Luci Tapahonso

Transcription

THIS TIME, ON COLORES! NAVAJO POET LAUREATE LUCI TAPAHONSO SHARES HOW HER POETRY HONORS WORDS. Things that a person says, that a person literally utters is a sacred thing. INSPIRED BY REMBRANDT AND CARAVAGGIO, PAINTER LUKE HILLESTAD CAPTURES A STRONG SENSE OF EMOTION. When I first started painting I thought it would be fun to do a bunch of paintings of my friends in hoodies and jeans. Then I tried to experiment, I would take things and make them look like they could be from any century. SWEDISH ARTIST GUNILLA KLINGBERG USES COMPANY LOGOS TO CREATE INTRICATE PATTERNS. Im interested in the combination to clash the iconography taken from the western world with this image which resembles of a sacred mandala. JAYDEN MOORE TAKES MOMENTOS FROM THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY AND REASSEMBLES THEM INTO BEAUTIFUL ARTWORKS. Im interested in having these things, cutting them apart, giving them a new history, a new aesthetic. IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES! NAVAJO POET LAUREATE LUCI TAPAHONSO SHARES A POEM WHICH REMINDS US OF THE IMPORTANCE OF A BABY'S LAUGHTER. >>Hakim Bellamy: Luci Tapahonso its a pleasure to have you in the studio today. I want to introduce you with your newest title and recognition amongst many as the inaugural Poet Laureate of the Navajo Nation and have you introduce yourself. >>Luci Tapahonso: Thank you. This is the medallion that shows the sacred mountains on this side and then on this side it is engraved with a picture. The tools that a woman uses traditionally and in a contemporary sense as well so, thank you. >>Hakim Bellamy: Yes. >>Tapahonso: (Speaking her native language) So those are my clans and are important in that they are the ways in which I identify as a Navajo woman. >>Hakim Bellamy: A womans tools. I really like that, that phrase. So in your opinion, in trying to understand your motivation as an author. How is poetry, and your poetry particularly, personally a womans tool. >>Tapahonso: I think that in Navajo language and Navajo culture poetry can be seen as a tool because we are a culture that was created by the sound of the word. Things that a person says, that a person literally utters is a sacred thing. So I think that poetry is very much a tool of contemporary culture and really a tool that has been in existence since the beginning of Navajo time. >>Hakim Bellamy: Do you think that has been in existence since the beginning of Navajo time. >>Hakim Bellamy: Do you think that poetry for you, has a role in preserving language? Is that a motivation of yours? >>Tapahonso: I think that in a certain sense it may. I think of poetry more as a way to preserve vignettes of life. Poetry reflects the voices of a particular region. >>Hakim Bellamy: You brought a piece of work today. Could you kind of present the story behind the poetry youre going to read? >>Tapahonso: Id be happy to. Its about how Old Salt Woman created the first laugh ceremony for Navajo babies. >>Hakim Bellamy: When were you first taught the story of Old Salt Woman? >>Tapahonso: I always knew about it because every time a baby laughs now, people always tell that story. So I dont know when I first heard it, but its told every time that we have a first laugh. >>Tapahonso: This is a sestina called Old Salt Woman. There are two words in here that are in Navajo. One is Sani which means salt and Asdzaan Sani which means Salt Woman. Alkidaa jinni, At the beginning of Navajo time. Ashiih Asdzaan Sani journeyed to Huerfano Mesa near the shallow river. They said first baby was healthy, but her cooing was not a song of joy or wonder. Since a baby does not know sorrow, Old Salt Woman was called. They said that the colors of laughter, of light and fluorescence traveled with her. She who is the primordial mother of the salt clan. But her true essence became apparent in her autumn years. When Asdzaan Sani was young she found that the wondrous colors of betrothal can also contain hues of betrayal. Her pain was like a river of luminous beads worn smooth by tears and intense sorrow. Overtime she was able to transform the grief into exquisite songs of beauty. You can still hear traces of her sadness in the songs of doves on hot steel desert mornings. But that day at Huerfano Mesa her cheerful arrival made it clear that all such sorrows were in the past. Old Salt Woman helped the baby, then put a little bit of ashiih into her mouth. Then she said, wooshii wooshii, and a radiant river of baby laughter filled the hogan. It was like the colors of early morning, of clear skies of salt, like the intense color of midnight. Thus the laughter of relatives eating together became a song for the first laugh meal. It was there, just above the San Juan River that first baby first kicked and laughed. Everyone watched her eyes glitter with happiness. Her small chubby hands pressed ashiih into each persons palm as they whispered wishes to her. In this way sorrow would turn from our kinfolk. Ashiih Asdzaan Sani remembered such sorrows so she invoked the melodious names of mountains and the ageless colors of stones. She invoked the taste of fresh corn. Then the baby offered ashiih, a box of cracker jacks and some fruit. These became the ritual songs that keep families together and loneliness away. Perhaps it was her radiant smile or tender baby touch in our palm that told us crystal rivers of salt flow unseen beneath our feet. The hot sun and the thin brown rivers at Danetka. Remember the day when Old Salt Woman arrived without sorrow. They watch as the baby became white shell girl. She emulated the colors of sharing laughter and the joy of stories. She was surrounded by her family and relatives, encircled by love. Today her lilting songs guide us to old age. Like Old Salt Woman, we cannot live without ashiih. Yes it's true that a river of angry words can darken loves radiant colors and one cannot say Im sorry in Dine. But careful words and old songs can recall the joy granted. White Shell Girl who first blessed us with ashiih. >>Hakim Bellamy: So what makes you continue day after day, to continue writing? >>Tapahonso: It sounds like a cliche, but I really love it. Its as if I cannot, not write. Its something Ive been doing for so long. Im always listening, Im always observing whats going on. I like to honor people for the wonderful things they say and the caring things they do for each other and the things we often overlook on a daily basis. INSPIRED BY RENAISSANCE PAINTERS, LUKE HILLESTAD TAKES US INTO HIS STUDIO FOR A PAINTING SESSION. >>Luke Hillestad: I wanted to include the story that I initially had for the painting but also collaborate with my model, because their story comes through on their face and when its real it ends up always being better. I dont go for photorealism that there is a bit of extra real thing I am trying to achieve. I started music at the U of M and got a degree in classical guitar and music composition and took a few drawing classes in school. But it was until after college and after I quit a job landsurfing that I decided to become a painter. When I first started painting I thought it would be fun to do a bunch of paintings of my friends in hoodies and jeans and then I tried to experiment to see what it would take to make things that look like they can be from any century, whether its the past or the future. >> Hillestad: Excuse me if Im all in your grill. I like painting with live models. I like to get close with the models and learn about their story if I don't already know it. Is this, can you feel the heat? Is it too hot? >>Model: It should be fine. >> Hillestad: Katlyn and I have known each other for a while >>Model: Im fine with being sort of uncomfortable for a while, its not a huge deal so whatever looks best. >> Hillestad: Were Facebook friends so I see good photos of her so I already picked out a good angle. Look up here and then drop your chin. And you can like stick it, stick it out, yeah, thats awesome. Im dividing the canvas into eighth. Its just a guide I guess. And then theres often compositional points when you divide into eighths so if you put a lot of weight on the three here and on the five there thats something Rembrandt did a lot and something I try to model after. Mostly I try to go from nature so whatever Katlyn is doing Ill try to capture whats most special about that. I like painting from life for sense of conversation, you sort of lean into it, youre kinda like, its like >>Model: Like Im Gollum. >> Hillestad: Yeah, well, yeah. I like the energy because like I said the urgency with the paint. Nice, thats it. If you can, thats the pose if you can remember it. The shot that you got in the photo is this quick action shot. >>Model: Yeah >> Hillestad: So its going to be had to keep. But its the nature of painting I guess. >>Model: And my nose itches >> Hillestad: You look worried in the painting so far. Thats not how you look right now. Somethings going wrong. >>Model: I look worried in the painting? >> Hillestad: So far. But it doesnt have to do with how you look; it just has to do with how the paint happened to move real quick. I use a limited palette rather than any sought of other palette. I like to keep their colors cohesive as possible, creates some sought of harmony within the colors. And I like painting with a rough surface or with a lot of history so you can tell that its been worked through, maybe Ive changed my mind a lot with how the painting is going just because thats how it goes. So I don't necessarily preplan everything thats going happen in the painting. Ill let it rest, for times, I'll let it dry in different layers. >> Hillestad: Youre doing really well. Im actually a bit surprised how well youre holding this. The model might be there for a couple of hours. And I might change my mind multiple times within that time and the relaxed atmosphere, the slow atmosphere gives me time to I think make better choices. >>Model: My butts numb >> Hillestad: My teacher in Norway when I modeled for him showed me the importance of it when he might ask me to move my hand a little bit and I realized that he was in the process of composing as he painted. I had the opportunity to study with Odd Nerdrum in 2008. To go study with Nerdrum I sent him a letter. I sent him some pictures of my work and asked him if I could. And then I got a letter, a number of months later saying youre welcome to come heres our address. It was an invitation and so I bought a plane ticket and flew out there. It was a pretty intensive time of learning. Just watching him and absorbing things. He didnt talk much about technique, it mostly just came through apprenticeshipstyle observing. I decided to study with Odd Nerdrum again, a second time, and Ill be going to Paris to stay for about four months. Its going to be a new city so Im hoping to paint outside more, get some sunshine instead of being cramped up in an artic. Hes a big inspiration as far as whats possible. Hes been painting for fortyfive years or so and theres a lot of what he does that I hope to emulate, while also going deeper into my own psyche or whatever and find out what Im supposed to be painting. >>Model: Youre going to make me look like a Goth chick. I think Lukes work is great. The light in his work is really amazing. Just the darkness and then the brightness, and thats something that's hard for a lot of painters to learn so Luke is doing themes and stories, theres not a lot of many figurative artists around especially in the Twin Cities area. I look angry though. >> Hillestad: Well not angry >>Model: See if you can make me relax >> Hillestad: Not angry, just a little weird. It might have something to do with the pose. Any overarching themes for me in painting probably center on being earnest. Try to avoid irony. Irony is good for jokes with people but irony doesnt last in painting for me and glowing flesh and transparent spirit. I like to paint people because I like people. I like people around my studio. I like mimesis. I like being able to reproduce something I see and the feeling I get for making it look similar and having a similar essence is really satisfying for me. SWEDISH ARTIST GUNILLA KLINGBERG CREATES INSTALLATIONS THAT BLEND EASTERN SPIRITUALITY WITH WESTERN CONSUMERISM. >>Gunilla Klingberg: Before I studied art I studied graphic design and worked as a graphic designer for quite some time. For a long time Ive collected logotypes and brands from my everyday life and everyday shopping, so in that sense you could say these brands link us all together. It has to do with routines and everyday rituals and I think the way that these brands come into our private sphere, we carry the plastic bag with us from the more public area or the supermarket into our more private homes. It also links this, the private and the public areas. I make the patterns on the computer, of course, and then it takes some time to make the selection and to try out different versions. And at the end it's a vector file that is blown up and plotted out in vinyl. Even though its computer work it feels like craft work to me, almost like embroidering or something like that. The choice of logos for the pattern is a combination of how they graphically work for the pattern as well as if I find the brand name interesting. Since its made as a pattern, you might not at first recognize all the logos but quite quickly you see this is a familiar logo and that. So maybe these logos also come into our minds in an unconscious way. Im interested in the combination to clash the iconography taken from the Western world and the consumer world with this image which resembles the sacred mandala which is a tool that can help in meditation. You really need to take that in that this might be a place where people pass two times a day five days a week back and forth to work. And the reason I wanted to extend the pattern out from the gallery area to the foyer area is that I wanted the pattern to be out in a more public passage. The emphasize the more viral aspect of the artwork, that is continuing and growing, so youre surrounded more or less by the patterns. And also I like the idea that merge the artwork into the actual architecture or site, and to me that was more of a challenge and interesting way of working with my ideas, how and why its presented here and what does it mean. METAL ARTIST JAYDAN MOORES WORK EXPLORES THE CONCEPTS OF MEMORY AND PERSONAL HISTORY. >>Jaydan Moore: Since I was five years old, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I just didnt know what that meant. I just knew that was what I wanted to do. I think we all create narratives from the objects that we hold onto. And that's one of the things Im very interested in, how we create memory on top of things or how we use objects to create memory and how we affect memory through that. And I think that's what I'm really interested in this material is that that patina, that wear might alter the object as well as how the memory is altered as well. So Im not interested in getting a new piece of sheet metal, or anything like that. Im interested in having these things, cutting them apart, giving them a new history, a new aesthetic and pushing that further. I kind of began to see that there was 20, 30, 40 different of the same platters in these antique shops and secondhand stores and eBay. So Im interested in how something can be made by the thousands but then totally different 20 or 30 years down the road. And I think that is kind of beautiful. Were all relating to these objects and we all have them in our households, but its how we use them that makes them individual. What Im trying to do is take those platters and cut them up to show how those same patterns are used, how the same material is used and how they also have been changed over their time. So what I do is I cut the platters up and try to merge the platters by a process of, its called marriage of metal where Im taking patterns and overlaying them and cutting out whatever I want to lose or keep and keep passing the two patterns over each other until Ive created kind of a jigsaw pattern so that once Ive cut and filed them, they can slide right into each other. The prints are kind of like readymade etchings. So I find different platters that I think are interesting or visually pleasing so maybe they have a ton of scratches from families cutting bread on top of the platters or maybe they have interesting initials or something like that and I cut out the imagery and then push ink onto the plate just like an etching. And then from there I put it onto a print press with the paper above it and then a couple blankets and then the roller comes and pushes the blankets and the paper to kind of grab that ink. And this is from the lady who got this when she got married the first time. And what I really love about this piece is that she doesn't want the object now, shes kind of through with it, she doesnt want it to be a part of her life. But I think she still knows that it has significance. That history, that timeline has changed her and altered her to become who she is now. So being able to print just that top layer of the scratches, the patina, the kind of little notches and things like that left over, really get to share how it's been used until one specific end point. My name is Jaydan Moore and Im an artist. NEXT TIME ON COLORES! MAKING A FILM IN 48 HOURS BORDERS ON INSANITY... AND HAS BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL SENSATION. CLIP FROM JACQUES SERRES. UNTIL NEXT TIME, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING.