- [Announcer] This is a production of WEDU PBS, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota.

- [Dalia Colon] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

In this season 11 premier of WEDU Arts Plus on location at the Sarasota Art Museum, a new art museum from a historic Sarasota landmark.

- But, you never know what you're going to see at the Sarasota Art Museum.

It's new, the freshness, the different mediums.

It's all so special.

- [Dalia Colon] Homeland memories captured on canvas.

(man speaks in foreign language) traditional beaded pieces.

- [Teresa Melendez] So, when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

- [Dalia Colon] And, dancing to the rhythms of hip hop.

- It's like visual poetry.

I mean, a song comes on, you hear the beat, you kind of, your body starts bouncing, and you're like (chants beat) and it's just exciting.

- It's all coming up next on WEDU Arts Plus.

(upbeat music).

Hello, I'm Dalia Colon.

And, this is WEDU Arts Plus.

The Sarasota Art Museum was born from an effort to save a local historical structure and a desire to expand the arts and cultural landscape in Sarasota.

Thanks to a group of committed residents and the Ringling College of Art and Design, a Sarasota icon has been transformed into a new contemporary art space.

(upbeat music) - When you walk into this museum, you get a brisk slap in the face of color, of energy and excitement.

- Sarasota Art Museum was founded in 2003.

It's what I like to say, an audacious dream that could only happen in Sarasota.

There were 13 wonderful founders who came together.

They really felt that there was a need in this community to focus on modern and contemporary art.

- It's always nice to have another competing facet of a genre of art in a community.

I think the Sarasota Art Museum is just that.

It specializes in contemporary art and I think it pushes the other museums and other venues to enhance and forward their own exhibits as far as the contemporary art is concerned.

(plucky music) - So, from those early days, this passionate group of people really knew that the museum would need a great partner to be successful.

And, the museum, Sarasota Art Museum was born under the auspices of Ringling College of Art and Design.

And, from there, this community stepped in to essentially be the supporters for the museum's bid for the 1926 Elliott Building otherwise known as Sarasota High School.

- Because the museum was an old high school when they did the adaptive reuse project, of course they wanted to stay true in some areas to the original architecture which is a collegiate gothic building.

So, we like to bring exhibitions that are site specific.

So, really responding to the original architecture, and then building on them with new works.

And then, we have the great skylights as well which brings in a lot of natural light.

And, it just flatters the works in a different way that you might not otherwise get in a typical gallery space.

- A lot of museums have the same exhibit over and over, and people walk in and they're, you know, they're looking at the same thing.

But, you never know what you're going to see at the Sarasota Art Museum.

It's new.

The freshness.

The different mediums.

It's all so special.

- Sarasota Art Museum is a contemporary kunsthalle which is a German word meaning that we don't have a permanent collection.

So, we rotate our exhibitions roughly every four to five months which means that we can always respond to the current moment what's happening globally and also here in Sarasota.

So, this exhibition season at Sarasota Art Museum, we really wanted to offer visitors different experiences to engage in new ways.

So, I think a lot of times, people will go to a museum and they're very used to just seeing two dimensional works on a wall and moving through a space, but we really wanted to force people to slow down and to think about works in new ways, so, we have some interactive works like the Felix Gonzalez-Torres Candy Spill which is in our historic lobby as well as the immersive installation with Danner Washburn's work which is titled Effigy: Hemric.

And, it's really important that we sort of give visitors this opportunity to break from the mold of what a museum typically does.

So, not only do we give space for artists to respond to the current moment, but we're also asking visitors to be present in the current moment.

And, to really reflect and think more about the ideas that the artists are presenting.

- This room right here, this studio loft area, I really appreciate all the artists in their studios, because as an artist myself, I'm getting to see an insight to their process.

It creates those questions that I think about of how work is done.

And, how things are handled.

Getting into the Sarasota Art Museum has helped my growth in staying with the arts, being proactive in my own art practices.

- We really are a school within a school.

So, we're Ringling College of Art and Design's living laboratory for contemporary art.

We're the museum of the college, but we also have our own educational programming that happens here on site too.

(plucky music) From the very beginning, the community, the founders, and Ringling College of Art and Design really saw that there is a need to help educate people around the arts and around contemporary art, but also a chance for people to be creative.

So, we were really built purpose built, so to speak, so that that creativity piece is embedded within our culture here.

We are home to what's called an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute or OLLIE, and that is one of the most amazing things that happens on our campus.

We have people 55 plus lifelong learners coming to take classes, to teach classes, share their experience.

We also have gallery tours.

We have talks by artists and with artists.

And, we have art making in all of our wonderful spaces as well as programs for school children.

- Ringling has done a great job with having all of these different moving pieces.

And, it allows people with backgrounds like myself to find a little place to share.

And so, the OLLIE became the natural for me, because it's something that I like to do.

I like to talk about the apparel industry.

And, it was a lot of fun.

