- On this special pledge episode of WEDU Arts.

Plus, we're here in the studio with Florida artist Mr.

Jame for our exclusive 2026 WEDU Artist Collab.

[music] - I think that what we do is a testament to authenticity, transparency, and a little bit of dark humor.

[music] Forget me nots.

One of my favorite design I've ever done.

This one was for me.

And so this is kind of like a true testament to like, don't forget about us with chronic illness.

Like we do still want to be invited.

[music] My name is Jame.

I'm the owner of Two Crow Collective.

We make T-shirts for chronic illness, mental health challenges, and disabilities, while we also love just storytelling and helping people express themselves through what we create.

I consider myself to be a jack of all trades, and it took me a very, very long time to fall into the art form of screen printing.

I always loved art growing up.

I drew a lot.

I loved creating with Lego.

I loved just making things.

It wasn't until middle school when I met Dave Anderson, my middle school art teacher, who really cemented some core art philosophy in me.

And that's just try new things.

- My name is David Anderson and I've been teaching for 30 years now.

I remember Jim as a student, as someone who came into the art room quite often outside of the class time.

He wanted to go around my room and pull out drawers and see what was inside.

Getting students to try new things is really important at this age.

There's a lot of reservation and hesitation for a middle school boy to take chances.

[music] - I grew up with a sister who's 12 years older than me.

She was a goth.

She listened to Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson and Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and Incubus and all these cool grunge bands, and that was my influence at home.

And I became an alternative kid at a preppy private school.

I was more of a musician than anything.

I thought I was going to end up being a professional musician full-time, and I did for a little bit.

Art wasn't really my main focus at that point in my life, but I still was very inspired to do art and learn more about what bands need.

And it wasn't until college that I found screen printing through our on-campus record label, and I screen printed my first T-shirt ever.

I see PTSD, which is complex PTSD.

I lived in a household that was not perfect.

My dad was an alcoholic.

My family didn't deal with that very well.

[music] For my Crohn's disease, I had a quarter of my colon removed in 2010.

It was my first semester of college.

The cool thing about the band that I was in is everyone knew.

Everyone was super cool with it.

They said, if you need to stop, we'll stop.

And being able to build a community basically around that has been amazing.

My business originally was called Dirty Bourbon Clothing.

We actually were a printing company.

First I was just printing shirts for bands.

I worked a 9 to 5 at a desk, and then I would come home and from 6 to 11 I would print shirts every single night.

I got extremely burnt out and then COVID hit.

[music] From there, the printing side, I stopped printing for other people and I started printing for myself.

I started making my own art.

Instead of doing designs specific to chronic illness, I do designs based on symptoms because somebody with cancer can connect to somebody like me with Crohn's.

So I like to make those connections and draw people together instead of separating people into their, label of their disease.

[music] Eventually, when I realized that the market I was hitting and the community I was building was for chronic and mental health folks, I had to take a step back, and dealing with alcoholism in my own life and dealing with addiction myself, I had to realize that addiction is a disease too.

And if my friends who were addicts or alcoholics wouldn't wear my shirt because it said bourbon on it, that needed to change.

So we spent a lot of time trying to come up with a new name.

Two Crow is important to me.

My grandmother used to always say and write, "2D Two."

She believed that good and bad things always came in twos.

People see one crow and it's supposed to be a bad omen.

But I think like when you see two together, honestly, like I see my grandparents in those crows a little bit, and I just thought that was a very good representation of the balance between the good and the bad.

[music] We can put purpose behind our pain.

And that's what I've done every day since changing the name.

The idea of Two Crow started out there and it started with my story and seeing that other people connected with it.

And then I realized if other people connect with me, other people can connect with other people.

So the, "I'm Okay Collection," is an annual little event.

We put it on in the spring each year, and every year we make a new flower that says I'm okay.

And they're typically wilting in some regard as a means to say it's okay to not be okay, or it's okay to be okay.

The PBS punk design for me is a little out there.

It's not something I typically do as Two Crow Collective.

I got upset when I read the article that PBS was getting defunded, because it felt like a part of my childhood was just kind of being ripped away.

I had an image in my head of the PBS logo with a mohawk and piercings.

[music] And I posted it on a whim.

And then it went viral instantly.

[music] - When I look at his work today, I think it's great and amazing that he is pushing that envelope further and doing it through T-shirt designs and doing it in a really a way where there's this sort of punk rock dynamic of tattoo culture and skateboard culture.

[music] - The biggest message that I want to send to folks with chronic illness or mental health challenges is that you're not alone, and that we're all going through something.

Everybody's going through something, and you're not alone in that.

- Explore more of Jame's' art and his PBS Punk Design at twocrowcollective.com.

- Jame, welcome to WEDU.

Thank you for joining us.

We've just watched a bit of your origin story.

How did you feel as an artist having your story told on WEDU PBS?

- Honestly, it feels a little surreal.

Um, I am a PBS kid through and through, so seeing myself on my local PBS station is like, iconically amazing for me.

- Oh my gosh.

Okay.

What was your favorite PBS show?

- Arthur.

- Arthur.

- Yeah, friendship and kindness, baby.

All day, I know.

- What else could you ask for?

So you said you've seen yourself sort of on TV, but I feel like your PBS is Punk Design is sort of you on you on a shirt?

Yeah.

I can't even walk to the office any day of the week without seeing half a dozen of my colleagues wearing that shirt.

What's it like to have your design?

It's like a piece of your heart out there in the world.

- I mean, I feel like every design I do is a piece of my heart out there in the world.

You know, we like to tell stories just like WEDU likes to tell stories.

And, uh, but seeing this magical little image in my head come to fruition was amazing.

And having PBS reach out and us making it happen was incredible.

- Sure.

And speaking of magical images, I mean, what an honor.

You have created a special piece of art just for our viewers.

This is an exclusive collab between you and WEDU PBS.

Tell me a little bit about how you came up with the design.

- Yeah.

So I was taking the concept of a PBS Passport.

Um, and I was like, what else can I do?

Maybe an airplane ticket or a luggage tag, something to revolve around like travel and how important like travel is to our culture here in Florida.

And I came up with stamps and thinking that like, these are like pieces of our culture that we can showcase and, you know, um, use for tourist destinations and things like that.

- That's so cool.

Yeah.

PBS Passport is our streaming service.

And so it's a play on the Passport word.

Talk to me about the colors.

They're so bright.

I mean, everybody is going to want one of these posters.

- Yeah.

It's literally the PBS branding colors.

It's from your branding guide.

I was trying to stay as close to it as I could.

We only added in one color, which was orange.

Um, because there's like the corally color as a secondary color, but I added orange in just for, you know, the Florida oranges.

Yeah.

The oranges, the sunset.

- We love it.

And I know you want one of these too.

So to learn more about this exclusive merch, let's go to Michael and Alexis.

[music] - Thanks so much, Dalia.

Well, we're really excited about this new Artist Collab for 2026 with Mr.

Jame.

This is a very exclusive tote bag we're going to talk about more in just a minute with these really amazing blocks that are very local to the Tampa area.

And it kind of is all of the fabulous things that we love here, right?

Like flamingos and roosters and all of the good things.

So we're hoping that you become part of the WEDU community right now by calling the number at the bottom of your screen.

We'll talk about lots of ways that we can say thank you in a minute.

But if you enjoy art segments like WEDU Arts Plus, then you come to WEDU for arts and culture, and we're hoping that you will support that and call the number at the bottom of your screen.

Become a member today and get all of the benefits that come with that, including being able to see Passport so you can watch your favorite great performances, your favorite WEDU Arts Plus episode, whatever it is, it is there for you to enjoy.

I am Alexis Landis here inviting you to be part of the community.

And I'm also here with a friend of mine.

- Thanks, Alexis.

[laughter] I'm Michael Coccagnia.

Hi!

Thanks so much for joining us.

Um, in addition to being a fabulous tote bag model, I'm also the digital specialist here at WEDU PBS.

I've been here for about four years, and I have the wonderful opportunity every day of working with so many of our different departments outside of just the arts.

So while you're supporting the arts, you're also supporting our education programs, you're supporting our community events.

And you might have seen my face pop up around.

We've got a whole new cooking show on YouTube.

It's called Dish and Tell, and the contributions that you guys make to us really help us provide that for the community.

Uh, and we really appreciate it.

And we could not do the things we do without you.

So tote bag model and digital specialist.

- And you know, well, Michael, I'm actually really excited to like show off this tote bag, um, at some point because it is really, really great.

