- In this special edition of ARTEFFECTS, the colorful tie-dye techniques of shibori.

- It's essentially a technique of creating fabric.

This is a really old style of dye work.

(soft music) - [Beth] Ancient Chinese brushstrokes with Caroline Young.

- These stories have been handed down by word of mouth through thousands of years.

(soft music) - [Beth] A Carson City artist dives into a variety of mediums.

- I'm an eclectic artist.

I don't stay with the same medium.

I usually go with the flow.

(soft music) - [Beth] And a traditional Japanese drum group based in Reno.

- We are thrilled and honored to be able to keep this very ancient art form alive in our Northern Nevada community.

(drums beating) - It's all ahead on this Asian Pacific American Heritage edition of ARTEFFECTS.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for ARTEFFECTS is made possible by Sandy Raffealli with Bill Pearce Motors, (upbeat music) 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.

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we take a look at ARTEFFECTS segments featuring artists and techniques from a variety of regions, including Hawaii, Japan, China, and the Philippines.

For our first segment, meet Gina Iwahashi of Reno.

This self-taught artist channels her creativity through a Japanese dyeing technique called shibori.

The process can take several days, even weeks.

But when she's through, she's left with eye-catching, one-of-a-kind tie-dye pieces.

(soft music) - [Gina] Shibori is a Japanese form of tie-dye.

You take fabric and twist it, tie it, fold it, or even stitch it to make patterns and pictures.

(soft music) Shibori itself means to tie and tie-dye around the world has a lot of commonalities.

There's a lot of methods that look very similar to Japanese tie-dye, but what really makes Japanese tie-dye unique is the stitched shibori.

(soft music) I start out by doing my own patterns, drawing a picture, and tracing it onto the fabric with chalk or a quilter's pin.

I take my needle and my thread and I stitch along that pattern and they actually call that ori-nui.

There are patterns where you tie your fabric in so you pluck it into like a little pyramid and then you start wrapping the thread around it until you've got this little package that keeps the dye outside of the fabric because it's tied so tightly.

And they call that kumo or the spider's web.

Once I have all the stitching in, I start tightening things.

This is a resist method of dyeing, which means that I have to provide the resistance to the dye somewhere and that's caused by pulling the fabric tight enough that it puckers and sits against itself and the dye just simply can't work in between the creases and the small crevices that I've formed by just simply pulling on the thread.

This takes a while because it has to be really tight.

(soft music) Once everything's tightened, I start the dye process.

If I'm just going for blue and white which is a very traditional shibori color, I mix up my blue dye, and I dye the fabric by dropping it into the dye pot and letting it cure.

(soft music) I like working with other colors too and so sometimes I have things that are really dark purple or green or shades of blue or ripples of color.

Once everything is done dyeing, I've got this mass of really wet fabric.

I get it washed out, hang it up, let it dry.

Once it's dry, I can start pulling the threads out.

So I start pulling on ins and snipping the knots.

And as I snip, I start pulling things out.

From my point of view, it's like Christmas morning.

It's always this giant surprise of how things have turned out.

(soft music) I make kind of a variety of things.

I've got framed art that are color or pictures or patterns that I really liked.

I've got what are called noren, which are Japanese door curtains.

You see 'em like at sushi restaurants or sometimes in movies.

They're very traditional to both the shops and houses in Japan.

They'll have bamboo patterns.

I've got one that's got heart patterns, mountains.

I made an exploding volcano one time.

I made a nautilus another time, that was fun.

And it had tentacles going absolutely everywhere.

I chose shibori as an art form because it fits very perfectly what I like to do, what I'm good at, and what makes me happy.

(soft music) - And now it's time for an ARTEFFECTS Fun Fact.

Did you know that as of April 11th, 2022, 114 ARTEFFECTS segments have been picked up and distributed nationally?

That means those segments can be seen on participating PBS stations around the country.

(soft music ) For our next segment, we meet Caroline Young, a Reno-based artist who grew up in Hong Kong.

She draws from her heritage to create mythical creatures based on ancient Chinese mythology and folklore and uses her artwork to inform people around the world about Chinese culture.

(soft violin music) - [Young] In ancient times in Yunnan province, there lived a magical songbird called the Noguello with the sweetest singing voice.

The people loved listening to it, but none more than a beautiful village maiden who would become lovesick if she skipped even a day of it.

Every morning, she would go into the forest and lose herself in the song of the Noguello.

She cherished its memory, and she began to sing like Noguello had sang of the joys and sorrows of her people.

(soft music) I grew up in Hong Kong.

My parents were expatriate American Chinese living in Hong Kong, and just like you growing up in the US, you hear about "Cinderella", you hear about "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".

Well, we heard about Chang'e, we heard about Xi Shi.

These are people from Chinese history and Chinese mythology.

So when I started painting as a career in Honolulu, there was no one representing the Chinese culture over there, and so I started painting that, it became more interesting than just a pretty picture.

It had depth, it had meaning, and in a way, people were learning about the Chinese culture through my paintings.

(upbeat music) These stories have been handed down by word of mouth through thousands of years as long as the Chinese civilization has been in existence.

And because they're handed down by word of mouth, you'll find different endings or different versions of the same story, which is really interesting.

(upbeat music) (soft music) Guan Yin is the goddess of mercy.

She's the epitome of beauty and benevolence.

She's said to travel from heaven to earth on the back of the mighty dragon.

She's also the patron saint of sailors.

When sailors get into a fierce storm at sea, they pray to Guan Yin to save them, and she's seen riding through the waves on the back of the mighty dragon to the rescue.

(soft music) I take my inspiration from stories that I read, and I do research into the legends and the history.

And as I'm reading the story, an image will pop into my mind, and that is what I paint.

I work in watercolor, acrylic, and gouache.

I actually mix all the three mediums together, anything that's watercolor and basically, I water all the paints down till it's a light wash and I put down multiple layers of light washes to build up the intensity of the color and put in the shading.

(soft music) I work on silk mostly.

It's Japanese silk that's been pretreated so it doesn't bleed, and the silks take a long time to do.

For instance, in the faces and the skin tones, that takes anywhere between 18 to 22 layers of washes.

For a large painting, if it's a woman, it generally takes me anywhere between two to three months to do and that's working six days a week between eight to 10 hours a day.

(soft music) As I'm painting it, I'm always thinking about the story.

Trying to get the mood of the story into the painting.

Every color I put down affects what color I'm gonna put next.

And so sometimes what I think I'm gonna end up with is not what I end up with, but is something better.

(soft music) I hope that when someone sees my work, they will enjoy the story behind it, appreciate it for much more than just a pretty picture, and understand the culture that's behind it.

- For more information, visit carolineyoungstudios.com.

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

The Great Wave off Kanagawa, also known as "The Great Wave, is a well-known art piece created by Japanese artist Hokusai in 1831.

This image depicts a large wave over three boats with Mount Fuji in the background.

This famous piece was created with which traditional technique?

Is the answer A: silk painting, B: woodblock printing, C: calligraphy, or D: oil painting?

And the answer is B: woodblock printing.

(soft music) Up next, 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 woodblock printing.

(upbeat 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."

(soft music) I love the watercolors because you can't control it.

(soft music) 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.

Woodblocking 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 the 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.

- Find out more at jackiepiascarlin.com.

For our final segment, dive into the world of Reno Taiko Tsurunokai.

This Japanese drumming ensemble formed in 1997 and is celebrating its 25th year here in Northern Nevada.

We met with its founder and a long-time member and learned all about this extraordinary and heart-pounding craft of cultural expression.

(drums beating) - Reno Taiko Tsurunokai is a traditional Japanese drumming ensemble based in Reno, Nevada.

I just love drumming because it's just exciting for me.

It's not something that you hear just from the ears, but you feel it in the body.

- [Cindy] When people actually feel your music, it's quite an amazing experience.

- What's magical about it is to connect the people together.

(drums beating) My name is Rieko Shimbo.

I live in Reno, but I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan.

(soft music) I was interested in drumming since I was really little, but I never really played drum until when I was in college, I played in the rock band.

(rock upbeat music) When I heard my friend learning traditional taiko drumming, I thought, "Ooh, that would be really fun to learn."

(upbeat music) I learned from a place called Araumaza which is a professional Japanese traditional music and dancing group in Tokyo, and I was part of that group and then learn and performing there before I moved to Reno.

(upbeat music) I met Japanese American people who are really interested in the Japanese culture and that's when I met Cindy.

- I asked Rieko if she would be interested in teaching some of us, and she graciously agreed.

We organized the first workshop together.

And I mean, the rest is history.

You know, 25 years later, we're still drumming in our community and every day it's fun.

- Osore!

(metal dangling) (drums beating) - [Group] Osore!

- [Reiko] The taiko drum has two different parts of it.

So not just the rhythm itself but also the movement is a big part of it.

How we move the arms, how to hold the bachi, how to stand, how to use the whole body.

More like a martial arts in a way because you have to have the whole body in a very balanced way and also use the strength in efficient way without hurting the body.

- Part of our choreography includes leg and arm movements.

- [Reiko] Some of the songs, we actually move around, rotating and playing around to visually makes it more interesting and exciting.

- [Cindy] It's actually quite artistic.

And so, it's really a full-body drumming experience.

- [Group] Haaaaa!

(drum beating) - [Reiko] We have different types of drums.

The biggest one is called odaiko and we have us kodaiko or shime-daiko which is the smaller ones.

- [Cindy] The smaller drums are usually doing like a base beat.

The larger drum are doing the actual song.

Sometimes the large drum, we play both sides of it differently.

- [Reiko] Also, we have other instrument accompany drums, chappa or kane, which made out of metal and make a little more piercing sound or more cheerful kind of a, you know, accessory for this ensemble.

And then also we have the bamboo flute that we play, and then the voice is also a big part of the ensemble.

Sometimes people ask, "What does that mean?"

And then, like, it's not really mean something.

Some of the things are just kind of a like cheering sound.

- [Group] Hoooo!

(drums beating) - A lot of songs that we play is coming from different part of Japan in the villages like farmers' villages or fisherman's village.

- Buchiawase is what we call our fisherman song.

(drums beating) That's also quite athletic, which is in line with the strength you sometimes need as a fisherman when you're throwing out nets or fishing large fish, so it's wonderful to know the meaning behind the songs because then when you're drumming it, you have eight different perspective of how you should be drumming and performing.

- [Reiko] I try to be really focused on the sound.

Immerse myself in the moment because that's maybe the best thing that I can do to really do my best to connect with people and create something amazing.

Taiko drum is not only for Japan because now it's spreading all over the world.

The reason why it's go spreading all over the world is it's because it has such a strong effect for people to feel it and then being together and then being connected.

Music can connect so much, and that really changed my, like when I came over here, I had a kind of a confidence and feeling that I can really connect with people with the drumming.

(metal dangling) - [Group] Haaaaaa!

(drums beating) - To learn more, visit renotaiko.com.

Before we wrap up the episode, I want to take a moment to tell you about another way that you can entertain your curiosity about the arts in our region with Art Views.

pbsreno.org has launched a brand new online writing column we're calling Art Views, featuring contributions from local arts leaders posted online every week.

Rosine Bena, Founder and Artistic Director of Sierra Nevada Ballet; Scott Faulkner, the principal double bassist of the Reno Phil and Reno Chamber Orchestra; Steve Trounday, published author of three mystery and thriller books; and Chuck Reider, a founding member of the Reno Jazz Orchestra.

Each of these talented professionals represent a rich variety of backgrounds in the arts.

If you enjoy ARTEFFECTS, then you'll also enjoy Art Views, posted every week on pbsreno.org/artviews.

And that wraps it up for this Asian Pacific American heritage 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 Pearce Motors, (upbeat music) 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)