- In this edition of artifacts, ski lift chairs get a new life.

- If they can have something that represents that sport for them year round and at their house, I think it's something that was pretty powerful - Paper sculptures with movement.

- That's what this art does.

It engages the viewer, not only to look but to participate.

You know, it just keeps evolving.

And that's the beauty about this art.

- Port side concerts.

- I just recommend that people do something, you know, that they can share and maybe brighten somebody else's life.

We need it.

- And an interactive puppet installation.

- I think a work of art needs to be open ended, not everyone comes in knowing precisely the concept of the work.

- It's all ahead on this edition of aRTeffects.

(upbeat music) - Funding for aRTeffects is made possible by Sandy Raffealli, The June S. Wisham Estate, Carol Franc Buck, Merrill and Lebo Newman, Heidemarie Rochlin, Meg and Dillard Myers.

The annual contributions of PBS Reno members and by.

- Hello, and welcome to aRTeffects.

I'm Martinz Alot, filling in for Beth McMillan.

In our featured segment, we go to Truckee to see the work of three peak designs.

Let's learn how they reclaimed vintage ski lift chairs from ski resorts around the country and give these pieces of history a second life by customizing them into functional works of art.

(enchanting music) - Three peak designs is a company where we source and refurbish vintage ski lift chairs.

So we source chairs, most of them from the 1970s and kind of bring them back to life or people's homes.

(enchanting music) I think repurposing things in general is a nice way to reduce waste, but also give life to something that might seem like it's run its course.

And so I think it's just a unique way to kind of bring a product back to life and also use it in a different way.

(enchanting music) The ski chairs, as everybody knows, are connected to skiing.

And people in the Tahoe community and outside of the Tahoe community and other ski towns are obsessed with skiing.

And so if they can have something that represents that sport for them year round and at their house, I think it's something that is pretty powerful.

(enchanting music) We had seen some people doing this in Colorado, and my business partner Ben had thought maybe his woodwork would lend itself to a project like this.

I had just moved to the Tahoe area, wasn't working yet and he asked me if I had access to any ski chairs.

So I just started emailing around town, got a hold of a couple, turned out they looked pretty cool and we finished them up and so we turned it into a business.

(enchanting music) The business is mainly set up here in Truckee, Tahoe and we do a lot of the fabrication and installation here in Truckee, Tahoe.

But the woodwork is done in San Francisco where my business partner lives.

Ben does all of the woodwork, the new slats and the wood designs in his shop, and then we bring all of those up to Tahoe and I then install them here on location and then deliver them to the customer's house, which is mainly been in the Tahoe area, but has been as far as Bozeman, Montana.

(enchanting music) When we get these chairs, they are what we like to call "In their raw form" so they have definitely been weathered over three to four decades.

So all of the paint is chipped off.

There is a decent amount of rust on these, and there's a lot of work to be done if they want to be brought into the home as a statement piece.

So what we do is we strip it down to the raw metal and its original form, and then powder coating.

So what they're doing there is spraying a powder onto the chair and then baking it in a massive oven essentially to get that paint powder to stick.

And the powder coating, the color you see on the chairs is all done in Marina, at a powder coating shop.

(gentle music) Our ski chairs have lived on the mountain for over three decades, and they aren't really just an object, they have a lot of memories tied to them, they're kind of a unique place, you can meet new people, I have no doubt that people have met their husband or wife on a ski chair.

Just being outside, being refreshed by the outdoors is something that you can kind of associate with these ski chairs.

And it also brings some of that nostalgia for people that have been skiing their entire lives, introducing it to their families, I mean all of that is happening on a ski chair.

And after so many years, these chairs are now moving into their, we'll call it their retirement, so they're getting cleaned up, we're bringing them into people's homes for functional art, is kind of what we like to call it.

(gentle music) It's kind of amazing to watch these chairs end up on the front porches of people's homes, this sport is that important to people that they want to show that this is something they care about, and that this is a skier's home.

