Art in the Air features fiber artists Laura Gutzweiler and Pent Eppler, who will be exhibiting at the 2024 For the Love of Art Fair. The spotlight is also on the 59th presentation of the Michigan City Messiah, a long-standing holiday tradition in Northwest Indiana. The conductor, Phil Bauman, discusses the community choir and professional soloists involved. The Messiah will be held at the Holcraf Performing Arts Center. The transition to the new venue has been positive, offering a more spacious and acoustically pleasing environment. The concert is free with a goodwill offering. More information can be found on the mcmessiah.com website.
This week on Art in the Air, we feature a pair of fiber artists who will be exhibiting at the 2024 For the Love of Art Fair. Using natural wool and silk fibers, Laura Gutzweiler mimics traditional painting techniques with her art, while Pent Eppler creates a whimsical fiber sculptures from recycled objects and fabrics in his. Our spotlights on the 59th presentation of Michigan City's The Messiah. Welcome, you're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, WVLP 103.1 FM, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond.
I'm Larry Breckner of New Perspectives Photography, right alongside here with Esther Golden of The Nest in Michigan City. Aloha, everyone. We're your hosts for Art on the Air. Art on the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Art on the Air is heard every Sunday at 7pm on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at lakeshorepublicmedia.org, and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast.
Also heard on Friday at 11am and Monday at 5pm on WVLP 103.1 FM, streaming live at wvlp.org, and Tuesdays at 4pm on WDSO 88.3 FM. Our spotlight interviews are also heard Wednesdays on Lakeshore Public Media. Information about Art on the Air is available at our website, breck.com, slash A-O-T-A. That includes a complete show archive, spotlight interviews, plus our show is available on multiple podcast platforms, including NPR One. Please like us on Facebook, Art on the Air, WVLP, for information about upcoming shows and interviews.
We'd like to welcome to Art on the Air Spotlight, we're going to be talking about the Michigan City Messiah, and it's going to be Saturday, December 16th at 7pm, and Sunday at December 17th at 3pm at the Holcraf Performing Arts Center in Michigan City, and we have its conductor, who's been there, I think, for about the ninth season, maybe longer than that, Phil Bauman. Welcome to the first time to Art on the Air Spotlight. Welcome, hi.
Hi, Ray. Yeah. And Esther, we're delighted to be a part of your program and tell your listeners about Michigan City Messiah, which, this is actually coming on to my ninth year participating in this, but it's a long-standing tradition that has been going on for about 59 seasons now, so it's certainly a— So impressive. Yeah, a stable in the communities of Michigan City and LaPorte and Northwest Indiana as a holiday tradition. And it's kind of a gift to the community.
So tell us about the participation. Who do you have coming in? First of all, you have professional soloists coming in, but you also have community members. Tell us about that whole process. Right. Well, it is a community choir, so it is certainly available to anyone who wants to participate with us. We start rehearsals in the latter part of October, performances, of course, in December, and so we have about six to eight rehearsals with the choir, and we have a steady core of people who have been with us for many years.
But each year, this year in particular, we're kind of excited because we've added about 10 new members to the group, and that's been throughout putting out posters and making announcements on social media that we're looking for new singers. We need to keep new lifeblood coming into the choir. Some people have been in this choir for many, many years, but it's getting those younger voices involved. In fact, this year we have some teenagers, actually, 14-, 15-year-olds who are great singers, and now I think it's going to shape their life as a singer because being able to be surrounded by a quality production like this, to be in the midst of talented community members who can sing well and sing this glorious music can really shape their perspective on what they might want to do with their life.
You also get some soloists in, and I know they vary from year to year, but you get some professional people that come in and do much of that. So tell us about that process and maybe some of the people that you have. Yes. Well, this year we're delighted to have, I would say, our dream team quartet, who has been with us for several years. We don't always get to get them all together at one time, but I'll start with the soprano.
That is Kim Jones, a fabulous soprano from Chicago, who has made her name nationally and internationally as a great star soprano singer. We have Kristen Gorenstein, who is a native of Michigan City, La Porte area, who's been with us almost every year but one that I've been involved with. She's our mezzo soprano. She lives in Colorado at the moment. We have as our tenor, Matt Daniel, who hails from South Bend, and he has not missed a season with me.
So he's been there with all nine years. It's great to have him as part of our soloists. He's also one of the chorus members of the Lyric Opera, so he somehow fits this into his schedule this time of year. And our bass baritone soloist is Bill McMurray, who also hails from Chicago. And I was kind of tallying things up. Over the years, we've had four bass soloists, four different bass soloists, two different mezzo sopranos, one tenor, and three different sopranos over my tenure.
But this is the group that we always hope we can get, and we have them this year, and they're just fantastic singers who the audience just is enthralled with what they can do with this oratorio. This is your dream team, apparently, so. Yes. Excellent. Don't tell the others that, but it just works out well. What has the transition to the Holdcraft been like, like acoustically? Yeah, there's a lot of differences there. We used to be in the Presbyterian Church, but when COVID hit and we needed to find a more spacious place, we went to the Holdcraft Theater.
And that worked out really well for us because it seats many hundreds of people, where the Presbyterian Church kind of got us stuck at maybe a couple hundred. Yeah, it's 800. Yeah. So that has worked really well. And it's a different space. And I think what I've enjoyed is that it's a more community-centered space. It's not a religious institution that we're performing at. And even though we do have many people come to us that aren't necessarily live a faith-based life, but they do appreciate the music of Handel and the oratorio itself.
It's been a good transition for us. There's a little more spacious room for the orchestra. We're kind of in a real pit situation, where the singers and the choir is up on the stage, and we're down at the auditorium level. And it gives it very much a concert feeling, and it's been a good acoustic for us as well. You've taken over and you've been there nine seasons. What have you seen in that nine seasons that you've transitioned from and to? Yeah.
We went from, I would say, a rather large-scale version of the orchestral accompaniment. And we've kind of brought it back to its roots of being a Baroque-sized orchestra, with just the instruments that Handel asks for. It got kind of grand in the previous time before I arrived, with the Ebenezer Prout orchestration, which is for trombones and clarinets and french horns and, you know, it was a big sound. But we've tempered it down. And then also, from a singer's standpoint, over the years, I think the last couple of years, I've stopped adding more notes.
But I have about 16 pages of notes for our new singers, and say, you know, this is how we do this. And it's as simple as saying, we make this note short, that note long, or we actually change some rhythms here and there. And so they get a nice guide as to how to integrate into what we are doing here. But it's a good way to get people involved in knowing what we're asking of them. Well, in our last few moments here, tell us about how people can find out about it, and admission, and all the details of Messiah.
A great resource is mcmessiah.com. That's our website. And they can find out about the concert. The concert is free. So there's a goodwill offering that we ask at the end of the performance, if you're so inspired to please donate. But it's our gift to the community, as you said. And this will take place on a Saturday evening, December 16th at 7 p.m., and then Sunday, December 17th at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. And this is without intermission, two hours, maybe 10 minutes of music.
And we do, I would say, about 85% of Messiah. So it's a really full product. Well, we'd like to thank you for coming on Our Near Spotlight. That's Phil Baumann, the conductor and music director for the Michigan City Messiah. Thanks so much, Phil, for coming on the show. Thank you, Philip. Thank you. Nice talking with you. Our Near Spotlight and the complete one-hour program on Lakeshore Public Media is brought to you by McAuley Real Estate in Valparaiso, Oval Patrician Senior Broker.
And as a reminder, if you'd like to have your event on Our Near Spotlight, or have a longer feature interview, email us at aotaatbrek.com. That's aotaatbrek, B-R-E-C-H, dot com. This is Whitney Reynolds of The Whitney Reynolds Show, and you are listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, and on WVLP, 103.1 FM. Underwriting for this Art on the Air feature interview is brought to you by the 2024 For the Love of Art Fair at the South Bend Century Center, running February 17th and 18th.
More information is available on the web at fortheloveofartfair.com. We would like to welcome Laura Gutzweiler to Art on the Air. While art was always Laura's dream, she initially was in the health and fitness realm. She is now a needle felting wool artist with both dimensional and flat work. Her inspiration comes from nature, recreating sunsets, landscapes, trees, plants, and animals. Her goal is to explore and push the boundaries of fiber art. Laura is one of the exhibiting artists with Shireen Johnson-Kleins for the Love of Art Fair in South Bend at the Century Center, happening February 17th and 18th of 2024.
Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome, Laura. It's nice to meet you. Hi. Thank you for having me. And Laura, it's nice to see you again. And we were at a little conversation thing that Valpo Creative Council had, and that's when we first met. Then it just kind of matriculated into this one. Shireen suggested that you would be a great artist, and we're going to pair you later with Kent Eplar, who's also a fiber artist.
But what our audience wants to know is all about Laura. And I always like to say how you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about your origin story. My origin story. It makes me sound like a superhero, but I'm no different than anyone else. Well, I grew up near Libertyville, Illinois, until I was about 12 and then moved to Valparaiso, Indiana. I was always a crafty, artistic kid, but I always thought that art was just a hobby, but it was just going to be, it was just something fun, but it was never something I could do as a career or as a successful career.
And so I chose a completely different path through college. I was exercise science, sports medicine. I was really into physical therapy. I think I was in third or fourth grade when I had a class, do like a career day. And they said I had to choose what I want to be when I grow up. And I felt like if I made a decision, I had to just stick with it. But like, for some reason, I couldn't change my mind.
Like I had to pick a career and then that was it. But so for a long time in my head, I chose to be a, I wanted to go to physical therapy school and had that in my head all the way through college and just went on that track and then graduated. And my life kind of fell apart for a few years there when I realized that it wasn't really what I wanted to do. And when you've made such a commitment for, you know, 20, 10 years, 15 years, that that's what, that's who you were and what you wanted to do.
I had a hard time just adapting to the fact that I didn't know. So for a while, I personal trained for about 10 years because I had the exercise science background and it was something I knew and I truly enjoyed connecting with people on a one-to-one basis and teaching classes. And that was great, but something was missing. Something was missing from my life. And I realized that I hadn't done any kind of art in so many years.
I mean, I just, I even stopped reading. Like I just, I got so committed to what I was doing with my job and I just stopped creating. And so I found myself in like 2017, 18, really 2018, having a little bit of a mental breakdown, you know, as we all go through challenges in our life, we have to reevaluate what is making us happy. And I realized that I needed to express myself. I wasn't expressing myself in a fairly healthy way.
I had all these ideas and all these things. And I was, I'd always been such a quiet person. I never spoke up. I never, I never took that risk in school to even like, just say something out there and present an idea. I was the quiet kid that sat in the back of the class and got straight A's because I just followed directions and I wasn't really thinking for myself. And all of a sudden I just realized like, I've got to, I've got to get back to what makes me, me.
And that was art. That was, I didn't know what kind of art yet, but I knew that I needed art back in my life. So I, it's the funniest story, how I came upon needle felting because it's such a strange, like obscure craft that at the time when I started, most people didn't even know what I was talking about. Like it was just, it's almost, it's bigger now than it was five years ago. So now it's not so unknown, but at the time I found this little kit to make a little animal out of wool.
So it's mostly wool that I work with and you just stab at it with these little needles that kind of knot the fibers together until you're sculpting a solid object. So I was making little animals and little ornaments and I was making earrings and key chains and just all of a sudden I was having fun creating again. And then COVID hit and I found myself not working, not doing, I was trying to do both worlds for a long time.
And when a lot of my clients didn't want to come back to the gym setting, it was a scary place to be. And I don't blame them. So I had a lot of time to just fully commit to something for, I think I had, you know, months to just sit back and do art all day, every day and realize like how happy that made me through like a terrible time, you know, through 2020 when it was scary and there were a lot of things going on in the world.
I was finding this joy. I was finding this way of expressing myself and I was so happy. So when I was able to get back to work, I kind of realized that I had changed and I had to, I had to just start letting those clients go. And it was 2021 that I decided to say, Hey, I'm going to try to do this full-time. And at the time my art had started to change into shadow boxes and things like that.
And, and now it's just kind of flattened more and more and more until it's, it's more two-dimensional now than anything. And I'm creating very different things than I did when I first started, but it's every year, it just turned into something I can use to better express myself and my feelings about art in general. So, you know, I have a two-parter sort of, so what, you know, you talked about being very crafty as a young child's girl.
So what did you gravitate toward? What was your mode of expression then? Oh, good question. I was always drawing. I was like colored pencils or, or like clay and like, so it's a clay because it's so, it's like, it's not easy to go dimensional and make dimensional work. That's why, so the clay is more dimensional. So you had some of that background and. Yes. Yeah. That's, that's a really good point. Yes. When I first started needle felting and everything was three-dimensional, I struggled with that for a long time.
Like, cause it's not easy to get something proportional and you know, that my husband won't let me throw out the first thing I ever made. It's, it's supposed to be a koala and it looks like the cat left on the floor, you know, like it's terrible. And he said, no, we have to keep this because this is where you started, you know, always remember that. And I think part of, I have a little bit of a competitive personality and I, I compete with myself quite a bit.
So I found something that was very challenging for me. And in a time of my life when like a lot of things were falling apart, I needed to commit to something. And, and for me in needle felting, I was like, you know, I'm not giving up on this. I'm going to keep trying every single day. I don't care how frustrated I get. Cause it's not easy the way you present it. It's like, Oh, it was so easy, but it's not an easy, it's not easy.
And it's kind of painful and bloody fingertips because needles are very sharp. And so then my second part is, okay, so now you go really large. So can you describe the transition from doing these small pieces to then expanding? It's so fascinating. Well, there's kind of like a two part answer there because when I was making little animals and little sculptural things, it was fun and they were cute. And I was making little gnomes and stuff, which everybody loved, but you, you can't sell things like that for more than like 20, 30 bucks sometimes, like, especially depending on the show you go to.
And I realized very quickly cause I have a, an analytical brain. I have a very like scientific brain and I, I would walk around these big art fairs and, and you don't see that kind of crafty stuff at art fairs. Um, and I'm, so it's kind of interesting cause it's very hard to do fine art with needle felting sculpturally. There are people out there that do it, but they make very intricate, um, beautiful things. And part of me just didn't, um, I wasn't very attracted to that.
Like I didn't want to spend, um, you know, like 80 plus hours making something, uh, so intricate. And then I don't know, it's really interesting cause it's, it's been such a learning curve for me with what I'm just attracted to with fiber art. And I just personally wanted to be able to put it in a frame. Um, I wanted it to be something that was protected in a way, uh, which is why I put a lot of my art behind, um, glass.
And I know a lot of people don't necessarily like that. They want to be able to feel and touch the fiber art, but I think it's just so meaningful to me that I wanted to put it in something to preserve it as long as possible. And that meant, uh, shadow boxes or, or frames. Well, it also keeps it clean cause fiber attracts a lot of dust. Yeah. So I kind of combined my love of, of painting, of drawing, um, with the art of needle felting.
So I learned like, well, you know, I actually want to create landscapes because what truly makes me happy is recreating, um, nature and scenes and sunsets and places that allowed me to reconnect with my, with my emotions, my feelings. Cause that's what I needed during that time. Um, was, was my own form of therapy, which was connecting to emotions again. And, uh, so my art really is depicting things that I, I hope evoke emotion. Um, so I, I had to do that two-dimensionally, if that makes sense.
It had to be, it had to look like painting. It's so true. And so like with fibers, because, you know, fibers are like hair, really. The blending of it must be so, cause like with paint, it's just so immediate. But I think the thought process probably between like which colors will give you the effect must be so fascinating for you. Yeah. Kind of think of like pointillism almost, you know, like what two colors are going to bring this feel to it.
It's like so interesting. So Laura, did you, uh, take any classes for yourself or kind of just germinated on your own? And the second part of that is, do you do any workshop or classes to teach people that? I do. Well, okay. First part, no, I, I didn't take one class, um, because I was on such a personal journey with it. I didn't want to really be influenced and I still don't really like go around and find other fiber artists.
I mean, I know they're out there and I know other people do similar work, uh, with, with needle felting like I do, but I'm very influenced by things that I see and hear. And when I'm truly connecting with another artist, I have to be very careful because I'm like, I love what you did there. And then I, you know, that's, that is a huge compliment to another artist to be inspired by their work. But, um, I really wanted it to try to be a hundred percent from my brain when I first started.
So I wanted to just experiment with kind of combining three-dimensional with two-dimensional. So my art is kind of, um, it's not completely flat. Like if you were to look at it, you'd see the ridges and the bumps, and sometimes it's two inches thick when I'm, when I'm finished with it. So yeah, I, I did not, I just kind of trial and errored my way through it and learned which needles work best for what types of wool.
And, um, I kind of just learned my own way of blending by hand and combining colors. And, um, um, I've loved teaching though, which is just kind of ironic. I know. Um, but I absolutely love spreading the joy of what it is to other people. And, and my first few classes were just so inspiring to me because I got a group of people that had, they had no idea what they were signing up for. They didn't even, they thought that there was, there was a cute picture online and they wanted to make something and they signed up with a friend and they came along.
And, and, um, the first thing I, the first thing I always say when I teach a class is I am so amazed by each and every one of you for the courage it took to just come here and be vulnerable in this setting. And, um, so it's very important to me to like inspire people in that way and just share the art of creating. I mean, I think we all need to express ourselves, um, and, uh, connect with each other.
And, uh, that's my way of doing that, I guess. Of course, your teaching skill is easy to transfer for what you were doing before in a career. I mean, the whole idea of actually teaching is just that now you're teaching something that you're inspired by to do. True. That is true. Awkward person, but people like that. So to get your fiber, do you have connections with like the alpaca farmers and the sheep? And, you know, so do you get it? So how, I guess the bigger question is how do you acquire your fiber? Ah, um, I have a lot of fiber from a little shop in Chesterton, Indiana called Three Moons Fiber Works.
Um, that was one of the first places that invited me to come teach. Um, that was, so I'm very connected with that shop and Rebecca, the owner, is just fantastic to work with. Um, that's a, I mean, it's all fiber arts there. There's felting, weaving, knitting, um, it's a beautiful place and, uh, Tremendous amount of looms. It's beautiful. Yes. Really cool store. A really cool place to just community connection coming together, um, in different ways. And I also order a lot of wool.
I wish I had the time to diet myself and maybe someday I will. In my typical style, I've bought all sorts of books on how to do something and they're just gathering dust around here. But I, uh, I have to order when I'm looking for a specific color. So I order a lot from a place called Living Felt in Texas. Um, it's just that I fell in love with the quality of that wool and the types of fibers that you can get there because it's not all wool.
I use a lot of alpaca. I use a lot of silk, um, for different shine and textures in my work. Um, I just ordered a bunch of yak fur. Oh yeah, that's wonderful. I've never used before and I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but I was like, a yak? Yeah. Yeah, just like camel. Camel's very bouncy, kind of a bouncy fiber. I was going back and forth between yak or camel. So camel's next.
Um, and I was just, I was just out of town last week and, um, in Arizona and I wanted to go into this store out there. It was in, um, Phoenix. And, uh, unfortunately we, she, we, we didn't connect, but I love finding fiber stores wherever I go and, and finding very unique textures of wool because it's all processed so differently and dyed so differently. That's part of the fun for me. It's like a, it's like a game to find colors that inspire me.
And texture. I mean, it's really like, as you explain it too, like the textures and the sheen, it's so particular to the particular animal too. I mean, yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. I'm a fiber maniac, so. Well, tell our audience how you made the transition from, we'll say kind of a hobbyist in this to actually, you know, going out and exhibiting and doing your work. You know, it's kind of, it's kind of a soft transition and you've touched on some of that, but tell us about how you got to doing that where you're now out and exhibiting.
Yeah. You're getting dust in show. It all happened very quickly. Um, so I'm still processing a lot of what's happened in the last year. Like 2023 has been just a whirlwind that I am, I am still coming to terms with, I think. Um, and I feel just incredibly blessed that I have come in contact with other artists that I've got some amazing friends that inspire me every day, um, with what they post and what they're creating.
And, you know, as much as I can be annoyed by social media, um, it's how I've connected to some, some very important people now in my life that, um, like other artists that we relate to the challenges of being a full-time artist and, and doing these shows. So in the last couple of years, I have a very good friend that he and I were both like in the same boat as far as applying to bigger shows at the same time.
So it was very helpful to have someone else I could talk to. Um, and like, like, Hey, if you heard of that show, well, well, here's what I heard about that one. And then let's, you know, let's try to get into the similar shows and let's, let's apply. And so just learning how to go from a craft show to an art fair has been extremely challenging, um, because I had to just dive into it head first.
And I had that one friend, um, and a couple more, but, uh, my, my husband works in a very different field and he was like, I'll be here for support, but I don't really know how you're going to, you know, everything is bigger. The fees are a bit bigger than, you know, the traveling is bigger, the transportation. Yeah. It's a whole different deal. It was a massive investment, um, to find the right equipment, the, the, the tent was a big one.
Yeah. Yeah. Cause you have to upgrade that too. It can't be just that little pop-up. It has to be. Yeah. The pop-up was great for a while, but it was very risky with weather. And I, you just, my husband always said, do you have to spend money to make money? Or I mean, like just do it, just go in like, well, you know, let's take the risk because the biggest risks of the biggest rewards. And so I, I just went all in with it.
