(upbeat entertaining music) (upbeat entertaining music continues) - In this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat", (soft bouncy music) a high-energy art tournament.

- [Participant] I'm giving them for the first time something that they never saw it before with abstract art.

(soft bouncy music) - [Diane] A skilled culinary duo.

- The feeling of making food for others that they will remember for a lifetime is pure happiness.

- [Participant] Priceless.

(light upbeat music) - [Diane] Behind the curtain at a local theater.

- [Educator] You kind of treat a play as a little game.

Questions, problems arise, you must solve.

And how can you have fun with it at the same time?

(light entertainng music) - It's all ahead in this edition of "WLIW Arts Beat".

(light entertaining music) Welcome to "WLIW Arts Beat", I'm Diane Masciale.

Up next, we head to the Reno Generator in Nevada to experience Art Battle, a live art competition where participants only have 20 minutes to paint a work of art.

Take a look.

(light entertaining music) - [Group] Three, two, one.

- [Participant] Let's paint.

(group cheering) - My name is Alysia Dynamik, and I'm the Executive Director of The Generator.

So Art Battle is a speed painting competition.

12 artists compete in three different rounds.

The Art Battle organization puts on regional competitions, and so the people that win at these local competitions can be invited to go on to compete at a higher level.

I reached out to the Art Battle organization about becoming a host of the event, and it just went from there.

- My name is Bernardo, I focus on Chromadepth 3D Art.

I'm an abstract artist.

- My name's Bridget Grace, and I am a multifaceted artist, painting and drawing, but I'm also a florist and designer.

- [Onlooker] Art Battle is like, it's a fun little show.

- Artists come together and compete for two rounds of 20 minutes.

So the winner of the first round competes against the winner of the second round in a final round, and then they select a winner from that set of competitors.

- [Bernardo] You have 20 minutes not to do your best, but to do something that makes people entertained.

(light pleasant music) - My first battle was actually all the way back in 2015.

This was my third time in the competition.

It's been a really wonderful opportunity.

- I did one run, two runs last year.

I saw it a couple of years ago, some people doing this, and it's like, huh, that's interesting.

And then since I'm a member of Generator, they say like, hey, we're doing this.

Would you like to do it, apply?

I was like, wow, okay, let's do this.

(light pleasant music) - I select 11 artists beforehand.

I try to do a good mix of folks that are part of our community.

We have a lot of repeat painters, which is certainly encouraged.

I try to also invite new people every time.

It's about participation and opportunity for people to get to do things in the art world.

To start, we have to have six easels in the space.

We usually kind of try to set the space up a little bit, more of a party atmosphere, turn our lights off in the space, we put up colored lights, things like that.

We get all the materials together.

We provide paint, we provide canvases.

Then our artists start to arrive, and then we start.

- I had a little bit of a technique each time I came, and I wanted to do something that was like interesting and different.

And for this last competition, I decided to do a life drawing.

It was approach that I don't think a lot of other artists had taken because I had decided to ask someone in the audience at random to be the model.

(light pleasant music) - Since I use ChromaDepth 3D glasses, I like the reaction of people when they see through the lenses.

The perception of reality in this short moment is changed.

I'm offering them or I'm giving them for the first time something that they never saw it before with abstract art.

So for me, it's like, yes, I cannot even win, but I touch your heart or some way, you know, like some art feeling inside of you.

- I'm going to spend the first five minutes on the competition and the sketch, and the second five to seven minutes on background layers, and not worrying about the details.

And then the last few minutes really focused on details.

- In the first art battle that I did, I did like a couple of practice runs.

But then I realized that when you're over there, there's other factors going on.

You feel the pressure, you know?

Like you're seeing people and they say like, oh, this is cool or this is not.

There's the music.

So I don't believe that it's something to practice about.

It's just something like, dude, just go and do it.

Then when you blink your eyes like, all right, I have 10 minutes, you blink again like, all right, I have five.

So it's like you have to keep focus on the time itself.

- The last few moments of the art battle are really crucial, because I think that's where you really have the opportunity to do something unexpected and wow the crowd with something.

It's really important to take a step back and look at the work from further away.

Oftentimes, especially under time crunch, you get very focused on like a small amount of the piece.

And you know, it's the pressure.

Like your heart's racing, you're like, is this good enough?

You're starting to look at the other folks' pieces, and kind of scale them up against each other.

And it's really just a moment of like vulnerability.

- With 20 minutes, you don't have time to think.

So you can't be over there like stiff, you know, you're not in the Olympics.

