(light music) (piano music) >> Billy: If you go to a live performance, in a way you're a participant, you can actually feel the music, the vibes of the music actually come into you.

So you really are part of the performance.

>> John: I guess my favorite part about the whole process is just hearing it, hearing the sound like come together.

You can almost see the positioning of the instruments.

Ah, I love it.

>> Jackie: The best compliment that I get when people see it is, "I've never seen anything like it.

There's nothing like this.

Oh, this is so cool.

It's so different from anything."

And that's really what I was approaching.

>> Kevin: I wanted to get more dynamic compositions so steel offered itself as a way to do that.

I've never made the vertical horizontal things.

It was always something with some movement.

>> Woman: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can, is important to me.

Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community the better off our community will be.

>> I have a very strong connection to other students.

Everyone makes an effort to help each other.

I'll remember the feeling of being here, the feeling that I was a part of a family >> Announcer: Support for programming at Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the Estate of Marjorie A.

Mills, whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired and entertained for years to come.

>> Announcer: "Eye on the Arts" is made possible in part by South Shore Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Additional support for Lakeshore PBS and "Eye on the Arts" is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(piano music) >> I had a godmother that actually gave us a piano and I could keep the piano as long as I played it.

And so when we got the piano my mother's signed me up for music lessons with Dr. Granuel L. Whittemore, who was really well known in the community at that time.

I was seven years old and I've been playing ever since.

I grew up in Gary, Indiana.

We always had music around the house, my folks bought me a record player when I was about five and some Nat King Cole children's records.

And then I would play their records.

They had Count Basie and Duke Ellington and around that age they would take me over to Chicago to the Regal Theater or the Tivoli Theater to see the live shows.

And I saw a lot of people when I was very young, we always had people coming by the house and they would sit and play the piano and they would say, "Boy, I wish I had never stopped my lessons."

I would listen to that and I said, well, I'm not gonna stop.

Each year, we would have to play a recital.

I can remember this like it was yesterday, when I was 14, I had a piece that I played and they got lots and lots of applause.

You know, they stood up and gave me a standing ovation.

When I got home I said, that's what I want to do.

This is fun.

(laughs) (piano music) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) (piano music continues) I played classical music until I was 22.

I kind of fooled around with jazz when I was in college, a little bit.

It remained a mystery until I was able to get outta college and started going to some of the clubs and meeting people who actually played the music.

(gentle jazz music) Now I already had the technique and theory and knowledge but I just didn't know how to apply that to jazz.

Well, back then, the early seventies, there are about 30 some clubs here in the immediate area right here in town.

And so I used to go to all those clubs and when I became able enough, I played in all those clubs.

Sometimes we'd be playing at one club and then on break time, run down the street to another club to listen to somebody else's band.

It was really a great situation and the guys were free with their knowledge and what they knew and so it made a great atmosphere for learning and listening to the music.

Nobody would be at home on a Friday night or a Saturday night.

Everybody would be out in the clubs and stuff.

(audience clapping) If you go to a live performance, in a way you're a participant you can actually feel the music, the vibes of the music actually come into you.

So you really are a part of the performance.

(light jazz music) One of the differences is when you're playing by yourself solo, then you have to cover the bass parts and keep the time and everything is on you.

If you have a a trio, then I don't have to really play the bass parts and the drummer can help keep the time.

With the trio it's lighter duty on me than when I'm playing by myself 'cause I have to do everything and make it sound full.

I was just gonna say, though, that's the great part about being a piano player, is that you can play by yourself.

So that's an advantage, also.

My first teaching experience was teaching elementary music which I did for 35 years.

Where I taught was Drew Elementary School, here in Gary.

And then I also taught at Valparaiso University, Jazz Piano for 34 years.

And then I came to IUN, I've been here since 2014, teaching piano.

I see quite a few of my students on Facebook also, and they have really nice things to say and that makes me feel good that they got something out of it.

And there's several of them that went on to be musicians.

My thing with teaching is getting as many people as I can involved in the arts, they all I realize won't wind up to be professional pianist but at least they'll know what that's about.

(light piano music) One of the things that I like about learning to play an instrument is that I think you learn an intrinsic value.

It's not something that somebody's paying you to do and you're making money.

It's something that you get something out of that you did, you know, through your own efforts and I think that's valuable.

Everything's not gonna pay money.

There's some things that have more value than a buck.

If you're in a musical group, one of the things that you have to learn is how to get along with others and I think that that's a pretty important lesson, especially now.

(chuckles) I was a cancer patient, I still am a cancer patient and I think music has a healing effect.

I did some reading in it, it actually has a medical effects, like lowering your blood pressure and it helps with your attitude.

There's several ways that music can help you outside of just being a musician.

The arts add sensitivity of sorts to a person.

