♪ AZPM INTRO PLAYS ♪ (Mary) This week on State of the Arts, meet the founder of the Drawing Studio in Tucson, ceramics on display in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, and puppet theater for all ages.

Coming up next on State of the Arts.

Thank you for joining us this week on State of the Arts.

I'm Mary Paul.

This week we begin right here in Tucson with a profile of the artist who founded the Drawing Studio, a Midtown nonprofit dedicated to bringing art and creativity to the community through affordable classes and exhibits.

Let's meet him now and learn about some of the philosophy he brings to the art of drawing.

♪ PENSIVE PIANO ♪ (Andrew) First of all, drawing is a language.

It's more than what you see with your eyes because to draw goes through your kinesthesia.

So there's a whole language that is developing as I actually draw you with my body.

And so for me, drawing brings us into in a much deeper and more personal way.

As Stieglitz used to say, the great photographer, a portrait is as much a self-portrait as it is one of you.

So I draw because it's a way of getting to know the world that you never know by just looking at it.

It's an enterprise that is not just about picture making.

It's about a whole zone of being that you set up and then live in it for as long as it holds my interest.

In the beginning, it was because I had the first charismatic teacher of my life at the University of Illinois named Lee Chesney.

And he was a printmaker himself.

And I walked into the graduate studio one day after he had first arrived and watched him engraving on a large copper plate.

And I was hooked.

I was in the Marine Corps.

When I was in Korea, I was on the demilitarized zone.

And that meant by day, there was nothing to do.

So I would be with my watercolors out wandering the hill looking at one of the most beautiful countries I've ever seen in my life.

I also was in Japan every week and visit Japanese museums.

And I learned so much about composition from Japanese woodcuts.

[Music] When I finished my time in the Marine Corps, I went up to Iowa and I asked where I could meet Lasansky.

And I went into the print room and there he was.

And I introduced myself and said that I had come to work with him.

He said, "Well, the semester, you have to wait until next semester starts to enroll."

He said, "Do you have any work with you?"

And I said, "Yes, I have a trunk full in my car."

And he looked at my work for maybe 15 or 20 minutes.

He arranged to enroll me that very day.

And I became not only his student for four years, but ultimately I became his assistant.

[ RAG BRUSHING ON COPPER ] (Andrew) I am in Tucson because I had come back from a Fulbright grant in Italy in 1959 without a job with a new baby and a recent wife.

And I was prepared to go into design work in Chicago when somebody called me from Arizona and said they had too many students and were looking for a drawing teacher.

And could I please consider it?

I said, "Would I consider it?

I'll take the job site unseen."

And started work in two days at the University of Arizona.

(Student 1) Andrew Rush was my printmaking teacher in 1969 and 70 at the University of Arizona.

Andy's work is humanistic.

It reflects the problems of the world that we're living in.

That is part of the history of printmaking.

(Friend 1) When I first came out here, the art community was a fairly small, tight group.

And the name Andy Rush always came up.

He was just so well known that I guess I was expecting to feel very small in his presence.

And he's such a welcoming person that it was very easy just to sit and chat with him.

(Student 1) Lasansky studied with a man named Hayter.

And what Hayter brought into the United States was the print shop as a community space where printmakers come together to help each other make their prints.

And now Andy has made the drawing studio in Tucson as a community space where printmakers, artists, can come together, learn, and share their time together.

(Andrew) My fascination and experience with community is how come the drawing studio happened.

I consider the drawing studio as a direct evolution from my experience both with Lasansky and with modern printmaking community studios.

(Friend 2) I've known Andy since 2008.

He is really a very, very masterful printmaker.

(Student 2) I came to the drawing studio specifically to be mentored by Andy.

We have since developed, I think, a very close relationship, not of competition by any means.

But learning from each other, and that's the beautiful part of printmaking.

(Andrew) I keep hundreds of sketchbooks, and as I do this, very often something starts occurring to me.

I use four separate figures and then combine them with different colors and in different ways so they speak a little differently in different contexts.

What's the future going to be about?

It's going to be about anybody who can think of things from more than one point of view, and the only place I know that teaches that is the arts, especially the visual arts, and that the drawing studio is an effort to design an organization that addresses the learning of art in a way that can reach anybody who wants to start.

(Friend 1) I was teaching drawing classes in my studio, and there are very limited places to learn drawing, and whenever a student showed up that came from Andy's school, it was apparent, they had skills and knowledge and an ability to work with the materials.

(Andrew) The professor artist Charles Littler, every Sunday morning we sat to talk about community and what it would take to find a way for artists to live together in a more compatible way with our children and our lives and continue to make art.

Charles' wife, Coral, found an ad in the paper advertising an old dude ranch up for sale 80 acres and 23 houses for $68,000.

Can you believe it?

[laughs] (Fox) We got a group together from the U of A to buy this property in 1968, and the following year Andy moved out here, and we've been here ever since.

We've done many projects together, mostly murals and tile murals.

We've had shows together here in the gallery.

He switched to clay for a while.

He worked on clay for probably 15 years or so.

(Andrew) In the middle of the 80s someplace, I noticed that the market for what I make, black and white etchings, was fading.

Suddenly I had four kids in school at the time I needed to find something, and at the time my friend Fox McGrew here on my ranch, who was a ceramic sculptor, was teaching me how to make tile, how to make art tile.

So I began to work in terracotta sculpture.

Art is a language, and you learn it like you learn any language.

It has a grammar, it has a vocabulary, it has a context, it has a history.

So every bit of it needs to be learned like you learn to speak or you learn to write.

♪ STRINGS RISE ♪ And you can view some of Andrew Rush's drawings in person, currently on display at the drawing studio at the corner of Glenn and Tucson Boulevard.

Next, some very intentional works of art.

Everyday objects.

A mug of coffee in the morning, a bowl shared around the dinner table, simple pieces that quietly become part of life's rhythms.

Ohio-based ceramicist, Naysan McIlhargey, has built his practice around that very idea.

Working from a wood-fired kiln and drawing inspiration from centuries of ceramic tradition, he creates pottery meant to be used and passed along through generations.

♪ SOFT REGAETON BEAT ♪ I have fond memories of growing up in Yellow Springs, and I grew up two doors down from this building, riding my bike everywhere, spending a lot of time outdoors with friends.

And because I have such strong connections to this community, I always felt that it would be a good place to come back to to build the pottery.

And I've always been attracted to the ceramic sections of museums.

But I would say when I was a freshman at Yellow Springs High School, they had a program then that was called Community Experience.

I spent a lot of time doing art as a child.

And I was placed in this program for credit.

You worked with people in the community, you got credit in school, and I was placed with a couple that did pottery, and that was my introduction.

I was lucky to have that experience in high school.

My first year in college, I took a Japanese arts class and I fell in love.

And the aesthetic of Japanese ceramics is in itself very distinct and unique in the world of ceramic history.

The tradition that I work in originally comes from Japan through England to the United States.

Part of the tradition is a philosophy in Japan that was started in the early 20th century called Mingei, a concept that is dear to me and it's part of how I live every day.

And the concept is that you live with handmade beautiful objects every day.

I feel like it's part of my mission as a handmade practitioner to share that with my customers and to help them learn about this beautiful idea.

I would say that I knew that I wanted to be a potter my first year in college.

And it was partly because Mike Thiedeman, my professor, was so good at teaching ceramics but also teaching Japanese arts and world ceramics and we had the access to a wood kiln at school.

It was more important for me to learn the craft, to learn the skills, than to be in graduate school.

So my kiln is a wood kiln.

It's based on a Japanese kind of kiln that's a single chamber.

It's called an anagama and it's a very hostile environment, the wood kiln.

Very hostile.

It's so humbling.

It's amazing that a kiln can have that kind of play in the process, like that kind of control in the process.

We actually started photographing pre-firing.

So, you know, we started with the throwing and the painting and we spent time with Naysan.

So when we got to the firing itself, we felt like we had more knowledge and understanding and maybe a connection to what was happening because we knew what was inside.

We watched how he built the inside layer by layer.

So when that firing came, it was remarkable because it was kind of like the climax of a movie.

But with the photographing of it all, we were captivated both because we didn't know about wood firing.

I didn't grow up anywhere with a wood fired potter that I knew of.