And, um, yeah, I'm still learning, which, which I want to go to different shows. I don't always want to do the same shows. And I want to hopefully travel some more. And so how far have you traveled out for a show? Um, well, the farthest was probably the St. James court show in Louisville. Um, maybe Charlevoix, Michigan. I think they were both about five hour drive from where I am. Um, so that was like way upper Michigan.
And, uh, but that's about it. I have to get my minivan. So, um, you know, we'll see, I don't know. You're going to be in the, for the love of art fair. Tell us briefly how you got connected with Shereen and everything that's going to be, of course, February 17th, 18th, uh, 2024. So, but so you guys connected. Uh, so Shereen, um, introduced herself to me at a few different shows this last year. It's kind of funny.
Like she was just so, um, such a happy, energetic person. I think we first met in Kalamazoo at the Kalamazoo art fair. And she introduced herself and gave me some, um, promotional things for the show. And I was very interested because I recognized a few other friends who had done it on the list of artists. And, um, and then I ran into her again at the Creswell art fair. I forget where she came down to Louisville.
I saw her there. So I was just very, um, very inspired by her enthusiasm for the show. And, um, yeah, I, I can't wait to be a part of that. Um, she is so bubbly. Yes. And it's very important to feel like supported, um, by a show that, that an artist chooses to do, um, or tries to apply it to get into it. It's kind of a scary world out there for artists. So I need anyone who makes you feel safe and supported like she has is very important.
Well, and just in our last few moments here, Laura, we want you people to tell how they can find you online, social media, and any other upcoming things you have maybe in January of 2024 or beyond. Sure. Um, the best way is really through, um, Instagram or my website. So it's feltingbylaura on Instagram. Um, my website is feltingbylaura.com. I'm also on Facebook. If you'd rather do that, I kind of just cross post everything, but I am looking forward to doing my first, uh, more in-depth class this January with, um, with a two-dimensional wool painting.
So, uh, for the first time, I'm going to probably teach, it's going to be a, maybe a four to six hour class, um, where everyone will leave making something that's like eight by eight inches or eight by 10, somewhere in there. Work with, uh, Susie Vance, she's a fiber artist and she now has a studio in Michigan city. I'm super excited to be invited to her space to, uh, teach this there. Laura Gutzweiler. She's going to be in the, for the Love of Art Fair, February 17th, 18th at South Bend Century Center.
Uh, thank you so much for coming on Art of the Year and sharing your arts journey. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Art of the Year listeners, do you have a suggestion for a possible guest on our show? Whether it's an artist, musician, author, gallery, theater, concert, or some other artistic endeavor that you are aware of, or a topic of interest to our listeners, email us at aotaatbrech.com. That's aotaatbrech.com. This is Memorial Opera House Executive Director Megan Stoner, and you are listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media 89.1 FM and on WVLP 103.1 FM.
Underwriting for this Art of the Year feature interview is brought to you by the 2024 For the Love of Art Fair at South Bend Century Center running February 17th and 18th. More information is available on the web at fortheloveofartfair.com. We would like to welcome Kent Epler to Art on the Air. Kent's vast background in fine arts and design, including interior design and children's theater, plus his keen sense of humor has led to success with his large figural fiber sculptures that can employ found objects as well as all the custom created elements, each a unique expression.
Kent is one of the featured artists with Shereen Johnson-Klein's For the Love of Art Fair in South Bend at the Century Center happening February 17th and 18th of 2024. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome, Kent. It's nice to finally meet you. Nice to meet you too, finally. Finally. Well, we're so glad to have you on the show, Kent. And of course, I'd love to hear about your children's theater experience, being a retired theater director myself.
But we also want to talk about your art. Yeah, I did that for quite a few years and everything. But anyway, we're just more about your story right now. I always like to say hi there from where you were to where you are now. So tell us about Kent's origin story. Well, my origin story, I even I can look back and go, how did this happen? I was born and raised in Helena, Montana. My parents used to talk about they would come in my bedroom and say, why don't you go outside and play? What are you doing? I'm playing New York apartment, and I'm a designer.
Get outside. And so they got me involved in theater. Because then also like, this is typical. I was the kind of kid who could spend hours amusing myself and not having any interaction. My parents came in, my mom went, what are you doing? I was making clothespin dolls. I had no idea how I figured out how to do them. But I took my mom's clothespins. And I just look at that, that story back there and go, interesting.
But I really that far back was interested in manipulating fabrics and creating my own form of art form. And I kind of continued through that and then also was involved with children's theater. And as soon as I got older, I went into theater. I did theater in high school. And not only just theater, but usually always on some level, I was helping with costumes. Right. I was there the first play I did, I played the highwayman and Tom Jones.
I didn't like my costume. So I made a black cape. So early these leanings. Yeah, so it's really funny. And then from that was just sort of, I always sort of learned something and then moved on to the next thing. And I went to the University of Montana. I was a full art major. At the end of my first quarter, my professors all got together. They had a meeting and they said, Kent, we think you need to drop this program and go into theater.
And so I kind of got away from design and then got much more involved in theater and then went into theater, toured the United States and national Shakespeare companies. I started out from all that, resolved, worked with John Jory in Actors Theater in Louisville, and then did children's theater, touring children's theater with Blue Apple Players for almost 15 years. At which that point then on, I just sort of went, this isn't what I wanted to do.
