(suspenseful drum roll music) - [Mark] In this edition of "Artistic Horizons:" (cymbal smashes) Vibrant paper-mache sculptures.

- [Kemely] It's important to share this kind of art form of these traditions with people because of the just the amazing creativity that is showcased in each of the pieces.

- [Mark] A Grammy-award-winning baritone.

- Opera is that alien art form that kind of just hits you in a certain way that no other art form does.

(Will singing in foreign language) - [Mark] Celebrating baseball through poster art.

- We wanna use this to showcase these great artists.

And if we can give them a leg up, if this can be an opportunity where someone else sees their work and gives them a great opportunity, that's our goal.

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

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

In this segment, we travel to the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to get an inside look at the exhibition "La Cartonería Mexicana," which displays over 100 historic sculptures made out of paper and paste.

(bright upbeat music) - So, the Museum of International Folk Art has dedicated an exhibit to this vibrant and colorful world of cartoneria and I'd love to learn more about that world.

So, can you tell me a little bit more about like the art and the history of cartoneria?

- Of course, yeah.

So, the exhibit "La Cartoneria Mexicana: The Art of Paper-Mache from Mexico," really highlights the practice of using just basic materials like paper and glue to create these beautiful three-dimensional pieces.

And it's something that is part of many different communities across Mexico.

But in the exhibit, we're actually highlighting three major areas.

La Ciudad de Mexico, Celaya Guanajuato, and Nayarit.

And you know, like, the history of cartoneria is kind of hard to trace.

A lot of historians believe that it was brought by Catholic priests coming to Mexico during the colonial period.

It's very interesting.

The way that we also laid out the exhibit is to highlight that aspect of cartoneria, and how it's connected with a lot of festivals that are connected with the Catholic religion.

(bright upbeat music continues) - [Faith] So, can you tell me a little bit about the Fire of Holy Week?

- So that's, actually, one of my favorite sections in the exhibit.

Because we actually have a lot of pieces that are kind of part of the ephemeral aspects of cartoneria.

So, we have this large Judas figure representing the apostle that betrayed Jesus.

And in this celebration, a lot of cartoneros create these large sculptures representing Judas, right?

And some of them are looking more like devils, right?

So, some of them may have, like, horns, and they're red.

Some other ones may have even more decorative elements, like a lot of beautiful bright colors.

But what happens with those sculptures after they're created they're actually burned down by using different fireworks that are attached to the figure.

And so, after creating this beautiful piece, right, it's just destroyed during that celebration, right, on Holy Saturday.

Something that was happening in the 1960s is that cartoneros began to create a lot of figures and toys to sell to the children who were attending the festivals or being part of those processions.

Many of the toys that you see, and vendors creating around this time were like dolls.

Also cartoon figures.

It's really interesting to see how pop culture played a huge influence in a lot of that.

(light groovy music) - [Faith] The exhibit spans cartoneria, roughly, like, 40 years, 1960 to 2000.

So, how does this time frame reflect the changes that cartoneria has gone through?

- [Kemely] Yeah, so, as you move through the exhibit, we don't have as many names of the artists, because they're meant to be used, right?

Objects that were part of celebrations.

As you move a little bit farther into the exhibit, you begin to see names of artists like Pedro Linares, right?

Who was one of the early artists who started innovating in that form, creating objects that were meant to be collected.

Because they were finely painted, or they were so elaborative, right?

They had so many details.

Pedro Linares is an artist from Mexico City, and he was the creator of the alebrijes, these mythical monster-like creatures.

And then also that there's a long lineage of family that continue that tradition.

So, the piece with the skeleton, that was created by Felipe Linares, who is one of his sons.

And I believe he wanted to represent, like, the idea of death also being so alive, right, with all the creatures crawling up.

But it's such a magnificent piece that shows, like, all the detail and, like, all the intricacy that can be applied to such a basic art form, right?

So, it's a really fascinating way how artists have just expanded that and not just limited to the traditional forms.

- [Faith] And what's your favorite part of the exhibit?

- I love the pinatas.

Especially as an educator trying to walk a lot of children through the gallery and teaching them about this tradition, it's really fascinating when they find something that they're connected to.

One of the interesting ones that I always love to share is the seven-point star.

