Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV 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.

ON AN ARTISTIC JOURNEY INSPIRED BY MEMORIES, NOSTALGIA, CULTURE, AND IDENTITY, MULTIMEDIA ARTIST CAROLINE LIU EXPLORES HER CREATIVE PROCESS AND CHINESE HERITAGE.

DEAN MITCHELL'S CONTEMPLATIVE ART TRANSFORMS HIS JOURNEY THROUGH POVERTY AND RACISM INTO A POWERFUL REFLECTION ON HUMANITY AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS TURNING HER STRUGGLES WITH ADDICTION AND ADVERSITY INTO A STORY OF RESILIENCE AND HOPE, DEONNA MARIE BELIEVES IN SECOND CHANCES IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES A CREATIVE JOURNEY.

[MUSIC] - In high school, I took a drawing class that was required.

I remember sitting down with a pencil for the first day, and I made kind of similar drawings to the ones that are on this show.

And I had this moment of like, oh, I really enjoy this feeling, and I really like what I'm creating.

And my teacher was like really excited for me, and I remember he was just like, have you thought about pursuing art?

And you know, little 14-year-old me, I had never actually thought of it before.

I never thought that far ahead, like what my career path may have been, but when I really thought about it, like I really did enjoy making work.

And once it like sparked, I was like, oh, I can actually like do this forever.

Like this can be my like career path, that that's what changed the trajectory for me.

[Music] When I got the call from from Jorge, we did a little, video call at first, and he was, you know, telling me about the show, and he was like, it's about, you know, the untold stories of the other side of the tracks, and we really want to like dig deep and kind of like figure out these like emotions and stories of like people that are often forgotten.

And I was just like really gung-ho about that.

I was like, yes, absolutely, and so after the call, I was like, okay, but I actually don't know much, like I really honestly don't know much about the Transcontinental Railroad.

And so I was like, okay, I need to figure out as much information as possible.

But what I found after watching all of these these, documentaries was that there was still maybe like five percent, and that's like a generous number, but 5 percent talking about the Chinese workers.

At that moment, I just compiled every piece of work that I wanted to make for the show, and so in this work, you can see that I kind of bridge together, this realism and this fantasy.

And, it's kind of my my take on cynical realism.

It's kind of like, an ironic satire to re-visualizing history, and so, I have this motif of the fish everywhere as kind of the symbolism of the Chinese worker, the Chinese person, the Chinese experience.

And you can kind of see throughout the different areas of the work, throughout the different storylines, kind of a new re-telling of history through that.

[Music] My dad is an immigrant from China and Taiwan, and so I kind of started putting together the pieces of like kind of what that feels like to be, you know, in a place that's that's a little bit new.

And you're trying to create this like home, like what that really feels like, what that really looks like.

For my dad, he's in his late '70s, and it still kind of feels fresh.

And so, I really was thinking about the years in which Chinese have been here, you know, like what is the history?

With that in mind, I was kind of thinking about, this Chinese family that I found that lived, in Southern New Mexico.

They had a quite large, from what I can gather from my research, Chinese Garden.

So, the installation inside of the vault is going to be kind of my surrealist take on their family farm.

It's kind of a two- part installation.

There's an installation in the front, and then through that installation, you have to figure out a clue to be able to unlock the treasury Vault and get to the installation inside, so it includes kind of portraits of them, fruits, vegetables, flowers, I hadn't made a salt sculpture in about 5 years, but I made several large scale flowers that will be in the space, you can kind of go in and feel immersed you know in this this beautiful farm.

And then the outside of the Vault, is kind of like you're walking towards a trail head, and we built a trail head sign.

And on the trail head sign, there are all these articles and photos and a lot of information about the family, about the history of New Mexico, during that time period.

And so, viewers will have to look at the board and kind of like figure out the story line, and from there, you can then enter the, The Vault to get to the installation.

So, it's really kind of a lot more interactive than I've ever like done before, but it's like really exciting.

I mean I really do feel like I've unlocked like a part of me, like a new part of me that's really exciting.

And like it's kind of nerve-wracking, because I don't know where it's going to go or where it's going to take me, but I'm just kind of like all in, you know.

I'm like, yes, okay, I'm just going to keep doing this until it makes sense.

[Music] HOLDING UP A MIRROR - When I was a kid, I experienced racism very early on.

And it's an irony that I used to pray if I could do anything with my work, it would help us heal those wounds of racism and segregation.

A lot of these things have shaped my sensibility about what I do.

So, a lot of it is not just because I think it's interesting in terms of light and this and that and shadow, which does interest me.

But the main overture of about the work is about poverty and the marginalization of people, and how those spaces affect our whole sense of self in a space.

That's been just a part of who I am.

This art thing, however, you want to describe it is a huge part of my life.

And so, I want it to mean something.

If I can change the world in any way, it would be to help break down certain social constructs that I think are detrimental to us as human beings.

And there are plenty of them.

My name is Matt Cutter.

