Coming up on KVIE Arts Showcase... we celebrate art from around the world and right here at home, ♪♪ An artist using art as a personal expression of her truth and legacy... - I think it's very important that I produce something that will create a legacy for me and that will create a legacy for my children.

- ...patterned quilts... - Quilting is compulsive, and once you start, it's something, like, you need to do or you have to do.

And I probably sew some every day.

- ...an installation that celebrates the Muslim community... - We're using this space to showcase that and separate what Islam is from ideology, separate what Islam is from culture.

- ...and we take a look at lively jazz portraits.

- My artwork can patch a memory.

Art is very therapeutic, and I just want people to enjoy what they're looking at.

- It's all up next on KVIE Arts Showcase.

♪♪ For Sacramento artist Francis Brown, art continues to expand her perspective and access to how she views the world around her.

♪♪ Artist Francis Brown describes her work as cryptic or a bit of an enigma, leaving the viewer with something new to discover with every glance.

- Art is expression and art is a personal truth because, I mean, it's a very personal thing.

You know, you don't plan to produce the things that we do, but we do.

Some of my early influences were- Uh, I like to make people laugh.

Okay?

I joke about being a comedian, but I'll probably never do that.

But, uh, I used- So, I used to draw caricatures.

And then, when I was, like, in high school or maybe, like, junior high school, I was, uh, a nerd.

So, you know, I had big old glasses, little chocolate girl, all this hair everywhere.

And so, it's very- You... you're easily picked on.

So, I used it to make friends.

I used it to kind of break up the monotony, you know, and to show people like, hey, I'm...

I'm a cool girl.

Okay?

I'm fun!

You know, I can draw.

And so, I try to create work that's- um, people want to look at it and they want to try to figure it out.

And then, I try to help them figure it out sometimes, but- And then, it has to, like, stand out.

So, it could be something- It could say something.

That's why I really, really like graffiti.

So they're looking at the art, they're not looking at the words.

And when they find out there are words, they're looking for the words.

So, it's just fun and engaging.

Very engaging.

That's the key.

- For Francis, art has become infused into her daily experience and continues to give her perspective on how she views the world around her.

Yeah, it's like art is like a part of me wherever I go.

And, uh, as a working person, I work a lot, which is fine, but I always find ways to integrate my artwork.

And this is how I think with all the artwork that I do most of the time, especially if it's for people- uh, doing artwork for other people or their loved ones and things like that, their mothers and stuff.

It's... it's emotional for them, but you want to see- You want them to smile.

You know what I'm sayin'?

And you want them to see the life in the picture, in the art, and that that art could always be there.

You know?

And that life could always be there.

So, it was really exciting but very uplifting, and just knowing that art can lift people's spirits.

You know?

- Art would play a huge role in her ability to inspire and lift her son's spirit as he rebuilt his strength and endured a fight for his life after a cancer diagnosis.

- My son, he was diagnosed with stage three kidney cancer, which is basically Wilms tumor.

And at the time, he was three.

He was about to be four.

And it just- It was shocking, you know?

And it's kind of like, I guess, like, writing music or playing, you know, you just gotta get it out.

And when it's out, you see all your emotions- boom!- displayed on the paper.

And for Samuel, it was a big deal, because it was just, like, I didn't even know I had that emotion, you know?

It meant a lot for him.

I just drew it, you know?

And that's one thing about me.

If I...

If I have it in my head, I'll...

I'll just draw it and it'll come out pretty good.

- Artist Francis Brown continues to be a living example of "anything is possible."

Throughout her life, many obstacles delayed, but did not deter her, from her path.

Those challenges actually expanded her understanding of her own possibilities.

- So, my visual impairment is that I have- They have a very fancy name for it in the optical world, but basically, in layman's terms, uh, my retina was detached.

So, that occurred in my right eye.

So, I'm 100% blind in my right eye.

I mean, I did go through several surgeries, but, you know, it's... it's... it's commonly seen in people that are, like, 80 and up.

