- On this edition of "ARTEFFECTS," meet the 2026 Reno City Artist.

(ethereal music) - I'm almost creating an environment, a place to exist of my own making.

(ethereal music) - [Beth] Using clay to heal from addiction.

- [Danielle] It's just so beautiful to get to do something that I created and feel special and feel celebrated and embraced.

- [Beth] And a modern "retro" quartet!

(alternative music) - I love music.

But anything I can do to keep him playing music rest of his life is what we're set out to do.

That's what this whole, it's always been about.

- That's all coming up on this edition of "ARTEFFECTS."

(upbeat swing music) - [Announcer] Funding for "ARTEFFECTS" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors, Heidimarie Rochlin, in memory of Sue McDowell, The Carol Franc Buck Foundation, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members.

- Hello, I'm Beth MacMillan, and welcome to "ARTEFFECTS."

In our featured segment, we meet Joanna Drakos, the 2026 Reno City Artist.

Using acrylic, charcoal, and graphite, this abstract artist strives to make work that is imperfect and irresistible.

For Joanna, her sensitivity to the world is not a liability.

It's her superpower.

(ethereal music) - I'm almost creating an environment, a place to exist of my own making.

(ethereal music) My name is Joanna Drakos.

I am a painter, and I live in Reno, Nevada.

(ethereal music) You're just capturing energetic marks.

(brush scraping) (ethereal music) (low gentle music) Non-representational abstract art is artwork that expresses emotions through color, form, and shape, and not necessarily a recognizable image or feature.

There are no rules.

I have complete control.

I can make it up.

I love exploring the world.

I love exploring music, nature.

That exploration and curiosity of the world definitely does come into play in my work.

(low gentle music) (brush scraping) I had experienced a lot of life.

And I feel that the work I'm creating now could have never been created by the younger me.

Everything that you experience and you absorb into your being, it does somehow come out in the artwork.

I feel like that's me on the canvas.

(gentle music) You get into a call in response with what's happening in the painting.

And the painting tells you what it needs.

It's literally being developed as I paint.

The creation is happening right in front of me.

The paintings sometimes paint themselves.

(gentle music) (brush scraping) I don't like perfection.

I like to leave mistakes in.

That's the discernment is me knowing where that is and when to stop, and what to leave, and what to take out.

(soothing music) What you get with an original painting is you have surface and you have history.

(tool scraping) A painting is not created in one instant.

It's a record of time.

It's unique and it stands out from mass production.

And I love using color to convey emotion, to stir something in the soul.

(brush scraping) (soothing music) The process of titling my work is actually one of the funnest things for me.

I keep a notebook.

I'll be doing a mindless task, like taking a walk or cooking, washing dishes, whatever, and then suddenly phrases will come into my head.

And sometimes I can get a big download all at once and I have to quickly go write it down.

That's the creative magical spark.

(tool scraping) (soothing music) (brush scraping) And so when I started painting again, I felt like I had come home to what I was meant to be doing in this life.

(soothing music) (upbeat groovy music) - This year, they selected artist Joanna Drakos for the City Artist for 2026.

We're very excited to have her as our City Artist and sort of representing visual art in Reno in the Metro Gallery.

(upbeat groovy music) - It's extremely gratifying to be recognized after so many years and months of putting my artwork out and showing it to people.

And it makes me feel like it has made an impact.

(light bright music) It makes them stop for a moment and witness the artwork and ponder it and then question it.

It's not preaching anything to you.

It's not telling you a point of view.

(light bright music) I like to think that my favorite piece hasn't been created yet.

I want to create that masterpiece that is still out there.

And I'm pursuing that.

And every time I go to the canvas, it may happen.

- To learn more, head to joannadrakos.com.

Now it's time for this week's Art Quiz.

"In which year did the City of Reno Arts and Culture Commission create the City Artist position?"

Is the answer A, 2013, B, 2015, C, 2017, or D, 2019?

(light jazz music) And the answer is D, 2019.

(light jazz music) Creating art can have so many beautiful and lasting effects on the human experience.

