VOA – CONNECT

EPISODE 55
AIR DATE  02 01 2019

FULL TRANSCRIPT

 

 

OPEN  ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Art in the Courtroom

((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))

Flying in the Wild

((SOT))
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Bugs on Your Plate

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((Open Animation))

 

BLOCK A
((Banner:  The Arts))

 

((PKG))  SUSIE FRAZIER  
((Banner:  Beauty in the Broken))
((Reporter:  Maxim Moskalkov))

((Camera:  Sergii Dogotar))
((Map:  Cleveland, Ohio))   
((NATS))

((Susie Frazier, Artist))   
My name is Suzie Frazier and I am an artist who works with organic and industrial materials to create art that causes a sense of wellbeing.  So, I am using a lot of biomimetic patterns but I am also working with castoff materials that you wouldn’t necessarily see in nature to create repetition in the compositions.  So, tonight, I am working on a piece that’s made out of the vintage machinery schematics. And I have always had a fascination with old things and discarded things and over the years, I’ve salvaged them and turned them into something new as a metaphor to sort of help me to find the renewal within myself.  So, it started with a lot of stone that came off from rooftops, like slate roofing tile, and then it shifted.  And I am always thinking about the visuals that will calm the brain, what reduces anxiety and I do that through various patterning with the compositions.  So, a lot of times it’s biomimic in nature.  I go into nature.  I am such a creature of the forest.  I go out all the time.  I am wondering because I like to submerge myself in the energy of it but when I am there, I really look at the patterns all around me.  So, what I see here that most people don’t see. You know, it’s not just the view, the broad landscape.  Cleveland, kind of, you know, they built the city based on the Industrial Revolution and so a lot of industry was camped on the front beaches of the Lake Erie.  It’s only in the last 30 years, 20 years, 10 years for sure that they’ve opened up the beaches and made them more of the place that people can explore and enjoy.  So, we go down there all the time and we grab the driftwood and there are thousands of these literally they come tumbling on the shore right after winter because of just the huge waves.  I love to work with this reclaimed wood and I’ve been lucky enough to come into about three semi trucks full of this type of boards and normally they are about 12 feet long (4 meters) and they were screwed together, stacked like this.  When I came into this, I realized that it would be fun to engrave words into these.  So, you know, I’ve been doing this for about eight years, just the engraving part and what we found was that they become very powerful mantras for people.  And we like to keep the blemishes or the imperfections because, you know, for a long time, I’ve believed that if we can find the beauty in the things that are sort of broken, then it’s a lot easier to find the beauty in ourselves.  So, that’s a powerful message for a lot of people.

 

((PKG))  SUPER VISION  
((Banner:  Seeing More))
((Reporter/Camera:  Genia Dulot))

((Map:  San Diego, California))
((Banner:  Artist Concetta Antico has a rare vision condition called tetrachromacy.))
((NATS)) 

((CONCETTA ANTICO, ARTIST))
I love color, like, I wake up and I breathe and I eat color, you know.  Everything color speaks to me.  You know, like, I’m here and I’m looking in my garden and I’m seeing thousands of colors and it’s bright.  Some lady came to my studio where I teach and where my gallery was, and she said, “Wow, your painting’s a very unusual color.  They’re very wild, fantastic, you know.  They have, like, an alchemy that I can’t quite put my finger on it.”  And she was a doctor, research scientist.  And I said, I laughed, and I said, well, everybody says that.  And I said, maybe it’s my fourth receptor.  She sent over some bibliography about tetrachromacy, about fourth receptors.  I’m like, maybe I am, you know, I’m like the fourth receptor, super vision woman.  That’s what they call it.  Super Vision.
((NATS))
((KIMBERLY A. JAMESON, SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE))
Potential tetrachromacy is a condition that is made possible by possessing extra variance of genes that create the chrome classes that normal people have.  What might happen with a tetrachromat?  I show you three colors.  Let’s say I show you three oranges.  They look the same but they have different underlying physical measurements.  So, they can vary in their physical property but to you, the human trichromat, they look identical.  She, on the other hand, may say, “Oh no, this one is salmon and this one is apricot and this one is orange.”
((NATS))
((CONCETTA ANTICO, ARTIST))
My sister and I, one day we were walking by the river where she lives in Australia and there were some gum trees and we were laughing because we both can see the aqua and the lilac on the bark of the tree and we know that other people can’t see that.  They are just seeing brown and something.
((NATS))
((KIMBERLY A. JAMESON, SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-IRVINE))
The mothers of sons, who are color blind, are known to be carriers of potential tetrachromacy.  And when we know that males are two percent we can extrapolate, we can calculate it and say, about 15 percent of women in the Caucasian population are going to be candidates for potential tetrachromacy.  If you’re going to be someone who has the potential to be a tetrachromat, you have to first have this gene.  Having the gene is not sufficient to be one, but it’s a necessary condition.  So, in Concetta’s case, when you ask me why she’s special, one thing we believe is that because she’s been painting, sort of continuously since the age of seven years old, she has really enlisted this extra potential and used it.  This is how genetics works.   It gives you the potential to do things and if the environment demands that you do that thing, then the genes kick in.  It could have been a selective pressure to find riper fruit because of the fact that riper fruit has more sugar content and that presents an evolutionary advantage.  There’s also a theory by a guy named Shimojo that says, “Oh no, it’s because the early hominids and the apes needed to socially understand when their cohorts were angry.”  When the skin got flushed, they were like, “Oh, it’s to my advantage to back off.” 
((NATS))
((CONCETTA ANTICO, ARTIST))
Looking at skin of people, looking at skin of myself, looking at aged people, looking at people who are unwell, I can tell when the color of their skin changes and I can tell when they’re unwell or perhaps dying.  But I can also tell when my children are not well or they have fever because I can tell the color changes.  If people with regular vision, you know, just regular three receptors, they have the potential to see up to a million colors, but most people aren’t looking.  Like, even the people I’ve taught how to paint, after six months, one year, they’re like, “Oh, I look at the sky and I see more things.”  So, even regular vision people have the potential to see much more.

 


((PKG))  COURT SKETCH ARTIST  
((Banner:  Art in the Courtroom))
((Reporter:  Anna Nelson))

((Camera:  Max Avloshenko))
((Adapted by:  Philip Alexiou))
((Map:  New York, New York City))  
((BANNER: For 45 years, court artist Marilyn Church has been documenting history through her sketches.))  

((NATS))
((Marilyn Church, Court Sketch Artist)) 
I can remember seeing when I was a kid, seeing in a magazine, drawings that an artist did in court and thinking, I just can’t imagine doing anything that’s as important as that.
I’ve made these notations in court that then I can define more.

When I got out of school, I thought I would be a fine artist but I needed some way to earn money and so I started doing fashion illustration and I had been doing that for about three, four years when this happened. 

I wasn’t a television watcher.  I didn’t know about artists drawing in a courtroom, the idea of drawing from life happening at the same time in court.  

I love drawing in court.  You know, a lot of times I’m in court, court is over.  It can be over in four minutes and an arraignment in three minutes.  It can be a matter of seconds that you see the defendant walk in, turn and face the judge.  You know, your eyes have to be alert and glued every second. 
Oh, this is brown because white is a difficult color for the camera and also because the courtroom is brown and also because it’s a color and I can have more color.  I started it and a lot of artists copied me. 
This is [American author and criminal] Jack Henry Abbott.  [Novelist] Norman Mailer was instrumental in freeing him from prison because he was a writer and he thought he was a great literary genius who shouldn’t be in prison and the day he was out, he murdered somebody. 

This is one of the early cases I did.  [Serial killer] David Berkowitz, Son of Sam, and it’s a day he was hearing demons speaking to him and he came into the courtroom and he was handcuffed and suddenly he started screaming.  All the court officers rushed over to subdue him and the whole scene was over in about 10 seconds.

When I’m out of the courtroom, I’m still obsessed with these cases and I feel I have to paint them and paint them in a way without the restrictions of when I was in the court I had to be more objective and here I can just listen to my brain and react passionately about what affected me the most.  But these cases live with me all the time.
I go in on commission, you know, but not as much.  And sometimes my heart beats, like I hear [drug kingpin El] Chapo’s going to be in court and I think, Oh my gosh, it’s a big case.  Should I?  But then the painting takes over nowadays, yeah.  

It’s the last place that artists really record history and in the end, that’s what we have that preserves history, is all the art that’s made through all the ages.  You know, it’s the art that they look at to know what happened in ages before us.

 

 

TEASE  ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Working in the Wild
((SOT))
 

 

BREAK ONE                                                                          
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                             

 

BLOCK B 
((Banner:  On the Job))


((PKG))  ALASKA PILOT
((Banner:  Pilot))
((Reporter:  Natasha Mozgovaya))

((Camera:  Aleksandr Bergan, Simon Ridgeway))
((Adapted by:  Martin Secrest))
((Map:  Little Diomede, Alaska))
((Source:  SIMON RIDGEWAY))
((BANNER:  Alaska's Little Diomede Island lies less than four kilometers from Russian territory))
((BANNER:  80 Native Alaskans live in Diomede, the westernmost village of the US mainland))