So, with that, I have no depth perception.

It looks like things are right here in your face, like, right in your face.

So, one of the challenges I've had with the artwork is just I want to have artwork that doesn't look like I have that disability, which is nothing to be ashamed of, but, I mean, you just want it to look normal, like, say "I'm normal."

You know?

I try to integrate my visual impairment into my artwork with the pieces that I have.

So, what I want my artwork to show is that it was thoughtful, it was thought out, it was planned, it was, like, intentional.

And a big part of that is just trying to get things done.

Like, I...

I...

I want to do a lot of work in a short amount of time, I mean, and that's because I just have so many ideas.

You know?

And I even think about how can I draw or do- create artwork, and I know I can, without my vision?

I've slightly looked into learning Braille and things like that.

But the tactileness is still a visual mechanism for people that have visual impairments or are blind.

But all I know is I'm going to try to do as much artwork as I possibly can.

- For now, Francis is celebrating the release of her new children's book, Gwenadette and Her Colorful Cloths, on Amazon books.

- My teacher, Mrs. Egan, I mean, at Santa Fe Elementary, she gave me Bread and Jam for Frances.

And I thought, like, literally, I thought she made that book for me.

I was like, "It's me in the book," and the whole little series, and I just loved the book and I- That, right there, there was my love for books.

And so, I want to do kind of the same thing with my books.

I think it's very important that I produce something that will create a legacy for me and that will create a legacy for my children.

♪♪ We head to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to meet artist Judy Holley, who has been practicing the art of quilt making since she was a teenager.

♪♪ - In 1998, I had a quilt that won first places in every show that it was in, including the one in New Orleans, and then the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Williamsburg, Virginia, and then it also won something in Houston at the International Quilt Festival that year.

Raspberry Parfait is a New York beauty block, and it's something I always wanted to try, and I was at a fabric store and I saw some thirties prints on sale.

That's always a good excuse to buy something.

But one of the prints on sale looked exactly like the fabric that was in my mother's kitchen when she bought this old thirties house in central Mississippi.

It looked like the curtains we took down.

And so, I bought that and I bought some friends, and they were on sale.

And for about a year, I kind of gathered up all this fabric that was Depression era, 30-type prints.

And so, I made her a New York beauty quilt out of those Depression era prints for her thirties house.

When you look at the New York beauty blocks and you see all the points, I actually cut strips and they're pay-per-piece, so I'm not cutting out any little pieces.

I'm making them from strips, and I just cut as I go.

That is what's called an "Offset Log Cabin."

I'm attracted to curved designs, and when you do an Offset Log Cabin, you can actually do circles with it, if you choose to, but I chose to do a clamshell pattern with it.

And at the time, my son was living in Japan.

So, I was collecting Japanese prints.

It was just a good excuse to buy fabric.

And since he lived in Japan, I bought Japanese prints and made that quilt.

The "Railroad Through the Rockies" pattern is another way that I could use a New York beauty block.

And it was- traditionally gave you a broad open space that represented the plains, as the railroad went across the country.

Nice place to hand quilt or to showcase your quilting.

So, I decided to use my New York beauty block in that kind of setting, and I had bought a Australian print for the border.

I taught a lot of quilt classes for probably 25 years, throughout the Gulf Coast area mostly.

I started sewing at 16.

I was in a girls trio for several years and we had all of our dresses alike.

And I liked my trio clothes.

I didn't like the ones that were store bought, 'cause then, I liked going to the store and picking the pattern and picking out the fabric.

My mother made my trio clothes, but she didn't like it.

My grandmother was a Depression era quilter and, uh, her quilts were all over her houses, but she was old by the time I came along and I never actually saw her quilting.

She talked about it.

We slept under the quilts.

And at one point when we lived in her house, her quilting frame hung over my bed, suspended from the ceiling.

I never saw a quilt in it, and I never saw anybody using it.

I knew what it was for, and I always said, "One day, I'm going to make a quilt."