Through a partnership between Wayne Center for the Arts and OneEighty in Wooster, Ohio, a group of women healing from addiction come together once a month to create and find comfort with one another.

- It actually could be life or death.

I know that with a lot of things it's been life or death.

And there's little things like this that keep me going, so I'm really grateful for it.

It's just so beautiful to get to do something that I created and feel special and feel celebrated and embraced.

- I just really wanted to do this for my kids.

I didn't want to let them down anymore.

Boundaries is a big thing.

How to regulate my emotions and coming out of my shell because showing my emotions is hard for me.

(light orchestral music) - You know, there are so many things that we go through in life that you can't necessarily process with words.

There's just a much easier way of conveying feelings through the arts than many of us can actually approach with words.

And by taking language out of the equation and allowing people to really express those emotions from a very raw place without necessarily defining something with words, I think, it really opens up a lot of doors for people.

- And I did this configuration but with these different petals.

- It's a drug and alcohol challenge.

And they're making steps to try to get that out of their life.

Obviously, life's hard.

And we learn to do things to help ourselves through it.

And some of those choices we make don't necessarily take us down a really good path.

And so the struggle is finding other things to try to replace that with more positive coping skills.

- But then I always think about, like, what's next?

You know, what's gonna keep you sober?

And so doing art, you know, for some of our clients, you know, they can get their hands into it.

They can express themselves.

It's that creativity.

- You can tell sometimes when our students come in that there's a heavy weight on them and they're in a struggling moment.

And then by the end, the joy and just discovering something about themselves that they didn't know.

I know, they look great, don't they?

I'm so excited.

- So I was just really struggling with myself.

I was making choices I was not proud of.

Also, I can honestly say that there weren't many things I was completing in my life or doing anything productive.

So at least this feels like, "Ah, look what I did."

You know, it's super exciting.

- Art in general for me is a stress relief.

I've always, always loved art.

I just like the therapy that it gives me.

Being able to express myself in a way that I understand and I don't really care if other people understand it.

It's for me, not for other people.

- [Beth] Just a little bit of slip and go around and soften those edges.

- The concept of grounding is just to try to get clients out of their head and into their body.

And so that clay aspect of just being able to, like, grab the clay, work with the clay, use the clay.

Clients have said they've really enjoyed just being able to do it, express themselves with that, and then put what they do, you know, on display.

- We do a lot of hand-building with slabs, but I also like to do some pinch pot things and some coil work.

So there's various types of hand-building skills that they work on.

And I don't necessarily see them more than once sometimes.

So each class is a brand new thing.

From, you know, start from scratch.

We start from the beginning.

And they get to do a different project each month.

If you're going to do two- - Before, I didn't have much to look forward to.

I was not in the best place with my insides, you know, like who I was and what I was doing.

And here I get to look forward to so many different things that make me excited and give me something to look forward to.

It's fulfilling, really.

- Probably the biggest aspect of when I work with them, I'm going through with them what my journey was.

Everything had to be perfect.

And it's taken a while for me to figure out that, no, that's not what this is about.

And this idea of perfection, maybe it's not realistic and helping people accept that.

(gentle music) (group conversing) - It's pretty integral to our mission to make sure that we are removing as many boundaries to participation as we possibly can.

Just because we see on a regular basis the value that the arts bring to the lives of the people who engage with them and how important the arts can be for our mental health and these wonderful, these wonderful breakthroughs that people are able to have while engaging a different part of their brain and letting themselves just really feel.

- We love it.

- And I don't know, sometimes, you know, I come out of this.

It's like the biggest thing I do, this impact.

- We get to do a lot of things together.

And by the time that it's time to leave, we've built a family, you know?

We get to be sisters and get to have fun and laugh with nobody judging us.

No one looking at us like we're weird.

And especially when you're stressed out, come in here and it's like you get to leave with a fresh breath of air.

- Yes, I am in recovery, but there are still days where it's hard.

And it gives you something to do, somewhere for your mind to go.

And I really like that.

And it's good to have that.

- [Beth] On the very center of the bowl.

