Frederick Hammersley Foundation... New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

...and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

HONORING INDIGENEITY, INSPIRED BY COMMUNITY AND THE SOUTHWEST, 4 KINSHIP TRANSFORMS UPCYCLED, RESTORED AND SMALL BATCH TEXTILES INTO FASHION.

TALLE BAMAZI CREATED A SERIES OF PAINTINGS THAT VISUALIZE COVID-19 AND IT'S EFFECT ON THE WORLD.

"THE ANGEL OF NEW YORK" MARTINA BRUNO'S VOICE LIFTS THE HEARTS OF SUBWAY RIDERS.

MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST JAMES EMERSON "RED NUN" INVITES PEOPLE TO STEP INSIDE THE ARTWORK.

FULL OF IMAGINATION, WHIMSY, AND MOVEMENT JORDAN WONG'S EXHIBIT "THE 10,000 THINGS" IS INSPIRED BY VIDEO GAMES, AND COMIC BOOKS.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

LESS ABOUT SELF, MORE ABOUT COMMUNITY.

>>Ebony Isis Booth: You started in California as a fashion designer.

What made you decide to bring your designs to New Mexico?

>>Amy Denet Deal: Coming home was this journey of learning what it means to be indigenous.

I was adopted at birth, raised in a non-native family, very loving family who I call my mom and dad and my siblings, but never really knew what it meant to be Diné or to be Navajo.

I needed to come home and learn.

I needed to come back to my ancestral lands.

So it really came back down to dealing with my own life you Why was I put on the planet?

What's my legacy going to be?

>> Ebony: And how are you mending that gap from your long-standing experience in the industry to this cultural presence that you have now in the community?

>>Amy: I think it all comes back with kinship, I mean, that's the name of my brand, For Kinship.

My joyfulness came from being a mom.

My joyfulness came from doing community service.

You know, I have so much joy now, being able to mentor, being able to find solutions to problems in my community and that's something that brings me a joy that I didn't know before.

So that connectivity to who I am as a Diné woman, my connectivity to New Mexico, being back in ancestral land, all these things are part of the creativity that is for kinship.

The community work for me, is like really being a young child and learning from the people I get to work with but also giving back these adult skills I've acquired in this journey I had as a fashion designer.

>>Ebony: And you get to create that?

>>Amy: Yeah.

Even what I have on today, I think this is probably, I was out in the Bisti filming out there and doing some photo shoots and this time of year when things are in our winter state you know, it's like neutrals and like getting back to the basic shades of the winter like, I don't know, I shift from the colors I do in fall.

And then I'm really attracted to doing neutrals right now so I'm pretty much in juniper and sagebrush and ash because I'm feeling that right now.

It's like it infuses in me and I just want to create from that place and so that's like a joyfulness that's here, that I've never had in my design career.

I've always been creating imaginary things you know, I think most of these design cycles in fashion, they are not connected to the earth, otherwise they would have more respect for the earth, I think.

The processes would have been more respectful so if you start in a place of inspiration where you basically connect with the land on that level and everything around us, like that's the starting point when you talk about you know what's your inspiration, it truly is the walks I take, the hikes I take, the drives I take, the pictures of other friends that are in these spaces that I'm inspired to go in those places too, so if that is the beginning of the creation of what I do as an artist, you know, the outcome of that is something that is highly respectful because I want to give back and protect that land that is the beginning of where I create.

>>Ebony: Why do you choose upcycling as a medium or method for your fashion designs?

>>Amy: Because I want to be a better mom.

Really, that's where it comes from.

I can't talk to my child about being, you know, living a conscious life here on the planet, you know, especially now that there's so much going on with climate crisis, I cannot be a good mother if I'm not practicing in my day-to-day life, you know, ways to make a better future for her and for her to carry that forward.

So, sustainability, upcycling, all of this is simply being very conscious that we're just visitors here on this earth and we need to do a much better job of taking care of it.

So, my pathway was to choose not to design new things but to really look at things already here on the planet and just, you know, reimagine them.

So, I collect old things like the garment that Lily has on in that picture.

It's a 1940s curtain that, I just thought was so exquisite.

It was all satiny and like this beautiful textile made in the United States back when we actually had production here and I see these things and I just envision a way to make them new and revitalize them or to find broken things that are considered consumer waste and find ways to reimagine what they could be.

>>Ebony: What are some of the most dynamic pieces or maybe one thing that found you that you collided with?

>>Amy: Oh my gosh, a giant box of parachutes from like the 19, I think it was probably 1940s 1950s.

>>Ebony: What did you do with them?

