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!

JEMEZ PUEBLO'S KATHLEEN WALL CELEBRATES HER ANCESTORS AND CHRISTMAS WITH A SPECIAL NATIVITY SCENE.

"CREATION AND DESTRUCTION," ECO-FEMINIST MIRA LEHR FEELS A SENSE OF URGENCY.

IN LOVE WITH TEXTURES AND ARMED WITH AN EXACTO KNIFE, DONCEE COULTER CREATES EXQUISITE ARTWORKS FROM FABRICS.

PLAYING WITH DIFFERENT MEDIUMS, NICOLE JARECZ IS MESMERIZED WITH FASHION ILLUSTRATION.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

A JEMEZ PUEBLO CHRISTMAS.

>>Ebony Isis Booth: I'm excited to be here to talk You mentioned that this is your first Nativity scene in a very long time.

What's the connection or significance of this sacred scene of the Nativity to your family's story and tradition?

>>Kathleen Wall: The Nativity scene is super special, especially in this time of Christmas, because Christmas is an extremely special event in Pueblo country.

It encompasses family and tradition.

It embraces a syncretic culture with the Catholic religion and Pueblo customs.

And we have this beautiful merging of both of these just colliding to this colorful event, you know.

And it happens in most Pueblos.

We have celebrating with Pueblo dances.

It's usually the winter dances.

So we're dancing with like, buffalo and deer dancing.

And we're celebrating, of course, the birth of Jesus.

This particular piece is something that I learned to do when I was very young.

It kind of coincides with the storyteller.

My mother taught me how to make storytellers.

Make, you know, really small pieces.

Or, it'd just be like the three.

The three piece set with Mary, Joseph, and the Baby.

And then this one is a little more elaborate.

This one has the Mary, the Joseph, the Baby.

And then it has a little donkey here.

This donkey I mimicked after my Auntie Lupe.

She made her donkeys quite like this.

And also my Auntie Mary made her donkeys a lot like this.

And same with the cows.

You know, I haven't made one in so long that it was really fun to, um, kind of look to my aunts and my mom and like, how they still create their pieces and, you know, embrace that.

And and then my Auntie Dorothy, um, the oldest of all my mom's sisters, would always give very native gifts.

Right here, the Three Kings are bringing a chile ristra.

And then the music instruments.

The rattle and the drum.

And then he's holding also a tied corn.

Then the other king, he has a whole bucket of corn, so that Baby Jesus can plant his cornfield.

>>Ebony: How does that connect to the Nativity scene and your relationship to family and this Pueblo depiction of a family around such a precious time?

>>Kathleen: Well, my grandfather was a very religious man on both sides of his, um, life.

He was a Catholic man and he was very active in the Kiva as well.

So, um, you know, with both these teachings as I grew up, you know, he was very adamant that I go to church.

And I do understand Catholicism and I knew my prayers.

But then we always had corn meal at the door.

And we always prayed with corn meal in the morning.

So these the dual religions and how you grow up, it gives me a great deal of acceptance for people around me and everybody, um, in their own in their own religions and their own ways of life, you know?

I really feel as though it's grown into this beautiful way of living >>Ebony: How has the nativity scene done that?

>>Kathleen: It starts in the beginning.

We dig our clays and we dig our volcanic ash, and that is the beginning of a majority of the Pueblo potters.

And so just in that act of something that our ancestors did for so many years, we're not letting go of some traditional knowledge.

And then to make something with this ancient event, you know, and then we give it this very Pueblo vibe, with a Pueblo drummer boy.

Or giving Baby Jesus very Pueblo gifts.

You know, we're just kind of merging that and then it's reflective of all of our events.

You know, our corn dances.

We have saint days that we have to acknowledge.

So those saint days we, we dance on those days.

Like the patron saint days of different Pueblos.

So we didn't lose our culture because of Catholicism, but we lifted ourselves up and we integrated.

And with that became that syncretic culture that we >>Ebony: How does the making of this nativity scene honor your family's history?

>>Kathleen: I think just by the act of creating something that I learned as a young person.

These are the pieces that my aunts made and these are the pieces that my mom made and so it connects me all the time.