(enchanting music) I've been skiing and snowboarding since I was in eighth grade, so working on something like this and tying my passion with the small business that I'm running has been really, really great.

(gentle music) - To learn more about Three Peak Designs, visit threepeakdesigns.com.

In this next segment, artist Felix Semper makes unforgettable paper sculptures.

Rather than create something stationary or solid, Semper chooses to give his work movement.

Let's head to Florida to meet the artist.

- They can't believe that it just does this.

If you touch it, I mean it's solid.

And then all of a sudden it becomes something else that expands and moves, and it gives you that idea of flexibility, of movement.

And that's what I was trying to achieve when I made this, you know it's, and not just the top, it goes all the way up to the bottom.

Somehow I've been able to change the way that we perceive sculpture.

It entertains, it excites.

Hi, my name is Felix Semper and I am an artist.

My first paper sculpture I glued solid.

And I said, "How am I going to prove this paper?"

It took me about a year to kind of come up with a whole system.

And once that happened, I first sculptured, I took it to New York, and I went to Washington Square Park and just kind of mess around with people, I just wanted to get people's feedback and reaction.

It started going viral.

(paper sound) Most of my stuff is recycled paper.

And I try to do that as much as I can.

So what I do is I take sheets of paper, individual sheets of paper, glue them in stacks, and then I cut them to about the size that I think the sculpture is going to be, and then I start carving it.

So all this process is eliminating paper, it's kind of like the original technique of sculpting but in a different method.

I'm using paper versus stone or any other medium.

But the fun part about it is that I paint and give it the the original look.

So you really, a lot of times you can't really tell if it's a paper of what we're talking about.

I was invited to a dinner, you know, like a wine dinner.

And then I brought this bottle with me.

And you know everybody brought their own bottle and stuff.

So I, you know, I walked in like, they said, "Oh, you got a nice French bottle right there."

I said, (indistinct) let me, went (indistinct) they were freaking out.

And went crazy.

Things that are inspiring me or things that are around me.

I made a Lay's potato chip bags, and then Asap Rocky bought it.

And then you know all these celebrities started talking.

So it just kind of exploded that way.

So it involves painting and involves sculpture, and it involves performance art, because I take these pieces and I go into the public by opening and showing what it does.

So it becomes a performance art.

(paper sound) This is my new series.

This is actually, I finished this not long ago.

This is a flexible wood sculpture.

So I said I'm gonna make a wood that I can twist and turn, and it goes in any direction.

And then of course he has a hat that is flexible.

I went to a place where it had like old junk stuff and then this whole TV was just sitting around there.

When I saw the TV is from the 1950s, I said, "I wonder how many people watching, like, what was the most famous show back in the day, you know, the kids loved?"

So I was, you know, I did some research and it was, you know, Howdy Doody.

So I said, "I bet I can put Howdy Doody in there in black and white."

And I want to just kind of bring it, you kind of mix all kinds of mediums together.

So I develop a motor and put it inside.

And Howdy Doody comes up, remote control, and you know, he expands.

(paper sound) So that's what this art does.

It engages the viewer, not only to look but to participate.

You know, it just keeps evolving.

And that's the beauty about this art.

I think it expands your mind, because, you know, you're looking at an object that is solid and then all of a sudden this object does something else.

I can do anything I think with paper.

- To learn more, visit FelixSemper.com.

Now let's take a look at this week's art quiz.

The marble slab that eventually became Michelangelo's David, was originally intended as a statue of what famous character?

Here's the answer.

A, Solomon, B Cleopatra, C Hercules, or D Medusa?

Stay tuned for the answer.

With so many venues and performance spaces still closed, many local artists have found innovative ways to share their talents with their communities.

All from a safe distance of course.

In Columbus, Ohio, we found Tom McCain, sharing his favorite Irish folk songs from his porch.

(water flowing) - We live in this really incredible house on the edge of Overbrook Ravine.

And across the ravine is a city park.

Crisis came I think, like everybody wanted to, "What can I do."

♪ Some come to play.

I'd remembered the Italians out singing, you know, and New York City there were people out singing and I said, "Why don't I do I got a porch?"

♪ To sing.

It's fired up for anything they throw to hit me.

I'll just see, you know, what happens.

And that was middle march.

And I pretty much played every day.

♪ There's a meeting here tonight ♪ ♪ Pray God I'm glad you came along ♪ ♪ Hope all your brothers and your sisters are here ♪ ♪ And help me sing a song.

And playing an auto harp.

I was totally self taught.

It is probably the easiest instrument to play immediately.

Because the chords, you just push a button and you get A or a C. (indistinct) ♪ There's a meeting here tonight.

♪ (audience applauding) Hi guys, Meeting here tonight, I'm Tom on the porch.

You make your list when you retire the things you want to do.

And one of them was I really wanted to get to play the thing well, and so I went and found Brian Bowers, who's the world's greatest auto harpist, and he invited me to come out and stayed with him for a week and it really changed.

Oh, I was playing the thing wrong.

(indistinct) ♪ Good morning, America.

(indistinct) (auto harp music) ♪ The pipes are calling from Glenn to Glenn.

♪ Got to Ireland and started reading about its history.

And as an Irish American, we used to sing, "Who threw the overalls" and "This is Murphy's Chowder" and those kinds of things.

But the more you learn about the history of the place and realize what poets and songwriters, they have been in that country forever, you really get attracted to it.

And Ireland was occupied for 800 years by some other invader, essentially.

And they've only been a country since 1931.

Lots of troubles, lots of war songs, lots of immigration songs out of the famine.

So I started learning a lot of the repertoire, and fell in love with both the sad songs, as well as songs about the trauma of becoming a country and of becoming a rural agrarian place into being, you know, one of the really successful countries in the European Union now.

(auto harp music) One of the songs I really love in the Irish repertoire is called "Come by the hills."

We have a friend Harry long, he took me to one of these passage tombs in the North of Ireland.

There are 400 of these, they're sort of like Stonehenge is a passage to them, you know, it has the lighting up the interior and all of that stuff in the astronomers.

Well, Ireland has tons of these, mostly across the middle northern part of the country.

Our friend took us to this passage tomb, and he went to the farmers house, and he got the key, and we went and climbed up a little hill and got into this ancient place that was like a temple.

We don't quite know how old the one I was in was, but it could have been 4000 years old.

Because they were made before the pyramids of Egypt.

The sound was perfect.

And I'd heard him sing this song, "Come by the hills" to his daughter the night before and I said, "Let's play it."

So he starts playing it and I started playing along and I learned the song there after about an hour, hour and a half.

It also has just the best line about Ireland.

The cares of tomorrow must wait till this day is done.

Isn't that nice?

♪ And the cares of tomorrow must wait ♪ ♪ till this day is done.

Isn't that a nice sentiment?

You just feel being in Ireland there.

(dog barks) ♪ Once upon a time, there was a tab ♪ ♪ where we used to raise a glass or two ♪ ♪ Remember how we loved the wavy hours ♪ ♪ And dreamt of all those things we would do.

♪ Just when I think I'm lonely, you know, I'm there all by myself, somebody comes by and waves and keeps on going.

Or a family comes and starts to play in the crib.

Or horn start honking.

I remember one time a car went by and it had a sunroof, and four hands came up and you know, waved at that.

♪ Yes those were the days.

We all have this difficult time now where we're all I think becoming to realize at least I have and most of my friends, that it will never be the same again.

We can't go back any place because back is gone.

So I've been opening up and being a different person during this process.

And I've seen the people who come, the regulars who are changing and have a little lighter load.

And I just recommend that people do something, you know, that they can share and maybe brighten somebody else's life.

We need it.

(indistinct) ♪ Yes those were the days.

That's all folks.

(audience applauding) Thanks for coming.

See you tomorrow.

(audience applauding) - Now let's review this week's art quiz.

The marble slab that eventually became Michelangelo's David, was originally intended as a statue of what famous character?

Here's the answer.

A. Solomon, B. Cleopatra, C. Hercules, or D. Medusa?

And the answer is C Hercules.

Up next, we take a trip to the Pompano Beach Cultural Center in Florida to experience an interactive puppet installation.

Artists Aurora Molina and Julian Pardo collaborated on this special project that reflects on the elderly in our society.

(enchanting music) - Basically, when I saw like the high ceilings, I was like, "What can I do here?"

Like what if I do like a box of puppets?

It's pretty much like a puppeteer show.

My name is Julian Pardo, I'm a guest curator here at Pompano Beach cultural center.

And I'm Aurora Molina, I'm an artist from Miami.

Julian called me and he said, "There's a space."

And you know, I'm very open to always collaborate.

He's a dear friend of mine.

So we said, "Okay, let's, tell me about the space."

We consider that we wanted to do an interactive installation.

(enchanting music) My grandma was seamstress, so my craft, all of that attachment to the thread also brought in part of the, you know, the making of the work.

So I think it comes from a personal exploration to dealing with my grandparents.

I started to do a photography series, sort of like capturing their daily routine, and then I left to Spain to do my masters.

And I sort of like started to pay attention since I was away.

And they were 90, 92.

And I think I was getting ready to sort of let go.

My family had been very conscious about taking care of them, so they were with us at home, and, you know, very involved.

And when I left, I think I had that longing, you know, like they were left behind.

And I remember just, you know, looking around and having these moments where I was realizing how detached we were.

Then I was traveling to other places, and I kept paying attention to the elder.

- I connect with her as well, I lived with my grandpa for like 10 years in my house.

So all that, like, connections, makes everything like, "Okay, let's do something that we can show the people to look up for the elders" (enchanting music) Idea was like to create this pulley system to where they can move each one of the hands or like a group of hands.

So it's more collaborative, it's more like connecting the family, the connecting elders with your Dad or your mom just looking at you, or just stay with you in each one of them.

- And also the fact that you make them come alive.

Like we have this idea, there's two components to a puppet.

There is a puppeteer and the puppet.

The puppet does not come to life on this, a puppeteer plays a role into it.

So it was part of like creating that connection.

In general, the idea of the whole show, the whole concept, wanted to create that interactive approach and bringing them to live.

And second, it's to keep the conversation going, conceptually, it's like instead of looking at them, you have to look up to them.

Because that was a purpose of making them eight feet tall.

So you literally are looking up to them.

- I started to study like, what kind of population is around this center?

Most likely is Asian people, Latin America, and like they speak like different languages.

So one of my ideas was to reach more to those communities.

I translated to like Spanish, English and Creole.

So that's why we have like the text on those three languages.

- But I think the text and the simplicity of the graphics and the simplicity of of the walls, like at the eye level, also makes you like, look up and pay more attention and just wonder.

I mean, it's also the softness of the fabric, that tenderness of something that will have a relationship to, we all are covered with fabric.

So those ones are important.

I think a work of art needs to be open ended.

Not everyone comes in knowing precisely the concept of the work and understanding there's an narrative behind it.

(indistinct) being a pretty picture.

All these ideas should spike your curiosity.

(enchanting music) - Find out more about the artists by visiting Auroramolina.com and JulianPardoartist.com.

And that wraps it up for this edition of artifacts.

For more arts and culture and to watch past episodes, visit PBSreno.org/artifacts.

Thanks for watching.

- [Presenter] Funding for artifacts is made possible by Sandy Raffealli, The June S. Wisham Estate, Carol Franc Buck, Merrill and Lebo Newman, Heidemarie Rocklin, Meg and Dillard Myers.

The annual contributions of PBS Reno Members end by.

(enchanting music)