WLIW Arts Beat

WLIW Arts Beat - January 6, 2020
In this edition of WLIW Arts Beat, a crane company in Kansas City collects contemporary art; actors from PBS' Poldark share how they landed their roles; a photographer shares his rock and roll portraits; and a 21st pipe organ uses technology to preserve history.
TRANSCRIPT
♪♪
♪♪
>> In this edition of
"WLIW Arts Beat"...
an art collection
from across the globe.
>> If you collect,
you're learning.
If you're learning,
you're still alive.
If you're not learning,
you're dead.
>> The stories behind a fan
favorite...
>> He's a very complex
character.
Quite layered.
>> Turning the lens on rock 'n'
roll.
>> This is my main breadwinner
right here.
>> And a musical marvel.
>> There were 14 designs
for this instrument
before this was selected
to go into the room.
>> It's all ahead on this
edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."
Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" was
made possible by viewers like
you.
Thank you.
Welcome to "WLIW Arts Beat."
I'm Diane Masciale.
In our first segment,
we visit the Belger Arts Center
in Kansas City, Missouri, where
artwork from across the globe
is the inspiration
for an educational approach
to contemporary art.
Let's go inside the galleries
to get the story.
>> Boston, Massachusetts,
Melbourne, Australia,
Phoenix, Arizona,
Tijuana, Mexico,
Austin, Texas,
Greenville, South Carolina,
and on and on.
Yeah, the way I remember, it was
Dick said, "I've been going to
museums for 30 years, and half
the time, I get in my car and I
think, 'What the [bleep] was
that all about?'"
He said, "All I want you to do
is hang out and talk to people."
Then we have this mysterious,
three-dimensional box...
"And explain to them
why I collect what I collect
and why we do the shows we do."
And I have found that's been
a pretty successful formula.
>> 10 years have passed now
since Mo Dickens
took the reins of the gallery
started by the late Myra Morgan
a few years earlier.
Myra also gets credit
for starting Dick Belger
on his art-collecting odyssey
a few decades before that.
Turns out he'd already
had some practice.
>> I think I've collected
about everything except
bottle caps and baseball cards.
If you collect, you're learning.
If you're learning,
you're still alive.
If you're not learning,
you're dead.
>> For a guy who claims
he could barely spell "art"
when he started, Dick caught
on quickly, amassing works
by top-flight contemporary
artists like William Wiley,
Jasper Johns, Robert Stackhouse,
and William Christenberry,
among others, works
which soon began finding
their way onto walls
in the company headquarters.
>> I have a real curiosity,
and I discovered later
I'm a fan of process.
You know, how do you get from
here to there,
what happens in that.
And that's what those artists
are doing.
They're processing.
They're going through a process
to do that work.
And they're resolving some of
their own issues,
some of their personal issues.
And that's really what got me
hooked in art.
>> Need to get it up.
>> The Belger Collection runs so
deep on certain artists that Mo
and his staff frequently field
calls from high-profile museums
around the country,
putting together exhibitions
of their own.
In fact, Evelyn Craft Belger
met her future husband
while serving as executive
director of the Arts Center
in St. Petersburg, Florida.
They've been married
six years now.
>> I respect and love
the collection, and I love
Dick's collecting vision.
I would probably buy things
in an undisciplined manner
because I love them.
I love seeing people try
new things, develop new skills,
and hopefully grow as an artist.
>> So far, Evelyn's biggest
impact, aside from helping Dick
dial down his work week
to just six days, can be found
a few blocks further east.
Across the railroad tracks
from the real crane yard,
the Belger Crane Yard Studios,
at 20th and Tracy contain
a little bit of everything --
an exhibition space,
a new home for
Red Star Ceramics,
the Lawrence Lithography
Workshop, and the metal shop
where Asheer Akram built his
acclaimed Pakistani cargo truck.
>> And I believe it's really
important to provide
an opportunity to as many people
as possible to experience
the creative process.
If you're in a museum
environment, you have so many
other restrictions.
When you are in an arts-center
environment like ours,
which is a private gallery,
we can take a lot more chances
because what we're doing
is trying to educate
about the creative process,
and that includes mistakes
and it includes opportunities
for people to soar that they
wouldn't have had before.
>> When I still had a shop
in Lawrence, some of the artists
that he was collecting,
like Stackhouse and Wiley
and those guys, they were
sending over to me to print
with.
And he wanted the idea of a shop
here in this area instead of
just on the east or west coast.
>> After spending some time
in Texas, Mike Sims
brought his printmaking prowess
back to town.
In 2001, Lawrence Lithography
became the first and, for many
years, only occupant of this
formidable old building that
once housed a wax-paper plant.
>> I like personally this.
We're not right down
in the Crossroads, a district
I like, but it's its own little
niche.
The view out these windows
every single day is stimulating.
And the weather changes.
The show out the window is
great.
Now, the Red Star is downstairs
and with the metal shop.
All of this is now becoming
an arts destination point,
so we're all feeding off
each other this way.
We're getting a critical mass
here that's really bringing
people out.
>> There are facilities
that strive to do
similar things in town.
Like, there's the Hobbs Building
and there was
the Arts Incubator,
but I think the way
they're approaching setting
everything up and letting it
kind of organically define
itself is unique here,
and it's working really well.
>> Nothing as ambitious as the
cargo truck has passed through
here lately, but plenty
of metal fabrication continues.
In fact, Asheer showed
some large-scale pieces
upstairs last winter.
And in the spirit of things,
he's also been playing more
frequently with ceramics.
Which brings us
to Crane Yard Clay,
a wholesale operation housed
in the east end of the complex.
Selling art supplies
for pottery making has deepened
the revenue stream here,
and that's by design.
>> My background is in business
first and then it was the arts.
And even though
it was the business side of the
arts later on, I think you've
got to have both elements.
It can't be all wishful
thinking.
There's a lot of hard work
into any career in the arts.
>> And that creating process
not only works in the arts,
it also works in the business.
Because you have to be
quick on your feet
and be able to adapt
to new ways of thinking
in the business world
to be successful.
And that's one good influence
that the arts have on me is,
my feet aren't quite planted
so deep in cement.
You know, I can move
a little bit quicker.
>> As unusual as this
mix might seem, consider this.
>> The heavy hauling industry
moves things from point A
to point B,
not unlike the artistic process
that Dick Belger finds
so fascinating.
>> I think his biggest
contribution to the city --
and he makes a whole lot of
incredible contributions
to the city --
is the backing he gives
the arts at the ground level,
building up.
>> I won't say we're reclusive,
but we're pretty private people.
The only reason to put our name
on anything is to say
that it's important
that everybody give whatever
level that you can do something
that opens another person's eyes
to the arts or creative process.
That's really important.
>> So this is very early.
And this is kind of funny to me
because I found...
Students from the
Art Institute frequently come
down here and they say, "How do
I get a job like yours, Mo?"
And I learned pretty early
on the correct answer was,
"I don't think there is a job
like mine, and if I ever hear of
one, I'll let you know."
Come here. I gotta show you the
way Peregrine signed this thing.
>> Oh.
>> New Year's Day, 2001.
Let's get close.
Look how she signed it.
>> To find out more,
visit belgerartscenter.org.
♪♪
♪♪
The PBS show "Poldark"
is a fan favorite.
And in this next segment, we
hear from the show's leading
actors about how they landed
their starring roles.
♪♪
>> There's nothing for you here,
boy.
The rewards could be
considerable.
So are the risks.
[ Gunshots ]
>> One morning, I was sent --
I got a phone call for my agent
to say that Mammoth Screen,
who co-produced with BBC,
was sending me two
of Winston Graham's novels
and six of the scripts.
And until that point, I hadn't
heard of Graham
at all or "Poldark" or anything.
So it was complete news to me.
So, yeah, it was a great place
to start, too, not knowing
anything.
Because you're starting
from scratch, and, yeah, you're
not sort of -- you're not being
pulled in different directions.
I haven't seen the original
"Poldark."
I know that's kind of --
that's criminal to some people,
but I just -- I felt like
I didn't -- I wanted --
I wanted to find Ross myself.
I wanted to -- I didn't want to
be sort of swayed in different
directions.
And sometimes as an actor,
I guess you can -- you can be
influenced by certain things,
inspired by certain things,
but, you know, subconsciously,
I didn't want to kind of emulate
or imitate
Robin's amazing performance.
So I've steered clear of the
series, but I felt like I didn't
necessarily need it.
>> Are the rumors true, do you
think?
>> He's a damn fool, if they're
not.
>> Confess to the sin there is
twixt you and Poldark.
>> The role of Demelza just
jumped out at me.
I just thought it was
the most incredible role,
like the Scarlett O'Hara role.
They just don't come
along, you know?
And I auditioned for it,
and then I did a chemistry
read with Aidan.
And, yeah, eventually, I got it.
And it's amazing.
So, after getting the role,
I did lots of research into it.
I watched a tiny little bit
of the original series
because I wanted to see how
Angharad Rees managed to
capture the heart of the public
in the way that she did.
The pressure has been quite
high, you know, especially with
such a successful previous
series.
And for the actress who played
it before you, Angharad Rees,
you know, she just gave
the most amazing performance,
and people loved her in it.
So I think, you know,
I really hope the fans like it.
It's a very different series.
You know, it's
a different adaptation.
It's closer to the books than
the original was.
So, yeah, I think bearing in
mind that it is different,
it's amazingly exciting.
>> Great many girls would be
glad to acquire the name of
Poldark.
>> Mining -- 'tis in the blood,
your father would say.
>> Would you like a wager?
I'd sooner gamble on a vein of
copper and the sweat of 50 men
than either turn of a card.
>> There's a lot in him.
He's a very complex character.
Quite layered.
You know, it's not -- it's not
just one thing or the other.
I mean, he's a man of principle,
I think, and of moral code.
He's fair, and he's honest,
and he's -- he's got
a real sense of
integrity about him.
But at the same time, he's not
this benevolent, sort of saintly
character.
You know, he's quite lawless,
and he's a bit of a rebel,
and, you know, a bit of a
renegade, and he doesn't like
authority or being told what
to do.
And he's kind of moody.
There's a flip to him all the
time.
There's almost like a Jekyll and
Hyde to him sometimes, you know?
And he sort of slips
kind of seamlessly from the
working-class, from his fellow
miners and friends
and that part of society
straight up to
the gentrified classes
and the aristocracy.
And he does it with such ease,
and he's quite cool that way.
And people really respect him,
I think.
You know, and he's a hard
worker, you know?
And he's confused by love.
And he's kind of
emotionally incapable
of anything, really, in that.
I think he's way more
comfortable on the battlefields
of Virginia, you know, with
a musket in his hand than he
would be telling Demelza that he
loves her or anything like that.
And he's a real man's man
in that sense.
And I don't know, he's just
interesting.
He's the type of character that
when I read from the very
first -- from the first few
scripts and the first couple of
books, I thought, like, "There's
a lot in him.
I could keep going with this
and keep finding stuff
with his character."
>> Working with Aidan is great.
He's a brilliant actor,
and he brings something new
to the scene each time, you
know, so you're constantly on
your toes which is -- which is
great.
But, yeah, it's very romantic.
It's certainly...
It's certainly very, very
exciting, in that respect.
>> It's just sort of happened.
I finished high school.
I didn't know what I wanted to
do, and it just seemed like fun,
and I did an acting class in
Dublin, and it was terrifying.
And I liked it.
It was just exhilarating.
It was just getting up on stage
in front of a bunch of people
that I didn't know and making
a complete fool of myself
just seemed to kind of work
for me for some reason.
>> I guess I almost fell into
it, but I don't know.
Like, I remember going to see my
mum on stage as a kid
and going and sat with my dad
and just loving that
camaraderie, you know, that
chemistry, that creativity
that happens around, you know,
people doing their jobs.
It was just, um...
It was immediately kind of
inspiring, and I just --
just wanted to do it.
>> You are to leave here or die
here!
>> It was kind of cool to have
my first meeting knowing that
there was an offer on the table.
That's something I haven't
experienced before.
I could get used to that.
It's quite a nice feeling.
♪♪
>> And now here's a look
at an Arts Fun Fact.
♪♪
♪♪
Some of the leading stars
of rock 'n' roll
are captured for all time thanks
to photographer Larry Hulst.
We have a look at Hulst's iconic
photos, which are as
recognizable as the stars
themselves.
[ Grateful Dead's
"Uncle John's Band" plays ]
♪♪
>> If you look up
the Grateful Dead
in the Encyclopedia Britannica,
the photograph you'll see
was taken by Larry Hulst.
The San Diego native
and former Vietnam medic
has called Colorado Springs
home since 1993.
He says it's a spectacular
feeling to know that moments
he's captured live on.
>> I've seen my photographs
at Grammy Awards,
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
induction ceremonies.
So it's pretty exciting.
I never know where they're gonna
come up, where they're gonna be
next.
♪♪
The first magazine that I went
to wasRolling Stone magazine
in seventy -- it was '73.
It was a picture of
Muddy Waters, and I took the
photograph when he was opening
for had Hot Tuna at Winterland.
♪♪
I first started selling them at
Winterland.
I made a photograph
of Jerry Garcia, and I figured
if I could sell it for a dollar
and if I could sell four or five
of them, then I could buy
admission into the show and
maybe a beer.
>> ♪ Casey Jones, you better
>> What started as a way
to make a few dollars
and to see great music
blossomed into a career.
Larry became a front-row
witness to rock and roll
history, often discovering bands
at the cusp of a breakthrough,
like The Ramones, who he first
saw at a hamburger joint.
>> I think that's when music
changed for me.
It was kind of melodic until you
heard Joey Ramone sing.
15 songs in 25 minutes, and
every one of them was a good
one, and every one of them was
faster than the last one.
[ Led Zeppelin's "Dancing Days"
plays ]
♪♪
This is my main breadwinner
right here.
If you've bought a box set
of the reissue of
"Houses of the Holy," it's in
that book.
From Kezar Stadium, and it's
June 2, 1973, in San Francisco.
♪♪
>> ♪ I got my flower
♪ I've got my power
[ Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze"
plays ]
When I was starting out, my
cameras were about $100 with a
couple of lenses and shooting
film.
I wouldn't go back to film
for myself.
It doesn't meet the deadlines.
>> Access restrictions are also
much different for today's
concert photographer.
>> From about '82 on
is when the restrictions
really came in strong,
which works completely
against publicity for an artist.
>> Shopping photos to publishers
before the digital age
was a slow process.
To fill the time, Larry sold his
photos to a passerby outside
Tower Records in San Francisco.
He was a sidewalk staple
there for 18 years.
Sometimes fate aligned,
once approaching A&M Records
in Los Angeles in hopes
of a staff photography position,
Larry flashed a George Harrison
photo to the receptionist.
>> They took me down a hallway
to a door,
and we walked through a door,
and George Harrison was there,
and I talked to him for about
10 minutes.
And I was trying to sell him
that photograph so that I could
get gas money
to come back to Sacramento.
That was the highlight of my
life.
I do believe George Harrison
was the best Beatle.
>> Larry says his world
changed when he was signed
to the Michael Oakes stock-photo
agency in 1979.
Getty Images then bought
the agency in the 1980s.
Since then, Larry's photographs
have become as ubiquitous
as the stars they shined a light
on.
♪♪
Larry is still an active
concert-goer and photographer.
>> Bringing back something
that's personal to me
that's not a $35 or a $40
T-shirt that I could show
somebody and say, "This is
mine."
♪♪
>> You can see more photos at...
♪♪
♪♪
We visit the University of Tampa
and the Sykes Chapel.
Inside the campus chapel
is a massive 21st-century pipe
organ.
In this segment, we learn more
and take a listen.
♪♪
[ Organ playing ]
>> University of Tampa
has been here for a long time.
We were established in 1931.
It began with an iconic
building, the old
Tampa Bay Hotel,
that was built by Henry Plant
back in the 1890s
as a tourist destination
at the end of the rail line.
University acquired
that building in 1931,
and it became the home
of everything at the university.
Students lived there,
the library was there, eating
facilities, dining facilities.
[ Organ playing ]
♪♪
>> When the plans for the chapel
were announced, the then organ
professor in the music
department here went right to
the president's office, and he
said, you know, "You can't build
a chapel, no matter what the
definition of chapel might be --
you can't build such a structure
without putting a pipe organ
into it."
And so plans were launched
for this great instrument
that's here now.
Working together,
we had the ability to create
the perfect environment
for this organ.
All of the elements
came together beautifully.
The architects, the
architectural firm, was working
together with the acoustical
consultants, who worked together
with the organ builder.
There are fewer than 50
pipe organs built per year
in the United States, so it is
really a very specialized art,
and they're built in a handful
of shops.
There were 14 designs
for this instrument
before this was selected
to go into the room.
Organs are places of beauty
for music of great beauty,
and I think that's sort of key
to it, that we work in this sort
of elevated aesthetic place,
if you will.
Even looking at this key desk,
you can see that the woods
in it are precious woods.
This is burled elm.
The craft of such things as the
stop knobs is just turned to
a very high level of refinement
and polish.
The keys are made of bone.
And everything works, then,
as a kind of perfect --
perfect machine, if you will.
One builds up sound in choruses.
♪♪
What's happened there?
The physics of this is really
very easy to understand.
♪♪
My fingers depress these keys.
That action is transmitted
through levers to a series
of carbon-fiber filaments,
and they're transmitted through
another set of levers
upward to wind chests.
And on top of these boxes
sit a whole collection
of whistles.
So, an organ pipe...
[ Organ playing ]
...is nothing more than a
whistle, the same as any child's
toy whistle would be.
And they're very sophisticated
whistles, but they're placed
on these boxes called wind
chests.
And when you depress the key,
that opens a pallet
on the bottom of the box
and admits wind to the channel
on which all of these notes sit.
So, the second part of that --
That happens in this axis,
going back and forth,
but the second part of it,
left and right,
is that there are rows of pipes
all put on that same wind chest
which are different tone colors
and different pitches.
So, this stop...
♪♪
...and this stop...
♪♪
...and this and this...
♪♪
...all sit on these wind chests
together.
And how you arrange this,
how you pull the stops
and how you play the keys
gives us our -- gives us
our ability to both change color
and play pitches.
♪♪
500 years ago, I would've been
accompanied by two assistants
standing on either side of this
console, pushing and pulling
these for me, and they would've
been big, long wooden draw stops
that would come way out.
I probably would've also had
five or six choirboys or
children in the back of the
organ, pumping like crazy to
create the wind in the bellows.
This is, of course, electrically
blown.
But these pistons allow us
then to program
the sounds that we want
and put them in order, put them
anywhere we want.
And in this particular case,
and here's the 21st century
technology, there is a computer
that runs this whole system.
And every one of these single
pistons can be programmed 256
memories deep.
♪♪
It's a real snapshot of,
if you will, the humanities
of technology, of science,
all working together.
Reflected in this one instrument
are skills of metallurgy, of
acoustics, skills of
woodworking, design, and
linguistic skills.
Organs are built
all over the world.
And one of the things that
really speaks to the nature of
that instrument and where it
comes from is how it resembles
the language in those particular
places.
So, all of that complexity
spoke to so many sides
of my own imagination
and my own creativity.
I think if I had been
just a musician
and wanted to go deeply
into music and only music
I think I would have wound up
either being a pianist
or a symphony conductor,
but because I was interested
in science first
and architecture second
and music third,
it was very, very logical for me
to find this instrument and to
be able to still keep my hand
in all of that kind of thinking.
♪♪
>> That wraps it up for this
edition of "WLIW Arts Beat."
We'd like to hear what you
think, so like us on Facebook,
join the conversation on
Twitter, and visit our webpage
for features and to watch
episodes of the show.
We hope to see you next time.
I'm Diane Masciale.
Thank you for watching
"WLIW Arts Beat."
Funding for "WLIW Arts Beat" was
made possible by viewers like
you.
Thank you.
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
♪♪
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