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

(bright upbeat music) - [Explainer] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

- [Gabe] In this edition of WEDU Arts Plus, a St. Pete native brings a refreshing voice center stage.

- Your voice ain't too loud, it's not loud enough, girl, sing, be you.

♪ Southern trees ♪ ♪ Bear a strange fruit ♪ - [Gabe] The appeal of chain stitch embroidery.

- [Tina] I love when someone allows me to design and do something that looks like the styles that inspired me to do this in the first place - [Gabe] A poet's language.

- I want the readers of my poems to feel as if they are in the place and of the time of the poem.

So I like trying to put the reader there.

- [Gabe] And reconstructing identity through art.

- I feel like it's my responsibility to offer a different narrative of who we could be, of where we came from and the dynamic women that we are.

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

(soft air whooshing) (bright upbeat music) Hello, I'm Gabe Ortiz and this is WEDU Arts Plus.

Siobhan Monique, St. Pete native and grand niece of local jazz legend, Buster Cooper, delivers songs that speak to the global human condition with her sultry, funky, enigmatic style.

She captivates audiences while paying tribute to her ancestors.

(slow upbeats) - I am Siobhan Monique.

I am a conduit for my ancestors and the daughter of St. Petersburg, Florida.

I am here to fulfill my purpose, walk in my destiny but more importantly, I am here to let my light shine.

(saxophone playing) ♪ Oh ♪ My very first performance, I was three years old, I was selected to perform in front of the church.

(keyboard playing) - She got on stage in front of an entire packed church for a Christmas play.

She grabbed the microphone and just ad-libbed her entire part and just brought the church down.

So we were like, "Oh, okay, well, this is what she wants to do."

♪ Temptations ♪ - That moment was when I connected to my purpose.

I didn't choose music, it chose me.

- [Melissa] Her personality was an old soul from day one.

Her facial expressions had this kinda old soul type of feel to it {\an1}and she had a very unique, beautiful darkness to her and I think that's part of this artistry that we see now.

♪ Southern trees ♪ ♪ Bear a strange fruit ♪ (soft keyboard upbeats) - I was in awe the first time that I heard her and she was such a demure person, a small person but this huge voice would come from her and it was so moving.

♪ (mumbles) over me ♪ - I can definitely see her sound and her music being something in the '40s and the '50s {\an1}and connecting with that.

And when you hear her voice, it's like this voice has been here before.

This isn't a new voice, this isn't a pup voice, this is a voice that has a story that needs to be told, so she's continuing to tell the story.

So it really resonates with all generations.

(saxophone playing) - My uncle, Buster, was a very essential part of the jazz era.

He played with the Duke Ellington jazz band and now that I look back on it as an adult, I can see the seeds that he planted for me and for my life.

(saxophone playing) - Buster Cooper is my uncle, he is my father's brother, that connection and Siobhan's gift of having that type of ancestral voice and connection {\an1}to the great jazz legends, allowed the two of them to really connect when it came to music.

(saxophone playing) - He would always say... my family calls me, boo, so, "Boo never give up."

I got a degree in classical voice, I went to New York and I was a leading role in the Off-Broadway Show and then he got sick.

And I was missing my family at the time and my mom was like, "Listen, your uncle, he doesn't have much time left."

So I'm like, "Okay, I'm gonna pack up my stuff, {\an1}I'm going to come home, I already miss my family, I need to see my uncle."

On his deathbed, he pulls me to him and he said, "Listen, I want you to carry on the family legacy, it's your time.

I give you my blessing and I want you to carry this through."

And I'm like, "Oh, okay, that's... nothing major."

And so with him saying that, I embraced and I accepted the calling in what he was passing down to me and that is what you see before you.

(Siobhan singing) Community is important to me because there is strength in numbers and my community has shaped and molded me into a queen.

You have to give back to what has been given important to you.

- One thing I can say about St. Pete, especially the south side of St. Pete, we are still a generational city.

