- [Mark] In this edition of "Artistic Horizons," overcoming fear to pursue a love for song.

- If anybody wants to sing and get their music out there, not to let being shy hold them back.

(singing in foreign language) - [Mark] A local landmark makes an impact on the arts.

- It's just exciting to be able to help other artists the way that they helped me in the beginning.

And that's really what I'm looking forward to, is expanding, helping local artists.

- [Mark] A renowned high-wire artist.

- When I got on the other side, I was the happiest man on earth.

And then 50 years later, I feel exactly the same.

I am an artist who writes in the sky.

- [Mark] Creativity across disciplines.

- I really make work based off of what I'm experiencing and the books that I read.

So that's a big part of my process.

- It's all ahead on this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

(upbeat music) Hello, I'm Mark Cernero and this is "Artistic Horizons."

Since a young age, Theresa "Bear" Fox has loved to sing.

Through music, she has overcome shyness to become a singer-songwriter who performs in both the Mohawk and English language.

We head to Akwesasne Mohawk territory in Upstate New York to hear more.

(Theresa speaking in foreign language) My Mohawk name is Kenkiohkoktha.

It means I'm at the back of a crowd of people.

And my English name is Theresa.

My nickname is Bear.

And so Theresa Bear Fox is my name.

Oh, I always lived here in Akwesasne.

Akwesasne means land where the partridge drums.

It's a Mohawk nation in Upstate New York.

And it has New York, Quebec, and Ontario all in our territory here.

Kanien'kehaka, the Mohawk nation.

I always loved to sing.

Like, ever since I was little, I was always around music.

Like, my mother played harmonica and piano.

She loved music.

My couple brothers played guitar and my sister played guitar.

I just always was, I loved listening to music and I always sing.

I got yelled at for singing too much (laughs) 'Cause it was bedtime and my father would say (speaking in foreign language) "It's, you know, bedtime, you've got to sleep."

But it's always like, I always had sounds in my mind.

So I always loved to sing.

And I remember I was at the traveling college on the island, the Native North American Traveling College.

And they had a fundraiser and they asked me to sing.

So that's the very first time that I sang in front of people.

Got up on the stage, and I stood there.

And it was scary 'cause I grew up, I was always very shy.

And when I got up on stage all by myself, I had to close my eyes, and I started singing "Rich Girl."

And so, like, I have to close my eyes when I sing, 'cause I just go into the sound.

I mostly perform at indigenous events.

I go to California WorldFest, and they have an indigenous stage there set up.

So I get to perform there.

And then at the powwow in Hawaii, I was also invited to sing there.

Other powwows also I was invited to sing at.

It's really like the nations out west.

They have powwows where they have a gathering with a big drum and there's men and women that sing around it.

And they sing.

And it's a sharing of sounds and our dances.

They're called powwow dances.

So, like, there're different dances that they do to help uplift the people.

Growing up here in Akwesasne I was very shy.

And I feel like if anybody can, like wants to sing and get out there, their music out there, not to let being shy hold them back, because they have a gift of song that they should share with everyone to help lift their spirits.

And then when anybody came to our house, I would hide behind my mother.

I was very shy like that.

And then when I went to school and I see my classmates, like, now, how old I am and how old they are, they can't believe that I can sing because in school they say that I was very shy.

I was so quiet in school that they can't believe that I'm singing now in front of people.

(laughs) If I can do it, I think anybody can do it.

So I just wanted to encourage people to try and get over that shyness.

I have, like, about seven now, CDs, and it's been helping bringing in my income, but I know it also helps the people.

That's so important to me, is to put out good messages to the people.

I have five kids, and every time they turned 18, I wrote them a song.

So the one that has the most for my kids, like, the songs that I wrote them, are on my "Diamond" CD.

And, like, each one is a different era in my lifetime.

It's mostly, like honoring, like, who I wrote about or messages for the people.

I have them for sale at their stand Wolf Pack here in Akwesasne.

It's mostly here in Akwesasne, but I'd like to get out into the other, like, craft stores and gift shops.

But I just haven't had time yet.

(laughs) But I sell them in Six Nations and (speaking in a Mohawk language) I sing in English and in Mohawk.

The one that I usually sing is "Kaieri Niionkwetake," which is the four messengers.

It represents like our ancestors from the four directions that watch over our people.

And I always like starting out with this song because it came to me when I was on my vision quest.

And I was really worried about my kids when I was up on the mountain and this melody came to me and it helped like calm my mind, not to worry so much.

And so when I got done my fast and I came off the mountain and that beautiful melody that helped calm my worry in mind, I put words into it.

My friend said, "No Mohawk."

They helped me translate what I wanted to say into the language and so I wrote it, put it into the song.

