- In this edition of "Arteffects" the art of route setting.

- People come up with some really creative solutions that we didn't even see coming.

It's also really cool to see people's ingenuity and them being challenged and being creative.

- [Beth] Paper sculptures of the natural world.

- It's always the little things.

It's the meticulous little details, the magic behind nature, the spirit of nature.

That's what I am inspired by.

- [Beth] Underwater art.

- Any aquarium in any public space is going to bring ease.

It's going to release tension.

It's going to take you to a different world.

- [Beth] And the intricacy behind Native American regalia beadwork.

- [Teresa] So when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

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

(bright music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Arteffects," is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pierce Motors.

Meg and Dillard Myers.

the Nevada Arts Council.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

In memory of Sue McDowell.

And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno Members.

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

Have you ever entered a rock climbing gym and wondered who puts the holds on the wall?

That's the job of the route setters, a team of people who design climbing routes.

Though this may seem like a physical task, the process also requires critical thinking, creativity and artistry.

(bright music) - I'd say route setting is a form of art in the sense that, you start with a concept.

You use very specific tools through a process to then produce a product that you then put out into the world outside of the creator.

That's different than saying, "Oh, here's a wall.

I just slapped some holds on it.

Go climb it."

That lacks artistry.

So route setting is the act of taking holds and putting them on the wall to create a specific route.

A route is just a way to get up a wall.

So we have a selection of holds that you're able to use and you use your brain and your muscles to get your body up it.

So in route setting, we start first by taking the old holds down, you come up with an idea and ultimately, you have a concept of what type of movement or challenging technique you want to see on the wall.

Then you'll go select your holds.

We have a huge selection of holds to choose from.

And then we put the holds on the wall using drills and bolts and all that fun stuff.

And in that process, we're trying to create movement.

We're trying to force technique.

We're trying to challenge people, not just physically, but mentally as well.

Then we'll get together as a crew and then collaboratively use a critical dialogue to discuss what's happening with the climbs.

We'll actually try them ourselves.

We have to physically climb them to feel the body positions, see what's going on, if it is correct.

So the routes go up independently, but then they ultimately are created as a collaborative product.

Climbing is great in the sense that there is room for your own personal style.

So everybody brings their own style and their own biases to the table.

And that's why having what we call "athletic empathy" is really important.

I, as a 5'9" climber, who's been doing this for 20 years, have to envision what it would be like for the 5'2" person who has never tried this before.

How would they feel in these body positions?

How would they feel doing these movements?

So we try to bring that into it and replicate how they might climb.

But we do also bring in our own style and say, "Hey, what if I was a super expert, seven foot person who could just reach past all this?

How would that work?"

And that's why diversity in the crew is so important.

I think it's one of our huge strengths is having such a diverse setting crew and allowing for those different ideas and different approaches towards the climb itself.

And then amalgamating, "Okay, well, where's the baseline and what does this need to achieve?"

In terms of what a successful gym climb is, is it should be fun, primarily.

It should challenge people mentally and physically, and it should be accessible, the climb that somebody goes back to over and over and over again.

That's what you want.

As you go to approach a climb for the first time, you'll walk up, generally use chalk to dry your hands.

You'll notice there's a "V" tape at the bottom.

That's where we start.

That indicates the start of the climb.

You'll put both hands, that's called a "match," on that hold, hop your feet on the wall and then start to do the moves of the climb.

And it usually ends at the top where we have indicated a "V" as well, but that's the general approach.

So anytime you see climbers looking at a wall and doing this invisible Tai Chi stuff, we're actually visualizing the route.

And a specific sequence and how to do that, is a term we use called "beta."

I'm visualizing the beta to get through this section correctly.

If you get twisted up, you're not gonna make it through it.

You're probably gonna fall.

So you need to think ahead and be like, "Oh, if I have my left hand here, that will enable me to get my right hand here and then I can move my foot here."

And it actually helps to ingrain it mentally.

I really love the process of watching climbers approach the climb.

This is the mark of a really bad route setter, is he'd go up and tell people how to do it.

Sitting back as an expert and observing what they do with zero guidance is a really wonderful exercise of were you successful, even.

And just people come up with some really creative solutions that we didn't even see coming, which can be problematic sometimes.

But it's also really cool to see people's ingenuity and them being challenged and being creative.

I think a lot of people don't even think that they can be creative and then they'll just figure it out or an idea pops in their head.

And they don't even think about it in the sense of creativity.

It's just, "Oh, I got through it.

I did what worked."

I hope that people who climb my route don't necessarily see an individual route setter, they get the sense of the collaborative effort between the whole crew, and they ultimately walk away with just a sense of joy and want to do it again and want to challenge themselves again.

And it brings something more than just an athletic experience to their day.

- Learn more about BaseCamp at basecampreno.com.

In this segment, we meet artist Lea Gray.

Inspired by nature, she transforms paper into realistic, intricate sculptures of plants and flowers.

We travel to the Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Ohio to see an exhibition of her art.

(gentle music) - I can actually go all the way to my childhood, even when I was five.

You know how you ask the proverbial question of, "Oh, what are you gonna be when you grow up?"

I always said, "I'm going to be an artist."

I always knew even when I was five years old, that that's what I was gonna be.

And so it just took off from there and it was like, whatever I could dabble in, it was pastels or, whatever I can get my hands on, it was sewing or painting.

It kept going.

And so I decided to go to art school, which was Columbus College of Art and Design.

And then I got into origami, which also became another obsession.

Paper being the medium was something I really enjoyed working with, the meditative processes, the rhythmic repetitive things.

And so from there, I think I just got bored and instead of continuing to create other people's designs and those geometric shapes, I decided to move onto something more expressive, which was paper flowers, and that was about eight or nine years ago.

My grandmother growing up always had lots of plants in our house.

And I think just seeing that and being around that, it was an inspiration for me.

And so having lots of plants myself and also going outdoors in nature, I'm always drawn in and it's always the little things.

It's the meticulous little details, the magic behind nature, the spirit of nature, that's what I am inspired by.

The paper is always cardstock for plants.

And then for flowers, it's always an Italian crepe.

So there's two separate kinds of papers that I use.

(upbeat music) From that, I use a carbine blade cutting machine, which is the Cricut.

Everybody knows it as a Cricut.

And I have two of those.

I also have a Glowforge laser that I use for some of the more precise things.

So I'll have all the shapes cut out in variegated sizes.

So it'll range from a large to a small.

And from that point I shape and sculpt with my hand, I glue it together, assembling it.

And then from that point, the paint is really where all the magic, the alchemy lies.

It's the process of combining all kinds of different sprays, hair products and different things, to make that magic come out of a piece of paper, make it look real, as real as possible.

I got connected with Franklin Park Conservatory about four or five years ago, they reached out to me to do some classes.

So we've known about each other for quite a while and fast forward all the way till now, I think they were looking for somebody to open up that space and bring something new in there and came across my work.

And I've come quite a bit of distance from four to five years ago anyways, so it was perfect.

And honestly, I'd been wanting to be in there anyways and was trying to figure out who to talk to, to get into that space.

So to get that phone call, to get that email was a big deal to me because I still am very honored and excited and amazed.

Really what I'm trying to do is remind everybody that there is nature out there.

There is something to be looked at and appreciated.

And a lot of times we forget about it.

We move on in our worlds.

We walk around and we're just in the mundane or in the process of our lives.

And it's just something to be appreciated.

There's magic and there's energy.

There's something about it that is good for us on many levels.

And so what I'm trying to get everybody to do is look a little bit closer, find that magic.

Find the light coming out of the dark.

I'm inviting you to actually get a little bit closer and just appreciate.

Mostly what the reaction is exactly what I'm going for, is "Wait a minute, is this real?

Or is this...?"

And as you get closer and you get drawn in, that's when it turns into what it actually is, is the paper.

And that's the moment where it breaks away that illusion, and you're like... (Lea gasps) And it's exciting because at first you really did think that it was plants.

And I've had a lot of people come around to when I'm doing an art sale and they're asking me, "Why does the title of your company say PaperBlooms?

What does that mean?"

And I'm like, "It's all paper."

And then that was the moment where they're like, "I thought these were real."

And it's exciting for me because that's what I'm trying to do.

And that's part of the challenge and the fascination with creating my work is trying to get as close to nature as possible to build upon that illusion.

And that's what keeps me going.

- To see more of Gray's sculptures go to paperbloomsdesign.com.

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

In 2016, the "Guinness Book of World Records" recognized Whitney Peak Hotel's BaseCamp outdoor climbing wall as the tallest artificial climbing wall in the world.

Attached to the side of the hotel, how tall is this climbing wall?

Is the answer A, 117 feet and 4 inches, B, 135 feet and 7.5 inches, C, 152 feet and 2.4 inches or D 163 feet and 6.5 inches?

And the answer is D, 163 feet and 6.5 inches.

At a tropical reef in Largo, Florida, underwater art is everywhere you look.

For the stores' dedicated staff, keeping corals isn't just a task, it's an art form, as these colorful corals become living works of art.

(waves crashing) - Any aquarium in any public space is going to bring ease.

It's going to release tension.

It's going to take you to a different world.

We're land mammals, right?

So we don't get the opportunity to be in a different world.

- I would consider reefing an art form by the different types of corals.

Every coral has a personality, if you will.

Depending on the type, some of them branch, some of them cover rocks, some of them plate.

It really just depends on what you're working with, what you have in your tank.

- The colors are pretty much limitless.

I would say we're discovering new colors every day, and there's always different types of morphs.

We can't breathe under water.

It's not normal for us to live in water.

So when you're able to bring that above ground, it's pretty interesting to be able to see what goes on in the water, underneath the water.

We have a lot of veterans that come into the shop and some of them suffer from PTSD.

I think it's more of a relaxing thing.

When you get home from work, you just want to settle down, kick back, open up a beer and watch the tank.

- Every tank is different.

Some people have one set coral and they want nothing else.

We have a customer that comes in and she has nothing but anemones.

It's really just all about preference at that point.

Some people have everything.

Some people have hard corals.

Some people have soft coral anemones, and then there's also fish only tanks where there's no coral.

It is a lot of work, but in the end it is definitely worth it.

Unfortunately with our climate getting worse, the hobby definitely is a good one because the more people we get involved, the more people we can hopefully help save our oceans and become more aware too.

- It's not so much about what we do, it's more about the coral.

So we're not giving the coral color.

We're not giving it more color.

We're not injecting colors.

We're not doing anything like that.

We're keeping everything consistent to let the coral promote the best colors it naturally has.

This hobby is really an eye opener.

It's not, "Let me get a tank, let me put a fish in it.

Let me slap some corals in it.

I want it now, now, now.

It doesn't happen that way.

You gotta have a lot of patience with it.

And what we're really trying to do is we're trying to replicate the ocean.

So if we understand that we will understand how delicate the ocean is and how delicate the tanks can be.

- Here at A Tropical Reef, we are an aquaculture facility.

We probably aquaculture, maybe over a thousand new corals every week for our customers that come in and purchase.

And we do small aquaculture and put back into our oceans, ourselves as well.

- So aquaculture is when, say I get a frag of some sort of SPS and that grows in my tank.

I can then take it, clip it, glue it to a frag plug.

And now that frag that I gave to my friend is considered to be aquacultured.

It's been in my tank.

It grew in my tank.

It's in captivity.

So we're not taking that from the ocean anymore.

And I really think that that kind of practice over time will really help out the oceans as well.

We're learning along the way, but I think it's a much more sustainable approach when it comes to harvesting coral for the hobby.

There's definitely an art to keeping coral, for sure.

These are organisms that can't talk to you.

You have a rough idea of what your dog needs, right?

Or your cat or any kind of domestic animal that we may keep in our house because there's so much research that's been done on dogs and cats and your domesticated animals, right?

But there's not a whole lot of research out there on keeping coral in your home aquarium.

So you have to check out your coral and see how it's doing.

Does it need to be fed more?

Does it need to be fed less?

Does it need more light?

Does it need less light?

These are all experimentations that the hobbyist ends up doing.

And I feel like there's a true art form to that.

I challenge everybody watching this right now to step out of their comfort zone, hop on Netflix and just search the word "coral" and watch one of those documentaries.

I really feel like those are the kinds of series' along with this one, that peak people's interests on a whole new level.

I think that that could really make a difference.

And one person at a time, right?

One person at a time, that's all it takes.

And eventually we can get there.

And I think that the coral reefs will benefit because of it.

- Find out more at atropicalreef.com.

Powwow regalia is an extremely important aspect for all Native American dancers.

The regalia is worn with pride and combines historical ancestry with personal taste.

There are many different styles of regalia dress, and in this segment, we will learn about the dedication and importance of beadwork regalia.

(gentle music) - My favorite form of indigenous artwork, is beadwork.

I really enjoy beading.

I find it relaxing.

I enjoy thinking about the designs and the type of materials that I want to use, the look that I want to create.

I also really enjoy making beadwork because it's functional artwork.

(Teresa laughs) Beadwork is a form of traditional Native American artwork.

So anywhere around the country, as you visit different tribal nations, you'll see different styles of beadwork.

I've been making beadwork since I was about 15.

And usually when I design beadwork and I create beadwork it's for use for cultural events or ceremonies or powwows.

So I'm a powwow dancer.

I'm a fancy shawl dancer.

I like to dance jingle and traditional from time to time too.

But my kids and I lead powwow dance, and so a lot of the beadwork that I make is for powwow outfits or our regalia.

So when I'm coming up with beadwork designs, I often first start with the essence of the piece.

So I'm really thinking about the person that I'm designing for, and then the use of the final product and the look that I wanna create.

I like to lay everything out on graph paper, and then I'll translate that paper to material and I'll sew it down to the material so that I have a pattern to work with, and then just start beading.

Beadwork is incredibly time-consuming.

As you look at these different beaded pieces, you know that each one of those beads was hand sewn on.

Different artists will have their own techniques.

And so I like to put on four beads and then go back through two.

Every single bead is touched by the artist at least once, but sometimes multiple times, depending how they tack it down.

And so the larger pieces, they could have hundreds of hours of man time.

I would say one of my favorite parts about beading is watching a piece come together.

Cause you have this vision, and a lot of the times your vision is pretty true to the final product, but sometimes it's not.

And so it's fun watching the piece come together, but actually seeing the colors come together and the designs come together, it's really exciting.

And it provides me a lot of motivation, cause I'll be like, "Two more hours and I can have this piece complete."

And I can finally see what it's gonna look like.

When I make bead work, I make it for really specific purposes.

So my husband and I got married about seven years ago.

I wore a traditional Woodland outfit for our wedding, and then my husband wore a traditional Paiute outfit for the wedding.

And then our daughters, they wore some beaded pieces also.

My 14 year old, her name is Siyabi, which means "Wild Rose."

And so you'll see in those pieces that there's an image of a rose.

And then Pasitiva, our little one, her name is "Wild Iris," and so there's an iris beaded into her hair ties.

And then in my bandolier bag, there's several different flowers that are beaded in that.

There's a flower that represents my favorite flower, and then my husband's favorite flower.

And there's a hummingbird which symbolizes love.

And then going up the straps are the flowers of our kids.

So Busceppe his name is "Red Earth," I beaded a red star-like flower for him.

One of the pieces I brought was the medallion I made, when I graduated with my bachelor's degree.

I went to Michigan State University.

The medallion's in the shape of the Spartan "S," with a little sash across, with the abbreviation "SOC" for sociology, and then the year I graduated, cause I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Sociology.

So it's common in indigenous artwork to see things like that, that are symbols, that are very specific to the individual or specific to that ceremony.

All my beadwork that I create has a lot of symbolism.

It feels good to wear our traditional artwork because I know it comes from a special place.

I know that there's a lot of meaning behind the pieces, but I also think it's important as Americans, that we see the indigenous people who live here and who've always lived here.

Here in Nevada there are 27 federally recognized tribes.

That's a lot of tribes.

It's a lot of tribes.

Most states don't have 27 federally recognized tribes.

Sometimes when we think about indigenous cultures or indigenous arts, we think about them as history, something that's in the past and something that's not current.

There's all kinds of beautiful work that's being done by artists around the country, where they're capitalizing on contemporary materials, themes.

It's beautiful to see art evolving, even indigenous art because what's indigenous is also contemporary.

- And that wraps it up for 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 with Bill Pierce Motors.

Meg and Dillard Myers.

The Nevada Arts Council.

Heidemarie Rochlin.

In memory of Sue McDowell.

And by the annual contributions of PBS Reno members.

(upbeat music)