I think we all are in need of that.

(piano music) (light rock music) >> You know, my mom was always listening to something.

My dad was always listening to something.

I'd go to my grandparents' house they were always listening to something.

like everyone was always listening to music and it was a wide array of stuff, you know what I mean?

Like my dad would be listening to like CCR and AC/DC, and my grandparents are listening to like gospel and then like old time radio, you know, like stuff like that.

Hang with my mom and she's listening to like Poison and Warrant and stuff like that, like Boston and just like stuff that's got more edge to it.

And one day I'm sitting in front of the MTV, six or seven years old, eight years old, it's the 87, 88, somewhere in there.

And "Welcome to the Jungle".

I'd never even heard anything like that because it it sounded like Poison and Warrant but it was like way-- Like Axl's voice was like, (imitates heavy singing) You know, like right off the go and it was like, what is this?

You know, like what is what is going on here?

And it just, I was enthralled and like I just saw Slash and like the whole vibe of everything.

I was like, that's it.

Like this is what I want.

You know, growing up, the first time I was in a studio it was this kid's bedroom with like a single reel to reel, you know what I mean?

Like, and it was a two channel like reel to reel.

That's it.

It was two channels.

It was me and him playing, you know, guitar solos or whatever.

I was 17 the first time I stepped into like an actual studio with like a console and it just blew me away.

I was like, I felt like I was in the cockpit of like a spaceship or something and I just was enamored.

That guy probably hates my guts.

I sat there and I was like, what does that do?

What does that do?

Why did you do that?

That man sat there and answered every one of my questions.

And that's Mike Osborne.

So shout out to Mike, because Mike is absolutely awesome.

And it was like, okay, like this is cool.

Like, I like manipulating the sounds.

Like 'cause he's sitting there and like he was like, "Check this out".

And he is like showing me little things.

He's like, "This is what this does, now if I turn this snob it does this".

And I'm like, wow.

You know, I was like, "that sounds weird".

And he's like, "I know, right?"

You know, he was like engaging me in conversation and it was like, that's cool.

It was a completely different world cause I couldn't afford any of this stuff, you know.

So what happened is, over the years, being in different studios, you know, I've been in bands and I wanted to be a rockstar, obviously like I was said a minute ago.

And I just pushed and pushed and pushed, and got signed a couple times and I got lucky and we were touring, and I got to see and do some things and I met my wife and we just started as friends and things progressed over time and it was like, okay, you know, when we eventually got married, had a kid and it was like, okay, I want to be here for this kid, but like, how can I be involved in music still?

And it's like, well.

You know, I had this built, this was part of the house plans when we started, when we we built the house here.

And it was just so the band I was in at the time could record.

You now, I was gonna record it, we were gonna send it off and have someone else mix it.

I had no intention of learning any of that.

Like I was okay with learning the engineering side, but the the mixing and all that.

Like, I didn't think that I would ever be good enough to do anyone else's stuff.

I do a lot of what's called printing, which is like, I mentioned before, we were rolling Steve Evans, will tell you that everyone's biggest fear these days is committing and he's not wrong.

There's just too many choices.

It's a hybrid system.

Like I can come in clean and I can go back out to the analog and dirty it up and bring it back in clean from there, if I want.

Or you know, using inserts and sends and such because there are hardware inserts and sends, you can set up at any of your dolls as long as you got the routing.

I like to print because it forces you to make a choice, you know, like you choose right there and that's how it's out.

And I love that because you know, at the end of the day if you can get the forced, choice is right when the band is tracking and they sound how they want to sound.

Or at least how they think they want to sound.

They're immediately gonna be a hundred times happier.

I guess my favorite part about the whole process is just hearing the sound like come together.

Like when you hear, after you've E cued and done minor compression, like just little touches and everything has got its own little separation and you you push the pans to where they need to go and you just sit there and you can almost see it and it's really cool.

That's my favorite part.

You can almost see the positioning of the instruments.

Ah, I love it.

(gentle music) (bright music) >> The best compliment that I get when people see it is, "I've never seen anything like this.

Oh, this is so cool.

It's so different from anything".

And that's really what I was approaching because, you know, I did art, some art in school and I did murals and I did portraits and I did paintings of all sorts.

When you have that drive to create, it's there all the time.

So when my kids were little, their rooms were covered in murals.

My sisters and I sewed clothing and curtains and bedding and everything was custom.

We did murals for other people but we did them for our own kids.

And I'm resourceful.

I never had a lot of money.

When you have four kids you don't and it's like you decorate your home, you decorate your kids' things and then, so it's the drive still there and when your kids don't need you as much anymore it was just a perfect opportunity.

It was like the perfect storm.

Them wanting to gallery together and me having a little more free time.

I fused a few different interests.