((NATS))
((MIKE KUTYBA, HELICOPTER PILOT))
I guess I am a bush pilot.  Flying in places that are remote where you’re usually by yourself.  There’s no airplanes within a great deal of distance sometimes and the radio is the only way you can talk to people, and just going to unprepared places, you know, or just the remoteness.
((NATS))
((ROBERT SOOLOOK, PRESIDENT, DIOMEDE TRIBAL COUNCIL))
My name is Robert Soolook.  I’m 52.  I’m a hunter.  I’m a dancer.  I’m a singer.  And actually, you don’t even really need money in Diomede, you know, if you live traditionally. And everything is there, except sugar, coffee.  It’s liveable.  I enjoy it.  I grew up there traditionally.
((NATS))
((MIKE KUTYBA, HELICOPTER PILOT))
Because the entire world is developing and the villages can’t stay the way they use to sustain themselves back in the 1900s. So, they’re evolving as well.
((NATS))
((ROBERT SOOLOOK, PRESIDENT, DIOMEDE TRIBAL COUNCIL))
Water’s our ‘grocery store,’ you know, and the island itself is our ‘salad store.’  So, we get all the eggs, bird eggs.  Millions of birds dwelt there during the summer, and mainly our diet down there is walrus, but we do a lot of whale hunting, polar bears during the winter.
((NATS))
((MIKE KUTYBA, HELICOPTER PILOT))
To unload?  It only takes about five minutes, because when I get there and this helicopter is full of mail and food and cargo, it’s not just one, the village comes down. They all come down, they get it off as fast as they can, because they want me to leave and come back with more stuff.  So, generally, five minutes. I am there, unload the helicopter, get on what I’m taking, and I leave. I don’t even turn it off.
((NATS))

 

((PKG))   BARBER  
((Banner:  Barber))
((Reporter/Camera:  Gabrielle Weiss))

((Map:  Baltimore, Maryland))
((BANNER: The Maryland Center for Veterans Education and Training (MCVET) is a facility that provides housing and supportive  services to homeless veterans.))
((NATS))
((DERICK JOHNSON, Resident of MCVET))                                                                                                                          When I first got here, like anybody else, no money, just came off the street.  I had hair all over my face, didn’t look like the person I am underneath of it, didn’t feel like the person I am underneath of it.  So, when I got my first haircut, it was amazing how you see a different person underneath all that.

((NATS))
((KENNETH JORDAN, U.S. Airforce Veteran, Barber, Resident of MCVET))                                                                                                        You know it’s like a rebirth.  If you’re one of them ones that’s coming truly off the street, you know, and that hot shower, you know, the fresh haircut, good conversation.  When you leave out, you look better and you feel better than you did when you walked in the door.  I truly believe that.                                  

((NATS))
((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                                      In 1991 to 2003, I owned a barbershop that was actually located near a homeless shelter.  When I found out those clients couldn’t afford to come to my shop, I decided to start raising money for my customers to be able to pay my barbers to provide haircuts for those clients.  My customers loved it, so I decided to make it a full-blown organization.

((NATS))
((KENNETH JORDAN, U.S. Airforce Veteran, Barber, Resident of MCVET))                                                                                                                                                  How you been?

((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                    Great man, great.  I’m just coming down doing my normal check.  See if anything, look, look, this is what I always say, broke, stolen or empty.  That’s all I come check for.                                                                          
((MAN))                                                                                                    You want to know what’s broken?

((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                    What’s that?

((MAN))                                                                        

Your barber. Your barber.

((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                                            When we do an install, the clients become the in-house barbers and beauticians.  So, they begin to care for one another.

((KENNETH JORDAN, U.S. Airforce Veteran, Barber, Resident of MCVET))                                                                                                       This is home. This is called the 2nd platoon 1st squad.  We got these really nice beds.  I sleep better now, no backaches.  You know, it’s home for now.  I got into barbering through the air force.  I didn’t have the money to pay for a haircut, so I bought my own clippers and cut my own hair but I did my own hair so well that other people asked me to start doing theirs and it became a hobby that I never let go of.

((NATS))
((KENNETH JORDAN, U.S. Airforce Veteran, Barber, Resident of MCVET))                                                                                                          I’ve been here for about 5 months.  I was, I was living out of my car.  It was one of those nevers that became a reality.  I have some grief issues that keep coming back to haunt me.  This is where the barber shop comes into play because you find out that you’re not the only one whose lost a child and you find out other people are still dealing with those types of issues.  I don’t feel like I’m alone.  I’m getting the help that I need now, but the therapeutic value of this place right now, helps me a lot throughout the day.
((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                                            The role of a barber in a place like MCVET is probably more like a listening ear.
((NATS))
((DERICK JOHNSON, Resident of MCVET))                                                                         That’s my potion right there.
((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                                                            So how is my organization a piece of the recovery puzzle or the piece of the exiting homelessness recovery?  Well, it’s really simple. Looking good, having yourself arranged and put back together can mean the difference between employment and unemployment.
((MAN))                                                                        
The very first time this man cut my hair, my self-esteem came back.  I came back to myself.
((ROBERT CRADLE, Managing Director, Rob’s Barbershop Community Foundation))                                                                               &