[Narrator] Funding for The Art Show is made possible by...

The L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation.

The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation.

The George & Margaret McLane Foundation.

Additional funding provided by... And viewers like you.

Thank you.

In this edition of the art show: meet a high-energy dance team.

(melodious instrumental music) Artwork that's a cut above the rest.

(melodious instrumental music) Raising awareness of endangered wildlife.

(melodious instrumental music) And computer-generated illustrations from the 1960s.

(melodious instrumental music) It's all ahead on this edition of The Art Show.

(melodious instrumental music) Hi, I'm Rodney Veal and welcome to The Art Show, where each week we provide access to local, regional and national artists and arts organizations.

Based in Beavercreek, Ohio, The Quest Special Force All Star Dance Team provides a safe learning space for youth and young adults with special needs.

This high energy dance family meets twice a week to practice their moves.

I dare you to keep up!

Here's their story.

Dance means the world to me.

I've been dancing all my life.

It took me a while to get involved into the studio form of it.

We just, it cost a lot of money back then and we just really didn't have the funds to enroll me into a dance studio.

So as I got older, I decided to choose the career of dance and go to college for it and get a degree in dance and business.

I dance all the time.

It takes care of everything for me.

Mentally, emotionally, everything.

When you dance, something does happen to your brain.

It releases happiness, I think.

- [Narrator] The way Richie sees it, happiness is a gift to be shared.

And with that, his life took a turn.

(melodious instrumental music) ♪ Analogue, animal ♪ I had a dance studio inside the Dayton Mall and there was a student that would go by like mall walkers.

And he was in a wheelchair.

Every time the music was playing and they would go around, he would get up out of his wheelchair and he would come into the dance studio just for a little bit to dance because it was moving him and he just felt it.

And I started to look at that and realized like maybe there's not a lot of opportunity out there for kids on the spectrum to dance and be a part of a studio and grow, or be a part of a dance team.

So that's when I decided to focus on the special needs community.

[Narrator] That focus made a real difference, for kids like Garrett Harp.

Garrett has been going to Quest for almost two years now.

It's really just a great place for him.

He got reacquainted with his friends that he's known for years through high school and grade school.

It's just a place where he can just let loose, which is really important because he's in a structured day usually between job training, life skills, and it's just a place for him to just let his hair down.

He just is the biggest joy in class.

He has so much fun and all his friends are here.

I just love watching him perform and dance.

Yeah, cheer, cheer, cheers, see.

[Narrator] Miriam McDaniel and her mother, Margo, are always looking for artistic opportunities.

We found out about Quest Special Forces and we went out and watched it once and signed up right away.

Just because it's the style, she enjoys the style, the atmosphere, the friendliness.

(upbeat techno music) My dance team is so supportive.

Sometimes I just stand there at first until I say to myself, "See it and be it."

And I will start doing, doing the dance.

I just immediately just do it.

She dances with her heart on her sleeve.

She shows all her best moves all the time.

She's an amazing student.

(upbeat techno music) (upbeat techno music) Learning how to work with kids on the spectrum, it's different.

It helps you grow as an instructor.

It helps you grow as a choreographer and a person.

I think you oughta just bend your knees just a little bit when you're doing that, okay?

Ready, let's practice.

Five, six, seven, go.

Each student is different, but you learn from working with them.

He is just the best.

I've never, ever seen somebody so in tune with every kid in the class.

So down to earth, nothing bothers him.

He's just a good soul.

Anybody that's on the spectrum, anybody that has any disabilities is more than welcome to join Special Forces.

It gives them an opportunity to be a part of a dance family that is open to everybody in the community.

[Narrator] Because whoever you are, when you really feel the music, it can change everything.

Sometimes my heart is telling me that I am broken, and I just need to start doing something.

And I will start doing the dance.

And that's when I would just dance to my content.

Everybody needs an outlet and just the connection with people.

Having friends that they can come and dance with and have a good time with.

This experience has changed me mentally and emotionally and all around.

It's something that it's hard to explain, but it's given me life.

It's given me hope that everybody in this world can be accepted for who they are.

And they can also be a part of what everybody else is doing.

