of her friends.
40:27Part of the Chicano definition
40:29is a defiance
40:30of what the accepted norm is
40:33and they want to be seen
40:34as who they are today.
40:36This is our neighborhood
40:37and these are the people
40:38in our neighborhoods.
40:41I went to school in L.A.
40:44and my class took a field trip
40:46to the Grand Central Market
40:47and the teacher told us
40:50to draw what impressed us the most.
40:54So I started drawing
40:55these giant banana squashes.
40:58And so the teacher walked around,
41:00admired everybody's art.
41:01She got to mine.
41:02She picked it up and goes,
41:04well, you'll never be an artist.
41:06And it was like...
41:07In college,
41:12I took a pottery class
41:13and as soon as I got my hands
41:15on my first piece of clay,
41:16this is it.
41:19This is what you're meant to do.
41:21You know,
41:21you have followed your calling.
41:24But then I joined
41:25the draft resistance movement
41:27and the FBI
41:29was after all of us.
41:32So then I went up to Canada
41:34and lived in a little log cabin
41:36and chopped wood
41:37and made pottery.
41:40I went to Vancouver
41:41and met Tommy Chong,
41:43who was running
41:44an improvisational theater company
41:46in a topless bar.
41:48And I started writing for the group
41:49and then I started performing
41:50with them and everything.
41:51And then the group fell apart
41:53and Tommy and I stayed together.
41:55What do we do now?
41:55How about teaching song?
41:57That sounds good.
42:01We were very successful
42:03and we made records
42:05and they were successful.
42:06All of a sudden,
42:07I had money.
42:08From no money
42:09to a lot of money.
42:10and I could start buying art.
42:16I was always interested in art.
42:19I think I was 10 years old
42:20when I went to the library
42:22and took out all the art books.
42:24And then I started going
42:25to museums at that age.
42:27For a long time,
42:33I was the only guy out there
42:34buying Chicano art
42:35and buying on a mass scale.
42:40I'm obsessive
42:41and so I just let that path
42:43take me where you will.
42:45Oh, obsession.
42:46Carlos Almaraz
42:49was kind of
42:50the first Chicano painter.
42:53And it really spoke to me,
42:55his paintings
42:55and how mysterious
42:57and how spiritual they are.
43:02Carlos theorized
43:04that the Chicanos
43:04were painting something unique
43:06that if they came together
43:08like other groups of artists
43:09had come together before,
43:10they could make a big impact.
43:12so Carlos founded a group
43:14and they called themselves
43:15Los Four.
43:17No, the thing is this,
43:19that you guys
43:19don't want to be hassled
43:20It was collective art
43:22with Carlos and myself,
43:25Gilbert Lujan
43:26and Roberto de la Rocha.
43:2850%?
43:29No, I mean,
43:30the point is
43:30I ask for some control.
43:32Of what?
43:32Of money.
43:33Artists by definition
43:34are very possessive
43:36of what they do
43:36and think they're right
43:38about everything.
43:39No, I'd rather just go it alone
43:41if that's what you want
43:41out of me.
43:42So, you know,
43:43we were always arguing
43:44over the kitchen table
43:45and doing drawings.
43:47You don't really want to change
43:48what you've been doing all along.
43:50You're kind of happy.
43:52They were serious painters
43:54right from the very beginning
43:55but with a sense of playfulness
43:57just like Picasso
43:58has a sense of playfulness
43:59and Frank has his own sense
44:02of playfulness
44:02in his painting.
44:05About 50 years ago,
44:08Cheech called me directly
44:09and I was learning
44:11about selling art
44:12in those days.
44:13So, I doubled my price
44:14and of course
44:15we bargained
44:16and I let him have it
44:17for half.
44:18So, this is actually
44:19how I got into
44:21working with collectors.
44:22The thing about being a collector
44:29what you learn
44:30is to hone your intuition
44:34about what is original
44:36and what is different.
44:39I generally only buy something
44:41that has been haunting my dreams.
44:44That's how I know.
44:45When I got the collection
44:51up to a significant amount
44:53I made the decision
44:55that people have to see this.
44:58And we started
44:58the first big touring show
45:00called Chicano Visions
45:01and went to LACMA
45:03and the Whitney
45:04and the Smithsonian.
45:0614 major museums.
45:08The city of Riverside
45:15has a population
45:16of 317,000
45:18majority Latino community.
