(gentle music) - [Jade Warrick] Explore the relationship between manmade objects and those occurring in nature through the works of metalsmith Margaret Jacobs, hear from Hypersaturation Magazine founders Joshua Gruft and Courtney EG, and catch a performance from Reese Fulmer and the Carriage House Band.

It's all ahead on this episode of AHA!

- [Male Announcer] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and the Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.

(electronic music) - Hi, I'm Jade Warrick, and this is AHA!

A House for Arts, a place for all things creative.

Here's Matt with today's field segment.

- I'm on my way to Salem in New York to visit with artist Margaret Jacobs.

Let's go.

(upbeat music) - I am Akwesasne Mohawk and I am a metalsmith who makes powder coated jewelry and fabricated steel sculpture.

I started off with painting and mixed media and I just never quite got what I wanted to get out of it.

And then I was introduced to welding and it just felt like a natural fit.

That was the media I was meant to be using.

I really was able to do everything that I wanted to do.

And then there's this whole other historical layer to the material just with Mohawk ironworkers building skyscrapers.

So I really like the fact that my community also has a relationship to this material as well as myself as an artist.

So I like that layering and I tend to layer that in the work as well.

I was introduced to jewelry with a friend and she showed me how to powder coat and I just felt like it would give me the opportunity to explore a couple different paths in my work.

So the sculpture's great, doing larger things, I can move quickly.

With the jewelry, I feel like I can explore a little bit, similar concepts but in a little different way.

So I can work on a smaller scale, it's a little bit easier physically, I can play with color in a way that I don't with the steel.

And then it really just engages the viewer in a different way.

The viewer or the person wearing it can really have this more intimate relationship with the jewelry.

They're wearing it, they're interacting with it, it's on their body.

What I do is I create different patterns from imagery, primarily botanicals.

I'll draw and I'll create all of these patterns and then hand cut those out of brass.

And then I'm gonna take those over to my torch and I will solder those together so that I have a finished object.

You get this flat image of a botanical that has a little bit of form to it.

Over top of that I will powder coat on different colors, different layers, different textures, so that you wind up with this surface that's either really colorful or really matte.

It can have texture that looks like leather or it can be really gemmy and carry a lot of different color layering in it as well.

I've always been really interested in material, material use, and just, like, material shift, you know, can you make one thing look like another thing?

I have a couple pieces that I'm using this texture that looks like leather so I can create this thing out of metal and then I can coat it and then it pretty much looks like black leather.

When you look at it and you're like "Whoa, that's not really supposed to be like that, that shouldn't look soft, that shouldn't look organic," is gonna pull the viewer in more and they're gonna spend more time with the object.

They're gonna spend more time looking at it.

They're gonna create more of a relationship with it.

When I'm creating my work, I like there to be layers of narratives, layers of storytelling.

So if I'm looking at a specific plant or botanical it's because that there's layer of narrative in that.

There might be historical story, there might be familial, might be personal story, but there is all this layering.

So right now in my jewelry I'm doing a lot of berries and using a lot of strawberries and as well as blueberries and blackberries.

Strawberries are really important culturally.

I have a lot of stories and memory that remind me of my grandmother and spending summers on her land in Akwesasne.

So having those layers of storytelling within the work, even if the viewer doesn't necessarily know what's happening, is really important to me.

Right now what I'm working on is kind of taking these flat jewelry forms that I've been making and creating them more into objects and in the round, and I just finished a couple pieces that are really exploring that, and I think that's really what I'm gravitating to right now and where I kind of wanna see my path continuing.

- Hypersaturation Magazine builds itself as a magazine celebrating everything slightly off color.

Founded by Joshua Gruft and Courtney EG, the periodical strives to highlight artists of every medium, uncovering hidden gems all around us.

So how did the idea for a print magazine start and what can we look forward to in the next issue?

I sat down with Joshua and Courtney to find out.

Hi guys, welcome to AHA!, welcome Josh, welcome Courtney.

- Hey.

- Hi.

- It's nice to have you here today.

- Thank you.

- And I'm super excited to talk about all the artistic endeavors behind this magazine we're about to get into.

So before we dive in, I just wanna get a little bit of artistic background on you both.

So we'll start with you Courtney.

- So my artistic background started when I was a little kid.

My mom was reading books to me about, like, Salvador Dali and Georgia O'Keeffe and, like- - Love them.

- Yes, and just really influenced my style as a small child, and Pablo Picasso too.

And then from there I became kind of, I just wanted to be a filmmaker.

And for some reason I made a claymation video of just a ball of clay moving back and forth on, like, a VHS camera to "Loser," by Beck.

- Love it.

- That was my first avant garde endeavor.

And then I was like 13 looking at film schools I wanted to go to, ended up going to St. Rose for communications and film and new media, decided my senior year that I wanted to be a graphic designer and then taught myself how to design, and from there I was able to start Nullvoid Apparel which is my clothing company.

- Yeah.

- So Nullvoid just kind of started as in 2017 just kind of my brain on t-shirts is how I like to describe it, so.

- I love that, yes, putting our, wearable art, putting our brain on clothing.

- Yes, that's exactly what, yeah, I always felt it's wear, I call it like artwear instead of streetwear a lot just because it is just sometimes it is just my brain on a shirt, so.

- Oh, beautiful.

What about you Josh?

- Yeah, music has been my whole life starting from fourth grade I was playing drums.

I played on the stage at Warped Tour in 10th grade and then from there in college I got into recording engineering and songwriting.

And so after college I just recorded songs and wrote songs and through parties learned how to DJ and throughout that time I became a big fan of just the arts in general.

So this magazine came from just years of being in the art scene and just loving being around artists.

- Ah, that's amazing.