(light pleasant music) - Amazingly, they really tend to bust those things out in that 20 minutes.

It's a fast amount of time for these artists, but they really do a great job.

So at the end of the 20 minutes, the audience all votes.

The art battle organization has a text-based platform where they can both vote and bid, because all of the paintings are for sale.

And then they give us the top two.

Then we do the second round, same thing.

And then in the final round, we have the four artists paint, voting, bidding, and then they tell us the winner.

Tonight's winner is Bridget Grace.

- Yay.

(crowd cheering) - [Alysia] Amazing job, Bridget.

- For me, I was able to meet people and find other people that were interested in the same things I was, and that was really inspiring to my creative journey.

- I don't think that it's something that you should have any rivalry, or it's like, I'm not going to talk to you.

This is an art battle.

It's like, dude, we're doing art here.

No, like the art world should be fun.

- I think it is really important for people to know that there are access to the arts in our town and community, and that it's okay to take a chance and get to know people.

And even if you're not competing in art battle, going to the art town events, going to the generator, donating to people who are promoting these types of events, artwork in our youth and schools.

I hope that we can just continue to spread that artistic nature throughout Reno.

And you know, I'd love to see it grow and continue.

- [Announcer] For more information, check out therenogenerator.com.

(light pleasant music) - And now, the artist quote of the week.

(upbeat entertaining music) (upbeat entertaining music continues) Chefs Rosana and Ricardo are the team behind Chef and the Baker.

A bakery and cafe in Tampa, Florida, that embraces the culinary arts.

Up next, we hear more about this gourmet eatery, and the duo's love of cooking.

(upbeat entertaining music) (soft pleasant music) - I come from a long line of cooks.

My two great-grandmothers, both of my grandmothers, and then my mom was just amazing cook.

So my earliest memory of cooking with her was her holding me and me trying to stir the pot.

So being in the kitchen with them was, it's second nature to me.

(light upbeat music) - I remember seeing Jacques Pepin in "Great Chefs of America".

That was a big show in PBS.

I loved it.

- Yeah.

- And I will literally just be in awe watching all this chef making stuff.

And he just made a simple omelet.

And I knew back then, I'm like, this, I love doing this.

That's what we all want.

We want to please people.

We want to make sure people eat right, and that they have joy when you're actually eating what we create.

- Yeah.

(light upbeat music) - Yes, we're making great pastries and coffee and food every day, but this business is about being in the service of others.

And that's the real definition of hospitality.

Is we give so much of ourselves for everybody to have a good experience, to have a good day, to change their day to make it a little bit better.

So, that's how I see our careers, is we're in the service of others.

(light upbeat music) - When you look at a city like Tampa, this is like a melting pot of all these different cultures.

And I think my job as a photographer is to capture that culture on a plate.

I just want to capture it.

When you look at these chefs and business owners, they spent a lifetime honing in their craft, and perfecting their art.

And what they do is art.

It's just like any other artist.

They're in the kitchen every day just perfecting their dish until it's ready to present to the world.

And if that doesn't say art, I don't know what does.

(soft pleasant music) - I do think, you know, food is at the same level as art or music because it's the fabric of culture and culture that transcends, you know?

Food is you create memories of food, because it's something that you'll enjoy.

I think what is different now, just like art and music, is that it's global.

We don't have to go to China to experience authentic Chinese food, or to bring in Korean flavors to something that you do, because now we're so globalized.

So we have access to more of food culture.

But we can trace food history the same way we can trace music history, and art history as, you know, in our civilization.

So it's that powerful.

- Everything is important.

Senses are important for us.

We attack every single sense.

(soft pleasant music) - I would say that as chefs, you always have your artistic side.

And I say this to staff as well.

We wear our emotions on our sleeve, because it is a very artistic career.

But we cannot forget the science.

I think a really good technical chef understands the chemistry of food, because then you can control it.

You can adapt to it.

- [Ricardo] I think I changed from scientist to artists on a constant basis.

- Yeah, true, I agree with that.

- So I go to the science of the sugar in the bread, for example, or in the croissant.

How's that going to interact?

Is it a dry product?

Is it a wet product?

So those are the things that I'm always like thinking, you know?

I guess constant back and forth with me.

I know for her it's a creative juices.

Oh my gosh.

She can go crazy on, well, we should do these kind of flavors.

And I'm like, oh, yeah, we should do that.

That's pretty cool.

- When I'm teaching classes, I say, I ask, it's a trick question.

What is the most important ingredient in a kitchen?

And they all say oil, butter, salt.

So now I say it's time, patience, and heat.

If you control those three things, you can cook.