The seven-point star in the exhibit represents, like, the seven deadly sins, right?

So, each point of the star represents one of the deadly sins.

That is part of the belief in the Catholic religion.

And so, one of the ideas is that after you break the pinata, right, and a lot of the candy comes out, it's kind of your treat for holding and not falling into doing those sins.

So, it's kind of your reward, right?

And so that's something that is very interesting to me, how all of those forms have been created, inspired by those ideals, right?

Belief systems.

(gentle contemplative music) I think that it's important to share this kind of art form of these traditions with people because of the just the amazing creativity that is showcased in each of the pieces.

But it's also the ingenuity of the artist, as well.

Thinking of the very basic materials of using just any paper available, you know, water and flour to create, like, their paste, to create these forms.

And how cartoneria is such a big part of community, as well.

I think that's something that is very important to think of.

Like, art is around us all the time, and it's part of us, right?

Like, we cannot disconnect that.

And so, for me, that's very valuable.

And also, thinking of that how important this art form is for a lot of Mexican individuals, right?

A lot of people who are being able to still be surrounded by this art form and be connected by it, which I think is really beautiful.

And also there's just so much joy around it as well that I think anyone can really connect with.

(lively jazz music) - And now, for the artist quote of the week.

Up next, we meet Grammy-award-winning operatic baritone Will Liverman.

A career that has carried him across the country and around the world, his musical journey began at the Governor's School for the Arts in Norfolk, Virginia.

Here's his story.

(rousing operatic music) - Opera is that alien art form that kind of just hits you in a certain way that no other art form does.

(Will singing in foreign language) (lively upbeat music) I grew up in the Pentecostal Church in Norfolk, singing in the choir.

And, you know, gospel music is such a special thing for me because it's music that really speaks, and it's so free flow.

You know, we don't use sheet music.

So I think that's really kind of influenced who I am as an artist, and I really carry that with me even into, you know, the classical realm.

♪ We sing this song to you ♪ ♪ For you, the eternal ♪ - When I got to high school, it was the Governor's School for the Arts that really changed everything for me.

Whew!

My audition song for Governor's School, they had on the list, like, you could sing an Italian art song, and I didn't know Italian from French, from German!

(laughs) Like, I didn't know anything.

But there was another option where you could sing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

And so I sang that as my audition, that's how I got in.

(dramatic orchestral music) I went to my first opera at Virginia Opera.

I think I was, like, 13.

I'd never seen an opera or really knew much about it, and I saw "De Valkyrie."

My attention span was quite short.

I mean, I didn't know what to expect.

It was a long piece, and I kind of fell asleep maybe, like, around, yeah, 30 minutes into it.

But the cool thing that woke me up was the act three, the "Ride of the Valkyries" theme.

(rousing orchestral music) And I heard that, and I started to wake up, and I turned to Alan Fisher.

He was the head of the program at the time, and I said, "Isn't this from a cartoon?"

♪ Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit ♪ ♪ Kill the wabbit ♪ - I was so confused, like, "How did the opera rip this from the cartoon?"

And he was like, "No, the opera came first."

And you know, the light bulb kind of came on, I was like, "Oh, this is kind of a cool vibe."

And that really struck me because I was fascinated with how opera is so encompassing of a lot of different art forms with the big costumes and the orchestra, the acting, the singing.

It really sort of blew me away.

♪ I once was a boy ♪ ♪ Of peculiar grace ♪ ♪ A dangerous ♪ - The first audition that got me a major role would be "Fire Shut Up in My Bones" at the Metropolitan Opera, and this all happened during the pandemic, and that was a life-changing thing for me because it opened the Metropolitan Opera season after two years of being shut down.

It featured Terence Blanchard, who was the first Black composer who's worked to be featured at the Metropolitan Opera.

So there's a lot of major impact of doing that show, and it holds so much meaning for me.

While I love the classics, opera can be so much more.

It can be something for everyone.

One of the things I strive to do in my career is be an advocate for composers of color because there have been so many great and brilliant composers of the day who were held at the gate and who didn't have, you know, the opportunities to really get their music out there.

Such brilliant music, and it needs to be heard, and our stories need to be told.