45:21In 2017,
45:23we were able to bring
45:24one of Cheech's
45:25touring exhibitions
45:26to the Riverside Art Museum.
45:29It was a huge success.
45:32We had tripled
45:33our normal attendance
45:35for an opening reception.
45:36We had lines
45:38out the door
45:39in Riverside.
45:42Our main library
45:43no longer functioned
45:44as a library
45:45in the 21st century.
45:47So the city
45:47had a new library
45:49but what would be
45:51a comparable use
45:52of this 60,000
45:54square foot building?
45:56The city manager
45:57at the time,
45:58John Russo
45:58pulled me aside
45:59and he said
46:00so what is Cheech
46:01going to do
46:01with this collection?
46:03And I said
46:03well, you know
46:04I don't know.
46:04we can certainly
46:06ask him.
46:08Three weeks later
46:09we sat in a restaurant
46:10and in 45 minutes
46:11pitched the idea
46:12for a Chicano art
46:15museum to Cheech.
46:16And at first
46:17I didn't understand
46:18what they wanted to do
46:19and I said
46:20well, you want me
46:20to buy a museum?
46:23I'm doing pretty good
46:24but I don't know
46:24if I'm museum rich yet
46:26you know, so
46:26no, no, we want
46:27to give you the museum
46:29for the collection.
46:30We were walking out
46:32Cheech and I
46:32and Cheech
46:33didn't want to turn around
46:34but he whispered to me
46:35he says
46:36did that just really happen?
46:52There's lots of art movements
46:54that have come out
46:55of Southern California
46:56but none
46:57has a permanent home
46:58until now.
46:59We've shown
47:01over 300
47:03Chicano artists
47:04and we're celebrating
47:05131,000 people
47:07coming through our doors
47:08the first year
47:09of the Cheech.
47:19This is from
47:20a young artist
47:21Francisco Palomares
47:23I fell in love
47:24with this right away
47:25I mean
47:25a piñata
47:27in a John Constable
47:29landscape
47:29you know
47:32the juxtaposition
47:33of those two images
47:34and it looks like
47:35he belongs there.
47:37I'm a product of East L.A.
47:47the first in my family
47:49born in the United States
47:51My identity
47:56and my surroundings
47:57influence me
47:59that allows me
48:01to reflect
48:02on the beauty
48:03and the celebratory
48:04aspects of my community
48:06The series
48:08where I juxtapose
48:09a colorful piñata
48:11in a classical
48:12landscape
48:13It's just like
48:15in our real world
48:16where we're Latinos
48:17starting professional careers
48:20and all of a sudden
48:22you look around
48:23and it's not
48:23your gente
48:24or your community
48:25The piñata
48:27is a reflection
48:28of all of that
48:29So when we enter spaces
48:31that are new to us
48:33and you feel like
48:35maybe I don't belong here
48:35but yeah
48:36you do belong
48:37and you are
48:37this exotic creature
48:39that brings that color
48:41and flavor
48:41into these spaces
48:42This is a painting
48:49by Gronk
48:50I don't even really know
48:53Gronk's real name
48:54but he's just really
48:57developed his own style
48:59always with a tormenta
49:01La tormenta
49:02This is this
49:03dramatic figure here
49:05I really like painting
49:08as an art expression
49:09That's one thing
49:11the Chicanos are
49:11they're great painters
49:12they never gave up
49:14the brush
49:14They don't just deal
49:16in concepts
49:17you know
49:18they deal in actual
49:19hand to canvas
49:20kind of painting
49:22As a kid
49:26I always did things
49:27to shock people
49:28So I feel
49:29with my artwork
49:29I kind of like
49:30push it to a way
49:31where it's like
49:32where people don't expect
49:33I usually kind of
49:38start with
49:39a central figure
49:40which is
49:40will be the head
49:41The head kind of
49:42isolates
49:43cements it
49:44in a sense
49:44where I can
49:45build off the head
49:46I always like
49:48kind of focus
49:49on my creatures
49:51like the octopus
49:52germ squid
49:53to be floating
49:54in the air
49:54more like a dream
49:55like stick
49:56I try to experiment
49:58a lot
49:58with details
49:59with the Virgin Mary
50:01with the little drops
50:02and there's a collective
50:05that told me
50:06from one day to another
50:07they find different
50:07little areas
50:08where they kind of
50:09like find joy
50:10Jaime came out
50:13of lowbrow art
50:14that's where I
50:14discovered him
50:15but it wasn't