We're goal getters, so we're always pushing ourselves to do more.

- Yes, there is more.

I can achieve anything with her, for sure.

She knows it.

It's just a matter of the opportunity and that's it.

All we look is for opportunities.

- To me, food is everything.

It's how we show love, how we show happiness, grief, how we entertain others, how we.

It's really love language.

It's an extension of my heart, and it makes me think of my mom.

Oof.

(light pleasant music) Because it brings so many memories.

But at the end of the day, to me, food is about showing love for others.

Those are my earliest memories and it's my passion.

What drives me as a chef is to provide that for others, whether it's in our business, or whether we're going to someone's home through catering, but it's providing that experience, intimate experience of being together at the table.

Feel responsibility, because of those moments that your customers entrust you with.

You know, as an artist, right?

You want people to validate your work, to like what you do.

So every single moment that they like, it's a perfect moment.

- It makes our heart full.

You know what I mean?

- Yeah.

- We love seeing that.

- The feeling of making food for others that they will remember for a lifetime, it's fear happiness.

- Priceless.

- Learn more at chefandthebaker.com.

(upbeat entertaining music) Now, here's a look at this month's fun fact.

(upbeat entertaining music) (upbeat entertaining music continues) In this segment, we visit the Contemporary Theater of Ohio to get an inside look at its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Fat Ham".

And meet some of the dedicated creatives bringing the show to the stage.

(upbeat entertaining music) - Welcome to the Contemporary's 40th anniversary season and our production of "Fat Ham".

I'm the artistic director here at The Contemporary.

And what that means is I'm in charge of all the programming.

So I oversee what goes on stage, our education programs, what happens in classrooms across the city.

And so all of the programming that you see, community engagement, productions, and education are all under my umbrella.

As artistic director, I also pick the plays with advice from lots and lots of community members and staff and artists in town.

And so "Fat Ham" is a show that the first time I heard about it, I went, I think this is going to be the play for us.

I work with the director to cast the production, and find the actors to put the design team together.

And then I'm sort of just here as a cheerleader and a support system throughout the rehearsal process, and the technical rehearsal process, all the way through till we close on closing night.

- I am the director.

So that means essentially I'm in charge?

Question mark.

Ultimately it means I get the opportunity to bring together a group of artists to get at what the heart of the show is and make our version.

So I take the work, I take the research, I take the moments in the room.

And ultimately, I'm in charge of crafting that all into the show that our audience gets to see at the end.

"Fat Ham" is phenomenal.

It's a show that resonates with me.

When I got, first got to see it as a Black queer man in theater, I was like, yes, this is a gem.

And I'm really excited for its both connections to "Hamlet", but also the idea of stepping out into something new on its own.

Ultimately, I ask a lot of questions.

We've all got the same script, and we've all got time and space.

So we read, we talk, we discuss their backgrounds, their interests, what they're bringing into the room.

And then once we get up on our feet, we're really doing this ballet of what makes sense for that moment in time.

They bring suggestions, I bring suggestions.

I'm a very hands-on director, so I will physically sometimes with permission get up and move people to look at topography and patterns in space.

So it's really, I leave room for everyone to bring themselves into the space.

I'm not that director who's going to be like, this is what we're doing, X, Y, Z. I get people in a room, get the material, get the bodies, and we build together.

So it's kind of a game.

I love games as well, and you kind of treat a play as a little game.

Questions, problems arise, you must solve.

And how can you have fun with it at the same time?

- I'm the production manager here at the Contemporary Theater.

The production manager is in charge of all of the shows.

They're essentially the project manager of each show.

I also think of it as the air traffic controller of the theater.

We're sort of in charge of everything, and we're making sure everyone is going in the right direction.

The baseline is I'm in charge of the people.

I am in charge of the story.

I'm in charge of the budget, and I'm in charge of the safety of everyone.

Theater takes a long time to produce.

A show can take anywhere, almost a year from when we choose the story to when we get on stage.

And there's a lot of work that goes in between a lot of people.

We have actors, performers, designers.

We have all of the administration, advertising, technicians.

So it takes a lot of people to.

It's not a one-man show.

You know, even if it is a one-man show, there's still a hundred people behind the scenes making it happen.

- It took over his whole life.

- Everyone is there to tell the story, and to uplift whatever the intention of the tale is.

And that's what you'll see.

It's the most beautiful part of theater, is everyone working together to tell one story.

- Do this.

Choreography in itself is the expression of movement.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

My first process when I'm getting ready for a show is making sure that I see what's in the text.