So, like, these two skill sets, like, combined into one.

- [Courtney] Oh yeah.

Which will lead us to Hypersaturation.

- Yeah.

- So let's talk a little bit about that.

So what, how did Hypersaturation begin and how would you describe it to folks who may not know about it?

- One of my hobbies is collecting books and magazines, Manga, I love reading graphic novels, I love looking at fashion magazines.

And so I just wanted to provide a fashionable home for our local artists and have a place to be able to showcase their art full color and in a physical form.

I felt like, through the pandemic, art became really digital.

You know, there was a need for digital parties, DJs DJing on their phone and, but we're past the pandemic now and I want people to put their phone down, pick up a copy of Hypersaturation and go to the park and read.

- Yeah, really just be physically involved within the arts.

And I agree, I'm a huge art book collector and I prefer reading art books than reading an article or reading a digital copy on there.

So that's really important for folks.

And so it just began just from an idea?

- Yeah, pretty much.

I wanted to work in the magazine field, in the publication field.

I wanted to be a writer for Rolling Stone or an editor for Vogue, but they don't really hand those jobs out too often or for people that has never been in the publication field.

So one of the biggest lessons you learn about being an artist for, you know, 25 years as I have been, is that if you want something, you just need to do it yourself.

- That is true, you just gotta do it.

You gotta lead your own, I don't know, lead your own dreams.

I always say as an artist myself, I'm like, if I don't see the change happening or what I want to see around me, I'm just going to do it myself.

- [Joshua] Right.

- And usually that works.

- Right, exactly.

- So what about the content and the themes?

So how do you pick the themes for Hypersaturation?

- Our first three were kind of, we call them our mix tape issues.

They were open submission, open call, just for, we wanted to celebrate all things off color, and we got a lot of submissions, like enough to fill, like, enough to fill three, enough to fill three magazines.

And then we came up with a, just kind of, like, themes ideas that were just kind of basic words.

There's like food, tattoos, and- - Fashion.

- Thank you.

Food, tattoos, and fashion.

Then from there we took the words and fleshed it out, like, just the one words, and I think fleshed it out into what they became.

Which, if you wanted to expand on that.

- Yeah, we also, so we pretty much meet once a week and during our meetings we plan out, we have to plan out at least, you know, two months in advance.

It takes three weeks to get the magazines from the printer and it takes, I don't know, five, six weeks to get everything all together.

So that's two months right there.

During those two months we're talking to artists, we're gathering art, if I'm at the magazine stand and see a cool magazine, I'll get it to- - Inspo.

- For inspiration and yeah, if something works well, we'll try to incorporate it in our magazine.

- Oh, it's beautiful.

So speaking of that, what do you think sets you guys apart from all the other art magazines?

- Definitely the number one thing that sets us apart is that this magazine is created by Joshua and Courtney.

It is our unique perspective.

It is our unique take on curating things.

We do look at a lot of references, but a lot of the time is we're finding that our natural instincts are, are what, is what pushes us to the next level.

- Oh, that's amazing.

- [Courtney] Yeah.

- [Courtney] Yeah.

- What are your thoughts, Courtney?

Do you have any thoughts on to add to that?

- Like, to add, like, the tangibility, like, aspect of it I think that's important.

There's a lot of web scenes out there and a lot of, I think what also sets us apart is the, I feel like it's very in depth and it takes a lot of from both of us emotionally and mentally and, like, in a good way.

- What is your feedback from the community?

How do the artists feel?

I know it's almost all positive, which is great, but like what are your thoughts?

What are some comments that you've gotten back?

- The whole, the community as a whole just really has opened up and accepted and it's, and we've made so many amazing connections through, like, that we wouldn't have made before, so.

- Oh that's true.

Like, I didn't even think about the socializing aspect of it.

- [Courtney] Oh yeah.

Like, now you're being able to create and really meet new people in this creative field that you've never really even thought to probably even think about before or even meet.

- No, and yeah, especially as someone who is incredibly introverted, yeah.

- I get that, introvert life.

- Yep.

- Our most recent issue, we did tattoo issue where we interviewed 10 tattoo artists and while I was interviewing the tattoo artists, one of the things that they loved about being in this issue was that they were gonna be able to connect with other local tattoo artists.

- [Jade] Oh.

- So not only are we connecting tattoo artists with people that are curious about tattoos, but were also connecting the tattoo community.

- [Jade] Oh my gosh.

- We found out with the tattoo community it's very, you gotta, everyone teaches each other.

Everyone, in order to tattoo better you have to go and watch people tattoo and get inspired by their art, ask questions.

- [Jade] Mm-hmm.

- And that learning and that education is just an added bonus.

- So it really bridges the divide between the communities.

- [Joshua] Definitely.

- Not that there is a divide but it kind of just bridges us all together so we all know each other.

- [Joshua] Right.

- The divide is not knowing each other.

Now we are, 'cause we're all on this one publication together.

- Yeah, I mean there is a divide as far as the online community.

The algorithm will tell you what to, what to see, and it's easy to miss some of the amazing things going on right underneath your nose.

But with this magazine we're hoping to really showcase a lot of artists that might get buried or left behind.

- Ah, that's beautiful.

And one more thing before we go.

How do folks submit to Hypersaturation?

How do they submit an entry to be in there?

- Yeah, we're on Instagram @hypersaturation.

Send us a DM, also come to one of our parties and then HyperSaturationMagazine@gmail.com.

- [Jade] Ah.

- So yeah, send us an email, send us some art.

Tell your friends, come and find us.

- Awesome.

- Yep.

- Well thank you Josh and thank you Courtney.

I appreciate you.

- Thank you so much.

Thanks for having with us.

We really appreciate it.

- Yeah.

- