- [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.

(gentle jazz music) - [Kabir] Coming up, the Lake County Captain's go to bat for Northeast Ohio artists.

A 20th century American muralist is remembered by her great-granddaughter, plus a crooner from Columbus shows off her sultry vocals and sassy songwriting.

♪ I keep it in a bag for later ♪ (upbeat music) It is time for another round of "Applause" my friends, I'm Ideastream Public Media's, Kabir Bhatia.

(crowd chattering) The Lake County Captains might be a minor league baseball team, but they've got major plans when it comes to giving opportunity to young artists.

During the last two seasons, the captains hired current students or recent graduates of the Cleveland Institute of Art to celebrate America's pastime.

(bright music) - I think one of the things that's so great about minor league baseball is you get to really experience the local culture in ways that you ordinarily wouldn't get to do and bring them all together in a baseball park.

(crowd chattering) - I think sports is a great form of like storytelling, like there's always an arch with every game I think, that lends itself to art and illustration really well.

(crowd chattering) (bright music) - I think bringing art and sports together is very important.

People don't see how much art is interconnected, like you know the logos in our mascots, in our merchandise, in our stadium, like it's all over.

(bright music) - So we're the High-A, affiliate of the Guardians.

They handle all the players and everything that goes on the field and we handle everything that happens off the field.

Lake County was a really, really great opportunity, The Guardians are a tremendous organization and we've been so proud to be associated with them.

In the last two years we've really been working with a lot of local artists and trying to build up a whole different element to Captain's game that maybe weren't present before.

We came in last year and started working with all the local artists, a lot of the younger artists as well who are still in art school have been really, really excited about the artists and finding a lot of really great gems and brilliant artists in this area.

- When I heard from the Lake County Captains that they were looking for local artists, I actually heard from a few other friends at CIA that also got the email.

- It felt kind of random to me, I remember I was like sitting in school and I got an email.

At first I was like, is this a scam?

I don't know what it is.

- We looked more into the Lake County Captains, 'cause we were like, oh isn't this the local baseball, like the minor league team?

(upbeat music) (crowd cheering) (crowd chattering) (crowd clapping) - I talked to a friend who had done the art program before.

- And we're really excited that they actually reached out to us, like seniors in college for a professional gig.

- I decided to do it.

I was really excited about it.

It was my first opportunity of like working with somebody to create something.

- It felt really validating that they chose us to do merchandise to be sold in their stores.

- This is my first time doing any sort of freelance work and it was really great to figure out how that works and especially not being somebody who's too into sports, doing more research with that and figuring out how to make something that is very much me, but also represents something else too.

- [Emily] I graduated at CIA in 2023.

I studied illustration.

- [Rey] I just graduated from CIA, I was an illustration student.

I'm really interested in product and packaging design.

- I didn't watch a lot of baseball but I did play a lot of softball since I was in third grade, I think - I've never been a sports person.

I went to a spring training game, I went there thinking, oh I'm gonna be bored this whole time, it's not gonna be fun, I'm just gonna go to be with family or whatever and then I ended up having like a really good time.

It was great.

- Posters and artwork makes a game an event and we want every day in Lake County Captains to be a event.

We give the artists all the same brief and we tell them we want you to express yourself, we want you to tell us what's great, we want you to develop these pieces.

- They just wanted me to choose one of the other teams.

- Celebrating the game, celebrating like the vibe of what a game is, it was very open-ended.

- I like the Sky Carps from Wisconsin, because their mascot was a goose, but their name isn't directly geese.

I think it was really creative so I wanted to include them in the poster as well with the Captain as a battle poster.

So designing the Sky Carp, I wanted to include its wing so it looked like it was in action, ready to go.

(chuckles) Since I know how to play softball, I could make my own reference poses for the captain with his batting, it kinda looks like he's gonna hit the guys but he's ready, it's a battle bag, you know.

- I looked at a lot of like pictures of mascots and they just like made me really happy.

I did a lot of like doodles in my sketchbook of them.

I think I was just looking through and seeing which team seemed to have like a most fun name honestly and Loons are really cool to me.

I think they're really interesting with their like right eyes.

So I thought that would be cool to capture.

So I came up with a concept of the mascot for the Lake County captains sitting next to the Loons from the Great Lake Loons and like the Loon is looking kind of sad, because there's a home run hang by from the captains and the mascot from the captains is like really excited about it.

(upbeat music) - I am impressed that these are students.

The one that makes me giggle the most is the one that has the Captain who looks like he's in a old time bathing suit.

(upbeat music) I love the waves and the monster that it's getting split here, love that one.

(upbeat music) - We want to use this to showcase these great artists and if we can give them a leg up, if this can be an opportunity where someone else sees their work and gives them a great opportunity, that's our goal.

- I've always been taught that like you need to send out a bunch of cold emails and really market yourself to be like good as an artist and so to have somebody reach out to me and like see my work and want to work with me for something was really important.

- I was really excited to add it to my portfolio, because it gave me a chance to be like, oh, I can do some vector art, I can do some poster designs, I can make T-shirts, so it gave me like a chance to have not only like different mediums, but also different applied arts.

- It was also my first freelance opportunity, so that meant a lot to me to really start getting out there and doing work for clients.

- I've had some employers and clients ask about this project since it was actually used in stores for merchandise that people purchased.

- I think it was one of the things that made American Greetings look at me for my internship there.

It was definitely a great opportunity.

- It was a really fun project.

(upbeat music) (horn blaring) (announcer speaks indistinctly) - Knowing that this is a vehicle that students can use to get it, expose their craft elsewhere is quite an opportunity.

I think that that's a great thing that they've partnered up like that, I hope it continues.

- We wanna build art into the stadium, into our program, into our team.

We have plans to create murals throughout the stadium, so we are here as a resource for artists to be able to expand and we hope that they come to us and we'll continue to outreach to them and we'll build this into something very special.

(upbeat music) - [Kabir] The Lake County Captains play at Classic Park in East Lake.

In Columbus, Painter Jessica Wojtasek captures cityscapes in and around her hometown of Clintonville.

Let's take a walk with the artist to her beloved stomping ground.

(gentle music) - I like to paint places that I'm close to that I know.

When it's raining, I like to paint reflections.

So I'll go in the Short North, for example with my camera.

I'll go get a bunch of reference shots of areas of town that I think are iconic and kind of resonate with me or I've had a good experience at.

I focus mostly on like neighborhoods, like the Short North, Clintonville, German Village areas where I spend a lot of time.

For some of my photos, I'll ask like a building owner, if I can go and get reference shots, like for example the folks at the Hilton let me go in the top floor of the hotel to get some reference shots.

I do use all of my own like original photos.

It's not a drone or anything.

I'll go high up and get photos if I can get in the top story of a building or on a rooftop.

The view from the Joseph is from the top floor of that hotel and the middle one is from the catwalk in between the Hilton and the Convention Center.

Then when I get home I kind of look through those and piece 'em together and figure out what I kind of wanna build from there and then yeah, I just kind of select a few and just sketch 'em out and work from there.

So I usually like to start with a basic grid just to get things into perspective, so I don't really completely overwork it and redraw it.

Like the under drawing is really just a suggestion and some guidelines, but I like to make sure I get the perspective like pretty accurate, just to give myself kind of a head start.

So a lot of people use grids, some people are opposed to them.

I really like it, just 'cause it helps me get a frame of reference and get things into perspective from the get go and then I completely paint over it.

(pencil scratching) I also like to tone my canvas either like a burnt sienna or a gray or a red, just as an initial base layer to start the palette and set the tone.

Sometimes I'll paint the same scene multiple times with different palettes just to really explore ways of studying color.

(upbeat music) For me, light shadow color perspective are all really important components of the painting and I do plan out my color palettes pretty intentionally.

For some, I choose a more limited color palette if it's like a moodier scene or like a day scene where it's really rainy and for some, like at night in the Short North especially, it's really vibrant and energetic.

So I'll use something that's a little more expressive just to kind of convey the energy and the mood.

I am really interested too in light temperature, like there's different temperatures from a cool light versus a warm light, so it's really fun to convey like warm light from an interior versus like cool light from a straight light.

Those are just things I like to pay attention to and the little details that are really rewarding for me.

I fight with it a little in the beginning and really just figuring out the right balance of warm, cool, light, dark, so I would say like that it's not really a struggle, but it is, it's kind of the problem solving and striking a balance, so I would say that's what's rewarding about it to me.