I'm with Cutter & Cutter Fine Art in St. Augustine, Florida, and I'm also a painter.

We've got a good track record over 10 years of selling hundreds of paintings from Dean.

So, I think he's a very strong, worthy artist.

And I do think he stops people in their tracks, and it's very contemplative.

He's not grabbing you with the brightest color.

He's not grabbing you with bells and whistles.

He's grabbing you in a different way.

He's asking you to like, come in very slowly, examine what's going on, feel that nuance.

And that's what he brings to the table.

So, if you're 30 feet away, you would say that's realism.

And it is, it conveys that emotion.

When you look really closely at how he's laid down the watercolor layers, there's a lot of abstraction.

There's a lot going on with the design.

What he does, he plays with this dark and light and everything, in my opinion, with Dean's work is keyed in on a strong design, that sets up everything for the painting.

- Dean Mitchell is beyond that of a master.

If you had one where you say this is apprentice, and this is a master, well the apprentice learns how to do a this or a that.

And then once they're able to demonstrate that, then they say, oh, okay, now you're a master.

Dean Mitchell is an enigma.

Dean Mitchell was born to do what he does.

When I look at Dean Mitchell's work, I do see science.

I do see philosophy.

I do see religion.

Because some of those pieces, like Rowena, when you see that particular piece, that is a religious piece.

That is an icon, that is an actual Mary that you say, oh my God, she speaks of humanity.

Where in the world would someone painting like a Andrew Wyeth and in some cases better than Andrew Wyeth come from?

And therein, I think, lies the spiritual quality.

Because if you look at Dean's background, Dean achieved not because of, but in spite of.

In spite of is when God takes place.

Therein lies the miracle.

- I was raised by my grandmother from 11 months old.

And so, I was sort of a highly active child.

And so, I would often walk to town with her.

Because I grew up in the Panhandle of Florida in a little town called Quincy.

And I had no idea of the kind of wealth that was in Quincy, because we basically stayed in the black community.

A lot of us when we first got our first bikes, we would ride over in the area and we would see these huge mansions.

And so, I began to look at the wealth discrepancy.

And I said, how can somebody have a house that big?

Really didn't, you know, really understand it.

But I think through the years, as you become more educated, more socialized, you began to recognize how you fit into the social structure or social order of things.

And then when Martin Luther King started emerging on the scene and we would watch him on television.

So, a lot of these things have shaped my sensibility about what I do, because I do a lot of things.

A lot of the environments that I do are a window into poverty, and a window into that psychological space in which I emerged out of.

I had this teacher Tom Harris, who, there was four of us who were really interested in art.

And he introduced us to local art competitions.

And so, we were often the only black people at these shows with Mr. Harris and his wife who were Caucasian.

- And I called it the crucible of competition, you know?

Which can be good or bad, because it puts pressure on kids.

He was even as focused then as he is now, but there was so many negatives.

A lot of it was the black-white thing.

He paints what he wants to paint, because it feels the need in here to make a visual statement about what's going on.

And that's the strength of Dean Mitchell's painting.

Half of his focus and intensity is based on this is, what I'm doing is extremely important.

And it's never been done before.

And whenever or however, whatever the recognition is, I have to do it my way.

Which to me is almost a definition of what art is and what art's supposed to be.

- I will be gone at some point.

But what I leave, will it really make the world better in some ways and make us examine our own human behavior toward one another?

- He didn't paint to sell.

Okay, that sounds ridiculous, because he had to make a living.

He painted because it's something he had to do.

It's something he had to say.

- He wants people to like examine this work on a deep level.

So, I do think he's very important now.

And I think his work will be very important a hundred years from now.

- I think art has a way of mirroring back to us what we’ve become.

And it also provides us history, in which we can reflect back on, to not keep repeating the same mistakes.

It's that kind of trouble in the world that feeds my passion to try to figure out how to derail some of the destructive behavior.

SECOND CHANCES (Music) I'm like, Oh, my goodness, my stomach just dropped.

Oh, Lord.

And, usually, like, I'm not really nervous, but they're first, you know, that little, uh oh, and then it kind of something kicks in.

Okay.

It’s go time.

*singing* I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

And I had two parents that were addicted to drugs.

I was bred to work hard.

You know I got my first full time job at 12 and my first apartment at 13.

And then when I was 18, I had developed a d rug addiction myself, and that took me on a ride for five years, five, five long years.

And then after that, one day I woke up clean.

And so, after that I started singing.

But my first voice teacher, he told me I was an opera singer and I told him, huh uh no, like, black people don't do that.

We don't do that.

He black, you know?

So, I said, okay.

I didn't know it was going to take me between ten and 15 years.

I didn't get the memo.

You see what I'm saying?

*singing* I didn't really know at the time, but now looking back, singing to me was like a life jacket thrown to me every time I was drowning in life.

Whatever that was, to try to push me under, whether it be, you know, sexual abuse, neglect, my parents leaving, not feeling smart enough or pretty enough or just enough.

