[upbeat music] - In this edition of WLIW Arts Beat, a theater company through the years.

- The biggest impact is that the presentations that we bring to the stage, is the plays, it's the playwrights.

[soft music] - [Diane] Paper sculptures of the natural world.

- It's always the little things.

It's the meticulous little details, the magic behind nature, the spirit of nature.

That's what I am inspired by.

[calm music] [upbeat music] - [Diane] Women designers in changed fashion.

- One of the things that I think is very frequently, sort of taken for granted, is how innovative many of these women designers were and are.

[upbeat music] - [Diane] A violinist performs.

[bright violin music] - For me, it's one of the only things that I can be truly in the moment with, and share that in the momentness with other people.

[bright violin music] [upbeat music] - It's all ahead on this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

Funding for WLIW Arts Beat was made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

[upbeat music] Welcome to WLIW Arts Beat, I'm Diane Masciale.

Formed in 1970, M Ensemble Company is the longest running African American professional theater company in Florida.

With their productions, they bring impactful stories to the stage for audiences to experience.

Here's the story.

[upbeat music] - She gave me a recipe.

[audience laughs] - My name is Shirley Richardson, and I am the co-founder and executive director of M Ensemble Company.

[calm bright music] We are the oldest, not just African American theater company, but the oldest theater company here in Miami-Dade County.

[calm bright music] M Ensamble Company started in 1971.

That's a long, long story.

[laughs] Under the direction and founder, the late TG Cooper.

And he decided to come to the University of Miami and pick up his master's degree.

And while he was there, he had to do a project called Purlie Victorious, and he needed a Black cast and a White cast.

Unfortunately, there weren't many Black students on campus at the University of Miami during that time, I think there were about three of us, so he recruited the three of us.

TG left, but before he left, he left some money and he left a staff in place.

And we maintained that relationship with him, you know, until his passing.

We're here now at the Sandrell Rivers Theater, after being bounced around from one place to the other, I can't even tell you how many places we've been, there've been so many, you know, trying to keep up the legacy.

[uplifting choral music] Being in this space, it allows the company to show the audience the technical aspects, because in many places that we've been in, we have not been able to really see it like we really want to see it, you know.

We did Kings of Harlem.

All these seats were out, and they were conform into a basketball stadium.

The space was set up to give you that ambiance, being back in that time in this old stadium where the first Black basketball team played, and the story behind all of that.

But the biggest impact is that the presentations that we bring to the stage, it's the plays, it's the playwrights, the plays that people never heard of, stories that they never heard of.

These are the stories, these are our stories, these are our words.

And so that's important.

[indistinct chattering] It's a lot of work, but it's the passion that keep us going.

And hopefully, when it's time to pass that torch, we will be able to identify those people who has that same kind of passion, and willing to make the sacrifices to keep it going.

You know, we are 50 years old now, so there is a legacy and we are an institution.

[upbeat choral music] - [Diane] For more information, head to themensemble.com.

[upbeat music] And now, the artist quote of the week.

[upbeat music] In this segment, we meet artist, Lea Gray.

inspired by nature, she transforms paper into realistic, intricate sculptures of plants and flowers.

We travel to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Ohio to see an exhibition of her art.

[calm music] - I can actually go all the way to my childhood, even when I was five, you know, how you asked the proverbial question of like, "Oh, what are you gonna be when you grow up?"

I always said, "I'm gonna be an artist".

I always knew, even when I was five years old that that's what I was gonna be.

And so it just kind of took off from there, and it was like, whatever I could dabble in, it was pastels or, you know, whatever I can get my hands on, it was sewing or painting, it kept going.

And so I decided to go to art school, which was the Columbus College of Art and Design.

[calm music] And then I got into origami, which also became another obsession, paper being the medium was something I really enjoyed working with.

The meditative processes, the rhythmic kind of repetitive things.

And so from there, I think I just got bored, and instead of continuing to create other people's designs and those geometric shapes, I decided to move on to something more expressive, which was paper flowers, and that was about eight or nine years ago.

[calm music] My grandmother growing up, always had lots of plants in our house, and I think just seeing that and being around that it was kind of like an inspiration for me.

And so having lots of plants myself and also going outdoors in nature, I'm always drawn in and it's always the little things, it's the meticulous little details, the magic behind nature, the spirit of nature, that's what I am inspired by.

[calm music] The paper is always card stock.

For plants and then for flowers, it's always an Italian crepe.

So there's two separate kinds of papers that I use.

[joyful music] From that I use a carbine blade cutting machine, which is the cricket, everybody knows it as a cricket.

And I have two of those.

I also have a glow forge laser that I use for some of the more precise things.

So I'll have all the shapes cut out in very variegated sizes.

So it'll range from a large, to a small.

And from that point, I shape and sculpt with my hand, I glue it together, assembling it, And then from that point, the paint is really where all the magic, the alchemy lies.

It's the process of combining all kinds of different sprays, hair products, and different things to kind of make that magic come out of a piece of paper, make it look real, as real as possible.

I got connected with Franklin Park Conservatory about four or five years ago.

They reached out to me to do some classes.

So we've known about each other for quite a while.

And fast forward all the way till now, I think they were looking for somebody to open up that space and kind of bring something new in there, and came across my work, and I've come quite a bit of distance from four to five years ago anyway, so it was perfect.

And honestly, I'd been wanting to be in there anyways, and was trying to figure out who to talk to to get in that space.

So to get that phone call, to get that email was like a big deal to me because I still am very honored and excited and amazed.

[calm music] Really what I'm trying to do is remind everybody that there is nature out there, there is something to be looked at and appreciated, and a lot of times we forget about it, you know, we move on in our worlds, we walk around and, you know, we're just sort of like in the mundane or in the process of our lives of.

And it's just something to be appreciated.

There's magic and there's energy.

There's something about it that, you know, is good for us on many levels.

And so what I'm trying to get everybody to do is kind of look a little bit closer, find that magic, find the light coming out of the dark.

I'm inviting you to actually get a little bit closer and just appreciate.

[calm music] Mostly what the reaction is, exactly what I'm going for is, "Wait a minute, is this real?

or is this?".

And as you get closer, and you get drawn in, that's when it sort of turns into what it actually is the paper, and that's the moment where it breaks away that illusion, and you're like.

[gasps] And it's exciting, because at first you really did think that it was plants.

And I've had a lot of people come around to, like when I'm doing an art sale and they're asking me "Why does the title of your company say PaperBlooms?"

"What does that mean?".

And I'm like, "Well, it's all paper".

And then that was the moment where they're like "I thought these were real".

And it's exciting for me because that's what I'm trying to do.

And that's part of the challenge, and the fascination with creating my work, is trying to get as close to nature as possible, to build upon that illusion.

And that's what keeps me going.

[calm music] - [Diane] To see more of Gray sculptures, go to paperbloomsdesign.com.

[upbeat music] Now, here's a look at this month's fun fact.

[upbeat music] Up next, we visit the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts to learn about an exhibit focused on women's groundbreaking influence on fashion and design.

Called "Made It: The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion".

The exhibit displays more than 100 distinct works.

Take a look.

[upbeat music] - [Narrator] It's the strange thing about women's fashion, that for most of its history it's men who've been the designers, deciding not only what women might wear, but how they wear it.

- Yeah, yeah.

It doesn't make sense.

- [Narrator] But this exhibition is the exception.

It's a winding tour through 250 years of the women, as the Peabody Essex Museum proclaims, who've revolutionized fashion.

Petra Slinkard is a co-curator.

- You know, one of the things that I think is very frequently sort of taken for granted is how innovative many of these women designers were and are.

Putting pockets on skirts.

These kinds of examples of improvement to a system that women are building on for themselves.

- [Narrator] Starting as we find here in the 1700's, when Marie Antoinette was the queen on top the fashion scene.

- In regard to silhouette, you know, here a woman silhouette, even if she's of a diminutive stature is still taking up almost three times the size of her male counterpart.

- [Narrator] For well over a century, European women were part of a Guild system, where they made the clothes men told them to.

Until, in the 1800's they began to push back.

In the US, Elizabeth Keckley was an enslaved woman who purchased her freedom and ultimately fashioned her own success, dressing the upper crust, and one very famous figure.

- She became the in-house dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln, she became her confidant.

And, you know, lived and worked very close with her for many years.

It's her sense of scale and proportion and fit that makes an ensemble like that work on someone of such a short stature, in which, you know I think just speaks to her artistic ability.

- [Narrator] But for all the stitches and strides it would take years for the story to change.

- Morning, Biddy.

- Morning, Mr. Woodscock.

- See, you've ever seen the movie Phantom's Thread, and here's this powerful figure, right?

He's sort of larger than life.

But he's almost sort of like the conductor.

But if you really look at that film again, you start to see the army of women behind the closed doors, who are actually doing the making.

And then you start to see this narrative, you know, play out, that it has for, you know, hundreds of years.

- [Narrator] But when the alterations came, we saw them.

Like hemlines rising with the tides of change, especially in the 1960s.

- Women were experiencing a new sense of independence, that I think in some way was also experienced earlier in the 1920s, when you saw another moment where hemlines rose and waistlines went away.

But there's this sort of democratization that is taking place in the fashion of the 1960s.

- [Narrator] And where men had put women in constricting corsets and couture, women like Elsa Schiaparelli, and Gabrielle Coco Chanel, let the seams out.

- It upset Chanel so much that she came out of retirement.

And that's where we start to see that boxy Chanel's suit really gain in prominence.

And it was in part because I think it was easier to wear.

Barreling through the 20th century, Vivienne Westwood turned Punk, Rei Kawakubo deconstructed dress, and Katherine Hamnet, literally made fashion statements on t-shirts.

- She using them as a billboard.

So even if you say nothing, you say so much, you know, with what you've chosen to wear.

- I do think that it has been one of our great goals to, you know, make very beautiful things that also you can drive your car and pick up your child.

- Natalie Chanin is the founder of Alabama Chanin, a fashion and lifestyle company based in Florence Alabama, where she joined us by Zoom.

Until Chanin came along, Florence was a former textile town time-forgot.

- And how many people work for you?

- Altogether a little over 50, 50 people together.

So small business.

- And how many of the 50 people do you know?

- All of them.

- Which is important to you?

- Yes, yes it is.

- Chanin's design is fully considered, from her local employees, to her use of organic materials, to the garments she hopes will still be worn decades from now.

- I really do have this philosophy about what we wear being utilitarian, but also, you know, made with beauty and this care for the environment in mind.

- Moving fashion forward to today, the runway still traffic and gowns, but also now in burkinis, and all body types, because Slinker says women have fashion all zipped up.

- What makes women and men different in their designs, that, you know, women are designing from that standpoint of hand, heart and head, and that it is emotional, and that it is powerful, but it's powerful because of what it represents.

- [Diane] Find out more at pem.org.

[upbeat music] And here's a look at this week's arts history.

[upbeat music] David Berg is a violinist.

With his instrument, he's able to connect with audiences across the state of New Mexico.

We listen in on one of his performances, and hear more about his love of music.

[violin tuning] [indistinct chattering] - Music is about communication, and it's also about being in the moment.

[audience clapping] - Yeah.

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank David for [indistinct].

He does such a terrific job.

- For me, it's one of the only things that I can be truly in the moment with, and share that in the momentness with other people.

[bright violin music] You know, I get excited personally about all the inner workings of music, and how music is put together, and how clever it is, and trying to always figure out what the composer's trying to say.

[bright music] That's a lifelong challenge, but then to be able to share that with people on an intimate level, is really cool.

[bright violin music] There's harmony, but there's so much more to music, it's sound, it's texture, it's color, it's emotion.

And so it's such a reflection of the world around us.

[bright violin music] - How would you express your sense or your interpretation of Joseph Kasinskas, "Flight of Birds" piece?

- It's an incredible musical flight.

It's an extremely emotional piece.

[bright violin music] All the timing is so important.

The space between the notes is equally important as the notes themselves.

And it's all about timing.

There was a place in the piece also that I had to sing, and that was pretty new for me.

[laughs] [bright music] Just coordinating all those things is very untraditional things that I would do, but it's a magnificent effect that he has, with the looping, just like you would do on pop albums.

And so it requires, you know, knowing some technology.

And it really feels like you're looking at birds overhead in the sky.

And then singing with them or at them or something.

- Is that what you thought about when you were singing?

- I thought about singing with them, with the birds themselves.

[bright music] - Why is it important for you to bring people together?

- Creating a community it's of... creating a small community is part of creating a large community.

And so to do it at the very ground level is so important, and it's a reflection of creating a community in a large city.

- What do you want to bring to the audience?

- I want to bring a sense of shared experience, which I think is the most important thing is that we're all sharing this together.

And also to give them an appreciation for something maybe that they don't know they like yet.

- How does it become an experience?

- You know, as a instrumentalist you spend a lot of time by yourself, in a small room, [laughs] hopefully away from other people, so they don't have to hear all your little experiments that you're doing.

And you have to work out a performance of a piece.

But it's a really cool experience when you finally get in front of people, and you have to feel like you let go.

When you're super prepared, really ultra prepared, and the audience can feel a sense of confidence, and there's a relaxedness about that.

And when the audience can relax, then they can take in more.

- What does it feel like when you make that connection?

- It's great, it's like nothing else, yeah.

And that's why you do it, that's why you spend many, many hours in a room by yourself, working so that when you go out there and make the connection, it's really an incredible feeling.

[eerie violin music] - Sometimes I feel like when I go to Chatter, that it's all rehearsed, of course, but there's a thing being created right there in front of- - Definitely.

Yeah.

- In that room.

- If you're really well prepared, then you can be a little more improvisatory, and you can take chances that you would not have planned out.

And what's exciting is when you, as a performer, when you're feeling the audiences is with you, you can really have a conversation with your audience.

[bright violin music] I think the intimacy, you feel the vibrations, you actually feel the vibrations of the notes.

And there's something about the actual feeling of it, which is a different experience, as opposed to just hearing it.

You really feel the wood in the string instruments moving, or a reed vibrating, or you hear breath, you know, the breath is part of the music.

And the way the musicians move together is really exciting.

It's exciting to see how people react to one another to try to bring off something.

- Why do you love that connection?

- I love that connection because I love the music that I'm playing, and I wanna to share that, and I wanna share it in the most profound way that I possibly can.

[bright violin music] [audience clapping] [audience cheering] - Discover more at davidfelberg.com.

[upbeat music] That wraps it up for this edition of WLIW Arts Beat.

We'd like to hear what you think.

So like us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter and visit our webpage for features and to watch episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time.

I'm Diane Masciale.

Thank you for watching WLIW Arts Beat.

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

Thank you.

[upbeat music]