This wasn't my plan. How did I do this for so long? And so I went back to school, went back to school, got my interior design degree. And from it, I went out and started my own business and became a certified kitchen designer. I was on one of the few of that range of caliber of design. And I installed my own cabinets. I installed all my work. So it kind of went from that, and then I just kind of, and then I got involved in children's theater again.
And this was the one that I think really launched me again. I got involved with it. I'd worked about 70 kids at kind of a private school here in Louisville. And I would break through the shows, break all the sets, design and execute all the sets, and do most of the costumes myself too. And so it started that, I just had to have so much more. I never got enough. And even through that experience in the background, I created my first piece I didn't even know I had.
I created a witch for Wizard of Oz. Because we couldn't fly the asterisk. So I said, I'll maybe make like three different sizes and have the kids run about across the stage kind of Kabuki style. And oh, that worked out great. Everybody loved the witches. I thought they were so fun. After the show, I had people call me a week asking if they could buy the witch. And I said, well, I just have the three, you know, and you really buy it? Yeah, I loved it.
I want it. And then it started, I went, oh, and next piece I did, I did, I remember I did a cowboy called Benny Reynolds, who is a legendary rodeo guy in Montana. And I did him and have him in my house and started creating small other pieces. Well, then finally, all this sort of ended. I sort of went, I didn't want to do kitchens anymore. I got tired of dealing with all that construction mess and children's theater.
And I decided I'm going to move to Montana, back to Montana. So my partner and I at the time we he and I moved back to Montana and opened a gallery. And then this is when it finally starts to happen. I've moved back three or four of my taller sculptures. And we started opening the gallery. I went, you know, I don't want any mannequins in the store. They creep me out. I just think they're weird. I don't want mannequins.
And I went, oh, I wonder if I, what if I did some of my sculptures and did them as window display, I'd be the only one to have that kind of display. I'd be the only one to have that, that, that, that marking piece in the whole town. After winning three or four Christmas windows, which I did the whole cast of Wizard of Oz and typed out the soundtrack for a month out in the street, painted gold bricks on the sidewalk.
I first got in trouble with the city ordinance. But that's when it started. And then I had my employer one day I came to work and she said, I don't want to tell you how to run your business. But we spend a lot of time telling people these aren't for sale. What are your sculptures? They're asking if they're for sale? Yes. Okay. And that started it. price tags went on that day. And from then on, I started selling them in our gallery.
But then I started apply to do other shows. And then it was that was the other journey. Because my everyone started to try couldn't compare our work to anybody. There is there's nothing like it today still. I mean, sometimes people will stumble and say, kind of cabbage patch dolls. Oh, gross. Not at all like cabbage patch dolls. But I had no comparison. There was nothing like me anywhere. And I stuck it out. And it was the point that even I had a couple times jurors had had called me and said, I juried your work.
And we're just can't seem to find a position for you in the show. But mostly because we just can't compare you to anybody. There's nothing like you. And I started saying, What's wrong with you? Well, take the leap and something original in your shows. And I sort of pushed it that way. And I had jurors then finally step up to play. And that slowly it happened. Now, I'm a dominant figure in the show field. I mean, you know, I'm looking at this wall by my stairs is covered with first place, first place ribbons and best in show ribbons.
But it took almost 1518 years to get there. What was that very first show that you did? Was it in Montana? Or did was it out of the gate? It was in Montana. It's called Big Fork, Montana, which is the resort area up on Flathead Lake, which is a glacier bed Lake. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. And I got in the show because I knew the promoters. That helped. Yeah. But you know, they loved to work. They said, You gotta try the show.
And I didn't have a tent. It was like, Okay, well, I guess I need to buy a tent to put them in. And I had no idea what I was going to do. And I always remember that time, that first show, I can't remember how awkward I was on selling. It was like, I also, it was the first time I kind of looked at my work and went, Oh, my God, I think this is amazing. But I don't know if I can, I can explain it to anybody.
You know, and of course, in a show, to me, it's always three things. You look, it's, you see the piece, you love it. Second thing, price. Third thing, meet the artists. And I've walked away from pieces before because I didn't connect with the artists. Right. I was very aware of that three piece was crucial, especially for me. My bonus of mine is that early was printed cotton and Joanne fabrics. I was living in Montana, I had no resources.
Until I finally, finally one day, made a piece with recycled clothing. Right. And then went, Oh, wait a minute. This first, I love this because I'm a big thrifter and a recycler. And I said, what's amazing about this, what I love this is I can now point, I can point to everything in my booth and say, everything in here has already lived another life. And everything you're looking at. Oh my God, yeah, they're beautiful. And I love them.
It all be in the landfill, on the landfill, throw away. So instead, I give a different life. And, and of course, that's what makes it even another step of being so unique. Or, or I've had women walk up and go touch a piece of fabric, turn to me and say, I used to own this coat. Yeah, I probably probably yours. I probably, I don't know. Right. So Ken, without first show, what were the lessons that you took from it? Because those first shows are always so difficult.
And did you get help from the other vendors with tips? And no, it was a group that, as you know, that's the beginning of the family. It was so obvious, I was stumbling, I was so obvious, I didn't know what I was going to do. And they were all looking at my cheap little tent I bought that was not going to protect me from the rain. And my work is all gone for me because compromisable. And, but it was like then that what I call the family, everyone's guys came out and helped me put the tent up.
