AOTA-240614 - Erik Hinds, Tony Bianco, Anna Beres, spotlight Canterbury SUmmer Theater

This week on Out of the Air, they featured licensed resort executive chef Eric Hines who developed a menu inspired by Potawatomi heritage. They also talked to North Latina and bass artist Tony Bianco, as well as mixed media artist and instructor Anna Beres of Stargirl Crafts. The spotlight was on Canterbury's summer theater, with Love is a Many Splintered Thing running from June 19th to the 29th. Art on the Air is a weekly program covering the arts and arts events in Northwest Indiana and beyond. It is supported by the Indiana Arts Commission, South Shore Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The show is available as a podcast and can be found on multiple platforms including NPR One. The guests from Canterbury Theatre discussed their upcoming show, which is a jukebox musical called Love is a Many Splintered Thing. It features songs from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s and tells the This week on Out of the Air features licensed resort executive chef Eric Hines who develops a menu inspired by Potawatomi heritage. Next North Latina and a bass artist Tony Bianco who is focused on a variety of subjects and mixed media artist and instructor Anna Beres of Stargirl Crafts. Our spotlights on Canterbury's summer theaters Love is a Many Splintered Thing running June 19th through the 29th. Express yourself you are and show the world your heart. Express yourself you are and show the world your heart. You're in the know with Esther and Larry. Out of the air today. They're in the know with Mary and Esther. Out of the air our way. Express yourself you are and show the world your heart. Express yourself you are and show the world your heart. 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. 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 AOTA. 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 from the Canterbury Theatre and they're back again to talk about their next show as part of their 38th season. We have Ray Scott Crawford who is the Artistic Director and this time we have Music Director John Burst and they're going to talk about their upcoming show Love is a Many Splintered Things. Gentlemen, welcome to Art on the Air Spotlight. Thanks Larry, great to be here. Very nice seeing both of you. So Ray Scott, I guess I'll punt first to you talking about what the show briefly is about and then we're going to go to John who's our Music Director. Well, it's interesting and I always worry when someone says interesting because what does that mean? It is a show without dialogue so it is continually, the story is told through the lyrics of the songs. It's favorite songs from top 40 songs from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s and they're all intermersed into a number of medleys. So we get the idea of what the characters are going through in their love journeys through their songs. It's really kind of cool. There's three couples and they go through various stages. The first half is shortly out of high school. The second half is about 10 years later. So we see where their relationships have gone and how they've developed. So we actually have that whole period but it's the same characters from Act 1 into Act 2, is that correct? Correct. And you've already cast this show I believe and I think you obviously haven't started rehearsal for it yet but by the time this airs you'll be going to. Right, yeah, we cast starting at the beginning of the year and then we get the company together. We arrive in Michigan City on June 1st and start rehearsals at that time. So by this point we will be ready to put the show on the boards. Excellent. Well John, this is your first time on our New Year's Spotlight. Welcome but tell us a little bit about some of the challenges that you're going to have with this. I mean you're obviously dealing with some very popular music but you know working with the cast and everything. But tell us a little bit about music directing on this. Sure. You know one of the natures of doing summer stock is working really quickly and getting a lot of material in the actors' and actresses' hands very quickly. Memorizing it but then also bringing it to life and really adding the performance aspect of it. So there's kind of the time crunch. You know we all play beat the clock. It's kind of like working retail at Christmas time. So when we show up we all get to know each other really quickly. We learn each other through our work. You know we get to work right away and a nice thing about this is that so many of the songs are familiar to people. There may be an instant familiarity with music but in terms of the story that we're telling it's like Ray Scott said it's true that the music will do a lot of the work for us. But in terms of putting the song in a specific context and then again as Ray Scott had said if the song is part of a medley keeping it in that fuller context. So there's a familiarity that will help us but also we have to build on that then and kind of put the song into our show and into the scene and into the moment that we're building. So that's kind of it in a nutshell. Now I have a question and either one of you can answer. So will the cast be at the Farmer's Market doing a little preview for this show? Our plan is yes as we have in the past yes. Is there any cast members that overlap your previous show a life span of a fact? Yes all of them will be involved in the show. Okay so they're moving from that one right into that. They're producing on some nights just like almost good old repertory theater and rehearsing in probably the daytime for most of the other things. Yeah for the first couple of shows they actually are rehearsing both shows at the same time. So you might have a morning rehearsal for one show, an afternoon for another and then an evening for both or one or the other. So they're working all the time. John because we'll take a quick minute here tell us a little bit about your background for our audience. So I come to Michigan City as both a music director and a stage director. I'll actually be stage directing in the season as well. That's how I do it. I work professionally as an actor, a director and a music director. I also teach. I'm a theater educator. This is my fifth summer here at Michigan City at Canterbury and I'm thrilled to be back working with Ray Scott and David again