You know, every time I kind of revisit something in this Pueblo pottery motif, it reconnects me to my beginnings and the people I love >>Ebony: What does Christmas mean to you, Kathleen?

>>Kathleen: Christmas is fun, you know?

Christmas is a time for just embracing everything and being thankful for everything around us.

You know, it's just a time for family to really enjoy The cold weather.

You got the fire.

You got, you know, the food and just the celebrating.

You know, in in our culture it's a constant celebration.

So yeah, Christmas is a great time and um, and it's really around this event.

You know, it's around the Baby Jesus.

And it's all of New Mexico, you know?

New Mexico is all about Christmas.

>>Ebony: Yes.

Indeed.Well, thank you again.

What an awesome conversation and a beautiful tribute to your family.

>>Kathleen: Thank you >>Ebony: I'm grateful.

Thank you so much for sharing.

>>Kathleen: Thank you.Thank you for having me.

THE BEAUTY OF NATURE.

The beauty is very important to me, but I have to take the bloom off the rose.

I'm Mira Lehr, I'm an artist.

All of my work has burning of some kind in it.

And I think it does reflect both sides of creation... creation, and destruction.

And that's what nature is all about.

It's always related to the environment.

I always drew when I was a little kid, I never really knew I would be a professional artist.

As I grew older I decided I was going to study art history in college.

I was so lucky because at the time I graduated, the abstract expressionists were holding forth in New York and there was a major movement.

So I was right in the middle of this really wonderful scene.

So from then on, I did art and I was not really into the environment as much in the beginning.

I just did nature, a lot of nature studies, but eventually I heard of Buckminster Fuller, a man who was very much about the planet.

And I saw an opportunity to work with him in 1969.

I went to New York and I worked with him on something called The World Game.

And that was about how to make the world work in the most efficient way and doing more with less.

So from then on, I was hooked.

I'm feeling two urgencies -one, I'm getting older, that's an urgency.

You know, how many years do I have left?

And the other urgency is how many years does the planet have left?

So we've converged.

Every day I get up raring to go.

The Orlando exhibit, it was called High Water Mark, because that's where we're at.

And that's where they felt my career was at.

So that show had very, very large sculptures of mangroves.

And you could walk through the mangroves and feel you were encased, in the roots, the root system.

There's something about being enclosed in the space that makes the viewer much more attentive to what's happening.

And so I watched people walking through the mangroves and they were all moved by it.

So that's really the first time I've done that kind of large-scale sculpture.

I love doing it.

The smaller I get, the older I get, the bigger the work becomes.

It seems to me.

And so now I'm back in the studio and I'm turning to something I'm calling Planetary Visions because I'm doing images of earth masses.

I've also added writing, which some of it is from Bucky Fuller about the planet.

Some of it is just poetry about nature.

I've always felt that abstraction is the highest form.

Even though I like, I like representation, but to me abstraction gets the essence, the essence of everything.

And you can take it and go on with it.

And it's more spiritual to me.

I think like Cezanne at the end of his life, his paintings became kind of dissolved in light, like light entities.

At the end of Rembrandt's life also, his work became less literal and more also dissolved in light.

So light is very important.

And that to me is the height of it.

If you have a light entity in your work, I think it's profound and meaningful.

The light on the big sculpture.

Yeah.

Those are special lights that grow corals in the laboratory and the sculpture, it's the shape of a wave and it's mesmerizing.

You know if the world pulls apart and people are concerned just with their little everyday existence, I don't see a great future, but I'm hoping there's still time.

The clock is definitely ticking and I'm not a politician and I'm not a scientist.

The way I can express it is through my art.

And, that's what I'm trying to do along with having a wonderful experience making it.

"PAINTING" WITH FABRICS.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio.

I went to Columbus High School.

After I graduated high school, I went to CCAD, took up Ad design and illustration.

Somehow I ended up doing fabric artwork.

So that's a totally different story.

It started with just growing up in the hip-hop era.

We used to love to just create and I would -- we could go to Schottenstein's and we would buy these partly-torn jean jackets, and then we would even tear 'em up even some more.

What I would do would paint on either like, denim, sometimes even just canvas.

We'd get a seamstress and she would sew in some of the scenes into the jacket.