We're going to be talking about a couple of other ways that we can say thank you as well, but we just want to make sure that you support WEDU right now by calling the number at the bottom of your screen so that we can keep bringing you arts and culture content that means something to you.

And we can't do that without your support.

So become part of the WEDU community right now.

And if you don't want to call the number, you can easily go to wedu.org and become a member there if that makes things easier.

And when you become a member, you can get access to Passport and watch all of your favorite arts and culture.

So thank you and become a member now.

[music] - Stream the best of PBS on any device with the PBS App.

All your favorite drama, history, science, news, and documentaries all in one place.

Watch your PBS station live or catch up on the shows you missed.

Support your PBS station and you can get Passport giving you full seasons, early releases, special collections, and more.

[music] - Well, as you can see, we are super proud and excited about this year's artist collaboration.

And you know, the tote bag is one of the star thank you gifts here because it has every single image that was designed for this collab.

You know, we've done a couple of artist collaborations in the past, but this is really fun.

And you know what it is all about Tampa Bay pride, Michael.

Right, I love it.

- Yeah.

We were looking through all these and manatees with their lettuce is kind of one of my favorites.

- That's your.

- Favorite.

Oh, Phoebe's a classic because you can't get this anywhere.

This is really a unique gift.

It's something that you can give to your friends.

Keep for yourself.

Show off.

Show your Tampa pride.

Yeah.

Um, and also just remember that in addition to getting these thank you gifts, you guys are making a great donation to us here at WEDU, which goes to not just recognizing local artists and celebrating the arts community here in the West Central Florida area, but also with our education, with our food, with the events that we put on together.

Your gift goes so far beyond just this fantastic tote bag, which I do want to talk a little bit about some of the other thank you gifts that you can get for donation.

So for.

$6 a month, you get this great note card set, and the note card set is designed by Mr.

Jame.

Who we've just been watching for $8 a month.

You get a silkscreen print.

It's an 11 by 14, it's signed, it's limited edition.

You're not getting this anywhere else.

It's a great way to showcase art in your home or give it as a great gift.

For $10, you're going to get the tote bag that I so love.

It's natural canvas.

It's great for the beach.

You're going to be.

Yeah, you're definitely going to get talked about if you walk around with this sucker.

And for $20, you can get all of it plus an extra.

So the $20 gives you the tote bag, the silkscreen print, the note card set, and some stickers, which again, I've got a lot of stickers around my house.

I've got some kids in my life that also have stickers around the house.

So don't forget, though, that in addition to these gifts, you're going to get access to PBS Passport.

And PBS Passport is something that I get the chance to work on here in my time at WEDU, and that gives you access to shows, sometimes a little early.

Sometimes it lets you go back and watch shows.

If you might have not caught in the first couple seasons of Grantchester, which just ended.

You might want to catch the beginning.

You can do it.

You also might want to binge shows.

So you're contributing.

You're getting great thank you gifts and you're getting our awesome streaming service.

- Yes, that's absolutely right.

So there's lots of ways that we can say thank you when you become a part of the WEDU community.

But that's the most important part, is calling the number at the bottom of your screen, becoming a member of WEDU right now so that we can say thank you and you can keep the content you know and love staying on the air.

Thanks so much.

[music] - Welcome back.

I'm Dalia Colon in the studio with Jame, founder and artist behind the Two Crow Collective clothing brand in Port Richey.

Okay, now your two crow designs address both physical and mental health ailments, and they empower people who might be struggling.

How can art help people who might be going through a tough time?

- That's a great question.

I find that helping tell people's stories through the designs themselves is a way of expression.

And for me, I have designed a lot of myself in these shirts, and people have taken that and applied it to their own story.

And from there, we've developed into a place where we can share symptoms or just like the cost of living as human beings with each other, like somebody with cancer can relate to somebody with Crohn's disease like me or somebody with PTSD.

And I think being able to see this on a shirt, physically, edgy, real, authentic in a way that is just pure self-expression.

- Wow.

I like how you put that the cost of living because we're all going through something.

Everybody is.

And this actually reminds me of how musicians will create a song and they'll say, oh, it's about my ex, but to somebody else, it's about their dog or something like that.

And I know you're a big dog lover too.

[laughter] So how did even creating this art that's helped so many people?

How did that help you personally?

- I didn't even realize that's what I was doing at first.

COVID hit.