(gentle music) What I want people to take away is a connection to a place and a space.

I want people to have the same connection and the same warm feelings like Columbus is a big small city, so a lot of the places I paint, people have a connection to and know, so that's what I want people to take away, is just the warmth and sense of place.

(gentle music) Columbus is just a really great place to grow as an artist and there's so many opportunities here to show your work and really engage with the community.

(gentle music) - [Kabir] If you're looking for artistic ideas happening in northeast Ohio, we've got an excellent resource for you.

It's our free weekly newsletter, the To-Do List featuring cultural events and the latest local arts news.

Sign up online at arts.ideastream.org.

20th century American Muralist, Hildreth Meiere found great success with her modern art deco style.

Between 1920 and 1960, she created works from Nebraska to New York City.

(bright gentle music) - I am Anna Kupik and I am the president of the International Hildreth Meiere Association, also known as IHMA, as well as the great-granddaughter of Hildreth Meiere.

Today we're here at Temple Emanuel in New York City in the landmark district in Manhattan.

Temple Emanuel is the largest synagogue in the world and can host 2,500 people.

Hildreth Meiere was one of the most renowned American muralists of the 20th century.

Her career lasted for over 40 years, starting in the 1920s until 1961 when she passed away.

She pioneered a modern approach to murals.

Hildreth really broke away from academic tradition and blended influences such as early Byzantine mosaic, Egyptian wall painting, classical Greek vase painting and Native American bead work.

She really incorporated vibrant color, scale and ornamental style, which were all elements that really became synonymous with art deco designs.

Hildreth and the architects that she worked with would have likely defined their stylistic approach as modernistic.

Term Art Deco wasn't really expressed until the mid 1960s.

She designed approximately a hundred commissions, both secular and liturgical.

Generally, Hildreth design process would start small in sketch form and then she would also utilize smaller studies.

Hildreth provided the design but however did not install the work herself.

Fabricators and installation firms would be hired and in the case of St. Bartholomew and Temple Emanuel, Puhl and Wagner's Berlin factory was used to fabricate.

Hildreth got to visit the factory to learn everything that she could about the mosaic making process and its execution.

Hildreth was selected to provide the Byzantine style glass mosaic decoration for the eight story high arch of the main sanctuary that encases the Bema and the ark housing the Torahs on the eastern wall behind it.

(bright music) Temple Emanuel and the work at St. Bartholomew's were completed in close succession.

Over 20 years after the dedication of St. Bart's, Hildreth was asked to design six figurative clearstories stained glass windows.

(whimsical music) Unfortunately, Hildreth was only able to complete four out of the six proposed windows.

I feel she can be very proud of her first stained glass work and how all three of her commissions, the apse and narthex and those stained glass windows are in harmony.

John D. Rockefeller junior proceeded with building Radio City Music Hall and the over Rockefeller Center complex, despite the stock market crash.

Hildreth was asked to design three roundels for the 50th Street Facade, which are up 60 feet high above the Radio City marquee and the three roundels were chosen to represent the three forms of theater, song, drama, and dance.

The completed work also represents Hildreth's first time and the first time in general, that metal and enamel decoration were used on such a large architectural scale in the US.

Hildreth was quite an enthusiastic fan of theater and ballet.

While she was attending performances, she would very intensely observe all the action on stage.

Among her subjects was the legendary actress, Margaret Anglin known for her role in Greek tragedies and Shakespearean dramas.

Anglin was so impressed by Hildreth's ability to capture the spirit of the performances that she asked Hildreth to attend her rehearsals.

Not only did Anglin purchase all of the Hildreth sketches, she encouraged Hildreth to relocate to New York City in order to design costumes for a series of plays that Anglin was appearing at and within a week, Hildreth met with Livingston Platt, Anglin's costume and set designer in New York.

She designed costumes for the Canterbury Pilgrims, a Reginald De Koven Opera that debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1917.

When Wall Street was completed in 1931, the primary goal of the commission was to create a really warm, inviting reception room for the Irving Trust Company.

The challenge was that the room was irregular and faceted with undulating walls that echoed the curved limestone panels of the building's exterior.

Irregular shade makes it difficult to see a repeat in the abstract design, but the patterns are actually repeated on opposite walls and if you're ever in the red room, you should look for the stamps that indicate how they laid out those panels.