So that kind of really got me into studying fabric.

After a while, I would start going to the fabric stores and just start buying fabric and just creating clothes just freehand.

Didn't know anything about patterns, I was just basically -- just being basically my creative self.

Well the technique, I guess, It's a collage style.

So it's a process of where I'm taking something and I'm just putting layers on top of layers.

Obviously, I'll start with the background and move it up to the foreground.

When I initially started working, they were more or less, like, two tone pieces.

And I would go into art galleries and I would look at my work, compare it to other paintings, and I said, okay, I've got to do better.

I've got to step what I'm doing.

I was like, I want to take this to a level of where it looks like a painting.

So there was a lot of trial and errors and a lot of experimenting.

In the beginning, my pieces were really bulky, 'cause I would use the more heavier fabrics.

When I learned a technique for Cutting the thinner fabrics, That was -- it was almost like game over for me.

Because at that point, I was able to put shadows and highlights and bring more different elements into my artwork without it looking bulky.

That was the key.

And that's why today people look at it and they could say this looks like a painting, until you walk up on it and it's like, oh, this is all fabric.

Oh, number one, leather and suede.

Number two would be denim.

And everything else after that.

I think that when I work with leather and suede, it just really translates really well with my pieces.

And I just love the texture of it.

And I think that it really comes out.

Denim is another totally different look.

I really like that as well.

I love blending the different types of denim together, as the same way with the leather and suedes.

My only tool is the x-acto knife.

The technique is just learning how to cut those thin fabrics with accuracy there are a lot of little different techniques that I use, I don't want to just kind of like disclose 'em all.

I'll go on and say one technique I'll use.

If you've got a real thin fabric, there's a certain glue that you can use, you can apply to the back of the fabric, which at that point gives it more of a solid feel, and it's easier to cut.

Typically I would say about 95% of what I do, it basically comes from out of my head.

Typically I really don't use references a lot.

It's just things I just think about.

I just love to create.

So when I'm creating a piece, I really get into it.

So if I'm creating let's say a city scene, and I'm creating buildings, I'm not just an artist, I'm an architect.

If I'm doing a portrait and I'm creating a person, I am also -- I'm designing their outfit, designing their look.

So yeah, that's the thing, when I do a piece I am all in.

I think the funnest part is when you're right in the middle and when you can see that vision come together 'cause initially when you're creating a piece, you're like, Oh, is this gonna work?

And then as you're working, you're like, oh, I'm starting to see it now.

It's coming together.

On the flip side, the worst part I think is coming towards the end, trying to finish that piece.

Cause at that point, you're ready to move on to the next piece, and that's when you really have to be careful 'cause you're like, no, stop, take your time.

Make sure you complete this correctly.

One of the reasons why I use the bird, it represents freedom.

And when I first started doing artwork, I kind of felt like that actor that gets typecast.

People were expecting me to do a certain type of artwork.

And one of the reasons why I adapted that bird, 'cause that bird allows me to do anything I want to do.

You know, if I want to do an abstract piece, it's gonna be -- I'll do that tomorrow.

Portraits, landscapes, anything.

Sports pieces.

I do it all.

If I feel it, I'm gonna do it.

Art is my therapy.

I really hope that for the viewer that it affects them the way that it affects me.

So a lot of times, if I'm dealing with something, I go into my studio.

The art is -- that's my release.

And I'm able to just basically deal with stress in that way.

So I want that to be conveyed with my artwork also with the viewer.

So that's one of the things I wanted to also accomplish with some of these -- my new pieces as well.

So I really hope that resonates with the viewer.

PLAYFUL AND PRECISE.

I think it was really the fashion industry that inspired me to do this.

It's all about the clothes for me.

Fashion illustration is, it's like a different form of expression than photography.

You have a lot of fashion photography out there, but not a lot of fashion illustration.

So it's just a different expression of, um, the figure.

A different expression of the wardrobe, the, the way the wardrobe moves.

It's different than design.

I'm not like designing the clothes, I'm just taking the photo or taking the person and transforming it into something new.

Before photography, there was only illustrators, illustrating these ideas for magazines and then helping designers out as well illustrating the figure, which was a very important part of like seeing the drafts before the design was made.