When I was 16, I took my money I got from my birthday- and I lived in Connecticut at the time, right in the middle of the textile industry- and I went to one of the local mills and bought fabric and everything I needed.

And I shut myself up in my bedroom with a sewing machine and when I came out, I had a dress.

I've been sewing ever since.

I made my first quilt right after my son was born.

Then, I just kind of played around at it.

I didn't actually follow directions.

I just kind of did my own thing, and I did that for about 15 years.

And finally, I just decided I wasn't progressing.

I was going to pick a pattern, actually read the directions, and start very traditionally and do a traditional block and something like that.

The first book I bought, I bought in 1970.

It was the only book that was still in print on quilting.

It was published in 1949.

It's by Marguerite Ickis.

It's over there on the shelf.

I work with a lot of traditional patterns and I have a quilt program, that's Electric Quilt.

A lot of traditional patterns in there.

You can also draft your own patterns in there and then you can print out any block in any size that you need.

I work on the computer a lot.

I don't really design that much on the computer.

I do some, a little bit, but I like designing at the design wall.

I like the fabric to tell me what to do.

Originally, I pieced by machine and I quilted by hand, and I did quilt by hand for quite a few years.

And you finally get to the point you're not going to be able to finish all these quilts.

Hand quilting takes a while.

I decided to learn to quilt on a domestic machine.

And, uh, a lot of people now use a big, long, professional, longarm.

I didn't even know what that was when I was learning how to quilt.

So, by the time I was aware of what longarms were and what they could do, I had already mastered quilting on a domestic machine.

So, I have no desire to change.

I'm adventuresome.

I will still use other fabrics.

I collect ties and people just give those to me.

They're predominantly silk, but they can be acetate.

They can be polyester.

They can be wool and silk blends.

They can be cotton.

So, you're putting them all together.

You have to wash it in cold water and not put it in a dryer.

I have a quilt in the front made from Japanese brocades.

If you're working nonstop on a project, I made a... a quilt for my boss in about two weeks- 4 to 8 hours a day- that was maybe twin-sized, or a large lap or twin.

Quilting is compulsive and once you start, it's something like you need to do or you have to do.

And I probably sew some every day.

♪♪ ♪♪ We travel to Salt Lake City, Utah, to view the collaborative installation Ummah, located at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

- After 9/11 happened, like, a couple years later, somebody in our community actually, like, reported us to the FBI.

They said, you know, suspected terrorist activity.

And so, these FBI agents came and, like, interviewed us at our house.

And, um, I kind of stood, like, outside of my bedroom with the door open and I kind of, like, peeked in and listened to them and they asked a lot of questions.

They were very, very kind, very respectful.

Um, and I remember, like, being kind of nervous.

I even had, like, a couple of nightmares where police came and took my parents away.

So, I think even though it wasn't like that significant of a thing, it was a little bit nerve- made me nervous.

Um, so, after they left, my mom had a conversation with me that, um, I think shaped a little bit of the direction of my life.

She said, "Satin, I know that what you saw here today was a little bit scary.

I know, like, it was kind of weird having them come here and ask us a lot of these questions, um, but people are really afraid right now," after, you know, like, referring to what happened on 9/11.

"So, people are very scared.

Um, and so, that's why they're... they're kind of going out of their way to just check everything 'cause they want to make sure that doesn't happen again.

And, um, people are going to say mean things to you that might be unkind, um, but don't ever, ever hate America.

This country has been so incredibly generous to us, and what America means is so much greater than everything that you see right now.

This country is a land for immigrants, and I don't want you to ever hate America.

I want you to take care of it the way that America took care of us."

But I remembered that and it became a theme in my life.

You know, as I went into high school and I went to college and it... it wasn't always about misrepresentation of Islam, it was in maybe another area, but I think a lot of my purpose comes from that.

So, um, this is me taking care of my country the best way that I know how.

And sometimes that means saying that I am an American when maybe somebody else says- questions that.

So, ultimately, I think Ummah is about the Muslim community.

But as an American Muslim, I believe in an- a greater community of people of color that all come here to call themselves American.

So, this exhibition is very, very meaningful to me.

- Ummah is part of the ACME Initiative.

Um, it takes place in our lab space.

And this is the first of the lab exhibitions to really engage with our local community.

So, these- We're working with Salt Lake City- members of the Salt Lake City community who happen to be Muslim to design and conceptualize the entire space.

- Ummah means, uh, the collective community of Muslims.

So, a lot of- Some- A really big misconception is that Muslims are very alike, but they actually transcend borders.

So, Muslims come from all different backgrounds, ethnicities, they speak many different languages, um, they have different identities, they have different cultures, different foods, etcetera.

Um, so, Ummah is the collective community of people who are Muslim, and their ties to one another is religion.

So, it's actually a beautiful concept because it unites people past... past the things that divide them.

- We love the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

I remember coming here when I was a kid.

And for them to approach us and say, "Hey, we are thinking of this idea.

We have an ACME lab.

We have fourth graders that come in and they get to have this interactive experience, and really have a love for art and different cultures or different themes within the exhibit, or within the museum."

So, we were sold right from the get go.

We just- We couldn't pass up, even if we wanted to.

And they've been great to us.

- We know that every fourth grader in Salt Lake County will have the chance to come to this museum exhibit.

Um, and, you know, we talk about how when we were in fourth grade, when we went on a field trip, there wasn't anything representing Muslims that we could walk through.

So, this is like a very- It's a very significant moment for us when, you know, we grew up in front of, um, TV that said, you know, "red terror alert day."

That was the attribution to Islam and Muslims, but now they get to have an experience that's positive.

And I think that is different and it's new and it's in Utah!

Um, so, I think it's a blessing for The Emerald Project to be involved with ACME in this exhibition and we're so grateful.

- Uh, the community section is really, really beautiful to me because it's literally different people within Salt Lake, within Utah, within different backgrounds, who contribute things that represent Islam to them, whether it's their own little handheld Koran or a bracelet or a misbaha.

Um, I...

I...

I think it's great that they can literally be a part of the exhibit, even if they're coming through, they still have an opportunity to fill out the paper and bring something later on.

So, they don't really get to miss the boat on participating.

And the other part of the exhibit that I absolutely love is, um, the Koran we have under the glass because, you know, no matter everything else going on in the world, me, as a muslim, I know that is my source.

That is the book, that is the faith that I go back to at the end of the day.

And that is my truth.

And that's why it's in the center of the exhibit, because that is the center of our faith.

That is the pillar that strengthens us and... and holds us together.

- If I have a message to share with newcomers to the museum or someone who's maybe never met a muslim or has... has had very little interaction with Islam and Muslims, um, I would say that it is a completely safe space.

Um, the goal is not for you to walk away with this understanding or, you know, "one, two, three" bullet points as much as it is to, um, hold a... hold a space in your mind that Islam is something.

You may not know that something and that's okay, but know that.. that it is something that, um, may not necessarily be represented in the media.

There are things Islam is and there are things Islam is not.

We're using this space to showcase that and separate what Islam is from ideology, separate what Islam is from culture.

So, it's okay to come here.

It's okay to walk away with questions.

It's okay to come here and maybe not even change your mind, but the point is that we want to make sure that everybody feels welcome.

Um, and hopefully you can attend some of our dialogs and programing, so that we can engage in deeper conversation.

♪♪ Meet artist Lisa Martin Smallwood, also known as Liasi.

Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, Smallwood paints iconic jazz singers and musicians.

♪♪ My name is Lisa Martin Smallwood, a.k.a.

Liasi.

I'm originally from Philadelphia.

I'm currently, um, living out here in Tampa Bay.

And I'm a visual artist.

Um, I work with different mediums, such as ink, pastel and acrylic.

The style is more like impressionistic.

It... it's like, I'm making a suggestion, okay?

And I'm going to give a little bit of detail, but I'm not going to go into it completely.