- To learn more, visit wayneartscenter.org and one-eighty.org.

Lucky 757 is a modern retro quartet based in Virginia.

Let's head to the Goode Theatre in Norfolk to hear from members of the band as they record a live album.

(alternative music) - At 13, I got on stage for the first time.

Me and Dad played at a truck stop.

- I'm his eyeballs, I guess, in a way.

He has to get to where he goes, and I take him where he goes.

- Friday night, they're playing the ODU Goode Theatre.

Gonna be making a live album while you're there, right?

- That's right.

- I think we all feed off of a live audience.

You get a little bit of energy from people that you don't get when you're just in a studio by yourself.

- That's what makes this band work, is everybody knows each other's thoughts almost.

- It's what you do.

Everybody got to give.

You just got to bring it on out.

(alternative music) (alternative music) - The Lucky 757 band, we started five years ago doing some cover songs.

And then we said, "Well, we can write our own songs."

So we started doing that.

And that's how we started the whole deal.

- It's based on rockabilly, early '50s rockabilly Sun Record sound, but it has other influences too.

It's got honky-tonk, country, western swing, surf rock, blues.

- I write most of the lyrics and come up with some of the melody of the song to get it started.

And then it kind of goes, you know, just give it to them.

And they just take it, play their part, whatever they want.

- I've been playing since '78.

I just like to play anything I can get my hands on.

I just like making noise.

- I met these guys, I was working at a music store, actually.

And they used to come in and get strings and stuff like that.

They used to jam outside late after work and all that kind of stuff.

So when I first started hanging out with them, I was just going over, playing guitar, trying to pick up a lick or two, you know?

Yeah, just kept coming back, and they kept letting me come back, you know?

(alternative music) - To my left here is my son, Cory.

Been into music since he was a child.

I bought a mandolin and I gave it to him.

And on the way home from the music store, he was playing a Rod Stewart song, "Maggie May."

- "Maggie May."

- And he was playing it.

And I'm like, he's eight years old.

I'm like, "What am I gonna do now?"

So that was, that's when I knew we were destined to have me out in the parking lots getting sick trying to off stage fright.

But anyway, we got through and that's been going on ever since.

(alternative music) ♪ Trouble ♪ ♪ And misery ♪ - And it ain't just part of the look, you know?

It's 'cause I was born blind with a rare condition.

After a bunch of surgeries, I was able to get a very teeny tiny part, partial bit of sight in my right eye.

And my left eye was removed.

But you don't need to see to play good music.

♪ He said the way I was livin' was right ♪ ♪ No matter how wrong it seemed ♪ - He's been singing since he was a little kid.

I mean, he just has that, he didn't get it from me.

I sing, but, I mean, we have similar tone.

But he can just belt it out there.

He has been since a little boy.

He started singing.

And after a while I decided, well, I had to break out the guitar.

So I started playing the songs for him so he could sing.

But then he started learning all the words and I didn't know all the songs.

And so he would get upset with me, even as a little child.

He would point his finger in my face, tell me I was gonna keep doing it till I got straight.

- I do pay a lot of attention to detail.

I'm a bit nitpicky.

Like when I was eight years old after I'd had this eye removed, we went to see Herman's Hermits.

Peter Noone was the lead singer.

And he was up there singing a song, "Just a Little Bit Better."

The second verse says, "He'll take you to nightclubs in a shiny limousine," but he got the words wrong.

He said, "Fancy limousine."

I told Dad, I was like, "He's got it wrong.

That ain't right."

And he noticed that there's this kid out there causing some commotion and talking to his dad.

And he stops the show and he's like, "Did I do something wrong, mate?"

And he'd got the words wrong.

I told him what the words were.

And so the next song, he had me sing it with him so he'd get the words right.

For the last 20 years, ever since that concert, I've kept up with him, seen him on Facebook and online, and he's got the words right every time since then.

So he remembers.

♪ Trouble and misery ♪ (alternative music) At 13, I got on stage for the first time with Dad.

Me and him played at a truck stop.

We played a couple songs.

Dad was nervous as he could be.