And then, yeah, you had the illustrators who were working for Vogue or WWD.

There was a guy named Rene Gruau and he was one of my favorite illustrators and he, you know, kinda dominated that field.

But unfortunately, like once photography came, it was like a quick way to seize the moment.

And it kind of took over illustration at the time.

I think an illustration is more special than a photograph.

I know a lot of talented photographers, but it's very like straight forward this is the image.

With an illustration, you're taking an idea and recreating it into something new, something more magical.

I really want to express a gesture with my fashion It's more mesmerizing.

It captures like color and light and movement.

That's what really what I want to capture with my So sometimes I'll take a photo and I'll stylize it more.

Everything's always changed up.

It's never exactly the same as a photograph.

I focus more on the clothing when I do the illustration.

I really like couture gowns.

Couture is like a high design, a way of sewing in intricate patterns.

I like that it's telling a story in a way and I just like the whole movement of the couture compared to a street style that you might see.

For the mediums that I use, I play around with a lot of different things.

I use colored pencil, ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, anything that I can find.

I really like to mix it up and try different techniques.

The type of clothing definitely makes a big impact on what I use for the medium.

If I see a flowy dress, I might want to use watercolor because watercolor is very graceful and elegant.

I combine a lot of digital and traditional methods together, especially when I'm working for a client for a magazine.

So I'll start the illustration off, traditionally I'll do like a pencil drawing and I'll do my watercolor and ink.

Then I scan it in and I finish it up in Photoshop.

And I might like do this several times to get the exact essence of what I'm trying to represent.

I worked for a lot of different companies in fashion.

I've worked for Roger Vivier.

He's like a couture shoe company in Paris.

I've worked for L magazine and Glamour magazine, a lot of fashion magazines.

My favorite project that I worked on was for Roger Vivier.

I designed a bunch of greeting cards for him, um, and his company and that was a lot of fun.

It was like a very luxurious brand to work for.

And I'd really like to work for different brands like that.

The daily struggle that I have is to be playful and precise at the same time.

In my personal pieces, those are always the most fun for me.

So I just try to be a little bit more free.

I try to be a little bit more fluid in what I'm doing.

I think people really respond well to my personal pieces, maybe because I am not overthinking them as much.

I think that they really like the gesture that I put into my personal pieces and the color and just the overall feeling.

It's just more creating something that's beautiful for someone to put in their home or you know, to show to their friends and family.

I just want to share my work with people.

Interacting with the community here is really important to me.

I started seeing illustrators doing these sketching events a few years ago, you know, in bigger cities like New York and Paris.

And I thought, I really want to bring that to Detroit.

I want to do the same thing and nobody else is doing it.

So I contacted Neiman Marcus and Saks and they were both on board and they started having me regularly sketching.

I bring all of my supplies with me, some paper and then people just start coming up to my booth and they see me sketching.

I usually like take a photo of them or they'll stand in front of me and pose and I'll do my sketch.

And it's kind of like a takeaway gift for them for the evening.

I sketch a little bit of everything.

I sketch people dressed to the nines in gowns and then I dress people in streetwear.

My favorite is when people are really dressed up.

It makes it a lot of fun.

I like when people are dressed, you know, bold and with lots of color.

It really gives me an opportunity to get out there, talk to people, interact with them, and just, you know, see what they respond to.

It helps me to improve upon myself when I see if they react to one sketch compared to another sketch.

Well, when I started doing these events, I realized that I had to be very quick.

I only have a certain amount of time to sketch somebody.

And I realized that I don't need to spend, you know, hours and hours and hours on one single illustration.

People really like it when it's simple and fluid and I try to bring that into my work at home to remember to keep it simple, keep it playful and don't overthink it too much.

The community loves it.

They're excited about it.

I've had a ton of support from people here in Detroit, so it's been really great.

I think that the illustration just brings a different outlook on fashion.

I think people sometimes respond more to the fashion illustration than if they were to see it in person or even on their computer screen with photography.

It just brings more of a special feeling.

I don't think fashion illustration ever gets boring.

I think it's something that evolves over time.

I think my style could change again, like it has in the past.

It just depends on, you know, the trends, what's going on and what I think people are responding to at that time.

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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.

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