We know people, we know their father, their grandfather, their great-grandfather.

So there's still that generational connection that I think makes it very unique.

- It takes a village, it takes a village that believes in you and in this case, establishing that base.

{\an1}You know you can go home.

- She's actually taken on that field to go work {\an1}to New York, to LA and she always wants to come back {\an1}to that feeling of family.

(Siobhan singing) - If it wasn't for my village, my community, my family, my ancestors, who constantly reminded me, "No, you are beautiful, you are smart.

Your voice ain't too loud, it's not loud enough, girl, sing, be you."

The moment that I decided to do that, all of the beauty, all of the beauty.

So what I will say to you little Black girl that's watching this right now, you're beautiful.

You're more than just a strong Black woman, you're magical.

Be yourself, love yourself, know thy self.

That's where all of this comes from.

I'm me.

(bright upbeat music) - To hear more, visit ancestralfunk.com.

For Reno-based artist, Tina vines, {\an1}a love for vintage clothing and Western wear, led her to the art of chain stitch embroidery.

Up next, meet the artist and find out more about her designs and method.

(bright upbeat music) - My name is Tina vines and I do chain stitch embroidery.

I got interested initially in embroidery because I'm into vintage clothing and I love especially Western wear kind of '40s, '50s era in particular {\an1}and I noticed the embroidery on Western wear and I thought, what is that, I can tell it's not done by hand, {\an1}is that a special machine?

So I looked into it and I noticed that all of the pieces have so much chain stitch embroidery on them, it was like such beautiful work that I wanted to learn how to do it.

Chain stitch embroidery is made up {\an1}of just one single stitch, it's a chain and you use that to make up all these designs, so the fill is the same stitch as the outline, it's just the fill is overlapped in a circular motion and the fill would be like a straight stitch.

One of the most common materials that I use is other people's clothing.

{\an1}(orchestral upbeat music) People send me jacket suits and I embroider them for them, I love when someone allows me to design and do something that looks like the styles that inspired me to do this in the first place.

So super traditional kind of Western or just very vintage looking, whether that's like a car club jacket or a letterman jacket, that's my favorite, is when I get to make it look really old, when you wouldn't know if you found it {\an1}if it was original or not, that's kinda my goal.

When I go to make a purse for example, {\an1}I first start with a rough sketch of the basic design that I'm gonna do and then I make a more refined sketch that I actually use more as a template for the embroidery, {\an1}(orchestral upbeat music) I choose the fabric, cut out the fabric and then I choose the threads, the colors, I really love this sage green that I use for a lot of the cactus that I do and it's like the perfect color, it looks great with everything.

(machine vibrating and clanking) The machine that I use is 100-year old antique machine, sometimes people assume that a newer machine would work better but it's the complete opposite, {\an1}the older machines are so sturdy and so reliable and they just give the stitch that no other machine can make.

(machine clanking) I love the feel of it, I love the sounds of it, (machine clanking) I love working on it.

(machine clanking) When I'm actually using the machine, I'm doing a lot of multitasking, I'm using the handle with my right hand, I have my left hand on top, which I'm kinda steadying the fabric and then with my foot, I'm operating the pedal, which makes the motor of the machine move.

There's a spool of thread underneath, it comes up {\an1}and the needle is shaped kind of like a fish hook, so it loops the thread as it comes up and it just pulls it and pulls it and pulls it into this chain and that is just a straight stitch, it's just looping in a straight line, unless I'm moving the handle underneath.

{\an1}As I'm turning the handle, the stitches are overlapping in a circle.

So it's a hand-operated way of kind of drawing with a machine.

{\an1}(orchestral upbeat music) When I found the chain stitch embroidery, {\an1}I felt like it was finally the perfect match of all of the things I love.

{\an1}I just feel really lucky that I get to do something that's very specific and unique and special to me that other people enjoy as well.

(bright upbeats) - To see more embroidered designs, go to vinesofthewest.com.

{\an1}In this segment, hear from feminist poet, writer and social activist, Margaret Randall.

