- [Narrator] Coming up on "KVIE Arts Showcase," we celebrate arts from around the world and right here at home.

Meet an artist whose art expresses the power and strength of who we are.

- [Fei Fei] I think spirituality and art helped me through the darkest time, losing like most important person in my life, and that is getting to a different level to how to produce my art.

- [Narrator] A photography technique that involves pure chemistry.

- There's gonna be flaws in the chemistry sometimes.

There's gonna be flaws in how it flows on the plate.

You're looking at yourself through the 1800s, and it's really, really beautiful.

- [Narrator] An artist finding his voice.

- [Dayo] Got this self-confidence in me that as soon as I get on here, I'm gonna change everything.

Like nobody did it the way I did it.

- [Narrator] And the bond between science and art - [Noel] Scientists are artists in themselves and what they produce, and we put that on display here.

- [Narrator] It's all up next on "KVIE Arts Showcase."

(bright music) Meet Sacramento artist Fei Fei Lin, who continues to defy expectations through her art while unearthing difficult truths of life that she defines as a space in between.

(intense music) - Art means everything, since I have memory and since I was a child, like six years old, and I know that is my destiny.

I'm living my dream, and I'm an artist, and this is my job and my passion and everything I'm breathing.

- [Narrator] For artist Fei Fei Lin, her unique upbringing and diverse cultural experiences have not only defined her discovery of self but expanded her journey as an artist.

- I think I'm very grateful, like the way I grew up in that trained me as...

Even though in China's traditional Chinese culture and family, they think girls just need to be like, doing small things and be gentle, obey, and all this, like boxes, you know, rules.

But how I grew up is absolutely wild.

(pulsing music) Basically, during 1980s in China, and even before that, you know, they have like this one-child politics.

But my year is very special.

It's like 1987.

So they allow some of the families means like, have a second chance if your first child is a girl.

So you have a second chance maybe to have a boy.

So that's how I come along.

And because my parents like, really hoping I'm a boy.

So the way I raised, I grew up, you know, they treat me like a boy, and they train me how to be tough.

- [Narrator] Fei Fei's parents gave her the opportunity to explore the dynamic contrast between her own individuality and her traditions.

She found her path within her life and her art.

- So when I enter high school and college, I had opportunity to travel to all over the world and studied art, especially Europe.

My very first collection of artwork or art theme is called Green Leaves series.

And that time I was in college, 20s, young.

(laughs) And so I paint a lot like large scales, green leaves, really thick, like, brushstrokes, and building up on layer on each other, you know, so usually, like this showed in the museum and galleries.

Actually, I sold out every piece of it.

And then I moved to America when I finished my master degree, and I started to explore public work.

I painted a lot like large faces, but all face down or thinking, you know, and don't really necessarily have like gender, like reflection.

It's just a person.

- [Narrator] In America, Fei discovered a new dimension to her art.

This journey led her to embrace and express some darker truth.

- The reality, the truth or like how to say like, the darkness of people don't want to see, but I want to open all these portals, doors, let them to see like the beauty of it, you know, embrace it.

I have, you know, a big loss of my life.

I lost my partner in car accident, and all this come together and taught me we have to tell the truth.

You know, the truth sometime could be very dark, but darkness is part of our life, and it is essential for me to express through art.

Because I think we need to understand life is not only about the sun, the bright side of it.

The balance part is like the dark part of it.

So I'm not afraid to express through my work.

And some people view or see my work as like, wow, what is that?

You know, they kind of like, refuse to know the truth.

But when I tell the truth, they understand, and they're accepting it, and they feel moved.

(gentle music) I think spirituality and art helped me through the darkest time, losing like most important person in my life, and that is getting to a different level to how to produce my art.

I think it is beautiful in a way, very powerful and can influence people more because a lot of people out there through so many different difficult situations, and they need to understand like life overall is beautiful, and art can heal people.

(gentle music) I don't want people just see my work, oh, everybody love it.

No, that is not my goal.

I think that is challenging part of it is most fun part of it.

You have to be comfortable or show authentic, you know, and that's my goal for the rest of my work and my next pace too.

It's like a journey.

You write a journey down but just different like form, sketches, or drawings, you know?

People probably think, oh, it's not necessary.

But just remember when we were child.

Everybody liked to draw.

You know, that is your inner power.

For me, like as professional artist, this is my job.

I think art is very essential for every aspect of life.

And art could be anything.

It doesn't need to be certain forms, and I think it is very powerful spiritual food for everybody.

(curious music) (bright music) - [Narrator] In Gardnerville, Nevada, artist Rie Lunde pursues her love of tintype photography.

Developed in the 19th century, this technique involves pure chemistry for a timeless result.

(lively music) - A tintype is an archival piece of photography that is handcrafted and handmade.

Every single one is a one-off and will live hundreds of years.

My name's Rielynn Lunde, and I specialize big time in 1800s tintypes.

I'm starting from a blank metal plate, and I'm mixing my own chemicals that are all reacting together, creating a light-sensitive piece of metal.

And then when I use it on my large format camera, that light is hitting that plate and exposing it.

I develop it.

I fix it.

So I'm doing a big process by hand.

I'm using the same methods, the same recipes that they did back in the turn of the century as well.

The camera I do work with most is my large format.

It's a Chamonix camera.

It's a beautiful piece of artwork in itself.

It's a 10 by 10, and the lenses that I acquire, a lot of them are time period.

So those are different in terms of the camera itself.

As I'm placing my subject, I'm doing a lot of lighting work.

I'm doing a lot of setup, light by light by light, turning 'em off and on.

I have to just test the power that's coming out of them.

I get my subject all set up, and I'm like, okay, now you get to hang out for a little bit.

And this is where I get to prep the plate.

(gentle music) I will take some collodion.

I describe collodion as liquid film.

The ingredients in that vary, but the recipes are from the late 1800s.

All of its components that are gonna react to the light and all of the chemistry are in that bottle.

I pour that collodion on the plate, and I go corner to corner to corner, and drain it off to where I almost have a skin on that plate of collodion, just a sheer sheen, to get that nice even beautiful pour on that plate is what the base of that photograph is gonna be landing on.

(gentle music continues) So I get that plate ready, and I take it to my dark room, and I've got a tank full of silver nitrate.

I put it in that silver nitrate for a few minutes, about 3 1/2 minutes, and that silver nitrate is reacting to the collodion, and it's creating halides, and it's having a chemical reaction to make it light sensitive.

(gentle music continues) Once I hear my timer go off, I know it's done soaking, I'll head into the dark room with the door closed, 'cause I have to be careful now not to let that plate see light.

I have a plate holder for my large format camera, and I will put that plate in the plate holder in the dark room.

So when I close that up, it's light tight.

(gentle music continues) I'll fine focus my subject's eyes.

I'll make sure everything at that point is kind of lined up, and I'll swap out my viewfinder on the back of the camera for my plate holder.

So you do just a swap.

And here we go.

I fire that flash.

Yes.

And that's what hits that plate in the moment and exposes it.

(lighthearted music) I take that plate holder out of the back of the camera and take it back into the dark room and pull the plate out.

So now I have an exposed plate, and I hand develop it.

You need to be pretty steady and sweep it well on that plate.

Keep it on that plate and really oscillate it.

So there's a technique to putting developer on a plate, 'cause you'll see every wave, every line, every hesitation mark, depending on how it's applied, which can also yield some really beautiful interpretive things.

If things kind of go wrong, so to speak, sometimes they end up being really right in the end of the day, you know, just looking through the lens of the 1800s.

I submerge it in water to stop that development so it doesn't push the developer too far.

(lighthearted music continues) Basically, it looks like a negative at that point.

(lighthearted music continues) Second to the last step is basically fixing it, which is a highly diluted form of potassium cyanide.

And it yields just beautiful punchy blacks, kind of a golden tone in some of these.

It has that little antique tone that I really love.

(lighthearted music continues) That's the point that I call the person over to watch, because it's magical.

It goes from a negative to a positive right in front of your eyes, and you get to see yourself emerge on the plate.

(lively music) The final process is varnishing.

My varnish is glorious to smell.

It's tree sap, lavender oil, and 190-proof alcohol.

The tree sap is the sheen that basically bakes on the plate.

I wave it over a flame, and I heat that plate up, and the alcohol evaporates off the plate.

So it leaves this beautiful lavender, tree sap smell in the room too.

And that lavender oil just helps it not to crack.

(lively music continues) I think there's something about this that has longevity and tangibility and history, that it feels an honor to be a part of in this valley that no one else is doing here.

It makes me slow down as well.

I have to slow down.

I have to be methodical.

I have to really think things through.

And it's not something that you can, you know, just on a whim do.

And so I think I really enjoy that aspect of when someone's really moved by it, and they see almost their soul in a different way in this, 'cause it does bring out each human in such a different way.

I think that is something that's very alluring and kind of addictive in this process, too, is pushing into that, and I absolutely love it.

(lively music slows) (bright music) - [Narrator] Dayo Gold is discovering who he is as an artist.

We take a trip to Ohio to find out more about his craft and the music and culture of hip hop and how it influenced him.

- What inspires me to write, it was really just, I didn't know how to really just get out how I was feeling a lot of the times.

I think I'm a great communicator, but it's just some things I don't quite know how to articulate the best at the current moment.

And I think, when I'm just hit with some overwhelming emotions like that, what I've found is the pen and the pad, man, that's what really helps me get that out.

(light music) When I started rapping, and I saw how you use those, you know, those different kind of, like, formulas within communication, I was like, whoa, this can go way farther than what I even expected.

I think you really just gotta be familiar with, you know, the English language.

I was always, I always loved English class growing up, 'cause I loved using different words and, you know, like, articulating myself better than the next person.

But I think when you, you know, weave that into your actual hip hop and, like, you know, your raps, that shows your intelligence as well, how you can relate to... You can be saying the same thing, but it means two different things, and the way you said it or the way you perceive it, that would be the only thing that makes that change, and I think that is amazing to me.

I think a huge event that really shaped who I am was when I had to drop out of school.

First of all, I didn't really want to.

I didn't want to at all.

Like, I was known for my grades.

So when I had to relay that message to my family, it was like, well, then what are you gonna do?

I felt that I was real lost at that point in my life.

But my mom, she's always been there.

It's like, she's really the strongest person I know, and she really instilled that confidence in me early.

Like, don't let anybody drift you off what you really wanna do.

And it was a lot of spur of the moment things going on in my life that really made me just reevaluate who I am.

And when, you know, I just stripped that all away, and I got, you know, just by myself, and I could just think for myself, it just came.

It was music.

It was always music.

And, you know, once I got that stereotype of me just, you know, being a Black person, and you wanna do hip hop, out of my mind, it made it definite.

(light music slows) There's this quote, and it stuck with me ever since I read it.

It says, "Hip hop didn't invent anything.

It reinvented everything."

(mellow music) It takes everything that's going on in the culture.

It takes everything that's going on in politics.

And it puts it all in this one place where anybody and everybody can listen to it.

When I was on, you know, my research, I came across Dayo, and Dayo means "joy arrives" in Yoruba.

And then that's when it hit me.

What's up, everybody?

It's Dayo Gold.

I'm in goods with some good people.

I'm gonna go ahead and hold it down.

Let's get into it.

(upbeat music) ♪ Yo ♪ Check it, check it out ♪ It's Dayo ♪ Listen ♪ From the Beantown to Cincy ♪ I know that they've been with me ♪ ♪ Pulling up in the bucket ♪ In my dream, it's a Bentley ♪ Guaranteed to lose a bet if you bet against me ♪ ♪ But I remember days that they wouldn't even mention me ♪ ♪ Now the mini-mes, like a centipede ♪ I like how people put together what they're saying the most over the top of the beat, 'cause it's like the beat has its rhythm, but then the rapper has his own rhythm as well.

But the thing is he has to co-exist that within that rhythm that's already laid down.

So that's what I like about music.

It's like a whole story.

♪ If you ain't talking 'bout the carrot cake, I say ♪ When I piece together, you know, the music and the beat, and it's all coming together as a final project, you feel complete, you feel like, I feel like I'm doing my purpose.

You gotta strive to be the best, and that's what I do.

Like I got this self-confidence in me that as soon as I get on here, I'm gonna change everything.

Like nobody did it the way I did it.

So when I say Dayo, y'all say Gold.

(crowd cheering) Dayo!

- [Crowd] Gold!

- [Dayo] Dayo!

- [Crowd] Gold!

- [Dayo] Dayo!

- [Crowd] Gold!

- [Dayo] Dayo!

- [Crowd] Gold!

- Let's go!

I wanna be the person that no matter what, he was never thinking for himself.

He was always in that head space where whatever he did, it was for the next person.

It was for the next generation.

And I think when people think on that, on that caliber, that's when they push the culture forward.

Like, this is what I came here to do.

This is what I was born to do, so this is what I'm going to do.

Once I just, you know, kept repeating that, every single day I approached a mic, it was more just like everybody in the room with me.

I'm not in the room with everybody else.

Someone once asked me, if my life was a book, what would I title it?

So I didn't quite have an answer then.

But with me going through life, I had to restart all the way over.

I came from a place of nothingness.

It was a low time for me, but it took me finding myself, it took me taking it day by day, step by step, that it led to my true being.

So after some thought, I figured I'd title it "From Black to Gold."

(upbeat music) ♪ Nobody (bright music) - [Narrator] Through art, an appreciation for nature is brought to the forefront, through the Wild Space Gallery in St. Petersburg, Florida.

(dramatic music) - The best part of my job is being able to see the things that would otherwise be mysterious.

The natural world is cryptic.

It's right under our noses, but we often don't understand what we're seeing.

And I love trying to understand what we're seeing, and I love to try to be close to the things that are mysterious to us.

Archbold Biological Station is an independent science organization.

It's a field station that is based in Highlands County, Florida.

It's designed to host long-term ecological research.

So by long-term, I mean decades-long.

Artists, scientists, educators come from all over the world to Archbold to try and understand and get a glimpse of the very unique, highly biodiverse ecosystems that Archbold hosts and understands and collects data on.

(lighthearted music) - The Wild Space Gallery was opened by the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation.

The foundation is a collaborative mission to save the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

So the Corridor is 18 million acres of connected landscape and waterways that support wildlife and us people here in the state of Florida.

- Wild Space Gallery is established to really, I guess, to bolster and get out the message of the Florida Wildlife Corridor.

- From our beginnings, we have incorporated storytelling and also artwork.

Our founder, Carlton Ward, Jr., is a National Geographic photographer.

And through his images, he has and continues to raise awareness of the Wildlife Corridor.

And so here at the Wild Space Gallery, we hope to bring that piece of art and storytelling that has been the true vein of our values and our mission from the beginning, and spread it to the people to bring more awareness to the Corridor.

- There's a strong relationship between science and art.

And so in some ways, that's the inextricable link between science and art.

That creative mindset is what fuels both scientists and artists.

And often you find those skill sets and those sensitivities in the same person.

And Archbold's very lucky that we attract those types.

- I'd have to say that my favorite piece is the Ant Lab, which it sort of reproduces the workspace of Dr. Mark Deyrup, who is a entomologist and has been studying ants in Florida since 1982.

And so his area is, I could never decide if it was an artist's studio or a scientist's laboratory.

- We have microscopes, and you can see the little hairs on the ant.

So it brings in the science down to a really small level.

And then you have the wood cut prints that show the landscape, and it pulls you back.

It pulls you in, and it pulls you back.

And the farther you stand away from it, the more 3D it looks.

Then we have the people in the field, too, that do the art, science, and are in nature.

So it combines all three.

And it gives a perspective of how many levels that nature can give us and how much we are connected to nature.

- A lot of different kind of artists and scientists have worked at Archbold over the years.

One, I think, of the most unusual would be Evelyn Gaiser.

And Evelyn is a professor.

She's a limnologist.

Limnologist means one who studies fresh water.

There's a lake at Archbold called Lake Annie.

And so over a year's time, she studied the temperatures in Lake Annie.

And she is also a classically trained musician.

So she looked at those data points, and she said, "Huh, that looks kind of like a musical score."

So basically, she created a musical score from using the data points.

It's curiosity, it's passion for figuring out what's going on.

It's a leap of imagination.

So I think that scientists and artists have that very much in common.

Evelyn's work sort of exemplifies what happened there.

- Archbold is embedded in the Corridor, and the values of that landscape and the values of the people in that landscape are sort of distilled in the art that you see here.

- [Noel] What we do here at the gallery is try to connect people through art to nature, no matter where they're from.

- [Joe] But our hope is that you can get that little boost of inspiration and curiosity to take you out to the field to try to experience it.

(gentle music) (bright music) - [Announcer] Episodes of "KVIE Arts Showcase," along with other KVIE programs, are available to watch online at kvie.org/video.