Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Minnesota Original
is made possible by
Heritage Fund,
and the citizens of Minnesota.
(male narrator) On this edition
of Minnesota Original:
Printmaking in Minneapolis,
master printer Cole Rogers
and artist Todd Norsten
are working on a piece
that fools the eye,
with a technique that
gets ink to look like tape.
Percussionist Martin Dosh
makes his music by experimenting
to sample and loop his tracks.
group of student actors
from St. Paul Central High
School writes, directs,
and performs in their own play.
They are tackling tough
issues through the arts.
next on Minnesota Original.
(electronic music plays)
This process is lithography.
Most everybody's
heard of lithography.
But this is the original form.
My name is Cole Rogers.
and artistic director
and one of the 2 founders
for Printmaking.
(mandolin & piano play softly)
I'm Carla McGrath,
executive director
at Highpoint
Center for Printmaking.
I'm a cofounder as well.
of traditional printmaking.
One is relief printing,
which would come printing
off of a carved wood block
or any raised surfaces.
is called intaglio,
know this as etching.
There's also lithography,
another process,
and screen printing, which
perhaps if you know
about prints at all, you've
heard about screen prints.
a really good reputation
takes on important works,
large works, complicated works,
and in multiple media.
We're very happy to say that the
Minneapolis Institute of Art,
the Walker,
the Museum of Modern Art,
the Whitney--
museums across the country
in their permanent collections.
It's really a lot of fun
to show people the work
that we make here.
we work with is Carolyn Swiszcz.
So this is a combination
of screen printing, and also
the sidewalk texture.
So often with the huge
umbrella printmaking,
the different techniques
some very interesting work.
This is some tape on Mylar,
and it's sort of the mock-up for
what the print was to become.
and I make paintings
and drawings and prints.
There's several layers on this.
this all at once.
a few different times
so that you can get this
overlap kind of stuff in here,
the dimensionality to it.
And that's all Cole's magic.
of painting it was,
making hard edge abstractions.
a brush, or a paint.
For making a straight line, tape
is a pretty good way to do it.
So it's kind of like
a picture of a paint material.
This was a really fun print
for me to show to other people,
both when we were in
New York and Baltimore
at the print fairs.
People would come by
and look at this,
that's not tape.
And people would
look at me and say
well, no, it is tape.
The first tape painting
that is this color
doesn't have this overlap in it,
and that's really part of
what makes that look more,
more like tape.
its own kind of shape.
this shape right here,
this triangle shape,
shape within the overlap
that each one of those is
a little bit different too.
Each of these pieces need
to be printed separately,
so that we get the overlaps,
but they need to be
printed quite a few times.
at least 7 times as a base
to build up the ink layer.
It's really important
in the best collaborations
that it's fairly seamless.
It doesn't matter
whose idea it is,
together to make something
that is surprising, exciting,
and the best, the best
thing that we can do.
Well, and it's important
that we're making
something that's an original
of something else.
So this is the early stage,
what the exact piece looks like
until we actually
start proofing it.
something that is a reproduction
it's a unique piece of art.
So when Cole lays all these
separate Mylars on there.
it adds up to what the other
one looked like underneath it.
Right.
onto itself like drawing is,
or like painting is,
entirely on its own.
Okay, so we're getting
ready to coat the screen
with the photographic emulsion.
(high-pitched squeal)
You only get one
chance with that,
and then you get to
clean the screen out
if it didn't work correctly.
Now that our screen is dry,
it's ready to be exposed.
So we take Todd's drawing,
place it on this exposure unit,
but light-sensitive screen
and put it on top
of the drawing.
Now once again, the areas
that are open on the drawing
will not block the light.
So the light is going
to harden this emulsion.
The areas that the light
is blocked in
will stay soft and wash out.
(click!)
(electric motor starts)
This is the very final layer.
It's probably the 30th time
that it's been printed on.
And this is a very subtle,
just kind of satiny gloss that
to make it look like
that satin that you see
on a piece of tape.
Okay, Molly.
very carefully using charcoal,
producing these drawings for us,
which in fact,
this is the drawing
that he made from this,
it in a very, very light gray
little bit more smudgelike.
too apparent to his eye.
All of these should
be essentially alike,
and hopefully we've got
at least 10 good impressions,
and if we're short,
of those can be cleaned up.
But also, Cole's standard
for what is good and acceptable
is very different than mine
because my standard is like
than close enough.
exact and precise,
and I don't have to
have it like that.
that can't be made in drawing,
and it can't be
made in painting.
