- In this edition of Arteffects, aesthetic dressmaking.

- [Sarah] When I do photograph these I try and create a whole world, like a whole concept.

- [Beth] A creative glass studio.

- [Joshua] We have an army of tens of thousands of people who have never done glass blowing before give it a shot.

- [Beth] Exploring the many layers of sound.

- [Marcelo] We start with one idea, but we never really know how it will sound until we finish it.

- [Beth] And photo realistic paintings.

- [Stephane] It's just a conversation with your soul.

You are with yourself and you want to have a message in that painting.

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

(jazzy music) - [Announcer] 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, I'm Beth MacMillan and welcome to Arteffects.

If you are a fan of scrolling through Instagram or TikTok you have probably come across the art of Sarah Hambly.

This Reno based artist and social media influencer creates stunning dresses that match pop culture and trending aesthetics.

Let's learn how Hambly uses online posts to share her art with the world.

(wistful music) - Hi, my name is Sarah Hambly and I am a social media content creator slash internet influencer.

So a social media influencer is basically like a marketing team slash personality online.

So I do everything from getting a brand deal to setting up all the products to taking all the pictures and then pushing it onto an audience that would enjoy it.

So my art form that I create in, is I sew.

On the internet, I teach DIY tutorials.

I make things from really beautiful fabrics and I make things from bedsheets or bags.

I got into sewing in a really kind of roundabout weird way.

(machine whirs) I have my degree in photography.

I was working as a photo editor in Los Angeles and my dad passed away really suddenly.

It was suggested to channel my grief into something totally new.

You know, so I didn't just go to work, come home, cry type of situation.

So I picked up sewing through that.

(sewing machine whirs) The conception of the project starts with usually finding inspiration either in my mind or from like a television show or from movies.

And then it goes down on paper.

Sometimes the idea is so clear that I don't need to put it on paper.

And then comes a process of like do I already have a pattern that I've made that I can modify to make this dress?

Or do I have to start from scratch?

Most dresses that I create can be anywhere from a few hours to many months.

So this one behind me, this was three or four days to do.

Mostly because I had to really accommodate the bead work on there.

So it really depends on like the complexity level of what I'm doing.

My social media journey is kind of your typical like overnight type situation.

I want to say October 2019 is when I like really started to focus on posting the dresses I made.

Because before then I wouldn't share them.

A friend of mine got me into TikTok, filming the process and everything.

And it just kinda snowballed from there.

Around March 2021 the pandemic started.

I had a lot of free time as most people did.

And so I decided to try and remake Ariana Grande's Grammy dress that she wore that year.

I thought that'd be really fun to like attempt to remake.

So I did part one and I ended up with 35 million views pretty much overnight.

And went from like a hundred thousand followers to one and a half million.

The impact of social media these days is huge.

I didn't realize that it's its own industry.

I used to sew for other people.

I used to do commissions and wedding dresses.

And I did miss Nevada Rodeo.

When I started posting on social media and gained a following, I gained a new career.

This dress here was inspired by what's called royalty core which is an aesthetic online.

I was really inspired by like the whole concept of like flowing gowns and running through castles.

And those kinds of, you know imagery that you get in your mind.

When I do photograph these I try and create a whole world, like a whole concept.

So it's not just the dress.

It's like props, it's the backdrop.

I will do like photo shoots around Reno and I'll go to like parks or I'll go and like hike a trail.

And I did one that down in Davis Creek Campground area where I had like a girl on a horse in the dresses and people just loved it.

I think we live in a really beautiful unique ecosystem here.

Having the ability to share both the desert and the mountains within relative posts online.

So like I could go and do something in the desert and then post something in the mountains.

And I've only driven an hour, that's fantastic.

There's like no part of the day where I don't feel like the world that I'm in is inspiring.

- Find more of Sarah's creations on her Instagram and TikTok at "OfficialHambly".

Founded in 2002, Zen Glass Studio and Gallery provides a space for members of the art community to learn all about glass blowing.

From workshops to classes, this flamework glass studio gives people the opportunity to do something new and exciting.

We head to St. Petersburg, Florida for the story.

(relaxed music) - My name is Joshua Poll.

I'm a glass blower and a business owner.

I moved to St. Pete in 2002.

I took a glassblowing workshop from world renowned flame worker, his name's Robert Mickelsen.

And I met Dave at that workshop.

Dave was his studio assistant.

- My name is David Walker.

I'm a co-owner and artist here at Zen Glass Studios, and I've been blowing glass for a little over twenty years.

I found glassblowing just as a job to put myself through college.

I was going to school for marine science over on the East coast.

I started working as a job kind of right off the bat and within a very short period of time was producing professional work.

Josh and I had actually met back when I was apprenticing with Robert Mickelsen, we used to do workshops and it was a very small glassblowing community back then.

And we were one of the few places that you could go to learn.

- And so it just felt like he was part of what I was interested in.

He was working out of his garage and I was working out of my garage.

We're like, let's look for a space to melt.

You know, let's find a place where we can be creative.

There wasn't much of a business thing that we planned for.

We just were looking for a space to do our artwork.

- I met Dave and Josh when I came here for the first time.

I thought that it was a really cool thing.

I'd always wanted to try blowing glass.

I did the beginners course, and then I bought all the tools and materials to set up a studio at home in my garage.

And eventually I quit my day job so that I could come work here.

So process of making a piece, first, you have to pick out the color that you want to use.

And as far as colors, there are so many options.

Once I have my color selected, then I turn on my torch.

Generally, you want to get the torch adjusted to a very neutral flame.

And then I get the glass in the flame and I start to heat it up and I melt the glass until it forms a little ball.

It'll start to gather up on its own as it heats up.

To make a heart pendant, I would smush my little ball, flatten it out, and then I use my knife to carve a little indentation into it.

I go and heat each side of the heart pendant, let the side get nice and hot and kind of drift that way I get a nice rounded bubbly heart, and then I hang the piece upside down, get it hot, and let it drip.

And that's how it makes the cute little point.

- Josh and Dave have brought in a whole other segment to the community that I don't think would really be reached any other way.

They are hitting a younger demographic, which is very, very necessary in the arts.

Because if people aren't growing up with the arts, they won't appreciate it later on.

They bring a vitality, they bring a, a newness to the art world here, and they're very energetic.

They're always doing some kind of programing and bringing in some great artists from all over the United States.

- Their impact is strong in our community.

They generally are always available for a lot of things.

They're both very personable, they're leaders.

I see them in, in certain events at times, and they're very hardworking gentlemen.

They have a very successful business that started not as strong.

And now it's just one of the best in the area for sure.

- I came to St. Petersburg and found an already vibrant, nurturing art community.

Even back before the really revitalization of downtown had even really started, there was still a lot of artists here.

Back then it was a fun, easy place to live and work.

And so the creative spirit was here.

So that obviously impacted us.

You know, it makes other artists want to be here.

It's a fun place to create and bounce ideas.

So, you know, we moved here and quickly were kind of assimilated into this arts community and have been active participants ever since.

You know, we've been trying to build it and do it through building our business and making our connections and just trying to build this art scene.

You know, it's all a cumulative effort.

- We have an army of tens of thousands of people who have never done glassblowing before give it a shot.

And are spreading the gospel of Zen Glass from coast to coast, even overseas.

It's momentum.

It's, you know, it's really, it's on its own.

You know, once Dave and I had got this thing started it definitely has a lot of momentum of its own.

I feel that there's so much opportunity in what we do here, which is offering experiences that people will never forget.

- For more information, go to Zen Glass.com.

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

What does the term "haute couture" mean in fashion?

Is the answer A, "A completed outfit with accessories", B, "Ornate fabric with elaborate designs", C, "A type of sewing stitch", or D, "Hand-constructed custom clothing"?

Stay tuned for the answer.

Stereotank is a design studio focused on the relationship between sound, art, and architecture.

We take a trip to Florida to meet the studios co-founders and see some of their experimental projects.

- It's a sound installation that creates music or rhythms with water.

(electronic music) - My name is Sarah Valente.

- And my name is Marcelo Ertorteguy.

- And we are Stereotank.

Stereotank was born in 2009.

- Our goal was to use space as an instrument.

So sort of like you can inhabit the musical instrument.

Of course that evolved into many other iterations.

- We've been trained as architects.

- We moved to New York and then while we were working in architectural offices we on our side, we started to do our projects in the city, public art, temporary installations and so on.

And that was also like a perfect territory to experiment with this idea, of combining public arts and sound or architecture and sound into immersive installations.

- We found several opportunities, grants, and awards to be able to propose quick installations that could be done in the city.

Just to targeting some areas that were underdeveloped or underused that needed activation.

(people drumming) - We tried to experiment with sound always sort of in a very primitive way.

The first sound installation we did was actually called "Stereotank" and that's where our name came from.

We took this huge plastic water tanks side by side and then connecting with them.

- [Sarah] So the actual string that was creating the sound was also part of the structure of the installation because it was keeping it together.

- [Marcelo] Keeping it together.

- [Sarah] So we liked that idea of kind of joining architecture and sound even through structure of a project.

So we were invited to propose a project for Times Square.

We won luckily, this competition.

And we had to design a heart shaped installation.

That was the premise of the proposal.

- It had to be related to love.

And we never saw ourselves doing anything like that.

So we took it really sort of our way.

And looking at the heart more from an acoustical point of view.

The heart had some drums embedded so people could stop and play.

There were actually like six different, acoustical percussion instruments.

- Very low frequency sound, beating with a light.

All of these was pulsating while the heart was not being played by people.

We had to figure something out that was sturdy enough.

And we went back again to the plastic tanks.

Thinking about the afterlife of a project, we designed the HeartBeat project for being able to be transformed after it's used in Times Square as another project that is called HeartSeat.

(Marcelo drumming) We're going to show a sample of the Cargo Guitar.

The Cargo Guitar was a project that we did in Japan.

These extra long string, it's within a shipping container.

So that's how we came up with the name.

This string is amplified but it doesn't have any kind of effect.

So the string becomes smaller and the tone higher.

- When we arrived Miami we couldn't really treat public spaces the same because it's completely different.

So what we start doing is actually going first inside of galleries.

Where we could experiment with space and also people.

So the first one we did is called Generative Drop Sequencer.

(rhythmic beats) - To engage more with public space here in Miami as well we've been working with some students at FIU on a seminar that has to do with the public space and art.

- [Marcelo] I think we have to mention about the little free library project.

- [Sarah] It's basically turning the standard little free library format into an inhabitable little free library.

We've also been working on our own project, our own house studio.

- [Marcelo] We start with one idea, but we never really know how it will sound until we finish it.

- [Sarah] That applies to sound, but also applies to working with given materials in general.

Because when you have to work with an object that already exists that has its own properties, then you really need to adapt to it.

So that's, we think the beauty of working with materials and with systems that have been designed for other purposes.

(people drumming) - Discover more at stereotank.com.

And now let's review this week's art quiz.

What does the term "haute couture" mean in fashion?

Is the answer A, "A completed outfit with accessories", B, "Ornate fabric with elaborate designs", C, "A type of sewing stitch", or D, "Hand-constructed custom clothing"?

And the answer is D, "Hand constructed custom clothing".

Stephane Cellier is a French painter in Nevada's Virginia City area.

His classical training in France sets Stephane apart from other painters.

He uses light in a way that makes his paintings look more realistic than a photograph.

(light music) - I'm Stephane Cellier and I'm an artist, I'm a painter.

I came from France like it was seven years ago now because I love United States.

So I sold everything I had in France and came here.

So I paint, I use technique from the master of the French master from the 15th century to now.

Like the glazing, I'm using that one the multiple glazing with transparency.

So like the grisaille, I paint in black and white first and had the colors on the top with transparency.

Some different kinds of techniques like that.

I work on the wood panel.

And usually I paint subjects that are more modern with classical techniques.

So it looks really classical but when you take the time to watch it it's a little bit different.

I get that training in France when I was in the French national fine arts school.

The real first step, it's the creation of the design.

So I've got some images that appears in my brain.

That's why my wife thinks I'm nuts.

She's probably right.

I look at pictures, I try to find pictures to see if I can create my composition.

And first step to create the design so I can create my design.

And after that, I start to draw.

I just draw and painting, painting, painting.

So I will start with a dead layer to put the very quickly the light and shadow, or it will look.

And after that, I will add layers and layers and layers.

And I built the painting.

It's built almost like a sculpture.

You add layers and layers and layers to build the shape.

Because everything we see it's because of the light.

So the shape is created by the light.

So you need to add layers and layers and layers to create all the small differences in the light that create the shape.

It's a long, long process.

I would add layers with transparency.

A little bit like when you use sunglasses different kind of colors, so they we'd blend together like filters and you change till you obtain the transparency and the texture of the skin.

Sometime there is like this one, there is around 50 different layers to create the texture on the skin and the transparency, the light inside.

It's hard to stop because when you are in this process, you are in another world.

There is nothing else around you and you work with the inside of yourself, of your, your deep soul.

It's just a conversation with your soul, that's all.

You are with yourself and you talk to yourself and you want to have a message in that painting.

You want to put the emotion you feel when you paint on the palette and on the painting.

It's really a meditation process.

In my painting, I try to express something that disturbed me or something I like.

And sometime what I like it's when the people who will the viewer who will see the painting, they will try to find a message about me.

But usually they will find something about themselves, that's what I like.

So it reflects more what people think about it about the message I really put in that because my vision is completely different probably.

All the viewer will have an opinion- different opinion of that painting.

That's my goal.

So it's more like a mirror.

They can see what they, what are their real deep thoughts, and how they are.

So I want people to feel something even if they don't like it.

And they say, "Oh it's disgusting."

It's okay, there is an emotion, it works.

So, yeah, that's what I want.

(light music) - To learn more visit Stephane-cellier.com.

And that wraps it up with this edition of Arteffects.

For more arts and culture, or to watch past episodes visit pbsreno.org/arteffects.

Until next week, I'm Beth MacMillan.

Thanks for watching.

- [Announcer] 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... (upbeat music)