- On this edition of "Arteffects", a Carson City artist dives into a variety of mediums.

(whimsical strings music) - I'm an eclectic artist.

I don't stay with the same medium.

I usually go with the flow.

- [Beth] Pottery that sends a beautiful message.

- Troy has found something that he really loves to do.

That's hard for anybody, not just a person with Down Syndrome, to find their passion in life.

- [Beth] Plus, an Oklahoma City artist tackles his biggest project yet.

- Growing up, wanting to be a professional artist, you never dream that the biggest project of your life is something everybody's gonna walk on.

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

(bright jazz music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Arteffects" is made possible by: Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors; Meg and Dillard Myers; the Nevada Arts Council; Heidemarie Rochlin, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

- Hello, I'm Beth McMillan and welcome to "Arteffects".

In our featured segment, we head to Carson City to meet Jackie Pias Carlin.

This artist was born in Hawaii and has explored a variety of mediums, including watercolors, silks, and block printing.

(whimsical strings music) - I go to sleep asking to see visions so I can paint them.

When images come, that means there's something coming out of it.

That means it's meant to come out.

My name is Jackie Pias Carlin.

I'm an artist based in Carson City, Nevada.

I'm originally from Maui, Hawaii.

I'm an eclectic artist.

I don't stay with the same medium.

I usually go with the flow.

I use different methods of art depending on the subject matter.

Sometimes, when I look at a subject matter, I think, "Oh, that's a beautiful watercolor, I'll do that."

I love the watercolors because you can't control it.

Watercolor is very forgiving.

If you start light and layer on, you can work out what you don't want as you do the layers in watercolor.

Painting with silk is different than painting on canvas.

The silk has to be stretched on stretcher bars and the stretcher bars are sized to fit the piece of fabric that you're working on.

The silk is then stretched on the bars and either hand drawn freely or following a template.

I use a resist to keep all the colors in the sections where I want them to be, and the resist goes on, then it dries, and then I paint them.

I paint the sections where I want the colors to go.

After the painting is done, it's dried, and then it goes through a series of steaming, which takes about two to four hours, to set the colors and then rinsed over and over again, to get the excess dyes out.

I've always wanted to go into the abstraction.

Wood blocking is very time-consuming.

Each color on a woodblock is determined by the carving on the woodblock.

This is Nori paste that I make myself with water and rice flour.

This adheres the ink to the paper.

I love when I take the paper off the block and see the print.

For some reason or other, I have not stopped creating.

I turned to writing 'cause I've always wrote.

And that's when I went back to college and then wrote and published my memoir.

This is a story of me growing up in a Filipino sugar plantation village on the island of Maui when sugar was king.

The sugar industry closed down several years ago, but this has become a historical background of my life as a Filipino youngster growing up amongst the rest of the Filipinos that migrated from the Philippines to work in the sugar plantation industry.

I have 40 plus years of experience as an artist in different mediums.

And it is the time of my life where I should make a little bit of a difference.

I mean, I have Georgia O'Keeffe here and she's 90 years old in that photo.

And I keep her there to remind me, I have much more to put out.

- To learn more, visit JackiePiasCarlin.com.

Now it's time for this week's art quiz.

Which artist visited Hawaii in 1940 and spent nine weeks painting flowers and landscapes during her stay and completed at least 19 paintings?

Is the answer: A, Lucy Angeline Bacon; B, Matilda Brown; C, Georgia O'Keeffe; or D, Anne Ryan?

And the answer is C, Georgia O'Keeffe.

Up next, we introduce you to Troy Drake, a potter who lives in Gardnerville.

His gentle disposition is buoyed with a steady eye for detail and care and each piece of pottery he creates makes a positive impact for others.

- Do you like this color?

- Mm.

Mm-hmm.

- That's perfect with the bird, the hummingbird.

- Mm-hmm.

Do not break it.

- I won't break it.

This one doesn't have a bird.

You're afraid I'm gonna drop it, aren't you?

(chuckling) Look how pretty that is.

Troy, you did a really good job on these.

- "Troy made it" we started for our son, Troy, who makes pottery, and we came up with the name because he would make pottery and people would say, "Who made that?"

And we would say, "Troy made it."

And so we were trying to think of a name for his company and we just kept thinking "Troy Made It", and that's kind of how we ended up with his name.

Troy was born with Down Syndrome and he's always loved to draw and he just has a sense of space.

He can see something and he can just draw it.

I can't do that.

He'll draw for hours in a day.

So he's always loved art and then from there it just kind of progressed into pottery.

(gentle music) My husband and I, we'd just sold our company, and so we were newly retired and we'd always wanted to do ceramics.

There was a new pottery studio in Carson City called Ogres-Holm Pottery.

So we called them and signed up for a wheel-throwing class and then asked if we could bring Troy with us and they said, "Absolutely."

So we brought him and they said, "Well, why doesn't he do hand building "while you're throwing?

"He can take the class as well."

So Troy took a class; he really liked it.

Then that Christmas, we decided to make some ornaments, Troy and I, for family and friends And we had extra, so I thought, "I'll just put these on Facebook "and see if anybody wants to buy them, "and we'll donate the money."

And so they sold out in 20 minutes and then everybody was asking for more ornaments.

So we made more.

And then they all started asking to buy his pottery.

(bright music) Holly, my daughter's girlfriend said, "I want to start an Instagram account for Troy."

And I was like, "No, don't want to do that.

"I don't want him out there.

"I don't want anyone saying mean things about him.

"I don't want to do it."

And so she convinced me that, by putting him out there, you're showing other families the capabilities of people with Down Syndrome, that they can do a lot of different things in this world.

So then I was like, "Okay," but I really didn't expect it to do much.

And then it just snowballed from there.

(marimba chiming) - I'm now making plates, making bowls, and I'm making hearts, making Christmas ornaments, making trinket trays.

- First, he gets a bag of clay.

Then he cuts the bag of clay.

And then we have a slab roller and he rolls the chunk of clay out in a slab.

And then he has forms or he has real leaves that he gets out in our yard, he has slump molds; it all depends on what he's gonna make.

And then he cuts out whatever he's gonna make.

And then he puts it on the form.

He has it dry, and then we put it in the kiln to bisque-fire.

Then we take it out, he glazes it and then it goes back in the kiln, and then it's ready to go.

- One coat and two coats and a third coats and we put it in a kiln.

Comes some minutes to dry, then coats being very nice.

- And he just can't keep up with the demand of people wanting his pottery.

We wish we could, but he's only one guy.

(laughs) (marimba music) 100% of Troy's pottery, the profits from Troy's pottery, are donated and this year we donated $18,000.

In total, he's donated almost $30,000 to different nonprofits.

(upbeat music) - I like to help people making monies for charities.

That makes me proud.

- When Troy posts a new video and we get comments from people on how much they appreciate his videos, they just say the nicest things about how good he is and how proud they are and how awesome his work is and how inspirational he is, and so we read all of these comments to him.

"Wow, looks so great!"

I hope by people seeing him doing what he's doing, that they're seeing that people with Down Syndrome have value, that they can contribute to society, and that his life has meaning.

- I say to Mom, I say, "Thank you!"

about help me pottery.

- You can see Troy's latest creations and learn more about his mission by heading to TroyMadeItPottery.com.

Now let's head to Oklahoma City to meet Matt Goad, a graphic designer, artist and musician.

His bold artworks are found in galleries, street signs and logos across the city and the state of Oklahoma.

He most recently tackled a new medium in a very big way.

(keys jingling) (screen door clattering) ("Supergirl" by American Boyfriends) (VW Beetle engine purring) - I'm Matt Goad.

I am an Oklahoma City resident since about the year 1990-ish, and I do visual stuff like art and graphics.

You get people ask me what my style is and I guess it's an amalgamation of all the things that I've always loved.

You know, you become a fan of a bunch of stuff and then it all kind of gets mixed together and it becomes who you are.

At least that's the way it is for me.

("Supergirl" by American Boyfriends) I worked at an ad agency for a few years in the '90s, and that allowed me to get some of the graphics I did out in the public where people saw them.

Did the E for Edmond with the tree, and "Oklahoma, Keep Our Land Grand," going into the trash, the Film Row logo.

I've done the Midtown Vets downtown, Elk Valley Brewery.

♪ I'm the only thing your superpowers can't defeat ♪ - [Matt] Well, Eva's my little girl.

She's a 1964 Volkswagen, type one.

I think Eva, in a way, unintentionally has become part of my trademark.

I always love photographing her in front of a lot of the cool mid-century structures around Oklahoma.

("Supergirl" by American Boyfriends) I love the Egg Church for so many reasons.

It's so dynamic the way it looks and when you see it poking up over the trees, you feel like you're in a "Star Wars" movie or something.

♪ When there's no more need for you- ♪ - [Matt] I think we got a really good shot, we're kind of seeing that curve of the Beetle with the curve of the church.

I've never been a good photographer, as far as, you know, the f-stops and all that, but I'm pretty good with the iPhone.

♪ Open eyes and arms and heart for thee ♪ (jet engines whining) - [Crew Member] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Oklahoma City.

The local time is 10:07 AM Central time.

Please, keep your seat belts fastened until we are parked at the gate.

(PA system echoing) - It is such a wonderful addition to our airport.

Encompassing 134,000 square feet of new space and many new amenities, including a new checkpoint, new airline gates, new concession spaces and wonderful new art.

- I'm so excited for you and all the people of Oklahoma City to see this new front door to our great city.

- [Matt] In 2019, they had a call for entries for artists to submit for a 40,000 square foot floor.

You know, I assumed, of course, there's no way I could even become a finalist, but it was worth a shot.

- Frankly, Matt made the decision fairly easy.

I've done a number of art selection committees and Matt's was by far the most thoughtful presentation that I've ever seen.

And I think when people come to the airport and see this, they're going to be wowed.

♪ Is afraid to let it go ♪ - Growing up, wanting to be a professional artist, you never dream that the biggest project of your life is something everybody's gonna walk on.

(static zapping) (vinyl slaps) (Matt chuckles) All I remember, as far as my earliest memories, is drawing.

I was always...

I always had a pencil.

My mother was extremely supportive and she's the one that kept the scrapbook.

It's like a time machine, you know?

You know, this could actually be in MoMA now, I mean... (chuckles) I grew up the son of a traveling preacher man.

We lived in about a different city every, almost every year.

By the time I was 12, I had lived in, I think, eight states and about 11 cities.

I came to go to school at Oklahoma Christian in fall of 1988.

("Meet Your Double" by Feel Specters) We were one of the only schools that had a good graphic design program, and I didn't know really what that was, at first, but they said "It's something to do with art "and you can get a job in it," and so that led to an internship with a real design studio and that was when my eyes were opened to, "This isn't just a job; this is awesome.

"This is like, you know, this is wow, super cool!"

("Hip Revelations" by Feel Specters) I'm a big fan of mid century modern, if you couldn't tell already.

The aesthetic of it is, to me, just something that's, it's a positive.

It's like, looking forward in a positive way to the future and that always makes me happy.

♪ There's no way that you'll- ♪ - [Matt] So I don't ever really say I paint paintings.

I say, I build paintings because the way I do it's not like a normal painter in the classical sense.

It's like an architect draws it out and then you build the house from the drawings.

As far as how I do my work, I always, it's always an idea and then it becomes a sketch.

♪ Take the blame, there is a reason- ♪ - [Matt] All of these are like mental notes to myself.

♪ Reason you will die ♪ - [Matt] I can do 50 of them and I might like two or so, but once I have one that I like, I cannot stop working on it.

Usually I'm like, giggling, you know, I'm having fun!

(chuckles) What I do is I'll take that line drawing and I will bring it into the computer and make a stencil out of it.

Yeah, I'm kind of a Jedi wizard with Illustrator.

Still got some tape, I've got it ready and a little bit of stencil.

So, then what I'll do is put a clear, just over those spots.

Then I'm gonna prime it.

And then once I have that stencil built, that's when the color comes in.

♪ Calling technical support ♪ - For me, color is the hardest part.

That's why it's the most fulfilling when I feel like I've accomplished it.

♪ To recover all the memories ♪ - [Matt] I call this checker boarding and it's where you don't have a color touching, exactly.

It's almost like a square dance of colors that happens in my paintings.

♪ There is no trace of a history ♪ - [Matt] It's funny how every color has its own little personality, how it behaves.

Some are more opaque, some are just beautiful.

It's kind of like people.

♪ Technical support, access this station ♪ - [Matt] This painting's gonna to be intense, like Boy Scouts.

That's my joke, get it "in tents"?

(chuckling) ♪ Transmit the love that used to be ♪ (moped buzzing) - Matt is the coolest guy I know and he doesn't even know how cool he is and that's why I love it.

(upbeat music) I think we needed some bigger artists to give the space legitimacy so that we could be a platform for more emerging artists.

And I always had the dream of having an original Matt Goad.

Really, the only guidance we told him was big, as long as it could fit through the door.

I feel like the more you look at this piece, just the more you discover.

Like the little nod to the Dali clock in the corner.

And the submarine and the infinity couple...

It's very Matt Goad.

- See how this works.

(upbeat music) It's gonna be good.

I think I love it.

I think I'm in love.

Some people, the canyon, need a little touch up here and there.

My perfectionism is a compensation for the craziness in my head.

(chuckles) (jets whining) (upbeat guitar music) So terrazzo is a medium, it's 2000 plus years old.

What it is is it's a mixture of a bunch of different rocks that are all kind of mixed together in a binding agent and they all have different colors.

A lot of public buildings and public facilities have it.

Everyone's seen it.

It's beautiful, and you can roll your luggage on it with ease.

From maybe January 2020, they started to put in the metal strips.

So once I saw those going in, that's when I kinda got to see how vast this was.

Every part of that project started with the little doodle, and I knew that I wanted to have Will somewhere in it.

Over here, he's tipping his hat to the visitor saying "Welcome to Oklahoma City."

♪ One thousand miles underground ♪ - I tried to break it down into what represents the cultures of Oklahoma and the, you know, I thought sports, music, hospitality, and then places, of course.

The goal is to kind of just give them an excitement that you're in a world-class city.

The glass curtain wall represents the sky.

If you know Oklahoma at all, you know we're a weather center and each symbol represents a different weather event.

And if you go around, it kind of creates a flow.

♪ Thousand miles underground ♪ - [Matt] Yeah, I still can't really grasp the reality of this project for an artist that, you know, wasn't really great at school, was kind of okay at drawing.

I don't know, I still am pinching myself.

Well, I hope that when people come to Oklahoma City and land in that area, they're going to have an instant positive feeling about the city.

♪ One thousand miles underground ♪ - To learn more, visit MattGoad.com.

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

For more arts and culture, and 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 with Bill Pearce Motors; Meg and Dillard Myers; the Nevada Arts Council, Heidemarie Rochlin, and by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(light music) (light jazz music)