This commission allowed Hildreth to demonstrate talent for creating drama solely through the use of color.

The color gradation moves from the floor in an oxblood red to brilliant orange and then into a gold glow.

Hildreth Meiere's final corporate commission, final New York Area commission were the three large panels in marble mosaic to decorate the walls above the elevator banks at the Prudential Plaza in Newark, New Jersey.

Hildreth selected the pillars of Hercules as her theme in recognition of the Prudential Insurance company's logo, the Rock of Gibraltar.

Once again, she created a narrative art deco design, influenced by ancient Greek vase painting and mythology.

When the lobby for the Prudential Plaza was renovated in the late nineties, Hildreth three panels were removed and placed in storage.

Unfortunately, they faced extensive damage.

In 2013, Tony Schiavo, who had been the head mosaicist and was responsible for the original fabrication of the panels, came out of retirement to work with master mosaicist Steven Miyamoto of Miyamoto Mosaics on the restoration.

Once the restoration was complete, Prudential donated the center panel to the Newark Museum of Art where it can be seen today.

The International Hildreth Meiere Association, also known as IHMA, was founded in 2004 by my grandmother Louise Meiere-Dunn, who was Hildreth only child.

IHMA is uniquely positioned to educate the public since we have a firsthand account of her life, including diaries, letters and pictures.

The house I grew up in Sanford, Connecticut housed a lot of Hildreth sketches and studies and was her summer home, so her spirit and her art was everywhere in the background of my childhood and I'm really thankful to have a consistent connection to Hildreth my whole life.

Most people think they need to go to Europe to see beautiful architecture and decorative art, but Hildreth brought it here to 17 states across the country.

She created something for everyone.

Hildreth created a huge body of work in a relatively short period of time.

She contributed to architectural structures and decorative art that are relevant today.

She created work that is not only representative of that art deco time period, but has stood the test of time and is now being appreciated by future generations.

- [Kabir] Hildreth Meiere also created an altar piece in 1947 for Madonna Hall, a nursing home in Cleveland.

Today however, the location of the altarpiece, if it still exists, is unknown.

If you or anyone you know has information on this lost Cleveland artwork by Hildreth Meiere, send an email to arts@ideastream.org.

Here's a look at what's coming up next time on "Applause."

We spotlight a retrospective of a longtime Kent State University art professor.

Look back on 50 years of Charles Baum's bold, colorful landscapes, plus learn about the extraordinary life of Ohio born activist Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States and we welcome Cleveland Bluesman, Wallace Coleman to our studios for a harmonica masterclass.

All that and more on the next round of "Applause."

(upbeat jazz music) Thank you for joining us, everyone.

I'm Ideastream Public Media's, Kabir Bhatia.

It's time to put the wraps on this round of "Applause" as we leave you with Ohio based singer songwriter, Meg Paulsen.

Here she is with her trio performing her original song, "In A Bag" ♪ I keep it in a bag for later ♪ ♪ Use it whenever I want ♪ ♪ Somehow manage to keep my composure ♪ ♪ And keep my punches nonchalant, oh ♪ ♪ I'm no good with money ♪ ♪ You're no artist with truth ♪ ♪ And if it ever gets to that point again ♪ ♪ Well I know just what you'd do ♪ ♪ Yes I do ♪ ♪ So you can throw the rest of it in a bag ♪ ♪ 'Cause of what you went and hid ♪ ♪ Yes you know just what you did ♪ ♪ I hear you crying for a virgin savior ♪ ♪ Like you're burning on a stick ♪ ♪ 'Cause you know just what you did ♪ (gentle jazz music) ♪ So you can throw the rest of it in a bag ♪ ♪ 'Cause of what you went and hid ♪ ♪ Yes you know just what you did ♪ ♪ I hear you crying for a virgin savior ♪ ♪ Like you're burning on a stick ♪ ♪ 'Cause I know just what you did ♪ ♪ So reckless with integrity ♪ ♪ It seals the sweetest part of me ♪ ♪ In a chasm within guarded by my sins ♪ (gentle jazz music) ♪ So throw the rest of it in a bag ♪ (bright dramatic music) - [Announcer] Production of "Applause" on Ideastream Public Media is made possible by funding by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.