People offered suggestions. I had artists say, you know, I, I have my old used tent, but it's a commercial tent. And I just give it to you if you come pick it up. I mean, I remember it was that that feeling was like, I mean, it was fun with the customers and the selling, of course. But it's that it's that dealing with the family of people that from my first show, I still communicate with today. You know, what surprised me about shows, and it was that somebody, a different artist came into my booth and said, Would you please come and pick out something from mine, because I want something from yours.
And that was like, it was just so beautiful. This like, like you say, the family exchange. It's really quite lovely. And I think back then, it's funny you said this, because it just jog joggled a memory. That period, well, maybe it's also the West Coast though too, but we exchanged a lot. And I've never done I've never done I don't think I've ever done here. I mean, someone will come and say, Hey, let's exchange. Yeah, okay.
I'll get like I get your work, then you go pick something of mine. And I remember that happening a lot. Yeah, it's so beautiful. It was unexpected. I hit when when I did my first show, I really never knew that that would be part of it. And it was just so enchanting. You know that, well, you know, you take it, you go, the customer is the customer, but an artist buying my work, and you're so flattered.
Oh, completely. I mean, it's just like, wow, you get it, you get it. You're listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM on WVLP 103.1 FM. You know, Kent, one thing I noticed about your work, and of course, now seeing what you're talking about your theater background, is how theater informs your work. It seems like, I mean, I'm looking at one piece right now, Torch Song Singer, and some of the other, a Wasqueen.
And these are very theatrical poses that you have these characters in. So tell us about how that developed. Well, so much of that was that when I was referred to, and when people sort of look, they look confused. It's, it's the armature. Now, I probably spent 10 years modifying and working on this armature. I have an original one of mine in the bottom right studio on the stairs here. It's so pathetic, the arm fell off of it, the head, the neck came loose on it.
I didn't know what I didn't know what I was doing. I had no idea. But luckily, I, for my pieces, I had all my construction experience. So I knew this wire was the wrong gauge of wire, it needs to be this gauge of wire, this needs to be this gauge, this wood dowel has to be this. Now, I don't want pine, because pine will shrink and the nuts and bolts will fall out. It has to be ash, solid ash.
And a lot of this I recycle, I get from the highway department, and I get the wood dowels from the Louisville Slugger Museum. They give me the rejects. So what happened is that, I mean, when people, they'll, you know, we're, you know, we're going to take it, you know, we're going to replace the piece, we sort of do. And I said, you know, this is why I show you again, you can repost that entire piece, all the fingers work, all the arms and joints work, the knee joints, the leg joints, everything is jointed.
So you can literally repost it to do whatever you want. I posted it how I want. But I said, feel free that you don't have to. And if you have a problem, just call me. But it's key. And I, and anyone that sort of works in, and I really had buddies of mine, I, when I finally started getting the shows, I was doing them, what is the category, you're deaf, mixed media, which was created to just, for me, it was created for everything else, everything else, you know what I mean? I don't know if we have it anymore.
But I was in mixed media. And I had two of my buddies who are sculptors and work with bronze and incredible things. And he said, Oh, you know, I love your work, Ken. Blah, blah, blah. And then he turned and said, why are you in mixed media? And I said, buddy, I can't go in sculpture. You're going to be okay with that if I'm in sculpture. And he said, you are sculpture. What's the problem? I said, well, I just feel bad because I don't work in precious metals.
You work and you manipulate the fabrics and you pose them. You're a sculptor. And he said, and this, I went, and everything changed when I got out of that. Everything changed. And I still jury today as a sculptor. Yeah. Well, that's what they are. They are. They very much are. Yeah. So it's so interesting because I read that. So, well, here's a whole bunch of questions all in one. So one, do you do sketches? And the other thing is, I read that sometimes you'll be shopping and a piece will inspire you.
And so I looked at your Ganesh, you know, your elephant boy, and I thought, boy, I bet that vest was inspired that whole piece, you know? So once you find that, are you sketching? Are you pulling characters from real life? You know, kind of just, I just want to know it all, Ken. Yeah. That's so funny you said that. One, I can't draw a sick person. So a lot of times when I work with a consignment piece, I literally just throw samples of fabric on my work table and send it to the customer and go, here's the fabrics I'm going to work with.
And number one, what you want to do is go, yes or no, or yeah, I like that. Or don't bother me. You don't want to cramp my style. So you want to keep my creativity free. So, but other than that, it can be, oh, no, I can just, I almost pick out fabrics that I use by walking down aisles and touching them before I see them. I just run my hand down there and the tactile piece to it, I'll grab and pull it out.
And many times, like you were saying, when does it happen? Oh, I think I got that vest because I knew it was Mark Schreiner's. It was a Schreiner vest. And I love all the sequins and the elephant motifs on it. I couldn't get home fast enough to try to do something with it. And what happened is, this happens to me too, that elephant I'd done three or four or five, no, maybe six years ago. It just didn't go.
Well, then I kind of went, I think the fabrics were wrong in the elephant. And I think the posing was wrong. And I think, and I totally rethought it. Almost all based on that vest. That's how my brain works. Yeah. I can do the same with other fabrics too. I'll get a piece of fabric and go, I want to do Titania from Six Bricks Titania from Midsummer Night's Dream. And I'm back, I'm at the sewing machine.
Yeah, I just love the, you know, the custom costuming that you do. And all the videos that you posted were just so much fun. I mean, your sense of humor and your joy for life just comes through in your pieces so much. They have such a sense of whimsy, two of them. I mean, they really are. They just, you look at these things and, you know, I've been looking at them in preparation of the interview and they just bring a smile to your face.