and the company. So yeah you know you said you've got a theater background yourself Larry. You can't afford to specialize too much. The more you can work the more skills you have. So I'm glad to use my full skill set here to come back to Michigan City. That's excellent. So where did I start as like both as a lighting designer and doing sound and sound design and kind of got thrown into directing. And you know as you well know if you really are lighting design and not just lighting the stage. There's a lot of aspects of understanding the mood moves and also part of directing is communicating. And I think I'm a very intuitive director and I understand that you kind of build your skill set that way and everything. So where do you do education at? I'm currently down in Miami at the University of Miami. And what connected you with Canterbury? Well a few years ago it's really kismet. You know it's very fortuitous. I was working in a different education situation and I had worked a lot in my region. And my colleagues said you know it would be great if you could get out and work somewhere else in the country. So I just kind of shot a mass email out through a network that I was a part of. And I said you know I'm a theater artist. Here's my resume and I'm available to work outside of this region. And if anyone's interested please let me know. And Ray Scott did. So that put us together in our first season. And you know again I directed and music directed that summer. So it's a very similar set up. But it was pure fate. You know Ray Scott had a need. I had a skill set and that brought us together. Lucky fate because the shows are just so professional and excellent there. It was a good landing. Well thank you so much Esther. And as I said I'm very happy to be back. Thanks to everyone. And we're very happy to have you back. That's great. And John which show are you actually directing? Well Ray Scott and I are still kind of working that out. To see what the needs of the season are. We've talked about starting here starting now. We've talked about country is. Some of those things are still being worked out. But I'll be happy to work on anything. Just a little over a minute left here. So Ray Scott will give you a chance to kind of recap the show. And also show dates and how people can find Canterbury in wonderful Michigan City. It's Love is a Mini Splintered Thing. And it is a jukebox musical fast paced zippy hooray. It's fun about love. It's at the Canterbury Summer Theatre. Which is 807 Franklin Street in downtown Michigan City. The best way is to go to the website. CanterburyTheatre.org Then you can order tickets online. It opens on June 19th and runs through the 29th. We have Thursday, Friday, Saturday evening. Wednesday matinee. Thursday, Friday, Saturday evening shows. That's the way it works. Tickets. The highest price is $20. And we have some discounted tickets available for various groups. The telephone number for tickets is 219-874-4269. Well we appreciate you gentlemen coming on Art on the Air Spotlight. John Burst, he's the music director all season. Of course Ray Scott Crawford is the artistic director. Actually co-artistic director with David Graham. Not on this call. Thank you for coming on Art on the Air Spotlight. Yeah, thank you for an excellent season again. Thank you both. Art on the Air Spotlight. And the complete one hour program on Lakeshore Public Media. Is brought to you by Macaulay Real Estate in Valparaiso. O.L. Patrician Senior Broker. And as a reminder. If you'd like to have your events on Art on the Air Spotlight. Or have a longer feature interview. Email us at aota.brech.com That's aota.brech.com Hey this is singer songwriter from the region. Kevin Friend. And you're listening to Art on the Air. At Lakeshore Public Radio 89.1 FM. And on WVLP 103.1 FM. We would like to welcome Chef Eric Himes to Art on the Air. Chef Eric combines his passion for ethnobotany. Anthropology and food to offer fresh perspective. And a desire to demonstrate to modern audiences. How people in the past foraged and dined. With 23 years of experience in the culinary and fine dining industries. Chef Eric along with Dr. Ezekiel Flannery. Presented the culinary anthropology programs. That will offer new ways to connect the past and the present. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome Eric. It's very nice to meet you. Nice to meet you guys. Thank you for having me. Well Eric we always like our guests to tell a little bit about their background. Their origin story. I would like to say how they got from where you were. To where you are now. Well right now. I'm actually at my day job. Which is Square Roots Indiana. In Crown Point Indiana. I just got done setting up the kitchen. We're getting ready to do lunch service. That's where I am right now. As far as where I'm from. I'm originally from Evergreen Park Illinois. Then we moved out to Lowell Indiana. I have kind of just been raised by people that cook. And was kind of born into it. My grandpa owned a restaurant on the south side of Chicago. Also my great grandma on my dad's side. So yeah I'm just kind of bred into it. What's the family get together then? So what were you exposed to? What were the meals like? What was the cooking experience like? Oh you know just I guess lots of food. I mean food's all nice really. Like some families just get together for holidays. But did you have an extended family that got together more frequently than holidays? Because most of my family is still up in Chicago. It was mostly like get togethers around holidays, birthdays, funerals unfortunately. So yeah I guess that's typical for most families I guess right now. We're as close as we can be given the circumstances. So just trying to follow up what Esther was asking maybe. Was there a certain kind of food that your family did as a tradition I think? Like for a certain holiday or something like that. Or was there a certain kind of cuisine that your family liked? Because my grandma I mean like you know when we went to grandma's we had oh my gosh different food than when we went to my aunt's I guess. Yeah I mean God we had food of all types really. I guess that's really where like my love of food comes from. I was introduced to so many different kinds of food from you know different sides of the family. So yeah I mean really a little bit of everything. Like typical stuff that you would find on the south side of Chicago. You know like tavern style pizza, you know Italian beef, you know stuff like that. Then like going to my aunt and uncle's house here out in Munster. And for like you know getting together for like Thanksgiving, Christmas, stuff like that. And having like the typical like holiday dinner. You know like turkey, you know ham, you know stuff like that. Typical things that you would find. But yeah really anything. Well what about your schooling? Oh my schooling? Well I actually never went to culinary school. I kind of got started early in the game as far as like getting my foot in the door in restaurants. And I wanted to go to culinary school. But chefs that I was working under at the time. I kind of expressed to them that I wanted to go to culinary school. And they kind of talked me out of it. You know ironically enough. They're like look kid you know you got your foot in the door. You're already doing great. You already are starting to learn a lot. Like more than you know you'd be learning in culinary school. Like they basically put me like this. Like if you go to culinary school they're just going to show you how to use a knife. And that you're going to be saddled with you know death the rest of your life. So they're like you got your foot in the door. You're doing great. Just you know stick to what you're doing. So I you know kind of just followed their advice. And you know I have to say like I'm kind of glad that I did listen to them. I'm not advocating that everybody should not go to school. Because I definitely think a school serves its purpose. But for me it just kind of worked out you know the way it did. And I'm kind of happy it did. Because you know current state of things. I definitely don't like the vet. So tell us about some of the rest. You know since that was actually your training. Is that like on the job training. Tell us about your kind of history of like places you've worked and chefs you work for. Because that was actually your school. It's actually the hard knock school. Right right. Yeah so I got my my first job was actually at a pizza place. In Lowell. And after that you know just kind of bounced around from you know place to place. For a multitude of reasons. And so I guess the first notable place that I worked at. Was probably the lighthouse. Which is where I met my you know current girlfriend. My girlfriend of 15 years by the way. We both met at the lighthouse in Cedar Lake. I had been out in Ireland for a little bit. With my family. And moved back. And right after we came back. That's when I saw an ad in the paper that this place called the lighthouse was opening. So I applied for the job. It was just opening. I was an original hire. And got the job. Was there for I would say around four to five years maybe. And that's where I met you know my girlfriend Anna Ortiz. Who was also helping me. She's my right-hand man I guess you would say at the museum. She's kind of like my publicist. Slash like all Friday my organizer. And I love her to death. I couldn't I would not be here if it was not for her. And then once she went on to college. She went to Ball State University. And I kind of followed her there. And I that's where I think my first chef position was at. I was working for a food truck called Slop on Top in Muncie. Muncie's or Ball State's first food truck I have to say. So that was very cool. It was a very big honor to you know have that title. And so once she graduated. And we moved back to the area and to Northwest Indiana. I got a job at Free Floyd's Brewery. And I cooked there for a little while. And then went on to be the chef at Swimcade. Like a barcade like a bar you know arcade in Griffith. I was a chef there. Then I was a chef at All Square Brewing in Crown Point. Then I've also been chef at Tavern on Main here in Crown Point. And then I got the job here at Square Roots. I'm not the chef here at Square Roots. They offered me a position to kind of run one of their kitchens. But I kind of declined it. I kind of just wanted to like focus on you know me for a while. So I am still working for them. Love what I do here. Love working with them. Helping everybody out. You know I help write some of the recipes. But then we came across this opportunity with the museum at Lassen's Resort. And the wonderful lady that works there. Julie. Julie Posada. We call her the General. General Julie. I got started with her last year. You know that's when she kind of approached me and Anna. Because Anna's family has deep roots with the museum at Lassen's. Anna's great grandma used to be a maid at the museum at Lassen's. And then her grandma was a tour guide there. And so Anna was kind of like raised in that museum. So as I was saying last year Julie contacted me and Anna. And you know approached us with this idea of you know doing like the dinner tours on the lake. And we thought it was a great idea. And so we tried it out. We did a couple of them. Just to see how they would go. Just to test them. And they turned out awesome. We were really excited with the turnout. It was great. Like one of the dinners that we did actually we weren't able to finish. Because we were going through a drought. And in the middle of the drought like the water level was so low. That we weren't able to get the boats out on the water. Oh my gosh. So we turned it around. Like we didn't you know scrap the event. Like instead we brought everybody inside the museum. We let them dine in the museum. And we actually got a lot of good like B-roll footage of me like serving them. And cooking for them. And we turned that into like a promotional video. So like we kind of took a negative and turned it into a positive. So that was really cool. And after that I think after that event Julie kind of realized that. Hey like you know we can make this work. And so that's when she kind of like extended the offer. Like hey would you like to be the executive chef here at Glass's you know museum. And I was like you know what. Didn't want to do it here at Square Roots. I didn't want to like work on myself. I kind of like felt like I'm in the spot now where. I was like you know what. Yeah like this seems right. Let's do it. You know. It's a really cool opportunity. And I think the only reason I really did it is just because what we're doing with the museum is. We're not just cooking for people. We're also giving them a history lesson. And incorporating you know like you know anthropology and stuff like that. Like we. Whose brainchild was that? Well it originally was an idea of Julie's. It was kind of an idea of Julie's. So was it a group discussion of the Potawatomi heritage to focus on first? Yeah we kind of like. Well after we did the sunrise dinner boat dinners or I mean the sunset you know dinner things with the boat. That's when we started like brainstorming. Well like what else can we do. Like how. What else can we do with this idea of you know you know culinary anthropology. And that's when she kind of brought up this doctor we've been working with Dr. Ezekiel Flannery. And he's a really cool guy. And he's really like the expert with the Potawatomi tribes. And you know we've got to talking with him. And we've you know started developing this menu based around like traditional things that you know the Potawatomis would have eaten back in the day. And you know still probably eat today. And not just the Potawatomis but just like things in this area that are edible. You know things that grow all around us that people just think are weeds. And people just kind of like disregard or like you know take the time and effort to get rid of other yards when in actuality like these are delicious and nutritious things and also medicinal. And so we got the idea of you know like hey let's do this dinner. Let's you know show people that these things that grow all around us that are you know native to Northwest Indiana which is one of the most biodiverse habitats in the country. Let's show these people that you know you can eat this stuff and not only just you know eat it but you can actually make it nice. You know make it really interesting. So that's kind of what we're doing right now. And that's what we're hoping to do. And we hope people really enjoy it. Locally available. Can you go over some of the menu maybe? It was so so intriguing. I mean spotted bee balm leaves. It just sounds wonderful. Right. Yeah. Like and really until like we talked with Ezekiel Flannery like I didn't even know about a lot of these things. Like I knew like things like dandelion you could eat. I've actually worked with dandelion before at Three Floyds Brewery. So I guess at Three Floyds Brewery that's when I really my eyes were kind of opened to like you know hey like some things that we consider weeds are actually very good and good for you. So I kind of had that in the back of my head and like I kind of like researched it a little bit before Dr. Ezekiel. But he really opened my eyes to a lot more possibilities. And so now I'm very excited you know for this new menu. Four course menu. I think you guys got a copy of the menu right? What part of the dandelion gets used? Well you can eat every part of the dandelion. Every part of the dandelion is edible. But for the dishes I'm doing I'm actually doing I'm cooking the flowers like the heads of the dandelion. I'm going to be battering them in a tempura batter and frying them and making like little fritters out of them. And then like doing like a little drizzle of brie cheese and Juneberry. Like a Juneberry compote. And then I think is that the dish that I think that's the dish that I'm using the spotted bee ball leaves. That's true yeah. I'm not going to be garnishing them with that. Well and I saw in the video the preparation that you what you described. In fact that's where I pulled your head shot from as a video freeze. Does the menu vary from each experience with the tour or are you using the same menu for each time? Like if someone would come back would they have the same menu? Well as far as the dinner tours on the boats. I do. It's going to be evolving. And that's mainly because like some things are going to be coming in and out of season. And we want to kind of give people an incentive to come back. You know to do it again. So some things will stay the same. Some things will be changing. And then next year like yeah it'll probably change all over again. So I want it to be something that's going to be completely like continually evolving. And then as far as like the other things that we're going to be doing. So like the menu for the dinner tours is going to be completely different than the menu for the Pottawatomie dinner event. And then we also have other events too. We're going to be doing like an art show and a speakeasy event. And then next year there's talks about us doing a murder mystery like in the museum. And so every time me, Julie and Anna, every time we meet like we're always brainstorming. It's actually really fun because like our meetings are usually only intended like on being like maybe like you know 20 minutes to a half an hour. But we always like wind up sitting down for like two hours just because like we just riff off of each other so well. Like we're like oh we could do this. Oh what about doing this. Oh this will be fun. And like we always wind up with like 20 more ideas for something to do in the future. So I guess that's you know quite a really good thing. Oh yeah. When the possibilities are endless it's exciting. Right. And I feel like that's exactly where we're at. You know we're just like we've just barely opened the floodgates on you know the inspiration for things that we can do. Because not just with like you know like the different foods that we can introduce with like you know native species of like plants and stuff. But just like the rich history of this area of Northwest Indiana and Cedar Lake you know in specific. So with that like yeah we're very excited about the possibilities of what we can be doing. So do they actually eat on the little baby Dewey cruise itself. And so that means you have to kind of figure out small plates. So they eat then go for the cruise. Yes. So well it's going to be five courses. And the way we have it kind of figured out is four courses are going to be done on the boats. And then the fifth course the dessert will be eaten when you come back to the museum. And you're going to sit on the deck you know facing the lake you know watching the sunset while you eat your dessert. And of course weather dependent it sounds like. So if you have a really windy day and you're probably not taking the little baby Dewey out there that's shaky. Right. Yeah. But we have contingencies for that. If for whatever reason the boat can't go out that day we will be offering you know a boat ride at a later time for people. But then we will also be