- It's a place about ideas, learning.

It's a place about what the future looks like.

And, it's about the human condition and how we share this life experience together.

And, what's wonderful is that we have really, really passionate people who are engaged with us every day.

(piano music) - For more information visit Sarasotaartmuseum.org.

In this segment, meet refugee artist, Mohammed Hanif Esmaty who is newly resettled in Dayton, Ohio.

He paints images of his Afghan homeland from memory.

- [Female Speaker] Imagine being uprooted from your home during a time of war or civil unrest.

This is the reality for many refugees coming to the United States in search of a better life.

One free of violence and persecution.

Dayton has been a welcoming city for many years accepting immigrants and refugees with open arms.

Refugees like artist Mohammed Esmaty and his wife and children.

(Mohammed speaks in foreign language) After receiving his bachelor's degree from Kabul University, Mohammed traveled to Russia to further his education in the arts, focusing primarily on portraiture.

After returning to Kabul, he worked in a studio painting and teaching for many years.

(Mohammed speaks in foreign language) (upbeat music) (Mohammed speaks in foreign language) (piano music) - For more about local artists in Dayton, Ohio, visit Daytonlocal.com.

Artist Teresa Melendez practices the art of Native American beadwork in Nevada.

Since the age of 15, she has been creating eye catching designs full of color and creativity.

(guitar music) - My favorite form of indigenous artwork is beadwork.

I really enjoy beading.

I find it relaxing.

I enjoy thinking about the designs and the type of materials that I want to use, the look that I want to create.

I also really enjoy making beadwork because it's functional artwork.

Beadwork is a form of traditional Native American artwork.

So, anywhere around the country, as you visit different tribal nations, you'll see different styles of beadwork.

I've been making beadwork since I was about 15.

And, usually when I design beadwork, when I create beadwork, it's for use for cultural events, or ceremonies or Pow Wows.

So, I'm a Pow dancer.

I'm a Fancy Shawl dancer, and I like to dance Jingle and traditional from time to time too.

But, my kids and I, we Pow dance and so a lot of the bead work that I make is for our Pow outfits or our regalia.

So, when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

So, I'm really thinking about the person that I'm designing for and then the use of the final product, and the look that I want to create.

I like to lay everything out on graph paper and then I'll translate that paper to material and I'll sew it down to the material so that I have a pattern to work with.

And then, just start beading.

Beadwork is incredibly time consuming.

As you look at these different beaded pieces, you know that each one of those beads was hand sewn on.

Artists will have their own techniques, and so, I like to put on four beads and then go back through two.

Every single bead is touched by that artist at least one, but sometimes multiple times depending on how they tack it down.

And so, the larger pieces, they could have 100s of hours of man time.

I would say, one of my favorite parts about beading is watching a piece come together, because you have this vision.

And, a lot of times your vision is pretty true to the final product, but sometimes it's not.

So, it's fun watching the piece come together.

But, actually seeing the colors come together and the designs come together, it's really exciting and it provides me a lot of motivation, because I'll be like, "Two more hours and I can have this piece complete and I can finally see what it's gonna look like."

When I make beadwork, I make it for really specific purposes.

So, my husband and I got married about seven years ago.

I wore a traditional woodland outfit for our wedding.

And then, my husband wore a traditional Paiute outfit for the weddings.

And then, our daughters, they wore some beaded pieces also.

My 14 year old, her name is Tziavi which means wild rose.

And so, you'll see in those pieces that there's an image of a rose.

And then, Pasituva, our little one, her name is wild iris, and so there's an iris beaded into her hair ties.

And then, in my bandolier bag there's several flowers that are beaded in that.

You know, there's a flower that represents me, my favorite flower, and then my husband's favorite flower.

And then, there's a hummingbird which symbolizes love.

And then, going up the straps are the flowers of our kids.

So, Giuseppe, his name is Red Earth.

I beaded a read star like flower for him.

One of the pieces I brought was the medallion I made when I graduated with my bachelors degree.

I went to Michigan State University.

The medallion's in the shape of a Spartan S with a little sash across with the abbreviation SOC for sociology and then the year I graduated, because I graduated with a bachelors degree in sociology.

So, it's common in indigenous artwork to see things like that that are symbols that are very specific to that individual or specific to that ceremony.

All my beadwork that I create has a lot of symbolism.

It feels good to wear our traditional artwork because I know it comes from a special place.

I know that there's a lot of meaning behind the pieces, but I also think it's important as Americans that we see the indigenous people who live here and who have always lived here.

Here in Nevada there are 27 federally recognized tribes.

That's a lot of tribes.

That's a lot of tribes.

Most states don't have 27 federally recognized tribes.

Sometimes when we think about indigenous cultures, or indigenous arts, we think about them as history, something that's in the past, and something that's not current.

There's all kinds of beautiful work that's being done by artists around the country.

Whether they're capitalizing on contemporary materials, themes.

It's beautiful to see art evolving, even indigenous art.