And then I thought about the theater aspect of you're posing them and that's, that's marvelous that you can actually say, okay, but this is not yours. You can pose this however you want. Yeah. No, I think of the same way. Their process is primarily, is building the piece, rehearsing, and then finishing the piece, executing the opening curtain, and then open the curtain and ta-da, they're there. I treat them that way as if each piece is theater.
And, and it's just, it's just how it's kind of always been what makes sense because of my background. Right. Yeah, the costuming's exquisite. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you. It's, it's to me, the key, the key for me was, was that I still today, I know it is the big step. So when I quit buying printed cottons and quit using them and only use high fashion fabrics now, and it makes a difference. I mean, I can, I look at them, I know the quality of fabrics.
Oh, most definitely. And actually, I know like in the 60s, um, going to my mom while she got her hair done, I know all those women in curlers with those hairdos. So funny. The piece with the curlers is, is, is called Faye. And she grew out of being, first, I had was commissioned to do a couple of Baltimore Huns for the Baltimore Hun Festival. In Baltimore, they do this, it's the John Waters effect from hairspray. So they all do these beehives.
So I did a couple of the beehives and then I carried them in the, in my show for a while and they were selling okay. And then a friend of mine, this happens to me all the time, stuff, fabrics either are delivered from, from a show, a customer will mail me three or four of her old jackets or friends might bring stuff. My friend came over and she said, ding dong, let's have coffee one more time.
She said, I brought these, these rollers, um, we got them from mom because she's never going to use them. And I went, I don't know, what are they? They're Velcro rollers. I, you, you think I know what that means? What does that mean? I think your, your hair could just roll on them or you could use them for, to make a cut sculpture. And, and my friend hadn't left the house before I was downstairs. I got those rollers.
I went, what if I do, I make that beehive twice the size and cover it with these rollers because the colors are great on the rollers. And I did that piece and I always tell everybody this now, it's just, it's amazing. That piece, I finished it. I looked at it. I always worked about seven hours a day and I was going to leave the studio. I looked at the piece and I actually went, uh-oh, I think I've gone too far.
Oh no. And I'd worked all day. The hair takes five, six hours. I went upstairs, had dinner, had a couple of martinis. And then when I do this all the time, I'll go back down the studio. I'll cover my eyes and then turn, pull my hands away from my eyes. And I looked and went, you're going to be my greatest success. This is too crazy. She's my greatest success. That piece has been photographed more than any piece.
Almost every show, that piece, a version of it ends up in the newspaper and it's everybody's favorite. And I always think, I said, it just cracks me up because I literally, I'll never forget just looking at it and going, oh no, I can't believe I worked all day and this piece is crazy. You know, Kent, we only have about a minute left. Time has gone just so fast sharing this with you, but we want to give you a chance to tell us about how people can find your work.
And if you have any upcoming shows other than the For the Love of Art Fair on February 17th, 18th. So, and just tell us a little bit about how people can find out about you. Well, primarily, I always say refer to my website. My website has all my advertising and all my publicity, all of my work on it and the list of shows I'm going to be doing. And it's called the laughingboy.com. Excellent, laughingboy.com. Perfect, perfect name.
Well, we appreciate you coming on Art on the Air, Kent. This has been extraordinarily entertaining having you on. Kent Epler, he'll be at the For the Love of Art Fair, February 17th, 18th, the South Bend Century Center. And we appreciate you coming on and sharing your wonderful life journey and your art. Yeah, it's so delightful. Thank you. Thank you very much, you guys. Thanks. We'd like to thank our guests this week on Art on the Air, our weekly program covering the arts and arts events throughout Northwest Indiana and beyond.
Art on the Air is heard Sunday at 7 p.m. on Lakeshore Public Media, 89.1 FM, also streaming live at lakeshorepublicmedia.org and is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website as a podcast. Art on the Air is also heard Friday at 11 a.m. and Monday at 5 p.m. on WVLP, 103.1 FM, streaming live at wvlp.org. Our spotlight interviews are heard every Wednesday on Lakeshore Public Media. Thanks to Tom Maloney, Vice President of Radio Operation for Lakeshore Public Media, and Greg Kovach, WVLP's Station Manager.
Our theme music is by Billy Foster with a vocal by Rene Foster. Art on the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. We'd like to thank our current underwriters for Lakeshore Public Media, Macaulay Real Estate and Valparaiso, Olga Patrician, Senior Broker, and for WVLP, Walt Reininger of Paragon Investments. So we may continue to bring you Art on the Air. We rely on you, our listeners and underwriters, for ongoing financial support.
If you're looking to support Art on the Air, we have information on our website at breck.com slash aota, where you can find out how to become a supporter or underwriter of our program in whatever amount you are able. And like I say every week, don't give till it hurts. Give till it feels good. You'll feel so good about supporting Art on the Air. If you're interested in being a guest or send us information about your arts, arts-related event or exhibit, please email us at aota at breck dot com.
That's aota at breck, b-r-e-c-h dot com, or contact us through our Facebook page. Your hosts were Larry Breckner and Esther Golden, and we invite you back next week for another episode of Art on the Air. Aloha, everyone. Have a splendid week. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. You're in the know with Esther and Larry, Art on the Air today. They're in the know with Larry and Esther, Art on the Air our way.
Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart. Express yourself through art, and show the world your heart.
