(dramatic music) - [Announcer] Murphy, Austin, Adams, Schoenfeld LLP, focusing on business law and commercial litigation is proud to support "Rob on the Road, Region Rising".

More information available at murphyaustin.com.

Up next, a personal conversation with the leader of Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum, Agustín Arteaga.

And later, meet Sacramento artist Peter VandenBerge, a prisoner of war survivor making world renowned art.

- [Narrator] And now "Rob on the Road", exploring Northern California.

- Dr.

Agustín Arteaga joins us now from the Crocker Art Museum.

It is great to see you and so nice to have you here, and welcome.

- Thank you, thank you, I'm very happy to be here.

I'm very happy to be talking to you.

I know that you have a long history.

- I love the Crocker Art Museum.

It is an experience that truly can transform you, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

It is therapeutic, it's educational.

It's relaxing.

It's inspiring.

It causes you to think, and it causes you to question.

And it causes you to reach out and widen your arms around many different people.

And I love that.

You bring global experience to the Crocker, many different countries, continents you've worked on.

But for you, it's about community.

- A museum like the Crocker is really focused in serving the community and providing those learning opportunities about the world, about their lives, about many things.

And also a space where discussions can happen, and where wondering leads you to want to learn more.

So I hope that the Crocker continues serving the community like that.

But I also would love to make sure that the Crocker is better known not only in its community but nationally and internationally.

I think that the Crocker is such a jewel that it deserves and Sacramento itself more attention.

- You came to Sacramento from Dallas, what a fabulous museum in Dallas.

I've been there several times and love it.

Such a great place.

You've also been all around the world as a museum director, 30 plus years, what has art taught you around the world?

- Oh, wow.

You know, that's one of those great questions that are very hard to answer.

But what I think that art has taught me is that at the end, we all belong together.

That what we see in art is what humanity has been able to create and has always been, has always been reflecting what we are.

And no matter what time or when the art had been done or what culture, it always mirrors what's going on in the world in that place at that particular moment.

And it always mirrors what is the best of humanity.

So I hope that that feeling about art is shared with many people.

That you come into the galleries and that you look at the works and you say, "Wow, what is that we have been able to do?"

It's not only about the beauty and the craftsmanship, it's about what is that we have built as a society.

So I think that for me, art has given me not only a lot of satisfactions and even emotional moments, but also great opportunities to learn about others and myself.

- Let me ask you this.

There are, you know, two and a half million people that could be seeing this just in the Northern California region, and we distribute this nationwide, for people who have not been inside the Crocker, and by the way, the Crocker is accessible at your fingertips as well.

There's so much online, but you have to go inside.

For me, I think you have to go inside.

How would you describe the magic that is inside the Crocker to someone who's never been there?

- Well, I would say that that word that you just used magic reflects very much what the Crocker is because it gives you the opportunity to be present in a fabulous setting with fantastic contemporary architecture, with these spectacular galleries, very high, with light coming in from the ceilings and this wonderful glass wall in the atrium.

But then you just take a few steps and suddenly you're transported to another moment in life, and you go back over a century when the museum was built, and it's just fantastic, you find yourselves immersed in this extraordinary Victorian architecture where we hold all our old masters collection and you feel like you're there.

You know, like if you were at the moment when those works, some of them were being created, or those early moments when museums stuck up works of art one on the top of each other and you're in a different place completely.

And so, I would say that the Crocker provides you that opportunity to go through the galleries feeling like you're in different places and in different times at the same time that you have access to extraordinary cultures, to extraordinary works of art that have been made over the last 2,000 years and over.

- That is so true.

You can stand in front of a work of art and it transports you.

It takes you into a different place and time.

And it's mesmerizing to me, and I learned this at the Crocker as an adult, I learned the power of art, and it became incredibly life-altering to me because of the Crocker.

And I also have to say that not far from where you're sitting right now, about 8th and Broadway, there is a school, Leataata Floyd Elementary School, and many of the students live in assisted housing behind the school.

And some of those children told me during an interview that they had never left their block until they went to the Crocker Art Museum on a field trip.

And they're in elementary school, never left their block.

- You know, the good thing is that they came.

- Yes.

- Hopefully we can keep reaching out to as many communities as we can.

We have a program that you probably remember, we have the Art Ark that it's this big truck that has a classroom and all the tools to make art and to learn about art, and that we move it around the city and the valley to make it accessible for everybody to children, school mostly.

But the good thing is, you know, that when they come to the museum, not only have they left their neighborhoods, they have a window to the world.

- I know that community's very important to you, and I have to tell you that I love the celebration of people and different artists inside of the Crocker.

And there is, and I love your intentionality about spotlighting all different types of people because that is the beauty of this world, is our mosaic of different people.

And you celebrate that at the Crocker.

You have wonderful exhibits that celebrate all types of ethnicities with artists.

What are some of the things that make you the most excited about the future for the Crocker?

- Well, you know, to continue that work and to expand it, I feel that what we have here is an opportunity for people to see themselves reflected.

You talk about that mosaic of cultures, I've been surprised of how diverse Sacramento is.

I read from stats, you know, I read information from the census, but not until you're here, you realize really how diverse our community is.

So being able- - It's beautiful.

- And that's fantastic, it makes it stronger.

It makes it exciting.

It even makes it delicious.

And I say that because you have so many types of food here of great quality and the produces are extraordinary.

So you see that or taste that even through different lenses.

And that's incredible.

And I feel that our job as an institution is to provide people that opportunity to learn about their own cultures, because some of them have been here for a long, long time and probably they're not the second or third generations, they probably know little about their own origins.

So that's an opportunity for them to learn about that.

And then there are others that just got here and probably miss what they had.

So we are very intentional about how is that we plan our exhibitions in terms of trying to respond to our community, but also to open up for others to learn about what our community is like.

- What do you feel will make this chapter for you successful?

- Hmm.

Well, you know, I had mentioned in other interviews that I would love Sacramentans to learn a lot even more Sacramento.

And when I say that, what I mean is that sometimes because you have, and you live in this place, you give it things for granted and you don't really truly appreciate or probably value in the way that somebody who has new eyes or people that are coming and moving here recently discover and surprises you.

So I would love to see that firsthand, people in Sacramento get to even know and discover what the Crocker offers.

But I also would like the world to see what is happening here in our city.

I think that this is a blooming city that we're really being creative, and transformative, and thriving.

And I foresee Sacramento being a different place in a few years, and of course changing for the best.

So what would satisfy me is that we really elevate what is the presence of the Crocker within our community, within the state, within the United States, and hopefully to the world to look and think this is a destination where I wanna go and visit.

- Tell me about the Frida, the Frida Kahlo exhibit.

What do you think about that?

- Well, you know, I think that our team here had prepared this fantastic exhibition, Making Moves: A Collection of Feminisms, mostly drawn out of our own works of art, our own collection.

And it's a beautiful show, very well-thought, very scholarly planned, and with great works of art.

So that reflects the quality of the museum and its collection, its talent.

But I felt, you know, if you talk about feminism, the perhaps most iconic figure of that movement is Frida Kahlo.

And, unfortunately, only very few museums in the world have a Frida Kahlo.

So I said, "Well, why don't we just try to get someone a painting or two by Frida?"

And we were able to request a loan of one of her most important self-portraits.

And what is interesting is not only that is the first time that it fits very well and anchors completely the exhibit, but it is the first time to our understanding ever that there's a Frida Kahlo painting in Sacramento.

- That's what I heard too.

- And it's also, you know, there are some things that I find, you know, like little side stories or footnotes.

The first time Frida traveled, you mentioned about those kids who left their neighborhood to come to the Crocker.

The first time Frida traveled abroad, leaving Mexico City, she came to San Francisco, and that was exactly 95 years ago, almost at the same time that we opened the show.

- Wow!

- So it's kind of a funny story, you know, and then she came back again to San Francisco a few years later.

So she was there physically.

Now her presence, her spirit is here at our walls.

And you have the most beautiful and touching powerful painting of hers waiting for you to visit.

It really makes me feel, what is the power of art?

And again, coming back to how works of art reflects a moment in time, and in this case, the spirit of the maker.

I think that you see in that painting, that long life of suffering and of joy, her life was a dichotomy of things.

It was always a contrast, that juxtaposition of joyful and painful emotions and moments.

And I feel those all the time.

You know, every time I'm looking at her, I feel something different.

You know, I always find something, I love looking at her eyes in all her paintings, but if you really look closely to her eyes, you're gonna see that there's something really vibrant and living there.

You know, you can see, it's like if she talked to you.

- Wow.

You know, you've come face to face with a lot of famous works of art.

You've been deeply involved with exhibitions and collections all across the world.

I'm just curious to ask you, what are some of your thoughts that emerge in you as we talk, that you wanna share?

You know, forget what I've asked you.

What's on your heart?

- Well, that's a deep question.

(chuckles) What is in my heart?

And it's the idea that we all should be more thoughtful about the other.

That we all should be more caring for the other, that we all should try to take a moment as we watch a work of art, as we stare at a work of art, to stare at the other and try to put ourselves there and see what's happening.

So that way I think we could always be able to find common ground and opportunities of sharing feelings and emotions and being more united.

I feel that that's the power of art and that's why have been working on what I've done over 30 plus years, which is providing the opportunity for us to find common ground through works of art and trying to make this a better place.

I think that we can actually improve our lives, the quality of our lives, and especially the understanding among ourselves, we would be more careful about taking time to learn about the other.

- 100% agree.

And I also think that the Crocker Art Museum can bring out the best in all of us, it can help us step into our better selves.

I truly believe that.

- I'm there with you.

- So thank you so much Dr.

Agustín Arteaga, it is such a pleasure to spend this time with you.

- Thank you, Rob.

It's been a pleasure for me and I look forward to talk to you again soon.

- Me too.

- That's an interesting notion in there.

- Renowned artist Peter VandenBerge sits down with me to share his personal journey.

Peter has experienced dark and deadly moments as a prisoner of war in Indonesia during World War II and lived a life of forgiveness and even fame, reshaping and molding his life as an artist, carving out masterpieces collected around the world.

I'm just so glad to be here with you today.

- And I'm glad to be here with you, absolutely, with that, thank you for- - It's an honor.

At 90, Peter is one of California's most important ceramic sculptors, famed for carving ceramic busts with elongated faces, eccentric eyes, and notable noses, crowned with accents and head pieces.

This sculpture, Madame Matisse, is part of the Smithsonian Art Museum's permanent collection.

His exhibitions include Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum, the MoMA in San Francisco, the Whitney Museum in Manhattan.

Even the Louvre in France.

Impressive, no doubt.

But this is a deeply personal story of survival, resilience, and grace.

Peter was born in the Hague in the Netherlands in 1935 before his family moved to Indonesia.

This was a magical time for Peter that would quickly turn into a living nightmare during World War II.

In 1942 the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia.

Japanese soldiers quickly occupied islands like Sumatra and Java, taking the local population as prisoners of war.

- The Japanese had invaded the Philippines and they wanted to conquer the whole Pacific practically.

- And you were caught up in it.

- Yeah, yeah, we were caught up in it and tried to escape, but didn't work, you know, so we, I remember very vividly that we were in a place in South Java, and my father said, we got, we're gonna go.

We have to go, you know?

So, in middle of the night we got all our belongings that we could.

We had an old Chevy, and we had to get these rubbers for your teeth so that when the bombs come down that they don't break your teeth.

- The VandenBerges tried to escape, but were captured by Japanese troops and split up.

Peter and his family would spend three years inside three POW camps under horrific conditions.

- There's this, (sighing), just a second.

- It's okay.

- Thank you.

There was a hopelessness that went there of everybody, you know, and even the kids no longer had that, you know... - The spark.

- Yeah, that's was gone.

- [Rob] World War II and the horrors of the VandenBerges captivity would rage until 1945, when Japan formally surrendered.

But before Peter's release, he experienced what he calls an unexpected miracle from a Japanese soldier.

- In one of the camps, that was the second one, Adek, the guy that was looking over the, you know, the playground, the kids were.

We asked him, you know, bluntly, because of the, if maybe, because we like to draw, could you maybe get a pencil for us or something?

And some paper.

And I didn't expect anything from him to say, what do you mean, you know?

But he was, and which is the wonderful thing about in the war, are good things, too.

And he was a good guy and he gave us some paper and some pens and pencils.

So we were able to draw.

And I, that's where I really got things.

- [Rob] Peter immigrated to America in 1954, moving to California to begin his education at Sac State.

Then his masters at UC Davis, where Robert Arneson was emerging as the father of the nationally known funk art movement.

- It was so thought provoking and interesting where some certain things will go to and should I do this?

And, you know, for- - And other sculptors.

- Yeah.

So, you know- - Arneson.

- I was Arneson's first graduate.

(laughing) Thank you.

- That's amazing.

- And then Camille was Arneson's last student.

- [Rob] Camille is Peter's daughter, an artist in her own right who works hand in hand with her dad on larger-than-life clay creations.

In 2006, Peter and Camille made a monumental journey at the invitation of Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park, in Japan.

- I felt in some way, all that stuff is like, history in some ways, you know, in my life.

And I felt a gratitude in some that I was able to live through all that, let's say it this way, you know.

That there were lots of people who were kind to me, you know, and understood things what happened and some way there was peace in me.

You know, like a quiet peace that I don't anymore have to go through all this.

- That's wonderful.

That is the most beautiful thing, that you found that peace.

Peace, a gift like none other for Peter VandenBerge, a prisoner of war turned world celebrated artist focused on forgiveness and family.

Thanks for joining us!

You can watch when you want At Robontheroad.org (dramatic music) - [Announcer] Murphy, Austin, Adams, Schoenfeld LLP, focusing on business law and commercial litigation is proud to support "Rob on the Road, Region Rising".

More information available at murphyaustin.com.