(emotive dramatic piano music) ♪ Would that I were a jewel ♪ ♪ A shattered jewel ♪ ♪ That all my shining brilliants ♪ ♪ Might fall at thy feet ♪ ♪ Thou dark one ♪ It was really special to me to perform in my hometown because it's something I don't really, you know, get a chance to do that often.

So to be able to present a program which featured all Black composers, you know, pieces that I really care about and love, and to share that with folks in the community who have known me for a long time and have been so supportive was a really special thing.

♪ Hold ♪ ♪ And hide ♪ ♪ Thy body ♪ When I was a student, it was a special thing to see alumni come back and share their stories with me.

I'm just honored to be asked back to Governor's School and share my story with the students, and hopefully, you know, it helps them along their paths.

♪ There is a calmness ♪ - I was gonna go to the show, but I didn't know I was gonna be performing for him.

So when the opportunity came, I definitely accepted it.

It was just a transformative experience.

(both vocalizing) ♪ There is a calmness ♪ ♪ There is a calmness ♪ - [Student] I really appreciate that Will has taken out the time to come and to just work with us and to give us some insight.

When you learn, you are not just learning to see where you can get to, but you can also help everybody else.

(upbeat operatic hip-hop music) ♪ What we doing to you ♪ ♪ Do you wanna Caesar with the crispy lines ♪ ♪ Faded away, like a jump shot ♪ - "The Factotum."

I co-wrote it with a friend of mine who I went to Governor's School.

We were in the same program together, and it's loosely based off of "The Barber of Seville," and it's set in a Black barbershop.

- When we created the first demo, you know, that was a meaningful moment to me to say, like, "Oh, wow, this, we really have something that other people care about."

You know, it's not just, like, a thing that will hook me up about.

And I was excited about it.

Like, oh, other artists are excited about it too.

- [Will With Rico, you know, it's just such a significant thing that I would've never dreamed of in a million years.

♪ He's the baddest barber around ♪ ♪ Don't you know he's the baddest barber around town ♪ ♪ Ain't nobody ♪ ♪ Ain't nobody ♪ - [Rico] We wanted to focus on coming together again and focus on the idea of family, focus on that idea of resilience.

- We did it because we wanted to tell a story of Black joy and to continue to add to the canon of what opera can be.

I'm nervous (laughs) to see it premiered and, you know, but also very excited.

(upbeat hip-hop music) ♪ So peeps with them razors ♪ - Being open to what speaks to you is most important.

You can be an opera singer or a visual artist or a dancer, but you can also do other things.

You don't have to stay in one box.

If you feel called, tell a story or write something.

I feel like, you know, the sky's the limit.

Don't let anything hold you down from doing that.

(audience applauding) (audience cheering) (lively jazz music) - Now here's a look at this month's fun fact.

In Ohio, students and recent graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Art are being given the exciting opportunity to celebrate America's pastime by creating one-of-a-kind posters for the Minor League Baseball team the Lake County Captains.

Take a look.

(bright playful music) - I think one of the things that's so great about Minor League Baseball is you get to really experience the local culture in ways that you ordinarily wouldn't get to do and bring them all together in a baseball park.

(crowd applauding) - I think sports is a great form of, like, storytelling.

Like, there's always an arc with every game, I think.

That lends itself to art and illustration really well.

(bat thwacks ball) - I think bringing art and sports together is very important.

People don't see how much art is interconnected.

Like, you know, the logos in our mascots, in our merchandise, in our stadium, like, it's all over.

(bright playful music continues) - So we're the High-A affiliate of the Guardians.

They handle all the players and everything that goes on the field, and we handle everything that happens off the field.

Lake County was a really, really great opportunity.

The Guardians are a tremendous organization, and we've been so proud to be associated with them.

In the last two years, we've really been working with a lot of local artists and trying to build up a whole different element to Captains game that maybe weren't present before.

We came in last year and started working with all the local artists.

A lot of the younger artists, as well, who are still in art school.

We've been really, really excited about the artists and finding a lot of really great gems and brilliant artists in this area.

- When I heard from the Lake County Captains that they were looking for local artists, I actually heard from a few other friends at CIA that also got the email.

- It felt kind of random to me.

I remember I was, like, sitting in school, and I got an email.

At first, I was, like, "Is this a scam?

I don't know what it is."

- We looked more into the Lake County Captains because we were, like, "Oh, isn't this the local baseball... Like, the Minor League team?"

(bat thwacking ball) (upbeat rock music) (crowd cheering) (crowd applauding) - I talked to a friend who had done the art program before.

- And we're really excited that they actually reached out to us, like, seniors in college, for a professional gig.

- I decided to do it.

I was really excited about it.

It was my first opportunity of, like, working with somebody to create something.

- It felt really validating (laughs) that they chose us to do merchandise to be sold in their stores.

- This is my first time doing any sort of freelance work, and it was really great to figure out how that works.

And especially not being somebody who's too into sports, doing more research with that and figuring out how to make something that is very much me, but also represents something else, too.

- [Emily] I graduated CIA in 2023.

I studied illustration.

- [Rey] I just graduated from CIA.

I was an illustration student.

I'm really interested in product and packaging design.

- I didn't watch a lot of baseball, but I did play a lot of softball since I was in third grade, I think.

- I've never been a sports person.

I went to a spring training game.

I went there thinking, "Oh, I'm gonna be bored this whole time.

It's not gonna be fun.

I'm just gonna go to be with family or whatever."

And then I ended up having, like, a really good time.

It was great.

- Posters and artwork makes a game an event, and we want every day in the Lake County Captains to be an event.

We give the artists all the same brief.

We tell them, "We want you to express yourself.

We want you to tell us what's great.

We want you to develop these pieces."

- They just wanted me to choose one of the other teams.

- Celebrating the game.

Celebrating, like, the vibe of what a game is.

It was very open-ended.

- I like the Sky Carps from Wisconsin because their mascot was a goose, but their name isn't directly geese.

I think it was really creative, so I wanted to include them in the poster, as well, with the Captain as a battle poster.

So designing the Sky Carp, I wanted to include its wings so it looked like it was in action ready to go.

(laughs) Since I know how to play softball, I could make my own reference poses for the Captain with his batting.

He kinda looks like he's gonna hit the goose, (laughs) but he's ready to battle back, you know?

- I looked at a lot of, like, pictures of mascots, and they just, like, made me really happy.

I did a lot of, like, doodles in my sketchbook of them.

I think I was just looking through and seeing which team seemed to have, like, the most fun name honestly.

(laughs) And loons are really cool to me.

I think they're really interesting with their, like, red eyes, so I thought that'd be cool to capture.

So I came up with the concept of the mascot for the Lake County Captains sitting next to the loons from the Great Lake Loons.

And, like, the loon is looking kind of sad because there's a home run heading by from the Captains, and the mascot from the Captains is like, really excited about it.

(upbeat groovy pop-rock music) - I'm impressed that these are students.

The one that makes me giggle the most is the one that has the Captain who looks like he's in an old-time bathing suit.

(lively marching band music) I love the waves and the monster, that it's getting split here.

Love that one.

- We wanna use this to showcase these great artists.

And if we can give them a leg up, if this can be an opportunity where someone else sees their work and gives them a great opportunity, that's our goal.

- I've always been taught that, like, you need to send out a bunch of cold emails and really market yourself to be, like, good as an artist.

And so to have somebody reach out to me and, like, see my work and want to work with me for something was really important.

- I was really excited to add it to my portfolio because it gave me a chance to be like, "Oh, I can do some vector art, I can do some poster designs, I can make T-shirts."

So it gave me, like, a chance to have not only, like, different mediums but also different applied arts.

- It was also my first freelance opportunity, so that meant a lot to me to really start getting out there and doing work for clients.

- I've had some employers and clients ask about this project since it was actually used in stores for merchandise that people purchased.

- I think it was one of the things that made American Greetings look at me for my internship there.

It was definitely a great opportunity.

- It was a really fun project.

(game announcer speaking faintly) - Knowing that this is a vehicle that students can use to expose their craft elsewhere is quite an opportunity.

I think that that's a great thing that they've partnered up like that.

I hope it continues.

- We wanna build art into this stadium, into our program, and our team.

We have plans to create murals throughout the stadium.

So we are here as a resource for artists to be able to expand, and we hope that they come to us, and we'll continue to outreach to them, and we'll build this into something very special.

(lively jazz music) - And now here's a look at few notable dates in art history.

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.

(lively jazz music continues) (bright gentle music)