letting people eat that dinner that they were promised that very same day like just in the museum. But then they can come back for you know another boat ride in the future when the weather is more favorable. But hopefully that won't be a problem. Well one thing I always like to ask a chef is is there a dream of a restaurant in your future your own restaurant. Oh I think you know in my line of work I think that's kind of like the ultimate goal. But I have so many irons in the fire right now as my mom would like to say that that's not even really a thought of mine at the moment. Like if it if it happens it happens. You know if it does great. But in the meantime I still got plenty of things that I'm doing right now to keep me busy. My main focus right now is you know the museum. And I think our ultimate goal with the museum and I don't know if I should be talking about this. Maybe Julie will yell at me for spilling the beans. But I think our ultimate goal with the museum is to ultimately get it back in working order to be a hotel again like a resort hotel. So if things if we play our cards right if things work out then you know the museum itself could be the restaurant. But who knows. When we interviewed Julie some time ago as she sort of that was one of her visions and that was down the road. So that's you're not really tipping the boat on anything so to speak. Well we had right. Eric we need to wrap it up. Is any final things you want to say. And also like this is going on actually all summer and everything the food there. It doesn't go into the fall at all. Do you do dinners or just mainly the summer time. The dinner tours will be ending at the end of September I believe. We do have other events going on after that going into fall. We do have like a flavors of fall event that we're going to be doing. Not exactly too sure if there's anything going. I don't think there is. Oh we will be doing something winter. We're going to be doing the lessons the Taylor Ice Fest. So we will have a presence there. It's kind of like Cedar Lake's little version of the Chris Kendall market. Right. And the first one was last year and it was a great turnout. So we're going to do it again. But over winter not going to be that's going to kind of be our office. And I'm just going to be focusing purely on Square Roots here and Crown Point. But other than that like any final remarks I just want to say a big shout out to Julie and all the volunteers at Lassen's Resort. They are a godsend. We couldn't do anything without our volunteers and definitely couldn't do anything without Julie. Julie is like I said she's the general. General Julie. General Julie. Other than that I couldn't do any of this without my own right hand man or my right hand woman. You know Miss Anna Ortiz the woman I love that I've been with for 15 years. So other than that yeah I can't really say anything else. I'm right now I feel like I'm blessed with these opportunities that I have and I'm just losing sleep over making sure that I don't screw this up. Sounds great. That's Eric Hines who's executive chef at Lassen's Resort and also in Ketchum and Crown Point at Square Roots. Thank you so much for coming on Art on the Air and sharing not only your journey but what's going on there with Cruise. Yeah thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you guys. Art on the Air is supported by an Indiana Arts Commission Arts Project Grant, South Shore Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. This is Mary Clark the author of Dandelion Roots Run Deep and you are listening to Art on the Air on Lakeshore Public Media 89.1 FM and WVLP 103.1 FM. We are pleased to welcome Tony Bianco to Art on the Air. Tony is the lifelong resident of Northwest Indiana. He started drawing at an early age and at seven years old received a gift of oil paints. He has a varied career that started at Bethlehem Steel. Then he opened and owned a pizzeria in Valparaiso for four years and then he opened an insurance agency. At this point he started painting earnestly entering shows, garnering awards and solo exhibits. Currently he is finishing a mural for the Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha and welcome Tony. It's very nice meeting you. Thank you and thanks for having me. Well Tony we're glad to have you. I saw you at the art barn, knowing your wife for several years in a completely different universe. But we want to know all about Tony here. Your background story, your origin story. I'd like to say how you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about Tony. I'll try and give a brief summary of it. I was born in Gary. Mercy Hospital, baby. You know, Mercy or Methodist. And grew up in East Gary. When it was East Gary, not Lake Station. And yeah, started, grew up with a big family. There was ten of us. For the longest time was a two bedroom and then a three bedroom house. I'm mentioning that only because when I got that set of oil paints when I was like seven. I don't know how they gave us seven. Maybe I was eight. How do you give a kid oil paints? It was limited space at that time because they smell. But God bless my parents. They did and I painted and that was my introduction to art. So anyway, always drew. Played around with different mediums. But never serious way, even through the teen years, you know. Started at Bethlehem still when I was 21. And it was out there that I first started messing with industrial stuff. I worked at the powerhouse out there. Across the street from us was the blast furnace. And I would sketch it sometimes. And sometimes turn that into watercolors. And sold a couple of them. But never really pursued art that much then. Except as a side hobby. Which I guess it still is a side hobby. But I spend a lot more time doing it now. Well, I was just wondering. In your schooling, what were the art classes like? Did anybody notice that you had drawing skills? I think so. In grade school for sure. I had a good teacher in the fourth grade actually. Joe Stevens. I think Joe is still in the area. He was a great teacher. And I was shy, quiet as a kid. Maybe like a lot of artists, I guess. I don't know. I was. And Joe would kind of put me out in the forefront. By doing things to put on the bulletin board. For class functions or whatever. I give Joe credit for giving me my first exposure in a public way, I guess. In a classroom. And then high school, same thing. I think