50:17indicative
50:17of his Chicano roots
50:19and so I started
50:20talking to him
50:21I said wait
50:21put some Chicano
50:23elements in there
50:24and you could be
50:24the Chicano
50:25lowbrow guy
50:26you know
50:26it inspired me
50:29to push
50:29towards more
50:30like a post-Chicano
50:31pop Chicano
50:32artwork
50:33and now that
50:37I'm part of the
50:37Chich collection
50:38I feel like
50:38I've accomplished
50:39something
50:40I was talking to you
50:45about this
50:45the other day
50:46I think what makes
50:49Chicano unique
50:50as a collector
50:51is that he understands
50:52that the center
50:53has a broader mission
50:54I like this
50:56you see the wonder bread
50:57flying
50:58we launched
51:00a research initiative
51:01to have oral histories
51:03on the artist
51:04to research the works
51:05in the collection
51:06and identify gaps
51:08so that we can
51:09expand the collection
51:09Chicano understands
51:11that we do have
51:12more work
51:13to add
51:14and support artists
51:16in that way
51:16I started to
51:25bring my paintings
51:26off the wall
51:28and give them
51:29a three-dimensional form
51:31and try to
51:36create my paintings
51:38but in clay
51:39the three sculptures
51:42that Chich has
51:43were the beginning
51:45of the larger pieces
51:47to come
51:48London's a very good
51:52painter
51:52and a ceramicist
51:53as well
51:54I wish I was
51:55as talented
51:56as her
51:57but I can sing
51:58better
51:59so
51:59it all evens out
52:01I've been creating
52:05these lovely ladies
52:07with the two chongos
52:08on the top of my head
52:09which are like
52:10pigtails
52:11or buns
52:11some people say
52:13they're me
52:13I don't really see
52:15a resemblance
52:16but maybe
52:17maybe
52:18Cheech has really
52:23exposed Chicano art
52:25to the world
52:26some of my pieces
52:29that he collected
52:30went to
52:30Museo de Aquataine
52:32in Bordeaux, France
52:33he's also commissioned
52:35me to create a portrait
52:36of his lovely wife
52:37Natasha
52:38as soon as you walk
52:45into the museum
52:46there's a big piece
52:47by the De La Torre brothers
52:49they're the foremost
52:51practitioners
52:51in the world
52:52I think
52:53of lenticular art
52:55we had to cut out
52:57the floor
52:57to fit it in
52:59with lenticular pieces
53:03the image changes
53:05depending on where
53:06you stand
53:07in relationship
53:08to it
53:08there's hundreds
53:10of images
53:11in this
53:11and that keep
53:13revealing itself
53:14and there's
53:15two images
53:16of Cheech in here
53:17you gotta find them
53:18I love how
53:20these doves
53:22appear
53:23and disappear
53:24but the main image
53:26is this transformer
53:27it goes from
53:28an ancient
53:29Aztec goddess
53:30to the modern age
53:31right when we opened
53:34I was walking around
53:35and it was this little girl
53:36and she was standing
53:37in the corner
53:38and she could see
53:39her reflection
53:40and so she was dancing
53:42with her reflection
53:43and she was part
53:44of the art piece now
53:45and melded in
53:46with all the other images
53:47it was a remarkable
53:50interaction with art
53:51maybe the most remarkable
53:52I've ever seen
53:53overwhelmingly what people
54:00have said
54:01is that this has felt
54:02like a homecoming
54:03a homecoming
54:05for the artist
54:05a homecoming
54:06for community
54:07to see their culture
54:08reflected back
54:09to them in this way
54:11what a great moment
54:15for Cheech
54:15to have that collection
54:17that he built
54:18become an international
54:20platform
54:20for Chicano art
54:21yeah that's a nice
54:24painting
54:24the part that
54:28collectors play
54:29is what gives
54:30an artist
54:31inspiration
54:32resources
54:34affirmations
54:36opportunities
54:38but it's also
54:39giving you
54:40emotional
54:41kind of
54:42refueling
54:44to
54:45to give you
54:46that confidence
54:47that they're willing
54:48to
54:48put value
54:50in what you have
54:50been dedicating
54:51in your life
54:51to
54:52you
54:52you
55:21watch all episodes
55:22of craft in america
55:23online
55:24with additional videos
55:25and more
55:26visit craft in america
55:27at pbs.org
55:29this episode of craft in america
55:31is available on amazon prime video
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