Sometimes there's already music in the text and sometimes there's a feeling that's there.

And I take that and I also like enhance that with my own experiences.

So I'm Black, I'm queer.

So I got to pull expressions from that for "Fat Ham" into telling that story through a Black lens and through a joyful lens.

And sometimes that's something you get to do with your texts and get prepared for your show.

For "Fat Ham", I think because we're talking about a queer, Black story, I got an opportunity to go back into our history about what that looks like, what that visually looks like.

So I took inspiration from "Vogue".

I took inspiration from the ballroom culture.

I took inspiration from a queer liberation, and how that expression can be played through the body and allowed it to put on everyone's body.

So I didn't want to make it exclusive only to queer people, but to Black people in general, and that's how we approached it in the show.

One of my favorite moments was is Rabby being this church woman.

But when we got into rehearsals, I said, "Okay, you're the fiercest person in the room."

So she said, "Yes, I am, yes, I am."

(laughing) - A scenic designer is someone who creates the visual world of the play, the physical things that people stand on, touch, the things that make up the physical space of it.

And then they get lots of help from their friends, lighting and sound and costumes.

But kind of the basic world of the play is the scenic designer's job.

So start off with some research, and that can mean a lot of different things.

That can either be the actual physical things that you want to design, or it can be things that are kind of invocative of the feeling or the kind of mood that you're trying to get at.

And so you just kind of start researching things and then you go, okay, what does this look like to me?

And I start sketching and some of them are really terrible, and I usually start with like the first idea I had, and then something really crazy.

And then somewhere in the middle is where the set usually ends up being.

And then there's sketches, and then you end up putting it into technical drawing programs, and creating drafting that the shop uses to create their drawings that they'll use to build the set.

And you do paint elevations and find out how paint goes on it.

And so you do all of these different processes to decide, and then communicate with other people how it's going to look.

Because you're usually not the one building it, so you have to make sure you've given other people all the tools they need to make the thing the way you see it in your head.

The shop downstairs that is run by Columbus Children's Theater, they're building a house.

They're with a porch, and they're putting up some fence for us, and they're laying some fake turf, and they're making a whole backyard.

So when the audience comes in, they should see a backyard, and they'll go, oh yeah, that looks like a fun place to hang out.

Scenically, this play kind of lives in this weird place between reality, and like really blatantly theatrical moments.

So that was kind of a fun thing to try to figure out scenically, because you want it to look like a backyard barbecue.

You want it to look like the thing we all think we've come to see.

But then also there are going to be these moments that totally break from that.

And so there's this kind of need desire to like set that up a little bit so when it happens, it's not totally shocking.

It's something that you're like, oh yeah, that makes sense.

(upbeat entertaining music) - I'm Tabitha, the costume designer for "Fat Ham".

And what that means is I get to take the script, the words, and kind of interpret a visual for that.

But in the form of the way of clothing and fantastic costume elements.

So jewelry and accessories, things like that.

(upbeat funky music) Taking a part of, you know, a script, and just imagining for yourself what that character looks like and what that character would wear, and based on, you know, their personality.

How do you present that?

So there is a bit of my own family history incorporated in each of the designs for "Fat Ham", but I think I am most excited for everyone to see character Larry's finale outfit when he comes out and he sings his song.

That I'm most especially looking forward for people to see.

(upbeat funky music) I love the collaboration with sets and with the actors, and with the rest of the design team.

It's always fun to just kind of, when you're seeing it in tech, it's great to see how everything comes together.

- I love plays that are full of joy.

I just think that's such an important idea in the theater and in life.

And so "Fat Ham" is a comedy based on "Hamlet", a play that normally ends in tragedy, and this time it ends in joy.

And so it's just so funny and so joyous that I knew that Columbus really hadn't seen this production.

It's also a Pulitzer Prize winning play.

And so it is being done all over the country.

And The Contemporary really is the theater in Columbus to do this play.

And I just wanted to make sure that this community got to see it.

And now, "Fat Ham".

(audience clapping) - [Actor] Dude, now I can do this.

(upbeat funky music) (upbeat funky music continues) - [Announcer] Discover more at thecontemporaryohio.org.

(upbeat entertaining music) - And here's a look at this week's art history.

(upbeat entertaining music) (upbeat entertaining music continues) That wraps it up for this edition of WLIW "Arts Beat".

Visit our webpage to watch more episodes of the show.

We hope to see you next time, I'm Diane Masciale.

Thank you for watching.

(upbeat entertaining music) (upbeat entertaining music continues) (upbeat entertaining music continues) (upbeat entertaining music continues)