*singing* The music was just there to save the day.

*singing* “The Deonna Marie experience: from the Crack House to the Opera House,” it's a roller coaster of feelings.

Now, I'm going to give you a quick lesson in drug dealing.

Don't do it.

It's illegal.

*stage performance* It's a story of hope, fearlessness, and achievement *stage performance* I know that this is not just for me.

*stage performance* I said I want my show to be somewhere different, somewhere eclectic.

I want.

I want like unicorns, like, galloping around.

And this is kind of what I said.

And then I was like, Factory Obscura, That's the place.

What most people recognize us for is our built experiences like Mixtape, which is a fully immersive world that you're invited to come in and touch and interact and explore, climb, crawl, slide, do all the things.

We also create these immersive experiences through performances and events like Deonna's show, and it felt like a really important story that needs to be heard.

You know, this is the Deonna Marie experience, and this is an experience that I want everybody to be free.

You'll see what I'm saying.

So, can somebody say, Yeah, girl!

And you can see that when you're watching her perform, that she really is meant to be on the stage.

You know?

I mean, I had two jobs.

Money wasn't a problem.

And, you know, and what I was doing?

“The first year was amazing.

I enrolled in college” I, is what you did.

Oh, yeah.

No, no, we had to do this.

She's amazing.

She's an amazing person, amazing human.

I couldn't have done any of this without her.

When I met Deonna, instantly, like, I ran over to introduce myself to her because I was like, she's just magical being.

And we started talking.

And then we would, like, sit together and, and then one day she's just telling me her story.

And I was like, "Oh, my God!"

*stage performance* It's good to have work with someone that I trust.

It just gives you the permission to be okay, to be vulnerable, you know?

"Now I didn't want to tell her but I needed what she had and what she had was plenty just n eeded a little bit to give the sickness out.

I had to tell her.

We played cards and she blew crack smoke right in my face.

Mama... Mama, I've got something to tell you I... umm... Mama... Mama, I get high too, I get high too.

and I'm sick.

I'm sick, Mama."

- Crack is a drug.

It's powerful drug.

Any worries, any fears, any insecurities, any stress of any kind is dissipating in an instant.

*singing* I had gone through so much stress and this little white pebble, like, took it away *singing* So, I made a love song about one of the love of my life.

*singing* The first four or five years of my career, focus on substance use and mental health.

And I'm also 11 years in my own recovery.

I mean, anyone who's ever experienced heartbreak knows what addiction is... knows what a part of addiction is like, right?

When you say your friends, they'll say, how can you text that person again?

How could you go back to them, right?

*singing* We all have this thing and we just judge each other on, it depend on what we think is best or not.

I used to with my mom all the time.

Like, I hated her.

Like, why don't you just pick your kids?

Why don't you just be my mom?

And I forgave her instantly, in that instant.

That first hit of her crack pipe that I took, I was released from the burden of, "you see".

The idea is to humanize.

We need to humanize each other, not stigmatize, and write each other off.

And so, seeing someone tell their own story about it is how we do that.

*singing* “Oh, crack rock.

Where have you been?” So, I got pulled over by the police making a drug run for my mama.

The police officer said that I had a warrant out for my arrest.

*Singing* Oh, Crack rock, where have you been?” The judge calls my name and he tells me, that I had over 50 parking tickets in the same spot.

"Miss Cartlidge, I sentenced you to 60 days in the Kent County jail".

I went to jail for parking tickets, and I had a bunch of crack on me that day, too.

That's crazy.

When I got in my cell, I'm sitting there and I'm crying.

It was that I was the lowest and loneliest I had ever been in my life.

But I have this overwhelming urge to sing *singing* “I don't know.

About tomorrow.

I just live from day to day.” And I just started singing.

And I don't even know where it came from.

It just came out.

I'm like, what is this?

*singing* ”It’s sunshine for its skies may turn to gray.” I went out and I looked up to hundreds of adoring fans!

They were clapping and they were crying!

I was a celebrity in jail.

Going to be the first time?

It used to be late.

I was booked in, busy, highly sought-after singer in jail.

I was somebody in here.

I didn't want to go back out there.

I didn't want to be a junkie.

I just was afraid.

Please, I don't want to go back to my mom's.

I don't know what to do.

*singing* I don't want to put limits on it.

I think that at this point it's limitless.

There will be, you know, music and a book.

And I'm hoping a television series, a documentary, perhaps a movie.

Honestly, at the end, I want people to leave better meaning I want people to maybe they judge somebody with addiction.

*singing* Maybe some people have gone through one or more things that I've gone through and they're bitter and they're not allowing their light to shine.

Hopefully when they step out, their world is better.

You know what I mean?

"I am worthy of my heart's deepest desires.

And guess what?

You are too.

That’s all!

*applause from audience* The Award-Winning Arts and Culture series ¡COLORES!

is now available on the PBS App, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and at NMPBS.org.

From classic episodes to brand new shows, ¡COLORES!

is everywhere!

Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund, New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV 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.