people saw I had some talent. But I never pushed it. They never pushed it. Just kept doing the stuff as time went on. And something not related to art. What was your birth order? Oh, I was in the middle. Well, there was eight kids. Eight kids. I've gotten my parents into ten. So me and my brother Mike anchored the middle. Of the clan. Tell us about some of your favorite subjects to do. Like maybe how that's changed over the years. You talked about you doing things at the steel mill. But then what are some of the subjects you have done? Yeah, as a kid. I was doing like a lot of kids. Where you draw on soldiers and war scenes. Oh, your pets. Whatever. Odds and ends. Goofy pictures to try and make fun of your brother or sister or something. But as time went on. I guess I started turning more towards landscapes. Primarily. Particularly the natural world. Or scenes in my neighborhood. Or whatever neighborhood I might have been living at the time. As I got older. Porter County. And right about the time. I started insurance. Which would have been. Oh, maybe I was 29. I sold my pizzeria. 28, 29. Anyways, I had more time for painting. I had kids. Young kids. You get a little more responsible. You go home more. And I started pursuing it. And I'm learning in my own way. I never had really schooling for art. But learning from the artists who I appreciated. And it was Andrew Wyeth. All the Wyeths for that matter. Edward Hopper. All the Ashcan artists. The New York City guys. And Andrew Wyeth in particular. Because it was him. I started reading on him. And he doesn't talk technique. But I dug other methods. And learned about how he does egg tempera. And how any artist does egg tempera. And he introduced me to egg tempera. Which is a real awakening experience. A very time consuming medium. But something you can really learn a lot from. You can apply it to other mediums. As you go to that technique. It's really just practice. Looking and practicing. Exactly. It's the kind of thing like a guy. How do guys say. Let's say you're in a store. And your wife sees a piece of furniture. She says I like that. I can make that. Sometimes you can't. Most of the time you can't. But when it comes to painting. I still feel if there's a picture there. You give me an image. I like to work off my own images and photos. I was going to ask you about your process. Do you always work from photos? Or do you work from a sketch? Tell us about your process from seeing an image. And then rendering it to your canvas. Or whatever medium you're doing. When I look for an image. And the problem with images. Is anybody who does art. Can relate to. There's an infinite number of good images out there. You've got to narrow it down. One of the things I look for. Is breaking it down into tones. Contrast. Darks and lights. The balance. How it falls in place. How it hits my eye. It's usually just a gut feeling. There's no formula. I'm not using any theorems. Or the golden angle. Although I think all that stuff. There's something to it. Basically I'm looking for tones. It's from a photo for example. And mostly I do work a lot. A lot of my photos. I may take images from different photos. And put them together. But what I'll start with then. Is not a detail sketch. But what I call a thumbnail. And I do several thumbnails. And that's maybe with just the side of a pencil. And I'm just darkening in the darks. And leaving the lights alone. And just seeing how that balances out. It's a 2 by 2 or 2 inch by 3 inch square. There's not much to it. And the funny thing is. When you do a thumbnail. And you do it spontaneously. For me. And I think for a lot of other people. Sometimes that's better than the painting. As far as in the spontaneity. Because you caught it. Now you're going to sit down. And spend 30, 40, 50 hours on a painting. And the spontaneity. The great artists can keep that spontaneity. That's kind of what it's all about. So anyway. What I'll do then. Once I get that figured out. Then I actually start doing the painting. I follow. And it's a technique I still do. And again it came from the Ed Tempera painters. And there was a book years ago. I read from the 1930's. The guy wrote it. The art of tempera painting. And he goes into detail. Of how you cross hatch this paint on. So the first thing I'll do. Is start the underpainting. And I'll start that underpainting. I'll pick something on this darker side. But it doesn't have to be dark. But I'll stay with that color. My whole underpainting. So maybe half the time I spend on a painting. If I put 40 hours in the painting. 20 plus hours is in the underpainting. I'm laying the foundation. I'm putting up the bumper pads. With that drawing. So that when I start glazing color on there. That's the easy part. And I'm kind of limited in my color palette anyway. But the underpainting is where all the work is. And it's over that. That I then bring out more stuff. Out of that foundation I laid down. Is there any subject that you haven't done. That you want to do. I know you seem like kind of a generalist. You see what you want. But is there something you really like to do. What is that? Yeah I don't know if I'll ever do it. Because it's a whole other thing. I love painting the area. I love painting where I'm from. And what I see around here. And I love when other people recognize things I paint. I think that sense of pride. When you record something. And put it on a canvas. It takes on a different angle in your mind. Rather than just something you drive by. And never look at twice. Or never see an image. Or anybody that took the time to save that image. For you to see. But the thing I think I would like to do someday. I thought of this for years. Still haven't really done it. Is more with people in my art. And I paint people periodically. But I guess I'm not a perfectionist. But I'm not where I'd like to be. And I don't know if I have the time to spend ten years. Learning how to be a portraiture guy. Anyways. Besides I really like what I'm doing with landscape anyway. Right now I feel I'm just scratching the surface on that. Anyways. Do you ever do plein air? No. Not in a group. I'll mess around sometimes in my own backyard. But no. I'm pretty much a studio painter. But I would like to try that. I know the people in Duneland. They've invited me several times. I'm going to have to take them up on that someday. Well you know we have about one minute left. We want