It's a beautiful thing, a magical moment.

And it's something that you can't buy at the store.

You got to be here and you got to have an open heart to it.

And you'll see that the blessings are there.

[Narrator] If you'd like to learn more about this, or any other story on today's show, visit us online at cetconnect.org or thinktv.org.

Our next story take us to Columbus to meet fabric artist Doncee Coulter.

Using an X-Acto knife, he works with leathers, suedes, and denims to render one-of-a-kind, textured artworks.

Let's watch and learn more about how he does it.

I grew up in Columbus, Ohio.

I went to Columbus High School.

After I graduated high school, I went to CCAD, took up ad design and illustration.

But somehow I ended up doing fabric artwork.

So that's a totally different story.

It started with just growing up in the hip-hop era.

We used to love to just create and we would go to Schottenstein's and we would buy these partly torn jean jackets, and then we would even tear 'em up even some more.

And then what I would do would paint on either like, denim, sometimes even just canvas.

We'd get a seamstress and she would sew in some of the scenes into the jacket.

So that kind of really got me into studying fabric.

After a while, I would start going to the fabric stores and just start buying fabric and just creating clothes just freehand.

Just didn't know anything about patterns, I was just basically just being basically my creative self.

Well the technique, I guess, It's a collage style.

So it's a process of where I'm taking something and I'm just putting layers on top of layers.

(melodious instrumental music) Obviously, I'll start from the background and move it up to the foreground.

When I initially started working, they were more or less, like, two-tone pieces.

And I would go into art galleries and I would look at my work, compare it to other paintings, and I said, okay, I've got to do better.

I've got to step what I'm doing.

I was like, I want to take this to a level of where it looks like a painting.

So there was a lot of trial and errors and a lot of experimenting.

In the beginning, my pieces were really bulky, 'cause I would use the more heavier fabrics.

When I learned a technique for cutting the thinner fabrics, that was, it was almost like game over for me.

Because at that point, I was able to put shadows and highlights and bring more different elements into my artwork without it looking bulky.

That was the key.

And that's why today people look at it and they can say this looks like a painting, until you walk up on it and it's like, oh, this is just all fabric.

Oh, number one, leather and suede.

Number two would be denim.

And everything else after that.

I think that when I work with leather and suede, it just really translates really well with my pieces.

And I just love the texture of it.

And I think that it really comes out.

Denim is another totally different look.

I really like that as well.

I love blending the different types of denim together, as the same way with the leather and suedes.

My only tool to use is the X-ACTO knife.

The technique is just learning how to cut those thin fabrics with accuracy.

There are a lot of little different techniques that I use, I don't want to just kind of like disclose 'em all.

I'll go on and say one technique I'll use.

If you've got a real thin fabric, there's a certain glue that you can use, you can apply to the back of the fabric, which at that point kind of gives it more of a solid feel, and it's easier to cut.

Typically I would say about 95% of what I do, it basically comes from out of my head.

Typically I really don't use references a lot.

It's just things I just think about.

I just love to create.

So when I'm creating a piece, I really get into it.

So if I'm creating let's say a city scene, and I'm creating buildings, I'm not just an artist, I'm an architect.

If I'm doing a portrait and I'm creating a person, I am also I'm designing their outfit, designing their look.

So yeah, that's the thing, when I do a piece I am all in.

I think the funnest part is when you're right in the middle and when you can see that vision come together 'cause initially when you're creating a piece, you're like, oh, is this gonna work?

And then as you're working, you're like, oh, I'm starting to see it now.

It's coming together.

On the flip side, the worst part I think is coming towards the end, trying to finish that piece.

Cause at that point, you're ready to move on to the next piece, and that's when you really have to be careful 'cause you're like, no, stop, take your time.

Make sure you complete this correctly.

One of the reasons why I use the bird, it represents freedom.

And when I first started doing artwork, I kind of felt like that actor that gets typecast.

People were expecting me to do a certain type of artwork.

And one of the reasons why I adapted that bird, 'cause that bird allows me to do anything I want to do.

You know, if I want to do an abstract piece, it's gonna be, I'll do that tomorrow.

Portraits, landscapes, anything.

Sports pieces.