>>Amy: Oh my gosh, I like opened it up and it was like one big jellyfish, you know, because it was all transparent and translucent fabrics, you know, really dirty, really stinky because it's been in some warehouse for god knows how long and I just lifted it up and I'm like, I just want to make skirts because I just could imagine like a ball gown where it was all this translucent diaphanous like fabric and so we cleaned them up we you know managed to get everything kind of back to where it was in a clean state and then just drape it, cut it apart, reimagine and I made like a whole collection of skirts.

So, things like that it's just like, it brings me so much joy because it was like such a sad state when I got to meet it but the end thing was the most beautiful, the beautiful thing that brings joy to other people.

>>Ebony: What do you hope you will achieve as a part of this lasting legacy?

What do you want that to be?

>>Amy: Well, you have to look at the word legacy.

I don't look at this as my life, I look at this of what continues after I'm gone.

So, I think when I talk about legacy, I think about the future right, I think about who's going to come after me, so a lot of the work I do, you know, obviously things for sustainable design are important, it's important to teach that to our children because they will carry on after we're no longer here but with For Kinship, it's really looking at how can I take a platform that's a fashion brand, that's interesting to people but use that business model to be something that creates community change and then just try to connect the dots, you know, mentor kids, teach them what I know about fashion design, these are all things that are going to continue long after I'm gone.

You know, I've done a pretty good job with my daughter because she's going into that field of sustainable design and she is connected to community and knows that it's important to find that time to give back and that's all it takes for anyone, you know, and we can all, if we all did this five minutes every day, just imagine the change we could affect.

If we all gave a dollar back every day to somebody, imagine how much money we could raise to create this wealth of change so that's really what I see my place in space in the fashion community is, is probably not to fit in but to be the one that sticks out so that's kind of the weirdo place that I'm at in the industry right now, is like, that's kind of where I'm at and I'm really joyful and happy to be there.

>>Ebony: Oh, I mean, end scene on a purpose driven life.

What a gift.

Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today, Amy.

>>Amy: Oh, thank you.

Ahéhe' Thank you so much.

ALL ABOUT LIFE.

My name is Talle and I'm from Togo, West Africa.

I got here in 1995 from West Africa.

I was invited to have a show in Philadelphia.

And so I decided to go to school and later one when to New York Academy, graduate.

And then, later on I decided to come to Ohio, my ex-wife and I.

So we decide to search.

And so when I search I find out that Ohio, especially Columbus, they have a major world-renounced collectors.

And I was like wow, "sweetheart, that's where we're going."

[ laughter ] I was very surrealist also at that time.

You know, I kind of changed it as I came over there, kind of find my way.

I kind of master all styles now.

So abstract, surrealism, realism.

I can understand all cultures, you know.

I can answer any questions about any style.

My role is to document the moment.

And that's what I'm doing.

You've seen the symbol for the coronavirus.

I began to introduce them.

The first one was the other one there, which is death.

There is no one that will not die.

If you're born, you're going to die.

Anything that's being created will expire.

If you understand that rule you will live longer and peaceful.

When you look at them, as dark as they are, they are beautiful.

As dark they are, you see the beauty in.

So in this moment right now, I appreciate it.

Every second that I live, for me is a grateful time.

So I use that wisely.

I present life with eggs.

Anytime you see eggs in my paintings, it means life.

In a calabash is another calabash inside because this is the symbol of life.

Because that thing for me, that's the beginning of conscience of a human being.

Anywhere you go you will see the calabash.

It's just the effect of Africa.

We use that daily just to drink our wine.

Daily we have that.

The queen used to put her jewels inside.

You know, it's a different way that this is served in Africa.

It's beautiful.

It's kind of, it's earthy.

It's beautiful when you look at it.

I'm a human.

And as long as I live, I will be human.

I don't care who you are.

When I met you, when I met anyone, I want us to have experience of human being.

We don't have that no more.

We let that go.

I want everybody to know that I love everyone.

I don't care where you're from, what you do, bad, good, I love you.

If we can love each other, what else can you give someone besides love?

VOICE OF AN ANGEL.

>>Martina Bruno: I know how it is to work in the morning in the hustle and bustle.

One day, I heard a little girl sing and it really touched my It made a difference in my day.

And so I was like, you know, maybe I could do that for other people.

I had just graduated college and I was like, "What am I gonna do with my life?"

Let me help people out while I figure it out.

And so one day there was this lady.

She came up to me really, really upset.

"You know you have a beautiful voice, honey, sounds just like an angel!

What are you doing down here?"

[laughing] And I was like, "I want to be an angel."

I decided to take this seriously at some point and not just moonlight.

I was tired of getting harassed by the cops, and becoming part of MUNY allowed to me to have a schedule and then I could really keep that schedule, that structure.

So right now I am at Yale Divinity School where I will be getting my M.Div.

I work as a chaplain, I gig a lot, and so that's how I kind of balance everything.

I don't think I would have ended up at divinity school if I didn't sing in the subway.

People are crying and telling me all their issues - in the subway!