to give you a time to talk about. Exhibits you are in. In this upcoming time. Yeah. So I just had a show open. It's the biggest show I've ever had. And the cool thing about this show to me is. It's all industrial based. I've never had enough pieces for an industrial show. I do now. And thank to Brian Byrne. And Randy over at the Elkhart. Midwest Museum of American Art. We've got a 20 piece show. In the main gallery there. The show looks great. And that's going to be open until July 14th. And so yeah. If you're out the Elkhart way. Check it out. Especially anybody from Northwest Indiana. You might see a couple scenes. Nobody really ever painted for you before. Just the industry and stuff there you know. Make a special trip out there. Because Brian and Randy. And the museum are just top notch. They are top notch. That's right. Tony tell people your website. TonyBiancopaint.com And that site has been up and running for a while. So yeah. You can go on there. If you like it. Sign up for my email on there. I don't send out many. You might get one or two a year. Newsletters or blogs. I won't bombard you I promise. Sounds great. That's Tony Bianco. Artist who's been in quite a few things. Grew up in the area. Thanks so much for having me. Thank you Tony. If you have a smart speaker like Amazon Alexa. Google Assistant or Apple Siri. Just tell to play Art on the Air. To hear the latest episode. Hi this is Morgan McCabe. Freelance theater professional. And writer for the Northwest Indiana Times. You are listening to Art on the Air. On Lakeshore Public Media. 89.1 FM. And on WVLP 103.1 FM. Thanks for listening. We would like to welcome Anna Barris. To Art on the Air. Anna is the artist entrepreneur. And instructor behind Star Girl Crafts. She is a Northwest Indiana based. Mixed media artist and instructor. Her home bases are in Valparaiso. And Westville. Thank you for joining us on Art on the Air. Aloha. Aloha and welcome Anna. It's very nice meeting you. Thank you so much for having me. So Anna. All of our guests we like to know their origin story. And I always like to say it like this. How you got from where you were to where you are now. So tell us all about yourself. And how you got to Star Girl Crafts. Alright. So I've always been very interested. In arts and crafts. Ever since I was a little girl. I had a lot of support. From both of my parents. They were both interested. In my interest as a kid. So. I started doing different types of art and craft shows. Around the age of 12. And 13. And with their support. I was able to start. Selling my artwork. I also was selling artwork. To my peers. At summer camps. And at school. So that's kind of how I dipped my toes into the water. As being a young artist. And selling my work. And what it's like to be an entrepreneur. So can you tell us what was on that table? What were you selling initially? Those first young crafts. Yeah. So the first few things that I started selling. Were recycled art. So I would take. Beer caps. And I would clean them off real nice. And then I would turn them into magnets. So that was one of the first. Crafts that I was selling. Were upcycled cap magnets. And I also. Was making polymer clay charms. So I loved to. Spend hours in my room. Sculpting little animals. Or little foods. I even got into making miniatures. Like dollhouse sized miniatures. And I really fell in love. With sculpting. And texture and all that fun stuff. So. Those were two of the main things. That I first started selling. When I was a kid. That's a great place to start. Did you have anyone early in your life. That influenced you. Art teachers. Anyone else. And maybe early classes that you took. So I took all of the. Available art classes. At my high school. So I graduated from Westville High School. And I had just started there. During my freshman year. So I was only at Westville. For the four years. And I had the opportunity. To take every single art class. That I possibly could there. Beforehand. I had taken. I believe I took a photography class. Through the boys and girls club. Summer camp. But other than that. All of the art classes that I had taken. Were through the school. Through whatever school that I was taking. Art class was always my favorite class. When I was in elementary. And by the time I was in high school. I was like okay. I'm going to take every single one. That I possibly can. Make sure it fits into my schedule. So yeah. So did you grow up in a family. That was creative. Are your parents artists. Or musicians. So I have quite a bit. Of an entrepreneurial side. On my dad's side. So on the Barris side of the family. He has a small business. Making websites. His business is called data mine. And like I said. He's been doing his business since the 90s. I was born in 2000. So he's been doing. His website building. And maintenance. For over 20 years. And also on my dad's side. Is my aunt. His sister. My aunt April. She has a small business called cauldron. Where she makes different elixirs. And she also is. A masseuse. So. I have some entrepreneurial. In my. On the Barris side of the family. Now my mother. Tara Simonson. She is most recently a quilter. She's been quilting for about three or four years now. And most of her works. Are for donation. She does a few custom pieces here and there. But she really does it. To donate her quilts that she makes. And she donates most of them. To the Knights of Columbus. So most of them go to children in need. That sounds wonderful. I know. It's a rich artistic background. So. Do you. After high school. Did you have anything. Obviously you were setting up and running a business. But did you have any other studies with anyone. College or other specialty courses you took. Oh yeah. I definitely had my mentors growing up. So my first mentor. Would be. My high school art teacher. Her name is. Molly Ochoa. I called her Mrs. O or Mrs. Ochoa in high school. And I've actually been able to stay connected with her. Throughout college. So she was one of the first mentors. That I had. And she was a high school art teacher at Westville. I know that she's teaching at a different school now. But she's still within the region. And she graduated from Valparaiso University. So she helped me. Kind of know like. Hey, there's actually a local university. That you can get an art degree at. And still be a commuter. So she was my first mentor. And she was one of the first mentors. That