And then to enter that world with someone like Naysan, with the way he describes it and his passion for it, was a gift.

And just watching the way it was all orchestrated, it's like a dance - It is.

Like everyone's... - He's the choreographer.

He's the choreographer because they have to keep the fire going at a certain temperature.

You have to feed these people and there's constantly monitoring it.

And even to add another piece of wood into the kiln, it has to be choreographed.

I feel lucky that as a production potter, I have been able to create themes for each firing.

The authenticity of looking at different cultures, like the fact that I'm half Persian and I did an in-depth study of Persian ceramics from history.

To me, it's a way to learn.

It's a way to understand how 800 years ago they could do a theme that is still incredible.

(Tom) In the relationship between Frank Lloyd Wright and Naysan, it's interesting to me on the functionality.

Because you do all that beautiful artwork, but if it's not functional, it has to be functional.

It's very basic.

I mean, I think that's why it's been around for thousands of years.

But Frank Lloyd Wright talked about how architecture has to be functional.

And so I love that tie-in between the functionality of Naysan's pottery and along with the functionality of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture.

We as a culture, we don't do a great job of understanding the basic concept of what it means to live with handmade beautiful objects every day.

When I was in Japan, I saw it and I realized they do it every day.

They know how to do it.

And it's beautiful.

(Vicky) But I love that Naysan chose to bring in these huge, really organically shaped round, circular oblong.

And the designs on them are very circular.

You know, where the West got is very linear.

You know, it looks like the plains.

You got these things coming out and very square.

And Naysan brought in all of this circular pottery.

So I think that's why it was such a beautiful exhibition in there, was because of that contrast of organic shapes.

So I don't sign my pottery.

I use a stamp that says Miami Valley Pottery because it's not about me necessarily.

It's not about me as a personality.

In the scheme of things, when you think about the history, I want my work to be used.

And I want it to be used for generations, obviously.

But I'm just one potter from generations and thousands of years of potters.

Puppetry is an ancient tradition that has its roots in folklore, religion, and magic.

Tucson-based puppeteer Lisa Stearz was captivated at an early age and built a life around the art form.

The founder of Red Herring Puppets, she now shares her love of puppet theater with the community through performance and education.

♪ SOFT PIANO ♪ (Lisa) Puppetry as an art form grew out of religious ritual and folklore.

It has 4,000-year history that we even know of.

And I feel part of that historic, ancient tradition.

I'm Lisa Stearz with Red Herring Puppets.

I really became interested in puppetry at an early age.

My grandma was a travel agent.

She would bring back dolls from all different countries, Thailand, Japan.

I remember the elaborate costuming.

I started copying that, and my trolls were very well dressed.

I was shy, and I took a class after school at a community center in puppetry, and it kind of brought out a lot of things for me.

In college, I was a theater major, but I also majored in comparative mythology and religion.

So I did my whole thesis as a puppet show.

I was sent to the National Theater Institute for a semester.

I met Rufus and Margo Rose.

They did one of the first full-length puppet films.

Rufus taught me how to carve marionettes.

At the time, he'd never worked with a woman, but I was working with all the power tools, so he called me Henry.

Couldn't quite handle me being a girl.

He was one of the founders of an organization, the Puppeteers of America.

One of his last words to me was, "You need to be active with the Puppeteers of America," and I have been ever since then.

[ SPEAKING SPANISH ] "And so, it is my pleasure to introduce a story from Cuba" (Maria) I was able to have the opportunity to work with Lisa to create this bilingual show.

She had this idea three years ago.

She asked if I would be willing to help translate and be part of it, even create the set, making puppets, and it's something that I was able to experience with my son.

(Caleb) I found out that I'm going to be in the show.

At the time, I knew barely anything about puppeteering, but Miss Lisa taught me a lot.

It's important to me as a puppeteer to teach the next generation.

The tree, I think, went up a lot smoother this time, too, which is really good.

These are, who was this guy?

Kyle.

Kyle.

And Diddle Dum.

Diddle Dum.

He could introduce himself.

I am Mobo.

Mobo is made out of foam pipe cleaners, pom poms, and buttons.

I started making puppets after school.