I'm going to create an illusion to the brain of, like, "Okay, wow."

You know, "Oh, he's really blowing that sax," or that trumpet or, you know, playing that piano, like my Nina Simone.

I love Nina, you know, and the... the shades that I use suggests that it's abstract, but at the same time, it has a surreal... a surreal feel to it.

I can paint some- uh, a painting and make it look like a photograph, but, uh, I like to experiment and to project, you know, um, the feeling that it gives me.

♪♪ - I think what really separates Lisa from other artists is that she really adds depth and passion into her artwork.

And I think, also, the use of colors to capture the ambiance and give the viewer that... that in-depth expression, so that they feel like that they're actually a part of that piece.

- Is Jason here?

- Hey, I'm in here.

- Okay.

Hey, Jerri.

- Hey, how are you, Lisa?

- I'm good.

I got my Aretha Franklin piece.

Jason, how's it going?

- Excellent.

How are you?

- I'm good.

- Oh, this looks magnificent.

- Thank you.

My Favorite Art Place is one of my favorite places.

I love that piece.

- You and me, both.

I wish she was singin' to us right now.

- Well, you know, I would sing, but I...

I don't do that.

[Laughs] They have welcomed me into this establishment.

I mean, to see the whole production is like, to me, a class trip.

And they work on my art.

They treat it great.

They do my reproductions.

Now, why are you rotating it?

- Basically, so the highlights from the... from the shiny inks, or the metallic inks... - Right.

- I first met Lisa, uh, while she was doing a live painting exercise in our gallery in Saint Petersburg.

We had a musician playing there and she was painting him live as he played.

And I was just blown away by what she did.

Uh, so, we talked her into coming here.

- She showed me some of her artwork, which I fell in love with immediately, and we just kept talking about artwork.

We hit it off right away.

Uh, she ran into a situation where she needed a framer, uh, to have a piece fixed up, and she came out to visit us and met the team and saw our operation and was very impressed.

- Oh, that looks good.

- Yeah, we should save this, and then we'll get a shot...

So, once we get the artwork captured and the color correct, then we can spread it out onto a myriad of things, depending on the venue of where the artwork is going to be sold at, or displayed.

- R-E-S-P-E-C-T. - I knew we'd get her singing.

[Laughs] - The music, actually- I don't know- it's just, like, in me.

You know, every guitar note you pluck, or whatever, is like every stroke, for me.

You know?

And that's how, um, the two come, you know, together.

- Lisa is from Philadelphia, and Philadelphia has a music scene unlike any others.

And her father was in the music world.

And you can just tell that it's in her blood.

So, when she paints musicians and performances and that type of stuff, it just- the paintings sing.

You can see the music, you can feel the energy.

You can feel the emotion that comes out.

And I think that that's one of the things that makes her such a successful artist and makes that- her paintings of musicians so popular.

- So, my father, Darryl Smallwood Junior, he, um, was a drummer of- native from Philadelphia, and he played with Johnny Stiles in the Manhattans, which was a, uh, jazz, uh, group back in the 1950s into the sixties.

♪♪ My father was a great guy and he has really inspired me and he always encouraged me to continue to paint.

Um, just the memories and the stories that he would tell me, I...

I'd try to put myself there for that moment.

Some of the paintings that I have painted, um, are- a lot of times, are memories.

Um, it could be his memories that he shared with me, and I'm just, uh, painting it out and laying out, you know, everything in my mind, in my heart that I felt during that thought process of, you know, processing his story.

- I think Lisa's artwork really has a very poetic vibe to it, and she's actually able to capture those poetic expressions, which creates a real synergy with her work.

You can just look at it and begin to just talk about it in a very poetic manner.

Oh my!

Oh, this is so beautiful!

- I hope that my artwork can patch a memory.

Art is very therapeutic and I just want people to enjoy what they're looking at and, you know, open that box of memories.

♪♪ Episodes of KVIE Arts Showcase, along with other KVIE programs, are available to watch online at kvie.org/video.