I wasn't.

I've never had stage fright.

Just always felt comfortable performing.

After that, we had the bug, and it's been what we've been doing ever since.

So since I was 13, that's all we've ever done.

♪ Came to me last night ♪ ♪ And he came by the way of the dream ♪ ♪ He said the way I was livin' was right ♪ ♪ No matter how wrong it seemed ♪ - Him and I did acoustic thing called Radio 60s, and we would do music, odd songs from the '60s, Everly Brothers and all that.

And then it went from there to, "Let's do pure '50s rockabilly," and see, you know, where it started.

♪ Teach me how to die ♪ ♪ Teach me how to die ♪ ♪ Teach me how to die ♪ - [Cory] One, two, three, four.

(upbeat music) - It's kind of fun doing this part once it starts getting closer.

'Cause as you add the water, you're gonna start to see what it's really gonna look like once it's polished.

- I needed something that would be lighter for me.

I had both my wrists operated on.

So I wanted a guitar built for me with a neck and everything that would fit just like me.

And Sam's a luthier.

- A luthier is someone who works and builds stringed instruments, mostly guitars these days.

♪ Caught cheatin' by the dealer man ♪ ♪ Skimmin' money from his poker hand ♪ Cory's sound definitely comes from all vintage gear.

He doesn't use any of the modern effects pedals or anything like that.

And Cory's is gonna get some actual '60s Fender pickups.

So if he wanted the finished sound, he'll get it.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - All right, Lucky 757 live on "Out of the Box."

Gonna be playing on Friday night.

They're gonna be recording a live album at the Goode Theatre starting at 7:00.

- [MC] This is being recorded.

This is a live video and audio.

So get up and dance and make noise.

- Let's do it.

Y'all ready?

(audience cheering) Okay then.

(guitar music) ♪ Hey little baby, won't you run with me ♪ ♪ I said hey little baby, won't you run with me ♪ - We wanted to capture what Lucky does live, you know?

What we look like, what we're doing.

- I'm definitely a live player and they are too.

And that's where we feel most at home is in front of an audience.

And I think doing this is gonna show some people what we're really about.

♪ I said hey little baby, take a ride with me ♪ First of all, the guitar felt like I had owned it for 100 years.

It felt like a part of me.

And the sound was what I'd been chasing.

And this is it.

I just finally got it.

- Kind of knew it was gonna look cool.

I knew that.

It was gonna look cool.

The shape alone was gonna look good.

But you wouldn't know until you actually, he put, you know, you see it live.

And it's like wow!

So yeah, I'm thrilled with it.

- They turned out great, and I got them done with a couple weeks to spare so they could play them and check them out.

(upbeat music) - Me and Dad, we're extremely close.

We're best friends.

We can finish each other's sentences.

That's, I guess that's why we play so good together.

You've heard of family harmony.

And it's that way with the vocals and it's that way with the guitar playing.

And we try to compliment each other.

He knows how to enhance what I'm doing and accent it and me the same thing.

It's always been that way.

And we tried to find players that are the same way.

And Angel and Sam happen to do that.

♪ Hey little baby, won't you run with me ♪ ♪ There's a lot of things we can do ♪ ♪ There's a lot of places we can see ♪ ♪ If you run with me ♪ - He's the reason that keeps me driving.

That's, you know, I love music.

But anything I can do to keep him playing music rest of his life, that's what we're set out to do.

That's what this whole, it's always been about.

(audience cheering) (music flourishing) - Thank you, Norfolk!

- To learn more, visit lucky757.com.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "ARTEFFECTS."

If you want to watch new "ARTEFFECTS" segments early, make sure you subscribe to the PBS Reno YouTube channel.

And don't forget to keep visiting pbsreno.org to watch complete episodes of "ARTEFFECTS."

Until next week, I'm Beth MacMillan.

Thanks for watching!

- [Announcer] Funding for "ARTEFFECTS" is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors, Heidimarie Rochlin, in memory of Sue McDowell, The Carol Franc Buck Foundation, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members.

(upbeat swing music)