So what I'm saying is I'm asking the foreign messengers to watch over my family so no harm comes to them.

And I think it's a good song for people to help ease their mind about what's going on right now with the COVID and worrying about their families.

I ask them to like put a white light of protection around their families.

(singing in Mohawk language) - And now, for the artist quote of the week.

The Shady Palm art gallery is a staple in the Florida Keys.

In addition to featuring the work of over 50 local artists, the gallery hosts a variety of art classes and events.

We visit Marathon, Florida, to learn more.

- Every day is a new palette outside and in our environment, the colors change every single day.

The water is a different color every single day.

The colors are just spectacular.

Our sunrises and sunsets are amazing colors, underneath the waters of our fish, our birds, our skies and it shows in all of our artists' work.

And that's where they get their inspiration from.

Janice Nagel and I am an artist and the owner of Shady Palm Art Gallery, and Livin' In Local Color art gallery.

They're both located in the same building.

So Shady Palm has been around for quite a while, and I had my artwork here at Shady Palm Art Gallery, and when the owner decided to retire, she came to me and said, "Janice, do you want to buy Shady Palm Art Gallery?"

So here I am and it is a dream come true.

It's just exciting to be able to help other artists the way that they helped me in the beginning.

And that's really what I'm looking forward to, is expanding, helping local artists.

This was actually the first piece that I've ever painted.

It was out of boredom after Hurricane Irma.

This was a photograph that I took of my husband's charter boat.

And, I found a tin with my grandmother's paints and the photo on the floor of my garage.

After cleaning up a little bit, and, my grandma spoke to me and said, "Paint," so I did.

So that was originally the first painting that I started and ultimately finished after a while.

And this is where all of this began.

All the local artists just said, "Don't stop painting, keep going," and I did.

I tried different mediums.

I started with acrylic.

Then I went to watercolors and batik, and I just kept going.

So and it's really been a lot of fun for me, and fun watching myself grow.

And that's what I want to instill on other artists here, is watching them grow and giving them the opportunity to just become wonderful artists.

And that's why I'm here.

We have 57 local Florida Keys artists.

Everybody is here in the Keys.

So everything has originated here.

We have a wide variety of artists.

We have metal artists, we have multimedia recycling artists, we have acrylics, we have wood artists.

Some of our artists work with oils and acrylics.

And it's just a large, display of art that we have here.

And everyone is just a little bit different.

Our visitors spend a lot of time here.

We have our classroom, we've repainted the outside.

We've added about 1000ftto the art section of the gallery.

We've moved our custom frame shop and we added my art gallery, Livin' In Local Color, here as well.

So we're really two beautiful galleries for our visitors and locals to explore.

We're trying to bring more attention to marathon for the art community.

We want to expand on those art classes, and we're inviting artists from the Keys, not just our art gallery, to come and do classes for us as well.

We want to do some events and also let everybody know that our artists are here and to support the local art, because it's really important.

They're one of the smallest businesses.

And they do so much from their heart that they deserve that attention.

- [Mark] Now here's a look at this month's fun fact.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of his 1974 tightrope walk between the World Trade Center's twin towers, high-wire artist Philippe Petit recreated the historic walk at the Cathedral Church of Saint John The Divine in New York City.

The show even included a special performance from grammy-award winning artist sting, take a look.

- The Twin Towers, when I stepped off, I was so happy because part of me, even though I was in control of my life, part of me thought it was impossible.

♪ If blood will flow ♪ ♪ When flesh and steel are one ♪ ♪ Drying in the color of the evening sun ♪ ♪ Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away ♪ ♪ But something in our minds will always stay ♪ - The buildings were swaying.

The police came, there were helicopters, the wind, you know the seagulls.

So it was an impossible dream.

It was an impossible action on the wire.

- I was in Mount Vernon, New York, I was eight.

Everybody knew that that was happening.

Such otherworldly type of feat.

I saw the documentary about it years later when they made it, "Life On The Wire," you know what I mean?

That's probably where he feels he belongs.

I kind of understand it.

That's his art, right?

That's his craft.

I think for all of us, it just holds a huge place in our hearts forever.

It was a symbol then, 50 years ago, when he did it.

And it's kind of even more of a symbol now, obviously, after the tragedy of 2001.

But it's a fitting tribute to have him here tonight to celebrate what he did and celebrate the towers and celebrate New York.

It's pretty amazing.

(Sting singing in a foreign language) - The singer trying to sing with somebody doing a tightrope over you, you know, the nerves.

Because you're trying to do your part.

But then there's a guy that could potentially fall.

He's in his 70s now, and I'm saying to be able to still do that somewhat effortlessly.

You know, I mean, a master of his craft.

- When I got on the other side, I was the happiest man on earth.