Over the span of her illustrious career, Randall has published over 150 books and made an undeniable impact on the poetic medium.

- So there's so much imagery in your poetry.

How do you use poetry to tell a story?

- I want the readers of my poems to feel as if they are in the place and of the time of the poem, so I like trying to put the reader there.

So that's one way.

And then another way I think is, since I did oral history for so long, just bringing the voices of ordinary people into my poems.

I think that helps make that connection.

- And why do you think that's important?

- Because I think that's where real poetry lies, that's where it lives.

So yes, I think that if we learn to listen to the way people speak, to the way they express themselves, all different kinds of people, poetry can do that.

It can introduce us to other people, {\an1}other places, other times.

- How is imagery a portal for that?

- Well, if you are writing about a tree and you call it a tree, it's a tree but if you call it an oak or you call it a weeping willow or you call it a palm tree, that sort of puts the reader right there.

So I think that the more detail you can get in your images, the more specificity, that helps.

- Transports them magically.

- Yeah, hopefully.

Made rich by art and revolution.

When I am gone and August comes to my desert, rain will soak sand, its rich scent rising {\an1}to enter the lungs of another mother or walker, someone whose intention and desire I cannot know.

When I am gone, this painting of little islands, miniature trees and birds floating in a magical sea of blue will hang in someone else's house.

Will that person tell the story of poor Nicaraguan peasants made rich by art and revolution?

A granddaughter may inherit my turquoise earrings.

The clay pans I've used for years, their pungency filling the house, will offer up a new generation of bread.

Someone not yet born may read this poem.

But who will ask the questions born of the answers I juggle today.

Who will know the heat of this great love, or catch fragments of my memory resembling just before dawn.

- What do you mean in your poem by citing the poor Nicaraguan is made rich {\an1}by art during revolution?

- It's a reference to a poet named Ernesto Cardenal, a great still living Latin American poet, Nicaraguan poet, he had a community on a tiny island {\an1}on the lake of Nicaragua, where he got the farmers, the peasants who lived on that island together to read poetry, to hear poetry, to paint.

in the poem there's a reference to a painting, {\an1}it's a painting by one of those, by an older woman, who had never had a paintbrush in her hand before and so these people were extraordinarily poor, I mean, really, really poor, poorer than most peasants in most places because they lived isolated on this little island and they were barely subsistence.

And the art that they began to make, the poems that they began to write made them rich and it was the revolution that gave them that, the Sandinista revolution back in the '80s.

And so I'm referring to that, I'm referring to their lives being made rich by art and revolution, art that they made.

- But when you say, "Made rich by art due to revolution," {\an1}is that still this lasting legacy that exists through their art?

- Yeah, I think it is.

I think it is because... and in Cuba too, we just got back from Cuba a week or so ago and it's extraordinary how poor these countries are compared with United States and yet how much of their gross national product they spend on culture and art and music and writing and writers.

So I think that the revolutions I've been part of, have wanted very much to... {\an1}have believed and believe, the Cuban Revolution still believes, that art and culture are necessities, they're no less important than healthcare and education and a roof over your head and food and so forth.

So you go to one of these countries, it's extraordinarily poor and yet they subsidize books, they pay their artists to make art.

And so I think that's something that as a poet, as an artist myself, has always just thrilled me about those revolutionary experiences.

- So it's this (mumbles) of life and experience, what's the wisdom behind this poem?

- In this poem I'm really talking about old age, I'm talking about I'm 82 and I feel like I'm gonna live forever but that probably won't happen, so I'm sort of beginning to think about my grandchildren, {\an1}my great-grandchildren, what I will leave to them, these turquoise earrings that I wear everyday, the bread pans that I make bread in that I've made bread in for 35 years, it's a pump full of questions.

It asks at the end, who will ask the questions to my answers?

{\an1}And so it's about that, it's about passing it on.

- Why poetry for you?

- For me poetry is like breathing.

I don't...