I do it all.

If I feel it, I'm gonna do it.

Art is my therapy.

I really hope that for the viewer that it affects them the way that it affects me.

So a lot of times, if I'm dealing with something, I go into my studio.

The art is that's my release.

And I'm able to just basically deal with stress in that way.

So I want that to be conveyed with my artwork with also the viewer.

So that's one of the things I want to also accomplish with some of these my new pieces as well.

So I really hope that resonates with the viewer.

Did you miss an episode of The Art Show?

No problem!

You can watch it on demand at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org.

You'll find all the previous episodes, as well as current episodes, and links to the artists we feature.

Artist Ali Armstrong has a flair for illustration and a passion for wildlife activism.

In 2014, she started an art series called "Scarce" to raise awareness of endangered species.

Some of her artwork has even raised money for the Cincinnati Zoo's conservation programs.

Here's her story.

(melodious instrumental music) My name is Ali Armstrong and I'm a wildlife artist and activist.

"Scarce" is an art series that I do that is my way of raising awareness for animals at risk and sharing their story.

The way I add color in "Scarce" is in a very specific way.

So I paint extinct animals in black and white and I add a little bit of color to endangered animals.

The amount of color that I add is proportional to the remaining species population, to represent hope for the animals that we still have and we want to protect.

And so it's kind of a visual story.

So when somebody looks at it they say, "Well what is the color, "why does that represent what it represents "and how can we help?"

I like to partner with different wildlife organizations and conservancies.

We will decide an animal and donate 10% of all sales to conservation programs and fighting illegal wildlife trade.

For instance, I partnered with Boon Lott's Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand and they gave me a photo to paint of Wassana, which is an elephant in the sanctuary and I did an Asian elephant portrait of her and the person who buys the original painting actually adopts the elephant for the year.

So we're not only getting the word out but we're also providing.

For the Sumatran rhino there are fewer than 90 rhinos left in the wild.

And my husband and I took a cross-country motorcycle trip and we visited zoos across middle America and that's where I met Harapan the Sumatran rhino and he was the last Sumatran rhino in North America until recently when he moved back to the island of Sumatra.

But I painted a picture of him to donate to raise money for the Cincinnati Zoo's conservation programs.

And in his painting specifically I only added a very small amount of color to represent the remaining species.

A fun new element that I like to do is put 24 karat gold leaf on my paintings instead of the color.

I do add it the same way, proportional to the remaining species population but it is 24 karat gold which I feel like deepens the message.

When I paint I try to paint an animal portrait that's the animal's living its life.

It's not aggressive but yet it's doing its thing.

And I want to portray the animal correctly.

I figure out where I want the subject and where I put the negative space and then I'll color block the values that I see.

And then from there, once I have it relatively laid out it doesn't have to be perfect, I will start going in and adding details.

And I always start with the eyes no matter what.

I began my career as the portrait artist doing families and babies and I always felt like the eyes are the most important part.

They give you insight to the personality, what they've lived, and so I carried that over to my wildlife portraits.

I'm currently showing at Riverside Studios in downtown Truckee.

And there are five owners at Riverside and they all do art in different ways so they show everything that they do at their gallery and then they also invite other local artists in to have the chance to show as well.

Another thing that I love to do is be a part of Truckee Thursdays.

It's where local artisans set up shop in downtown Truckee.

And I do live painting events and one of them was at Sotheby's.

And we had some music there and it was a good time connecting with our local people and had a good time sharing about what was going on in the wildlife world.

A lot of people aren't aware of the illegal wildlife trade and the severity of it.

And a lot of people aren't aware that the rhinos are in such imminent danger.

The northern white rhino, there are only two left right now.

The last male died in March.

So I love sharing these facts with people.

And it makes them aware and then they start realizing and then they start questioning, "Gosh, what else is going on, "what other animals aren't doing so well right now?"

And then it also brings about the idea of donation and giving back, and I love that aspect.

And so we get to talk about that as well and that's really fun.

I believe that God created these beautiful creatures.

And he's given them to us in our care.

And in that, we've proven to be poor stewards by losing these animals to extinction.

And I want to change that and I think we can change that.