I was designing in my basement.

My wife was upstairs teaching elementary school kids on Slack or whatever, Zoom or whatever, and I was just down in the basement designing my feelings.

And then I put them on TikTok one time and people were like, that's me.

You drew me.

You drew a piece of myself.

And I'm like, oh, wait, I've, I've hit something here.

Like, I've found it.

This is what I want to do.

- That's got to make you feel less alone.

- Oh my gosh.

- Absolutely.

Yeah.

Not only are you helping people express themselves, but this collab also supports public media, which of course is what we're here to talk about.

Now, going over this art print design, how did you pick the subject of each stamp?

I mean, they're just perfect.

They're like little gems.

So talk to me more about each design and even the colors that you chose.

- Yeah.

I mean, there's a...we settled on nine different designs.

Um, and we had probably 13, 14, 15 different ones.

We wanted to do things that were like very impactful for me.

I'm from Maryland originally.

So moving here to Florida was like a little bit of a culture shock and all the new cool things.

Like I love Cubano sandwiches so much.

And that was an original design.

And I decided, you know what?

Like, I don't know that I can draw the Cuban sandwich really well.

So I changed it out for something else.

Um, but really the big one is Phoebe.

I did the Phoebe Art installation from the Tampa Bay airport, and being able to see a piece of art that inspires other art, that inspires other art is kind of exactly what I'm trying to do.

Um, same thing with the architecture in Tampa, like the Tampa Bay Theatre, like the Henry B. Plant Museum was one of the ones I was going to do as well, and it was a little bit too complex for how we had to scale it down for the screen printing process.

Um, so I kind of had to pick and choose what realistically would block out nicely on an art print or a tote bag.

Um, and then we landed on these nine designs.

- Well, you nailed it.

And Phoebe.

I mean, she's our queen.

You can't go to the airport without getting a selfie with Phoebe the Flamingo at Tampa International Airport.

What do you want people to feel when they connect with your art?

When someone is carrying around your tote bag, wearing, you know, one of your designs?

I'm sure people get stopped all the time.

Yeah.

Where'd you get that?

- I just want them to feel like it's telling a part of their story.

So when you have this tote bag and you're wearing it, or you take it to your local library or, you know, to a grocery store or whatever, that you feel like you're sharing a part of your story here in Florida.

Something on that design is you inherently like you are the subject matter of the art.

This is our town.

This is our city, this is our state.

And I just wanted to show that as best as I could.

- You're absolutely right.

And and my favorite part of the job is connecting with artists such as yourself.

What more can we as members of your community do to support artists?

- Just buy it.

- Just buy it.

- You know, just support it.

I mean, like, we live in a time where AI culture and there's, you know, a lot of discrepancy in what is real art and what is not real art.

And that's not my place to say anything.

I will always support artists who do it their own way.

Um, traditionally digitally, that's like I'm a digital artist more than a traditional artist.

Um, but I think it's important just to like, not give up on artists and how important it is to our culture and our community and our United States in general.

- Absolutely.

Especially here in Florida's cultural coast.

Well, what an honor to meet you.

Thanks for coming into this cold studio and hanging out with me.

And I know you are interested in this exclusive WEDU collab merch with Jame.

So let's kick it back to Michael and Alexis.

- You know, Michael, one of the things that I love that Mr.

Jame talks about is the importance of storytelling and the importance of empathy and those kind of, you know, feelings and subjects are so much a part of the PBS identity.

The programs that we offer to everybody.

So it's so important that you become a member of WEDU right now to support content like that, right?

Because we really do have the best storytelling.

We have the content out there that makes a difference.

And so we're hoping that you can make a difference in the longevity of WEDU right here in the Tampa Bay area.

Call the number at the bottom of your screen and become a member now.

And if you want to kind of show off your local pride, look at Michael.

- It works like this.

- We have this fabulous canvas tote that has all of these very exclusive images designed by Mr.

Jame as part of this 2026 Artist Collab, which we're super excited about.

And you're going to have like Phoebe the Flamingo, and you've got manatees and a rooster and all kinds of great things.

- Just lots of beach room.

I mean, come on.

- Yeah.

- Towels.

All the other cool stuff.

I mean, Alexis, it's been you know, when you talk about stories, one of the things I've been at PBS now for about four years.

And one of the things I love is we've got these more national stories.