I had. So she was my first mentor. I would say. Other than my parents. And in college. I have two mentors from college. So my first advisor. And mentor. Was Amy Tomasek. Amy Tomasek is a photographer. Around the area. Around Valpo, Wanata area. And she's an amazing woman. She's really out here. To help out us young artists. Just starting our careers. At VU. So I absolutely love her. And I'm still connected with her. And working with her too. She's a lovely woman. And my third and last mentor. Would be. Sarah Jancy. So Sarah Jancy. Was one of my professors. And advisors at Valparaiso University. She teaches a lot of the. Studio art classes. And painting. And drawing classes. And she helps me. Get some good opportunities. Through the university. So I was able to work on a mural. At the university. That's in Beebe's Cafe. It was me. And two other students. Zion Gifford. And Eric Hernandez. The three of us worked on. A brand new mural. And my professor Sarah Jancy. Basically nominated us. To work on this mural together. So she's helping. Students get opportunities. To do work around the university. As well as outside of the university. So she actually helped me. Get into instructing. And so. I've recently discovered. My passion for teaching others. How to make all the fun and cool things. That I know how to make. I was going to just ask you about. The evolution of your classes. And workshops. And how you chose. What you decided to offer. Yeah. So for classes and workshops. And instructing. I had done my first workshops. While I was a senior. At VU. So for our. One of the classes. I took my senior year. For one of them. One of the projects was to have some type of workshop. And it's basically. A public workshop. Where you invite. Anybody and everybody. Involved with the university. And so I had. At least 20 or 25 people show up. To my workshop that I did. And it was an artistry. And card workshop. So I like people through. Doing a magazine collage. And basically just designing these small. Two and a half. By three and a half sized cards. And the concept behind. Artist trading cards. Which is to make a small. Artwork on a small card. And trade it with other artists. So it's a good way to build an art collection. For free. Obviously not everybody can afford. Artwork and artwork can be. Really expensive if you're looking. For like a larger piece. So if you're somebody who's wanting to get into. Building an art collection. I highly suggest you look into. Artist trading cards. There's also variations. Like artist trading coins. Which are little round pieces. That are mixed media collage. That people trade the same way. As they do the cards. So that was my first workshop. And after that. I had learned about. An instructor opportunity. So I taught. At Michael's in Valpo. I was their in-store class instructor. For a little over a year. And I was given the okay. To teach classes outside of the store. As long as it wasn't the same things. I was teaching there. You know conflict of interest. Kind of thing. So I was approached by Jamie. From the independent cat society. And she said that she would like me. To do some type of class. And I was like. That sounds like a great opportunity. What are you looking for? And she sent me a video. Of a hand crochet pet bed. I was like I already know how to crochet. And I already know how to hand knit blankets. So I could totally do this. So I learned how to make the pet beds. And I did the class. And we raised a couple hundred dollars. For the independent cat society. And I was like. That's great. So. Basically some recent news. Would be. Right around the beginning of January. Michaels had decided to close. The in store class program. And this was about two or three days. Before I had that hand crochet. Pet bed class. So it was kind of you know. One door closing. And three more opening up for me. So although I'm not teaching classes. At Michaels anymore. I teach as an instructor. And I have. A good amount of people. In my community. That have been really helpful. In letting me know like hey. There's this space that you can teach at. And what not. So. Since then I've just been teaching classes on my own. Being a freelance artist. I've been doing private lessons. Weekly lessons. So it's been a lot of fun. So people can find me through my website. Stargirlcrafts.com All one word. And. My social media pages. I have a Facebook page. It's Stargirlcrafts. And my Instagram is. Stargirl underscore crafts. And I also have a TikTok. That's just Stargirlcrafts. Well Anna. We appreciate you coming on Art in the Air. Sharing your art journey. And watch for her teaching things in the Valpo. And Porter County area. Thank you so much for coming on Art in the Air. Thank you so much. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. We'd like to thank our guests this week on Art in the Air. Our weekly program covering the arts. And arts events throughout Northwest Indiana. And beyond. Art in the Air is aired Sunday at 7 p.m. On Lakeshore Public Media. 89.1 FM. And is available on Lakeshore Public Media's website. As a podcast. Art in 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. If you have a smart speaker like Amazon Alexa. Google Assistant or Apple Siri. Just tell to play Art in the Air. To hear the latest episode. Our spotlight interviews are heard every Wednesday. On Lakeshore Public Media. Thanks to Tom Maloney. And Greg Kovach. WVLP's station manager. Our theme music is by Billy Foster. With a vocal by Renee Foster. Art in 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. McAuley Real Estate. And Valparaiso. And for WVLP. Walt Ridinger of Paragon Investments. For ongoing financial support. If you're looking to support Art in the Air. We have information on our website. At Breck.com slash AOTA. Or 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 in the Air. If you're interested in being a guest. Or send us information about your arts. Arts related event or exhibit. That's A-O-T-A 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 you are. And show the world your heart. Express yourself you are. And show the world your heart. Express yourself you are. 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 you are. And show the world your heart. Express yourself you are. And show the world your heart. Express yourself you are. And show the world your heart. 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