And I wanted to be able to be of service.

I tend to like do the goodies - oldies but goodies.

I like to tap into the collective consciousness of New So, it's like laden in your subconscious and people usually react to things that are very familiar.

Ave Maria's a big one.

Listen, I could sing Ave Maria all day.

Whether it's Carmen or opera or sacred music, I give my all.

I sing it because its good communion with you, with the person who's listening.

It humbles me, because I sing, I worship.

I love the shuttle.

I do the Grand Central shuttle.

It's just less interference, basically, and I guess my comfort zone.

I'm used to being there.

I like the energy.

Every subway has its own culture, which is kind of weird but it's true.

When you're in Grand Central there's a lot of business people, but then people transiting and it's a very interesting mix.

I just want them to know that they heard of angel and they're not alone.

I'm not saying I'm an- that my, my personality is angel but at that moment that's what I'm wanting to channel.

Singing in the subway, it can be very chaotic but very beautiful at the same time.

That's New York City.

STEP INSIDE.

My name is James Emerson, and I'm a multidisciplinary artist.

In general, my artwork is largely focused on representation of the human condition.

This sculpture in particular was executed... there was a theme of the public square, so it's very much about exactly that, the sort of intersection of, of all of us, you know, where we all meet.

It's designed to be entered into and its sort of a panorama.

I've tried to build a place where people can bring what's inside of them, into the sculpture as well.

You know?

And so that's what I hope that people get that out of it, they're part of it.

You know, all of those are real people.

They're all portraits done from life.

So they're all of us.

The title is "Red Nun."

Calling it "Red Nun" was something that we learned when we came down here to do the first part of the installation.

As it's been explained to me, it's a marker that helps bring you home.

The walls are on this, you know, 36 degree slope and because of the science of optics and line the drawings have to actually be distorted in order to be in proper perspective for the viewer.

So it's like, this is incredibly difficult task that I sort of created for myself, but I'm getting an opportunity to make all the elements of the piece better.

EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.

(bell ring) (mystic music) >>So the 10,000 things is a Dallas phrase that refers to you know, the universe, the world pretty much all that's in existence.

And it kind of relates also to the imagery of things that are flowing, ebbing and flowing and just always shifting.

I love the concept of energy.

I love the concept of, you know, and visuals of movement, which I think have strong connections to life, to narratives, to human beings and growing.

A lot of the choices that I make connect to that.

(bell ring) My grandfather, he would take like computer paper and like, you know, cut it up into like smaller squares and just have like a big stack of it in the kitchen for me to draw on, I could spend hours drawing, you know >>Interviewer: What were you drawing?

Oh!

Cartoon characters, comic book characters, you know video game characters, things, you know things that I was watching on TV like Sonic the Hedgehog, Dragon Ball Z, all those things.

(bell ring) This is Sun Wukong.

And he is one of the main characters in Journey to the West which is a classic Chinese novel written long time ago.

And there's a lot of, you know, adaptations of this character.

And I grew up watching the Journey to the West TV show that was made back in the 80s.

So my grandmother would record this show and have it on VHS tapes for me to watch.

And the stories just fantastical and really appeals to your imagination.

(bell ring) Someone asked me recently, like, you know, what is the use of rings and halos?

And I think they're a great motif to kind of connect to this idea of the divine or other worldly, you know something that is beyond this physical realm, you know to have this, this like halo or ring kind of like float around around you like 24/7 it's just like this really cool imaginative, you know scene.

(bell ring) I like using clouds because I feel like they are great imagery that communicates wonder, imagination, whimsy, and you can use them in all sorts of different ways.

You know, whether they're like kind of really fluffy and playful.

And now that I'm thinking about Chinese and Asian artwork the clouds are really used, especially in images of heaven and then things that are divine, beyond the realm of what we know.

(bell ring) Yeah, hiding little versions of myself is kind of been like a new thing just because the works I've been doing recently are just so detailed and there's so much going on that it's like, oh yeah, why not get away with hiding of this like small version of myself.

And it's kind of become a way to quote unquote, sign my my works.

(bell ring) A lot of the work that I'm doing now.

And also in the past, the common thread is this idea of like perseverance, encouragement, growth.

Now I'm exploring like again in relation to like those Dallas ideas, the ebbs and flow of life being a little softer when things are tense and hard and yeah, just kind of finding a balance and maybe bliss in this crazy life that we live.

Which, you know, I think applies to not just the times that we live now, but in the past and times that we're going to live.

So it's weird how it's like all connected and just TO VIEW THIS AND OTHER COLORES PROGRAMS GO TO: New Mexico PBS dot org and look for COLORES under What We Do and Local Productions.

Also, LOOK FOR US ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM.

"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Foundation... New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

And Viewers Like You.

(CLOSED CAPTIONING BY KNME-TV)