Sometimes it will tell things that you might be familiar with, but then thanks to the support through sustaining members, we're able to tell local stories.

We're able to like highlight artists from all around.

I've work on some of our programming and we've done some in Sarasota.

We've done indigenous art, we've done so many different types of mediums.

And I really love when we get to surface those and we just learn about somebody that's kind of in our own, our own home, and we bring that to life.

So your donations not only get you this Wonderfully cool tote bag, but you help keep supporting all the work we do here at WEDU.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And if the tote bag isn't kind of what you're interested in, there is a set of note cards.

There's also a very exclusive print, so there's a number of ways that we can say thank you when you become a member of WEDU right now.

Call the number at the bottom of your screen or go to wedu.org.

And there you can become a member and you get, as Michael mentioned, you can get access to Passport, right?

So you can stream the content that makes sense to you, something that you really want to see.

Maybe you miss this week's WEDU Arts Plus and you got to watch it.

- It's a deal.

- You know, it's.

- Such a deal.

I got my Netflix bill the other day and I was like, no.

- No, no.

- For as little as $6 a month more, you can get access to all the great programing that you love to watch whenever you want it, wherever you want it.

If you're traveling, it has an app, you can grab it.

So you're getting gifts, Community and great streaming.

- We are so excited about this year's artist collaboration with MrJame, and we have so many great ways that we can say thank you.

When you become a member of WEDU right now at just the $6 a month, that's as a sustainer.

So that means that your membership kind of rolls over, right?

You just set it and forget it.

You don't have to worry about it.

And neither do we.

And then you know that you are continuing to contribute to WEDU right here in your area.

Um, with that, you get the note card set.

Now as an $8 sustainer, you can get this fabulous silk screen print 11 by 14.

So you can frame this, you can put this on the wall.

And this is a signed limited edition.

So this is a pretty cool thing to have by Mr.

Jame.

Now if you want to go up just a little bit to the $10 a month sustainer, that is the tote bag.

So this is this fabulous tote bag we've been carrying around and showing you with all of the different artistic blocks on it.

And this is $10 a month, $120 annual contribution that goes right to WEDU as a $20 a month sustainer.

You don't have to choose.

You can get the tote bag, the silkscreen print, the note cards, and a sticker sheet, all with these fabulous designs as part of this 2026 collaboration.

Again, $20 a month is a sustainer, so these are all great ways to become a member of WEDU, and even better ways that we can say thank you.

Well, as you can see, we are very excited about this year's artist collaboration.

And we just keep, you know, hanging out with these totes because they are pretty awesome.

Um, we've got note cards, we've got the special signed print.

So there are a lot of ways that we can say thank you when you become a member, but we're hoping that you become a member of WEDU also because you enjoy the art and culture content that you come here for, right?

The WEDU Arts Plus or your favorite great performances on Friday.

Whatever it is that you enjoy, we hope that you support that and you call the number at the bottom of your screen, because that is how we are continuing to operate.

It is through member support.

So we do ask you every now and again to call that number and be part of the WEDU community.

- And Alexis, we were talking.

- Earlier about the difference between an annual contribution and a sustainer.

And as a former accountant, I have to say we do love the sustainers.

So this is a monthly membership that you set and forget.

So for around the price of a cup of coffee every month, you can help support us and all the work we do here in the West Central Florida area.

So consider that.

But of course, you're not just helping us, you're going to be getting these amazing thank you gifts that were designed by Mr.

Jame.

So for $6 a month, you get this fantastic note card set that's been sitting out here in front of me.

Super vibrant colors.

Great.

If you still want to send anything with an email to your friends and family for another $2.

So for $8, you're going to get a silk screen print.

It's an 11 by 14 signed limited edition by Mr.

Jame.

So you're not getting this anywhere else, but through your contribution to WEDU, you go to $10 a month and you get this awesome tote bag that I've been rocking this entire time.

You get style, you get color, you get a great way to carry around all the things that you want to do when you hit the beach this winter, because it's just too hot right now to go to the beach now for $20 a month, you're going to get the tote, the silk screen, the note cards, and a bonus sticker set so that $20 a month gives you the whole shebang.

All these gifts, access to Passport, and you get to continue your support for all the work we do here, not just in the arts, but in education, um, and in the community itself.

So thank you so much.

Call the number or go to our website and donate.