'Cause what's indigenous is also contemporary.

(piano music) - You can find more Nevada Native American art and artists at greatbasinnativeartists.com.

In Columbus Ohio, James Alexander owns an exciting hip hop based dance studio.

From break dancing to poppin and lockin, he introduces and teaches dance to his students.

- Music is not to be heard.

It is meant to be?

- [Kids] Felt.

- Felt, right.

So, let's go ahead and get warmed up.

I didn't know I was gonna be a dancer growing up.

I wanted to be an elementary school teacher.

And, this ended up being what I'm doing.

So, it's like killing two birds with one stone.

Ready go, side, side, side, side.

My name's James Alexander.

I'm the owner of Flavor'd Flow studio.

So, here at Flavor'd Flow, my main focus is to introduce the dance and pass it down correctly in the culture of hip hop.

(hip hop music) (kids cheer) There's a lot of stigma, negative stigma around hip hop culture and the dance due to the media.

And, that's not really what hip hop culture is about or even the dance.

(hip hop music) In hip hop culture, we have three main dances to the culture.

There's breaking which is the original style of hip hop culture.

Then there was popping which is a West Coast, came from Fresno California, Northern California.

And then, we have locking which came from Los Angeles California..

Here, I teach breaking and popping.

Five, six, seven, eight.

(hip hop music) let's start doing a little turn.

Popping is more known to a lot of people because of the media have called it popping and locking or pop and lock which is actually two different dances.

With popping, in the '70s it was just a muscle isolation.

It was just a quick hit of the muscle.

Now, a lot of people look at it as the robot, the waves, the muscle isolations, different things like that.

- I've been dancing for about, this would be my seventh year dancing.

I came to Columbus in June.

I found this place in August, and it's been wonderful.

It's probably been my favorite dance studio to learn and practice from.

Here it's kind of more, it's more relaxed.

It's more about the art than anything else.

That's kind of what I found out unique here.

It's like visual poetry.

And then, a song comes on, you hear the beat.

Your body starts bouncing, and you're like (chants beat) and you just like get to it, and it's just exciting.

(hip hop music) - With B Boy B Girl, originally that meant Bronx Boy, Bronx Girl, because that's where it originated from.

And then, it moved out of the Bronx and they started calling it breaking or break boy, break girl.

And, the term originally means to break out and dance.

When the media picked it up in 1982, they started calling it break dancing, because we dance to the break of the music.

Coincidentally, that's what we do dance to.

So, Breakin' the original style of hip hop started in the late '60s in the Bronx.

When it started, it was only dancing on your feet.

When California started picking it up, they really started putting in the power moves.

And now, you know, it's almost a must that you mix all these together.

There are four parts, main parts to the dance.

There's toprock which is like dancing on your feet.

That's your introduction.

And then, when you get down to the ground, you got your footwork which stance is on your hands and feet.

Tap, go back to squat.

Five, six, seven, eight and go.

(hip hop music) Freezes, where it's just stopping motion.

And, power moves, which are the power moves are what breaking is known for.

The windmills, the head spins, stuff on your hands.

And, I think this is where a lot of the misconceptions of breaking came from is that it's freestyle, which it is, but I think a lot of people think freestyle is doing whatever you want, however you want.

And what, actually with breaking and popping and all of this stuff, freestyle is freestyling with the moves given.

(hip hop music) - My name is Luci and my B-girl name is Misfit, and I've been dancing for two years.

The thing that I love about it is that I get to make new friends and Jamie, which is our instructor, he doesn't just teach dancing.

He teaches like behavior and stuff which I really like.

Another thing that I really like about like going to these classes and stuff is that it's not all choreographed.

He teaches you these moves, and then you can mix them up and make them into something else.

- Flavor'd Flow is all about having flavor in your flow.

And flow is just about how you put your dance together and how you choose to.

So, what you learn in these moves is how you flow with it.

You know, so just like I try not to teach choreography, I don't want you to learn my dance.

I want you to learn the dance, and then I want you to flow and put your flavor, style into however you want to.

Nice guys.

Spin and freeze.

Teaching the young ones, I want to also instill a lot of the values and virtues such as courage, self esteem.

- Well, I've always loved music and dancing, but I got ADHD so I'm always active, and I always have energy.

So, this kind of gets my energy out sometimes so the next day so I'm not all crazy and grumpy from that.

- You know if you give them character and personality and hard work, they're gonna fulfill their dream and work hard at it.

I see you guys are all growing and I love it and I'm super proud of each and every one of you guys.

This is the best way I can give back.

You know, if I can change someone's life, I've done my job, I feel.

(piano music) - Find out more at Flavordflowstudio.com.

And, that wraps it up for this edition of WEDU Arts Plus.

For more arts and culture, visit WEDU.org/artsplus.

Until next time, I'm Dalia Colon.

Thanks for watching.

(rhythmic drum music) Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay (instrumental music)