I'm very, very glad
to be at this point.
It's been a fun project.
(Todd)
me out of his hair--
what's left of his hair!
(laughs)
and I do the lazy work.
It's a great team.
work out like that.
Pretty much though my job is
to work with people like Todd
and make the best work possible
and be the guy that
has to stand behind the work
that I personally can produce.
(electronic music plays)
I picked up drums when I was 15.
I knew instantaneously
that that's what I wanted,
a drum set up close,
like what it
sounded like in a room,
and I was just like oh my gosh!
on tour with me,
and I set up on stage,
and then I,
sort of like using Lego's,
I use the building blocks
to create songs.
of drums, and then do this.
I was like,
I can write my own songs!
This is totally incredible!
Almost every band that I see has
someone doing some kind of loop,
over something,
prevalent in music.
A lot of time, if you're
not really tuned into
really know that it's happening.
But it's happening
in a lot of bands.
There's a lot of looping
happening out there.
Dosh is a magician of sorts.
He's a multiinstrumentalist.
different looping techniques
a drummer and as a sampler
to create this really
multifaceted sound that's
unlike pretty much anything else
that's being made locally.
The song Simple Exercises,
for example,
that I'm going to play is like
boom...bop, boom-ba,
or whatever,
or what I react to on that,
or like, maybe I'll play
one note a little bit late,
or like, do a grace
note or something,
and that'll send me
in another direction.
So that's what
keeps it exciting
a little bit different.
So this tune starts out
with me making a beat on here
that is recorded into this,
a 2-second delay, right?
so it goes like this.
and 4 high-pitched taps)
into the pedal down here.
I turn the pedal back on here.
under the electric piano)
That's the first layer.
Second layer.
the drums on top of it.
See, now the whole
thing is kind of going,
and I turn off the pedal and
play just the melody by itself,
or the theme, and then I'm gonna
kick on the distortion
and play the melody distorted.
Like that.
The Headrush Looping Pedal
allows you to erase everything
so that's the whole shtick
is just build it up, break
it down, but it keeps going
in here is still in that pedal.
Now the drums are in there.
I just bring the melody in
one last time.
Dosh is unique because his ties
to the music scene run so deep,
national scene as well.
with his backing band,
a chart of all the people
that are in his band
and the bands they are in,
It would cover a web that ran
all across the Twin Cities.
Growing up, I was
really into classic rock.
up was like Mitch Mitchell
and John Bonham.
I saw Happy Apple play a show.
Casino Royale, and Atmosphere.
it was like these 3 bands,
local bands, and I was like
this is local music?
drums; I met Mike Lewis.
Then I hooked up with Dave
shortly after that.
in a way to have
the music just speak for itself
what is inside of me.
I'm not ever setting out
to do anything.
I'm just setting out to make
something that I
haven't heard before, or make up
something that I like.
criteria that I think it's great
it's like this is pretty cool,
some point.
a deadline.
You could always do more.
certain point, just let go.
I think the joy in something
as complex as Dosh's music
is just the joy of understanding
more than one listen.
You get to unpeel
all these layers,
all the work
one moment of one song,
and that's really more rewarding
than a throwaway pop song that
you can groove to on the first
time through. (chuckles)
Exercises.
White girl.
college for you.
Is it wrong to be
black and intelligent?
help with my homework?
The system is merely
about memorization.
knowledge acting white?
But you don't understand.
But you don't understand.
for those who believe.
Where are we? We're in The Black
Box at Central High School.
Why is the creative process,
important to you?
Talk to your partner.
connection with other people.
When you come out of The Black
Box-- it's what we're saying.
(woman)
is that young people
in our community.
and theater methods,
create a safe space.
Then inside that safe space,
what's important to them,
it becomes a vehicle,
the arts becomes a vehicle for
their voice to be in the world.
out of stuff that we write
through, then we perform it.
The message comes from them,
to impact their environment,
and I think that's what
the artistic process is about.
acting white? (all) Yeah.
(Jan)
over 10,000 people
throughout the Twin Cities
and the state of Minnesota,
and they don't
only do their play,
they sit on the stage
about hard issues, about race...
You call this acting white.
...about critiquing
the education system.
powerful weapon you could use
to change this world.
They then become again good
citizens and good participants
some of the solutions
to the problems
that we all complain about.
'Cause my blond hair, blue eyes,
and pale skin has learned
into society as white girl.
But it's enough!
White girl.
She said enough!
Her name is...