I have three kids, I have a three-year old, a two-year old and a nine-month old.

And it's important to me that they have the opportunity to see these animals in real life, in the wild, and not miss out on that.

So I hope to raise awareness and give a call to action, donate, and share their story through art.

(melodious instrumental music) The Art Show is going to be traveling around Southwestern Ohio.

You might see this logo in your neighborhood.

Follow the travels of The Art Show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at thinktv and cetconnect.

And check out The Art Show hashtag.

Developed in 1968 at the University of New Mexico, the computer program Art1 gave artists the opportunity to explore digital art-making.

One of these artists was abstract painter Frederick Hammersley, who made over 150 groundbreaking illustrations using Art1 and a dot matrix printer.

Let's watch.

(melodious electronic instrumental music) The movement that started with computers at UNM was really cool.

(melodious electronic instrumental music) The program ART1 becomes the medium that the artist uses and it's an entirely new medium.

(melodious electronic instrumental music) What happened was, a whole bunch of artists took over technology that was meant for other purposes, like payrolls and nuclear weapons.

And they played with it.

They made something visually interesting and completely unexpected out of it.

(melodious electronic instrumental music) Hammersley was the kind of an artist who functioned well within limits.

(melodious electronic instrumental music) Over the course of several hundred works, he did more than anyone else to explore the parameters of what was possible with ART1.

He was very interested in, within a boundary, if the boundaries were clear, his type of art was to move all around to every possible corner of that sort of walled garden, exploring the possibilities, up and down, in and out, back and forth.

It's reducing a visual idea to a set of instructions.

And, computers that, this is still true, computers are very stupid.

They have to be told exactly everything down to the last parameter.

And so this kind of thing appealed to Hammersley.

Working through a language like that.

He was, that was his kind of thing.

He flourished under it for the better part of two years.

He devoted almost all of his attention to creating artworks with ART1.

(melodious instrumental music) Hammersley had a great sense of humor.

He was always making jokes.

He often gave his works titles that had sort of a play on words in them.

Like "Take A Moment For You".

And then in a prominent place in the work would be the letter "u", you know.

And so he was always, he was looking for ways to use humor to kind of demystify art and make it more user friendly.

(melodious instrumental music) What's going on is that they're taking a line printer that prints numbers and letters and math symbols, and they're using those symbols in a new way to take the old meaning out of them and give them a new purely visual meaning within the framework of a page of computer paper.

The big discussion back then was the two cultures.

We have a scientific culture and a literary culture or an artistic culture, and they have nothing to say to each other.

After World War II, this was the cultural debate back then, because you have avant-garde art that very few people understand, and then you have avant-garde science, some of which is like top secret.

Where's the meeting point?

Guess what?

ART1 is the meeting point.

(melodious instrumental music) What I loved about Hammersley's art is its originality basically.

He had a show of these works in Albuquerque and the reviewer said "it's sort of interesting to see "something used for tax forms now becoming art."

And that's the biggest surprise of this whole thing.

You don't expect it.

You're like, "what's this?"

And any time an artist gets you to sort of wonder where you are at that moment, then they've succeeded.

They've challenged the way you look at stuff.

And Hammersley, he accomplished that.

(melodious instrumental music) ART1 can expand our understanding of what art is because, look, the computer that they used did the payroll for UNM.

It participated in the Manhattan Project making nuclear weapons.

It did the scientific and mathematical calculations for the science departments.

And guess what?

It made art.

It, it was something, it was a corner of creativity in a very esoteric and even top secret world.

That's inspiring.

That's a cool thing.

If you want to see more from The Art Show, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

You'll find us at thinktv and cetconnect.

And don't forget to check out The Art Show channel on YouTube.

And that wraps it up for this edition of The Art Show.

Until next time, I'm Rodney Veal.

Thanks for watching.

(melodious instrumental music) [Narrator] Funding for The Art Show is made possible by...

The L&L Nippert Charitable Foundation.

The Robert and Adele Schiff Family Foundation.

The George & Margaret McLane Foundation.

Additional funding provided by... And viewers like you.

Closed captioning in part has been made possible through a grant from The Bahmann Foundation.

Thank you.