It brought so much joy to my life, so it's really important for me to give that back.

And then I think you guys should stay, and you two do the solo.

We're just going to try it, and we'll see what happens.

♪ CHIPTUNE RENTIDION OF "CARTOONS" ♪ (Lisa) I've done hundreds of residencies in schools, working with curriculum, working with arts and education.

(Maria) One of the wonderful things about this program with Puppet Camp was that the kids were able to use their creativity.

They would come up with a personality and come up with a storyline, and they would learn to work together on creating this story that they could perform for their families.

[CHILDREN SINGING] (Lisa) When I approach a puppet show, it's usually the story that drives me.

So it's kind of before the conducting.

And it's, do the characters need to fly?

Do they transform?

Do they become giants?

And that will determine what style of puppet to use.

Is it a marionette?

Is it on strings?

[singing] Then I'll come up with a design concept, but I usually do some drawings.

A puppet I'm working on now, I want the sheep's eyes to pop out of his head.

That determines a lot of things, and I'll make the mechanism first.

Mechanisms determine a lot of how I joint it.

With marionettes, I often say it's like a musical instrument, a stringed instrument, where you place the string and how taut the string is, will affect the movements of the character.

This is winding the strings so that they don't get tangled in transit.

I'm here with red herring puppets, and I'm just about to start setting up our set for Hansel and Gretel.

The idea that puppets are for children exclusively is wrong.

I'm starting to learn all about, especially if you're operating something like a marionette, the technique that can go into that, and you can really have an expansive and sort of complicated approach.

So working with Lisa, watching her work, just copying her movements, that's been most of what it is so far.

And Hansel, I lock in my wooden cage.

(Lisa) I absolutely love collaborating.

Music has always been a part of performing for me.

At one point, one of the puppets I was responsible for was a 40-foot dragon.

I had 17 manipulators, and I had to direct it and choreograph it with the actors.

And when we did our dress rehearsal, Zubin Mehta was conducting.

The first time we did it, Zubin was clapping and jumping up and down, and that was one of the most exciting moments of my life.

One of the biggest challenges of puppet making in the modern era is it's really an endangered species.

Getting funding, part of it is also the idea that anybody can do it.

I guess that would be just the outside image of what puppetry is compared to what it's really like to run a puppet theater.

I formed a partnership with the Scoundrel and Scamp Theater in the historic Y downtown.

Bryan Falcon welcomed me.

It's a marriage made in heaven.

(Bryan) I do remember in grade school about how once a year this marionette theater that would come to a small town in northern Indiana, and I think that's where my love of puppets comes from, that way that can just transform life.

It brings a shine to living.

I love the storytelling.

I love how it's uncanny expression of the real, can convey stories in ways otherwise cannot be communicated.

When we found out that Red Herring was interested in possibly working with us, my heart sang, and I said yes.

We knew that this was a space where we could not only just bring more joy, more performances to our stage.

"Ribbit, ribbit, now that I've shared the God secret with you, share it."

(Betsy) Also to launch some of these educational initiatives and make sure that we are engaging with really young audiences through a medium that is just delightful, and that does grow that love of the arts and that brings lessons and sometimes big questions to children in a way that is not preachy but is fun and accessible.

"That's right.

A hungry cat lives by that fence.

- Un gato.

- Si, cuidense.

Be careful.

Okay, Mama."

I love that you could really make them do anything.

You could make them do anything.

Yeah, it's like you could be silly with them.

You could be serious.

You could be, it's like you could take on a whole different personality with them.

The hearing has so much you could do with it.

Yes.

What am I?

I've wondered that myself many times.

I'm a puppet and I'm an alien and I'm a lovable friend.

(Lisa) Puppets kind of inhabit that inner world between God and man.

They're not real, but they're animate and I love exploring that kind of in between state.

"Have you ever wondered where chocolate came from?"

(Lisa) And for me puppets are perfect mediators between the conscious and the unconscious.

"It's been really fun for me visiting planet Earth because I get to see so many different cultures and people from all kinds of places.

And you know what I learned that all people have a really nice heart.

There's love everywhere on this planet."

And that's a wrap this week on State of the Arts.

Thanks as always for spending this time with us.

We'll see you next week.