Like the term white girl
has such a connotation that
mean a color anymore.
It's more of a way that you act.
I get called a white girl
people is people who exceed
and people who do good
things like I'm doing.
People call me
white girl too. You?
Oh... yeah.
I was in CTT for 2 years.
specifically for that program.
an actress or to write a poem.
find what you believe in
and to put yourself into it.
(girls)
Study girl. White girl!
Lame. You wannabe!
Having somebody believe in you
when you think
nobody's listening
listen is really powerful,
and that's the reason it works.
go into it thinking
going to be an actress,
you come out of it with.
confidence and that ability
other people what you think.
(all)
Call me by my name.
The very beginning
of building an ensemble
with one another.
This year is when I found
out I'm good at writing,
and there's a lot of stuff I
never talk about with people,
I just keep it in,
where I can just write it
my fellow CTT members,
was very close to me to them,
and to know that they were there
for me at that time was amazing.
Developing your artistry is
an important part of education.
When I was in elementary school
I was put into special education
because I had
learning disabilities,
Jan, you seem pretty bright
trouble remembering things,
and they suggested the arts
as a way for me to learn.
remembered in rhyme,
and if I felt
what I was learning,
and I started getting A's
that's how I learn.
And so my learning style
artistic learning style,
I keep this program going,
to our world when those kids,
lost because the school system
a variety of learning styles.
or anything,
but what I'm saying and what the
court thinks you guys should do
is be friends.
be friends.
You have a statement,
you impact the environment,
and that's where power comes.
You feel your power,
this program is about,
empowering urban kids to
be able to see a better future.
When we tour different schools,
we're going there for a reason.
to just show our play.
to change their lives,
to make them think about things,
to make them change their selves
and want to be better.
(women) We are the image
for those who believe.
(Gary) One of the things
that keeps me painting
the special effects of life.
It's the feeling of the
place that's important to me.
(orchestra plays)
Philharmonic Orchestra
is a community orchestra.
It's a collection of musicians,
some professional, some amateur,
some semiprofessional.
is that we were America's
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender.
really unique, obviously,
because it was founded
as a GLBT orchestra,
but their mission
and the music that they perform
is really unlike
what most other orchestras do.
We have a focus on performing
music
by underrepresented composers,
GLBT composers,
of minorities,
and then finding pieces
of famous composers
played as often.
I'm really, really
excited about this concert.
The Mozart is so
much fun for us to play
that I think it will be good,
really have fun with it,
to see that we're having fun.
communication, obviously.
And our concerts are
hardly stuffy events.
to enjoy performing
the orchestra performing.
Shhh. Good. So even
at 97 you can
change character here too;
it's not just accompaniment.
Learning a piece of music
for an instrumentalist,
it's a long process.
the rhythms, then you have to
make sure that it sounds good
on your instrument.
Then you have to take that and
make sure it sounds good
with the other instruments.
several weeks for us
knitting things together.
So when things start
to come together,
it gets pretty exciting, and
everyone in the room knows it.
things are getting better.
better, and everyone gets
builds confidence,
progressing faster then.
accomplishment, I think, because
when the rehearsal season
starts, when we first start
pretty rocky.
concert, it just starts to gel.
Now like this week,
we've got the concert.
the concert, it really gels.
Then we get
to the performance,
it just goes one level above
the adrenaline going.
But there's just such a feeling
of accomplishment with that.
For me, it's a real
impassioned time.
I feel like I'm able to
do something collectively
that I can't do alone,
what community is about.
We don't survive
playing music by ourselves,
singing by ourselves,
talking by ourselves,
for very long without
needing our collective voice.
(Sarah) This energizes me
and relaxes me, really.
If I have a stressful day at
work, I'm really glad
to get out of that so I can come
and do the thing I love,
because this is what
I'm passionate about.
life a whole lot better.
a priority in my life
in these past 17, 18 years.
going through a hard time,
I felt the complete healing of
friends playing music together
was going to bring me back,
and I think that's how music is.
or if you have a good day,
orchestra and just think,
all right,
we're gonna play some music!
Music can really bond people,
support in this orchestra
because we don't have bias.
We want to just be
supporting each other in our
music and representing that,
at the end of my life,
I will always have felt it
a privilege to have played
so many incredible
pieces of music
and works with this orchestra.
(applause)
to Minnesota Original...
(electronic music plays)
CC--Armour Captioning & TPT
is made possible by
and Cultural Heritage Fund,
and the citizens of Minnesota.
(orchestral fanfare)