- In this edition of Artistic Horizons, intricate paper relief sculptures.

- There's like all depths to it, or layers to it, textures to it.

That's what you're gonna see, - Mentoring students of jazz to all of that, right?

- They're such great students, they're so engaged and and hungry for the meat and bones of the music, you know?

So it's wonderful to see students that have that attitude towards it, - A beloved cultural tradition.

There's so much more that actually unites us.

And when we come together and we interact just as human beings, we, we realize that again, that we're all in this together.

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

Hello, I'm Mark Cernero, and this is Artistic Horizons in Ohio, we meet Cheong-Ah Hwang an artist who creates paper relief sculptures by cutting creasing embossing, and hand tinting multiple layers of paper.

She renders detailed works that leave one feeling amazed.

- Oh gee, - It is a relief sculpture made out of paper.

So relief sculpture we see on coins and maybe like stones on the wall, but paper sculptures are a little different because paper is thin sheet and then you cut it and put layers and put 'em together.

But because they're so thin, they has a, like floating effect from the wall.

It has more dimensional effects to it.

So it's like, if you see a paper sculpture, relief sculpture, you kind of have like a little illusion, or like more to dimensional because it's relief.

There's a combination of two dimensional and three dimensional elements together.

So that's why you're seeing, oh, it's like a picture, but, and then there's like all depths to it, layers to it, textures to it.

That's why you're gonna see, I came here in the United States as a student, so it's like, and, and with my family, suicide, we traveled a lot.

And then because I was, I had a student visa, I had to always be student.

So, you know, go to community colleges and like, I didn't even know I wanted to be an artist.

I mean, that's what I just drew in.

So it's like taking all classes.

That was like more than 30 years ago in community college.

That's how I started, you know, doing art.

I mean, when I was in high school in Korea, I did like sculptures with like clay sculptures and also drawings.

But still, back then I didn't wanna be an artist.

I just did it.

Yeah.

So, and then I came here and setting up the studio and I found those and then, wow, like, it's been so long I haven't done this sketches.

And that's where core is like, I mean, I, I love to do human figure.

The, the paper is so expressive material, especially when I do the human figure.

It's just, ah, just muscle tones and like even I can do the veins and hair and oh, it's so fun.

And the paper just like perfect.

It ah, captures that.

All that like, love it.

I like the process of craft the craftsmanship, like traditional, like the, you know, the craftsmanship from like centuries ago.

They have like rules and procedures and all the steps and, you know, certain things.

I wanted to kind of have that, not like much machine involved, but with hands, and I don't know, this print or what I, I, so it's like I have to imagine something and decide to make something and make a lot of sc sketches and then I scan them, all that, and then make patterns and separate the layers and then cut all the paper and then put 'em together.

Yeah.

And then I have to frame and then, yeah, a lot of steps just, I love paper.

The medium.

I usually think it's not my work, actually.

It is what paper can do.

And I just love paper paper's.

Awesome.

It's beginning, beginning of everything.

It's a, it's a hope.

It's like biggest, there's biggest, like the best architecture there.

The idea that somebody had an idea that's probably drawn on it, on the, here for, on the napkin or whatever the, the, the best novel idea or the best mass mathematic formula, whatever the biggest, the bank robbery, heist, whatever, you know, a piece of napkin.

Like, it's just beginning of so many great things.

It's just like, I want people to realize whatever is like, so common things laying around you or even people, whatever, has a potential of like the, the, what is that possibilities.

The, it sky's the limit.

- And now for the artist quote of the week, Wynton Marsalis is a trumpeter band leader and composer who is known around the world for his immense talent, wanting to encourage the next generation of musicians.

He, along with jazz at Lincoln Center and Virginia Arts Festival developed a program that mentors HBCU Jazz students from across the country take a look, - Or you just play up.

- If you play the blues, you can just play that through all of that, right?

- Once in a lifetime opportunity.

And I'm honored to be a part of it as a freshman.

- So there's many ways to approach it.

Now when you start to get into different keys, it's like a race where you're looking at the kind of, you got obstacles in your way.

That's why they call 'em changes.

- It is honestly a phenomenal experience.

He's actually one of my trumpet idols.

Like growing up, like he's literally the epitome of what jazz trumpet players would want to be.

- You know, that's life.

It's changes.

So the question always is, how do you maintain your equilibrium?

- They're such great students, they're so engaged and and hungry for the meat and bones of the music, you know?

So it's wonderful to see students that have that attitude towards it.

- Two years ago we went and was here for the festival.

We had some time between shows and I told 'em, I had this idea of bringing the HBCU bands here for workshops and masterclasses and ask him if he'd be interested in collaborating with us.

And two years later, here we are with nine HBCUs from around the country here doing mentoring and coaching with Jazz Lincoln Centers.

- I'm honored to be here and I'm honored to speak with you all, and I want to give you some information.

- My dad's a trumpeter, so he taught me a lot about Wynton Marsalis.

So I was just in awe, like he was coming locally to see us, just to honor to be in his presence.

- Each of the nine bands here was assigned a member from Wynton's Band to be their coach.

So they had an hour and a half rehearsal workshop where they played charts for them and got feedback from Wynton's band members.

Are you compressed?

- Because I played examples for them.

We listened to McCoy Town and John Coltrane play.

Let's listen to them actually play it.

Let's talk about it.

Try to play what they play.

You can do these things that don't have to rely on the teacher in order to teach you this.

Figure out what you need to do and then do it on your own.

You do not have to wait for someone to tell you, you need to do this.

Now, where is he this - From?

How often is he play big?

Part of our DNA from the very beginning has been education and community outreach.

And it's really important that we give back to the community and give young people the opportunity.

Wynton is very, very much committed to education and mentoring young musicians and obviously jazz, you know, great American art form.

He wants to make sure that that's healthy and has a future.

- The question I had for you was, what do you believe helped mold you into the musician you are today?

- Seeing my father and the other musicians and the struggle they had and how they believed in it.

- So I always tell them in the world where we always surrounded by all these musical options, that if you're gonna be a professional at it, decide that there's something you want to master and keep that in your mind.

Even if you have to do other things to make a living, keep that goal, keep that sun there that you're looking at and make sure that that's what you're going towards.

And eventually people can feel that energy.

People can feel that you're serious about a thing, and like-minded people will gravitate towards you or you'll gravitate towards them.

They're like magnets.

And you'll find a community of people that are going to help you achieve your goal.

- As a kid, I was always going to my daddy's gigs, man, these have two people at the gig.

Three, it wasn't fancy and it was a, it was a struggle for them.

And a lot of the musicians my father played with, they struggle.

And I had so much respect and love for them.

And the fact that they were being that serious in an environment that nobody cared about, that I, I wanted to be like them.

And even to this day, I still carry that.

I carry the knowledge of just how much they believed in the music.

- It's nice for the kids to be able to participate and they're just excited just to come and to compete.

And then also the one-on-one with Wynton Marsalis as well as the rest of the orchestra members.

- I'm just soaking in this experience and the vibes of people and what they're saying, and especially I'm excited to hear how they're playing.

'cause it allows me to see a different side of them as a person outside of their verbal words, but their musical words.

- Day two, we move over to Chrysler Hall and all the bands are adjudicated by a, a panel of four judges.

And again, they get written comments and feedback and then we'll select two of those bands to play that night.

And there'll be the opening act for Winton's concert with Jazz Lincoln Center.

- To have this brain child come to fruition was just a really nice thing to have HBCUs to come and compete, and then just to have the jazz at Lincoln Center musicians to come and coach the students and to really see how it is to be a musician in that jazz orchestra.

- Music is always gonna be a part of my life.

I will go ahead and say that now.

Music is a very powerful thing, and if you're serious, you, you can accomplish anything.

- My dream is to be a traveling drummer, a musician, and in my off season when I'm not playing for too many people, be a producer on the side.

- That's my thing, to see people dedicated to something.

The beautiful thing about music is you never stop growing if you get serious about it.

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

For 100 years, the burning of Zozobra has been going strong in Santa Fe, New Mexico, serving as a reminder of all we have in common.

People come together to participate in this powerful cultural event.

In this segment, we'll learn more about Zora and its rich history in the state.

- The name Zozobra means bloom or anguish Zozobra is created from us every time we let ourselves down and we create gloom in our lives, or we create gloom in other people's lives.

We put out this negative energy and that negative energy accumulates until you have this 50 foot specter.

Tony Hillerman, who's a very famous author, and he once said that, you know, if Zozobra didn't burn, the aspens may not turn yellow, winter may never come.

You know, for us, Zozobra is Santa Fe's New Year.

People tell me that they make resolutions the day after Zozobra right?

It's kind of, it's kind of crazy, but it's that importance of renewal.

The tradition was started by a man named Will Schuster.

He was born in Philadelphia, got drafted into World War.

I went to France and was muster gassed in the trenches of France.

Came back to Philadelphia and was told that he had about six months to live.

His lungs were so bad, and so he had a choice.

He could either stay in Philadelphia and die, or he could move out west and see if he could live.

So he moved to Santa Fe and Schuster became part of what was called Los Tores.

And it was really the artist that really started Santa Fe down the path of becoming the art enclave that it is today.

And it's pretty funny because when they started, of course, there was not really a market for art.

And so they were very poor.

And so the five painters lived together and the locals would call them five nuts in a hut.

Well, on Christmas Eve of 1923, Schuster sold a sculpture that he'd been working on for about six months.

And so he goes to his compatriots and he says, Hey, you know what?

I'm tired of eating rice and beans.

This new hotel Lafonda just opened up downtown.

Let's go have tequila and have actual, you know, steak.

So they get to La Fonda and they're drinking and they're eating, and everyone's just in a really bad mood, and Schuster's really upset with this.

And so he grabs a sketch pad, which he always carried with him, and he takes out pieces of paper and he hands it to each of his compatriots.

And he demanded that they write down what was bothering them.

And after some convincing, they did it.

And then he gathered it up in the middle of the table.

He grabbed the candle and he lit it on fire.

And he declared that all their gloom was gone.

And so this was kind of the spark in Schuster's mind that you could physically write down what was bothering you and burn it away.

He just needed a kind of a vessel in order to do this.

And so the first Zozobra takes place in Will Schuster's backyard, and it's only five feet tall, but by 1926, nows his over has grown to 20 feet, and it's on the banks of the Santa Fe River with the, the cathedral over his over shoulder.

And so Schuster's starting to think about how do I get a deeper meaning into this?

And so that's when he invents these other characters, the gloomy and the torch bearers and the fire spirit.

And it all comes together in this mythology that we have today.

I think that he understood, even back in the 1950s and 1940s, that there had to be an opportunity for people to have to come together as a community.

You ready?

Count three.

1, 2, 3 up.

Okay, we're coming this way.

Can you guys make group please?

But also an inflection point for, for just looking back and kind of thinking about what it means to be a human being.

And as we've gotten into our social media, TikTok 42nd world, we just don't interact as humans anymore.

And so I think anything that takes us out of that and just put pushes the pause button on that and puts us back with our community and gives us an opportunity for self-reflection.

I think that that's really, really important.

Traditions live and breathe by the fact that you have people who are involved.

You know, we have like four or five young men, nine years old, eight years old, 16 years old, that are coming to help us construct.

That's gonna be the future of this tradition.

And so any way that we can incorporate the community we want to, because Kiwanis is the legal title owner, but New Mexico is the equitable owner of Zozobra.

And so they have to be involved, they have to be able to touch and feel and do those things because without that our tradition would die.

What was really important to Will was the fact that Zora was not a martyr.

He wasn't somebody that was just gonna sacrifice.

We had just, as we created him, we had to do him in, we had to show up.

We had to give the fire spirit that juice to be able to destroy him.

And if we don't, zebra will - Win.

- Part of what's really important is still this idea of writing down your gloom.

It's something that's really sacred.

And people will bring us old love letters.

They'll bring us divorce papers, they'll bring us, you know, wedding albums with people cut out.

I've seen all these sorts of things.

Alright, I'll tell her later.

But I will tell you that my most emotional gloom was a Zozobra day where a security guard came and got me and said that there was this woman there.

And she asked if she could see me.

And as I approached her, I thought she was holding this little blue blanket in her hand.

And when I got there, she explained to me that she had stage four cancer, and that her doctor had basically said, you know, that this is it she needed to make preparations for, for passing away.

And in order to emphasize the point, he pointed to her hospital gown and said, that'll be the last article of clothing that you ever wear.

And that hearing that did something inside her where she decided she was gonna fight back, that she wasn't done living.

And so she actually went into remission and she'd been in remission for two years.

And it wasn't a blue blanket, it was her hospital gown.

And she was asking me to put it inside Zebra.

And she said, can, can you know, is that okay?

Can I put it in?

And I said, no.

And she kind of looked shocked.

And I said, no, you need to put this into him.

And so I walked her to Zebra and she put that hospital gown.

And I remember that year as I ignited him, I was able to see that hospital gown, bird, it was quite emotional.

So zebra's not the embodiment of evil.

He's in the embodiment of gloom.

And I love that word because gloom is kind of, it's in the gray scale.

It's not black, it's not white because there's lots of things that cause you gloom, right?

And so what that says to me is there's a belief that as human beings, we are good, but we do these things that cause ourselves worry and anxieties, and we do these things that cause other people that.

And so if you're able to then take a step back every year and say, okay, am I gonna be more like ZoZoBra and continue to put G glue into the world?

Or am I gonna be more like the fire spirit and put light and hope into the world?

You know, you look around our nation, you look around our world, there's all these things that divide us, but there's so much more that actually unites us.

And when we come together and we interact just as human beings, we, we realize that again, that we're all in this together.

You know, we only have a little limited time on this small rock.

We all wanna be loved, we want shelter, we wanna be, you know, cared for.

And when you have a community event that does that and places people together, it reminds them of our humanity.

And I think that that's critical to everything that happens going forward.

So I think that if Schuster were here, I think he'd be very proud of us.

- And now here's a look at a 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.