I used to make jewelry, I loved to paint.

I got into doing resin about 14 years ago, using resin.

So I'm kind of combining all of that.

I did that giant puffer fish that is just a small amount of resin, but there's crystals in it, there's glass, there's gold leaf, there's plaster.

I mean I love experimenting with all the new things.

(joyful music) (joyful music) You know, there's all these different stages of the artwork so I can pick and choose and sometimes I do not want to be leaning over the painting or stapling and gluing.

I wanna just paint.

And that's the one thing I think like all artists that paint, putting that first, you know, brush stroke on a canvas is so relaxing, therapeutic.

It's so nice.

And it was great through the years.

It was very therapeutic, you know, raising the kids and then having a son with special needs.

You need that therapy, you need that time.

And I feel lucky 'cause I have, you know, an array of things I can do.

I can work in the glass, I can crush the glass, I can start a painting.

I have, you know, all these options and I feel really blessed to be able to do that.

And I have a lot of materials.

I didn't have that before but that allows me to do just a painting.

Sometimes I want to use a lot of materials.

My last brush strokes are glass or furrow or something like that.

The last thing that I do.

But it's true.

Sometimes it's the materials and sometimes it's just something in my head, you know, like I said, sometimes it's the idea in my mind, oh, how would I do a pelican?

You know, I could see it without the mirrors and how would I do a sheep?

I think there's a part of it that animals are, people love them and I also think that it's a subject matter that lends itself well to my technique.

Just absolutely love the great blue heron.

It was like a pterodactyl flying through the sky.

So I always do herons.

There's always a heron in my collection.

If I sell out of herons, I'll make them more herons.

So that's something that is close to my heart.

But I realize a lot of people probably have the same experience.

I think it's twofold.

I like 'em and I think how would I do that?

And I also, maybe sometimes, I see some glass and I think, "Oh, I could crush that up and make X, Y Z out of them and see what that turns out to be".

I'm going to paint regardless.

I was painting paintings and then painting over them, because I wanted to paint.

Like any creative, you're just a fort.

(bright music) >> I wanted to get more dynamic compositions.

So steel offered itself as a way to do that.

I've never made the vertical horizontal things.

It was always something with some movement.

I was good at drawing, I was doing painting and I started making sculpture too.

Went to DePaul University for an art degree.

So I grew up around here and grew up around nature.

It's why I'm back on the nature of poles.

There's sticks and there's trees and those are all pretty linear and not carved but they grow and I see that as this assemblage way of working.

I had a friend, we used to get together and go out to this wetlands and draw these wetland plants, these aero plants.

I like the relationship between the line and the shape that I get and also the movement.

So I became interested in movement and the work from those plants.

(gentle music) Steel is very stiff and doesn't lend itself to movement.

That's what got me into forging and try to make it bend to my will or I'm the organizer of the composition in the sculpture rather than the material.

Although I allow the material some room to give its truth, I guess.

We call it truth, the materials.

Sometimes I start with the same idea.

With this piece, I was curling the metal, doing twists to try to get an in and out movement.

The next pieces I'll do will be for some glass.

So I'll try to build a volume with these curves, 'cause I'm looking for shapes.

I'm looking for a dynamism.

I do use those curves to fill the piece out and it's pretty conscious.

I know what I want to get.

I'm looking for enclosing shapes and I don't want as much open space.

So I have a closed shape, maybe an open space or a movement, but it's always this positive negative play that's in the pieces.

I've explored the steel so I know what it does and I don't make it do what it can't.

I'm working with round shapes and I like that because it's like a pencil line.

One of the rules I do is I don't cross the pieces.

There's no crossing in this work at all because it would break the flow so it all flows and there's nothing to stop your eye.

People say it's beautiful, but for me it becomes the technical exercise.

The champleve's a benevolent technician.

And that's what I think about.

With the drawings and these sculptures, I make them because it keeps me alive.

It gives me hope and a way to look at the world and appreciate every day.

I keep making work because it gives me that feedback.

Like I've done something, that accomplished something.

Time goes by and I've made work that gives me a sense of accomplishment and something that I've done outside of whatever career there is.

This is more important to me.

I make work because I need to.

>> Woman: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can, is important to me.

Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Almost every single professor I've had I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty I was able to get involved with research.

It's one thing to read about an idea and a book, versus physically doing it and seeing the results.

>> Announcer: Support for programming at Lakeshore PBS comes in part from a generous bequest of the Estate of Marjorie A.

Mills whose remarkable contribution will help us keep viewers like you informed, inspired and entertained for years to come.

>> Announcer: "Eye on the Arts" is made possible in part by South Shore Arts, the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Additional support for Lakeshore PBS and "Eye on the Arts" is provided by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle bright music) (gentle bright music ends) (light music)