VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE # 317
AIR DATE: 02 09 2024
FULL SHOW TRANSCRIPT

SHOW OPEN
((Animation))
((VO/NAT/SOT))
((Topic Banner))
Carving Art out of Wood
((SOT))
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
Really build something. Now we are helping a lot of students. We wrote a grant to build a mobile woodshop and train a new generation of carpenters.
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
A Bridge Between Art and Technology
((SOT))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
So, I was very curious about how people move through a kind of immersive installation.
((Animation Transition))
((Topic Banner))
Because She Loves Music
((SOT))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Creativity is the ability to self-manage and create your own life. And that's what democracy is all about. And so, for me, arts education is fundamental to being able to instill democratic ideals in the next generation.
((Open Animation))


((PKG)) SCULPTOR
((TRT: 07:43))
((Topic Banner: Carving Art out of Wood))
((/Produce/Camera/Editor: Jeff Swicord))
((Map: Washington D.C.))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Blurb: Margery Goldberg Is a wood sculptor and gallery owner in Washington D.C. who has been heavily involved in the city’s arts community for decades. She also runs a non-profit to teach DC residence woodworking skills.))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
My first sculpture class was in Rochester, New York, when I was ten years old. It was at that moment that I knew who I was and what I was going to do.
((MUSIC/NATS))
Art is…it’s kind of an expression of your soul, of your experiences. And I had been taking years of dance class before then from the age of four. So, I really love dance, and I really love sculpture. You know, I mean what is sculpture but dance, you know, in a moment in time.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Courtesy: AP Photos))
When I came to Washington and GW [George Washington University], and it was really the revolution years, [19]68 to [19]72. I have always been a truth to power person. I have never been afraid to speak my mind, and loudly
((Courtesy: AP Photos))
where I got my nickname in college which is Megaphone Margie.
You know, I did art, I did dance. I even did, I was very interested in Eastern Religion.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
I figured I am going to spend my life in art, so I want a well-rounded degree. And your art is only as good as your life experiences. When I opened my first studio in Georgetown after I graduated college, I was selling my work for more than my professor was selling his work.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
The general philosophy of sculptors in wood, and it’s very African, is they say they let the spirit out of the wood.
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
One of the reasons I like wood so much is, it talks to you. It changes depending on how you carve it. It changes with the grain. You know, artists have been creating figurative sculpture forever. But the thing I did that was different from anybody else was
((Courtesy: Margery Goldberg))
that I made female bodies under glass that were cocktail tables. I was doing things that male woodworkers were not doing. They didn’t carve human bodies under glass.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
Nobody trains to own a gallery, really.
((NATS: Margery Goldberg))
Well, we can start showing them the objects…
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
So I was good in business, and, you know, my father taught me, you know, everything I know about business and promotion. I mean, I basically get 2,000 artists a year, who send me their art to look at. I mean, you know, most of it I don’t like.
When I take on an artist, this artist has to knock my socks off and has to give me an artgasm, which I can show you what an artgasm is, if you like. I like the unusual. I like people who come up with a technique that nobody has ever thought of before. So we do a lot of three-dimensional, mixed media. But I also have really fine painters. They say I want my art well-crafted and my craft well-arted. I am not into sloppy.
((MUSIC/NATS))
This is a very complicated piece.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
Well, Steven Hansen is one of the artists I have shown for 45 years. He’s basically a self-taught artist. About 12 years ago, and this is my funny line about this, when the Supreme Court actually made decent decisions, they made a decision that parody is not copy. So, he can take any painting that was ever painted. As long as he adds his characters, it’s fine. And the amazing part of these, he paints them. They’re not photographs. They are not photostats. He actually paints these. So, this one is called, A Bar at the Folies Bergere, by Manet, and it’s in a London museum. And it’s an amazing painting in and of itself. But the part you don’t realize is that if you see the painting in person, it’s a mirror. So, some of this, like this part, is the people behind it. So he is painting the reflection of it. And it’s, you know, this was a complicated piece to paint. And then, you know, the guy is so pleased with himself now that he’s finished painting it, he’s having some champagne which is, of course, in the painting.
Well, this is a Magritte and it’s called, Clairvoyance. And the kind of theme of this is, you know, he’s…the painter is painting the egg and he’s painting the chicken. And it’s sort of like what came first, the chicken or the egg? And this guy is kind of looking at him like, what are you doing? You know, and so…it’s every detail he does, even the guy’s hair, you know. I mean, he just really does an amazing job. You know, one of the things I say is, I don’t do anything particularly depressing. I figure if you want to be depressed, read the news, watch the news, talk to your friends and family, but you’re not going to find it here. I want people to feel uplifted.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((NATS: Man and Margery at fair))
I have a glasses case. These could be useful.
Want me to cut them in half? Just kidding.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
One of my clients is the National Association of Home Builders. And they put out a statistic that said within five years, 50 percent of all carpenters are going to be retiring. It is the most endangered trade in this country and in Europe. We wrote a grant to build a mobile woodshop.
((NATS: Man))
If this is spinning this way…
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
And to train a new generation of carpenters.
((NATS: Woman))
Wow, that’s so good!
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
What we often do is teach young kids how to turn things on a lathe, which they just adore doing.
((NATS: Child))
Oh, there it goes! I did it.
((Margery Goldberg
Artist; Director, Zenith Gallery))
And I just felt that most schools don’t have woodshops anymore. And these, they need a trade. I mean, I know the percentage of kids that went to college from my high school, 98 percent. There isn’t one school in this city that would come close to that. Tonight, there’s classes here in our stationary woodshop. It was just something that I really had wanted to do and felt there is a need for in the city. We really built something, and now we are helping a lot of students.
((NATS))
((PKG)) PUBLIC SPACE ARTIST
((TRT: 7:45))
((Topic Banner: A Bridge Between Art and Technology))
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))