And then 50 years later, I feel exactly the same.

I am an artist who writes in the sky.

(audience applauding) - And now, here is a look at a few notable deeds in art history.

(upbeat music) Today, one will find Tiffany Lawson in her home studio creating art across disciplines.

By taking part in community arts programs and being exposed to local influences like Ainah B.L.

Robinson and grandpa Smokey Brown, this Ohio-based artist was able to expand her understanding of the arts and develop her skills as an artist.

Here's her story.

- I really make work based off of what I'm experiencing and the books that I read.

So that's a big part of my process.

Growing up, I always was a drawer, if you will.

My favorite place to draw was in the end table drawer and behind the couch.

My mother wasn't a fan of that at all, and I signed them.

They were all masterpieces in my mind.

So it's always been sort of my thing.

Mom ran a church program across the street.

Ohio Avenue Methodist Church and we have an arts squad called the Bebe Squad and also the workshops brought in local artists like Aminah Robinson, Queen Brooks and grandpa Smokey Brown, and my uncle Duart, so art has always been a part of my life.

Wabi Sabi has very much given me freedom because it is very hard to sit in front of a stark white canvas and figure out where to make your first mark.

So with Wabi Sabi, it gave me a sense of no matter where I made my mark, as imperfect as it could be it was beautiful and it freed my practice and so when I make mistakes, they're happy mistakes like Bob Ross.

It is an aesthetic of impermanence and there's beauty in that as it continues, as those imperfections continue to build even or age through time.

There's beauty in those.

A seat at the table actually started off as a daily sketch practice sketch, and it developed into a series.

In exploring Black life or even the healing component of it, it's important for us to have a seat at the table to begin to have these conversations so that new work can be done, and in a lot of ways there haven't been those seats or table.

So in regard to my several seats, I'll bring my own seats, several of them, as a matter of fact.

No two people's seat is alike.

Everybody brings something different to the table so it was important to make each seat separate from each other.

In my opinion, Black art of the past as we are moving into a newer generation and that's what I mean in terms of capturing joy and healing as opposed to just the I guess, there is despair with black art, specifically regarding slavery and the great migration and discrimination and all those things are still very much important, but I do believe those stories have been told and those aren't necessarily the stories that I can tell.

I would like to highlight the things that are more prevalent today for Black people which, again, are similar, but most importantly the healing process like where we have come from to where we are now because there is greater work to do.

So the healing aspect of Black life, it exists, but I think, in a lot of ways just not explored.

There is a component of black resilience, I think, that needs to be captured in a different way.

Bricolage is a French word that means using basically things that are at hand.

This is a Tetajo box.

My process doing that, I believe is that I am exploring black resilience in a way that we always had to make use of what we had.

Use what you've got and that is very much a big component of black life.

Mostly, in general the tie that binds is the brown paper bags.

So a lot of times I'll start with just opening up the brown paper bag and attempt to consider what was in the bag or because brown paper is very much recycled and I tend to think of the recycle and who had the bag before me and who was in the bag and that's a big part of what shows up on the brown bag.

It gives me different aspects to kind of be creative with in regards with the imperfections of the bag.

So it brings a little bit more character, I think, to the piece.

From the beginning I just think of a story that I'm trying to tell.

The project that I'm working on now is, her name is Mother Drum.

I'm exploring the "James Weldon Johnson's God's Trombones" the seven sermons that he believes that black people have kind of thrived on.

I generally start from something that I'm reading or a story I'm trying to tell and I use my curated medias or kind of sift through some magazines and tear out from magazines and cut out a lot of texture is what I find myself using.

Around the way USA very much is an exploration of community.

So on one side, it's almost a tale of two cities.

On one side you have a beautiful, thriving, vibrant community and on the other side it's kinda dilapidated, kinda depleted on the other side.

So I was exploring community in regard to, if there is a difference between a community and the neighborhood because in a lot of cases especially here in Columbus as neighborhoods are being gentrified, you lose that.

It almost seems like they preserve communities or neighborhoods that they deem, I guess, worth it seems like.

So the communities that get washed out we'll never remember them because they're completely gone.

So roller skates is a big part of my process.

To be quite honest and when I'm stuck or can't figure out things that I made are related or how to build the work these are very much the 3D elements and how to build and I have to figure out how to engineer them so they do not fall apart.

A lot of that I do on my skates.

I have a strobe light, I close the curtains and I turn the music on as loud as I can and I kinda just twirl around here and it does help.

It actually just takes me out of my mind in regards to my creativity for just a moment long enough to figure out how the pieces fit together.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "Artistic Horizons."

For more arts and culture, visit wpbstv.org.

Until next time, I'm Mark Cernero, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music)