I can't conceive of a life without poetry.

I would like my work to make people listen, to make them speak their own words, I would like my work to give people joy, to get them to ask questions, difficult questions and I always think questions are more important {\an1}than answers, I would like my work to be braided into the legacy of poetry that... the poetry you make, the poetry that... we have such great poets in Albuquerque and throughout the United States, so... {\an1}and throughout the world.

So I want my poetry to be part of this extraordinary fabric, poetic fabric that exists in every language and in languages that are not written and oral languages.

So I want my poetry... what I aspire to, is that my poems will be strands in that braid, in that fabric, which is all poetry.

(bright upbeat music) - Discover more at margaretrandall.org.

Artist Delita Martin does not limit herself to one artistic process or technique, through printmaking, layering, drawing, painting and installations.

{\an1}She uses her canvas to convey a powerful message.

(dramatic upbeats) {\an1}- Printmaking is this energy, this anticipation, I can't wait to pull the print off the press.

(dramatic upbeats) I'm just a conduit.

Whatever happens in the studio, I'm allowing the work to work through me.

I've been creating art since I was like five, six years old, I don't ever remember not creating.

(paper rustling) I was in undergraduate school and I saw printmaking and I really didn't know what it was, it was just this magical experience, is really the best way that I can describe it, so I decided, one day I'm actually gonna do that.

I work in a lot of different processes.

I work with drawing, I work with painting, I work with printmaking, there's sewing element {\an1}that's in my work as well and so I bring all of these different energies together in order to create a piece of artwork.

(dramatic upbeat music) Layering is very important in my work.

The layering references time, it references history and all of these different things just laid on together.

In my work I also use a lot of symbols and a symbol for me is a circle, you'll see that shape throughout my work, {\an1}it's a symbol of the moon and the moon in a lot of different cultures, particularly in African culture, represents the female.

The women in my work are wearing hoop earrings in majority of the work, so that's another way of bringing in that symbol.

(dramatic upbeat music) My work started off really, being about reconstructing identity {\an1}of African American women.

When you look at media, of course you have the stereotypes of the angry Black woman or the club Jezebel-type woman.

Media has set the tone for our identity, of who we are or who we're supposed to be.

I feel like it's my responsibility to offer a different narrative of who we could be, of where we came from and the dynamic women that we are.

I was really interested in having the viewer be able to walk into a piece of work.

How do I translate my 2D work into 3D work?

(bright upbeat music) All of the women I knew I've interacted with them five minutes, some of them I've known all my life.

I decided to make an installation that really honored who these women are.

So there are 300 plates in the series, they're drawn directly on the plates, I used litho crayons to draw with, so I wanted to stay within the material.

(soft upbeat music) The plates vary because they are actually plates that were given to me, donated to me or they were found.

Everything had to have a history and these women had so much personality and so much life, I didn't wanna just walk into a store and buy a box of plates.

(bright upbeat music) {\an1}They are lawyers, they're mothers, they're teachers, they're activists, they're artists, there're so many amazing women in the world, I couldn't draw them all but I wanted all of them to be a part of this installation.

So for me, the table allowed me to be able to bring the viewer in, so that they could sit down and enjoy the work and talk and just have conversations.

(bright upbeat music) Who are these women and what are they about?

What contributions are they making to society?

Those are the conversations that need to be had.

My love for what I do is what drives me.

I love art and I think I've been exploring {\an1}different mediums, I plan on bringing other mediums into my work, I don't know how or when but I always believe and I'm always open to it happening.

I refuse to believe that I can't do something, (bright upbeat music) I think that allows me room to grow.

(bright upbeat music) - See more of Martin's work, at blackboxpressstudio.com.

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

{\an1}For more arts and culture, visit wedu.org/artsplus.

Until next time, I'm Gabe Ortiz, thanks for watching.

(dramatic upbeats music) - [Explainer] Funding for WEDU Arts Plus is provided by the Community Foundation Tampa Bay.

(bright upbeat music)