((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel))
((Map: New York, New York))
((Main characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Sub characters: 0 female; 2 male))
((Blurb: A visit with multimedia and installation artist Tony Oursler.))

((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
It might be enough. I think there's enough natural light that we don't need to fill.
((Assistant))
Okay, cool.
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
So Garrett, you should be standing like here. Turn the light down a little. So the idea you get all the way down, Garrett…and up. Last but not least, he vamps, liberty hounds, drugstore cowboys falsely masquerading as seamen.
((NATS/MUSIC))



TEASE
((VO/NAT/SOT))
More after the break….
((Topic Banner))
A Bridge Between Art and Technology
((SOT))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
For an artist to really communicate, they have to try to understand what people think and how they think.

BUMPER ((ANIM))
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((Social Media PKG: DRUM MAKER))
((TRT: 1:02))
((Original Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Social Media Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Suggested Caption: Yolanda Martinez, a Native American singer and drum maker, tells us the spiritual significance behind her drums and the power of connecting through music.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
Every time that I make a drum, I'm already making for the person that is going to connect with it.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I'm Yolanda Martinez. I am Native American. I am a singer, songwriter, a performer and a master drum maker.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
And there we have it.
((Photo courtesy: Yolanda Martinez))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
When I am making my drums and my beaters, I'm the happiest because I am creating.
((NATS/SOT))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
The drum is the circle of life. It’s our heartbeat. It's singing. It's dancing. It's gathering. It's a big part of our joy.
((NATS))
((Yolanda Martinez
Drum Maker))
I am so honored that you chose to come and bring this energy forth.
((NATS/SOT/MUSIC))
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((PKG)) PUBLIC SPACE ARTIST continues
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
I started as a painter and sculptor when I was a kid. One thing led to another, and I found myself in art school.
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
I was always a kind of closet scientist. That's what I wanted to be. You know, in the old days, people used to kind of paint landscapes. And the way I like to explain it is that today, you know, the landscape that we exist in
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
is one of technologies and information and new forms of image production. And artists have always used the vernacular, the everyday to express themselves, because this is the world in which we live. We really live in an augmented meta space of technology. And I like to work with that to express myself.
((NATS))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
My generation was a kind of TV generation. You know, we watched television more than we did anything except sleep, statistically.
And I think this has just kind of continued through the internet and to the cell phone. Today, you know, people spend more time on social media and on their smartphones than they do pretty much do anything else. And so it became very apparent to me when I was, you know, a young artist that there was something missing from the materials I was working with and that I needed to incorporate this kind of motion and energy and so forth.
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
((Artwork))
But which to choose from?
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
So the very first pieces I made when I was introduced to the video camera were handmade television shows, you know. The idea that you had to battle against this giant corporate structure that was presenting unified information fronts to the population. But if you had the tools of the technology in your hands, you could kind of manipulate that and bounce it back, mirror it back to the culture in a simple way.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
So, I was very curious about how people move through a kind of immersive installation.
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
Around 1991, small video projectors were introduced to the general public, and I managed to get one of those and immediately started to play around with it. And it immediately changed my life and my work. I started to project faces
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
onto figures and the video allowed me to animate them in such a way that they really seemed to come alive. And I thought of them as really entities, which came out of media culture and into physical space. So around 1999, 2000 and there, I began to work with projection and public space.
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
Nobody was really doing it at the time, so it was quite difficult to accomplish. The projections in public spaces allowed me to reach a different kind of audience. This is a great place to find somebody who's just walking down the street after work, you know, thinking about what they're going to do that evening. And then they just look up and see this giant fist on the side of a building,
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
((Art Work))
Flat wandering, light sensitivity to the eye, visual purple.
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
The interesting thing about projection for me is that it allows me to infuse different surfaces with images. The classical way that we see is that light strikes a surface, and all the light is absorbed except for one color, and that comes back to the viewer's eye. And that's how we see. But if you take a surface and project imagery onto it, you now have the reflected imagery of the actual object,
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
but it's got an overlay of another moving image. And that to me allows people to dream in a very special way. For an artist to really communicate, they have to try to understand what people think and how they think. And I'm very curious. I guess, I'm just a curious person in general, but I'm interested in belief systems, religions, cults, superstition, psychology, neuroscience. It's all fodder.
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
So, all right. Let's just go to the beginning again so it starts out. So now, we're at what point?
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))
((Tony Oursler
Multimedia Artist))
I think what art does for an artist to really communicate, they have to try to understand what people think, perspective, you know. And I think this is one of the reasons that people still go to museums and go there more and more and more. It’s because it's one of the few places left in popular culture where your perspective is really respected, you know. You're expected to go to work and do this. You're expected to shop in these certain places. You're expected to watch these certain things. And when it's the viewer and the work, that's where something else happens, you know. That's not the work. That's not me. That's not the viewer alone. But it's something else that allows us to get to a different level. And that's what I really love about art.
((Courtesy: Tony Oursler))


((PKG)) BECAUSE SHE LOVES MUSIC
((Previously aired February 2023))
((TRT: 08:40))
((Topic Banner: Because She Loves Music))
((Producer: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Music is joy. It's joyful. And I feel like whatever orchestra I'm standing in front of, whether it's my orchestra or another orchestra, I want all of us to be able to rekindle that joy that we all first felt, you know, as young students starting out in the business.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Text-over-Video:
Conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson was invited to lead the National Symphony Orchestra in a Family Concert, the world premiere of “Because”.))
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
This is my first time with the National Symphony here at the Kennedy Center. They've been incredibly generous and really wonderful to work with. Often when you do programs like this that involve a lot of technical back and forth, there are actors on stage, there are visuals being projected. So, there's a lot of moving parts in addition to just the music making. And so, just their patience, their diligence, their really willingness to throw themselves into this work and into the spirit of it, I've been so grateful for.
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson and Narrator))
She can just come on. They are tuning. Tuning, tuning, tuning.
This is how it happened.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Because, this piece that we are presenting, is based upon the book of the same name, Because, which was written by Mo Willems, very famous children's book author, and illustrated by Amber Ren.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
The book itself is about the way that beauty gets passed on from one generation to the next because people are inspired.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS/MUSIC: Clapping & Narrator))
This is how it happened.
Because a man named Ludwig [Beethoven] made beautiful music, a man named Franz [Schubert] was inspired to create his own.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
And then as we progress, we see that because Schubert wrote this symphony and so many people wanted to hear it, how orchestra performances can be put together.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS/MUSIC: Narrator))
Because many others loved and practiced their instruments, there were enough musicians.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
So, there's all these elements about how a concert works, so that when children come to a concert, they're aware that there are ushers who are making sure that the seats are ready. There are people who are facilitating the lighting.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Narrator))
Because someone's uncle caught a cold, someone's aunt had an extra ticket for someone special. Because the usher helped the aunt and her special guest, they found their seats.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
In this process, we see then a young girl who gets invited to this concert quite by accident, and she falls in love with the music that she sees on stage. And because she was at this concert, she then is inspired to become a composer and a conductor and share her gift of music with the world that will then inspire another child who's in the audience, hearing her music.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
The music that has been composed for this that represents the new music of the young girl is written by a really wonderful composer, Jessie Montgomery. And she had wonderful assistance in the arrangement by Jannina Norpoth. So, it's a really collaborative effort bringing this project to life.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
When I got the email from the Kennedy Center asking to participate in this project, and I was like in the quiet car on the train, and I was like, I kind of like screaming because I had, I have a, now a six-year-old daughter, and I had bought this book for her when she was four and I would read it to her. And so, I knew this book when they said it, and I love it so much because this story was my story. I was inspired by a concert to become a composer and conductor. And so, I really identified with this. And so, I was so honored and excited to be a part of this project.
((NATS))
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I started out as a pianist at the age of four. I studied piano at a very young age. I've always loved music. And I was really lucky to have some family friends of my parents take me to my first orchestra concert. I'll never forget. It was in Minnesota. That's where we were living at the time.
I'll never forget it was a beautiful Beethoven symphony. I don't remember which one it was, but I just fell in love with the music. I fell in love with the spectacle and the power of seeing all of those musicians playing different instruments in different ways, making music together. I did not see a piano on the stage. And so, like in my seven-old-brain, I kind of figured, “Okay, if I want to make that music, I have to do what I see the man on the stage doing, waving this stick around.” And so, that's how I just, I decided right then I wanted to be a conductor.
((NATS))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I think that leadership is serving others. And so, my job as the conductor is literally to allow the music to come through me, and to share that with the musicians, and to create a space that allows them, for the music to also come through them.
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
Jeri Lynne: And because I love conducting so much, I enjoy teaching other young people how to conduct. And so, at this point, I’d like to ask if there is any mildly enthusiastic young people out there in the audience too, who might want to come up and get a conducting lesson with the National Symphony Orchestra?
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
Not just music but the arts in general are really critical. I think for a lot of years, people probably felt that teaching the arts in public schools may have been a luxury. It's not a core skill like reading and writing and arithmetic and science. But I think one of the things that we see very, very recently is how important creativity is to critical thinking skills, to social-emotional development. And also to give children a sense of agency, that they have the ability to identify their emotions and thoughts and express them constructively in a way that allows them to make their way through society in a variety of institutions. This is how we begin to very gently and softly teach children how democracy works. Creativity is the ability to self-manage and create your own life. And that's what democracy is all about. And so for me, arts education is fundamental to being able to instill democratic ideals in the next generation.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
Jeri Lynne: Come on up. I have three batons. Okay.
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
I hope for the families coming to the Because event is that they leave feeling inspired to wave a pencil or a baton or something around and just feel the power of music in themselves and think about how they might be able to express that. You know, it isn't necessary for everyone to be a world-class violinist, or you've been studying piano for 20 years. If you love music and you want to just sing or clap your hands and express yourself any way you want to.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS: Jeri Lynne Johnson))
((Jeri Lynne Johnson
Conductor/Founder, Black Pearle Chamber Orchestra))
We don't own Beethoven. We don't own Schubert. We don't own Montgomery. This is something that belongs to all of us.
((Courtesy: The Kennedy Center))
((NATS))
That is how it happened.


((PKG)) CONNECT AMERICA / NATURE KICKER: SKIING WITH DOGS
((Title: Nature: Skiing with Dogs))
((TRT: 02:02))
((Camera/Editor/Producer: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Location: Baycrest Ski Trails, Homer, Alaska))
((Description: A happy dog gets to run alongside its owner on the trails while they skate ski in Baycrest Ski Trails, Homer, Alaska))


BUMPER ((ANIM))
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((Social Media PKG: PAPER CUTTING ARTIST))
((TRT: 1:02))
((Original Reporter/Camera/Editor: Gabrielle Weiss))
((Additional Camera/Drone Footage: Rafael de la Uz))
((Social Media Producer/Editor: Lisa Vohra))
((Suggested Caption/Blurb: Valisa Higman, a paper cutting artist from Seldovia, Alaska, draws her inspiration from both her inner world and the world that surrounds her.))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Valisa Higman
Artist))
I start with a piece of black paper. I have a drawing that I transfer onto that black paper. And I cut away everything except for the lines. And then I’ll piece together different kind of papers with different textures and different colors.
((Valisa Higman
Artist))
This is part of my Alaska Problems series. There were the two sides of the coin.
((Courtesy: Valisa Higman))
You wake up in the morning and it’s so cold you just can’t get out of your bed. And then you do. You get out of bed and you go make your fire and then it gets so hot in your house that you are boiling.
((Courtesy: Valisa Higman))
((Valisa Higman
Artist))
I started a series of Alaskan fairy tales. And so, Goldilocks and the Three Bears is about a mischievous girl that breaks into a bear’s house. But in Alaska, it would be mischievous bears breaking into people’s house. So, Goldilocks is out chopping firewood and she comes home to absolute chaos.
((Valisa Higman
Artist))
Everybody wants to tell you how you can make more money, but I
don’t need to make more. I just need to get by.
((Valisa Higman
Artist))
I’m Valisa Higman and I’m a cut-paper artist in Seldovia, Alaska
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SHOW ENDS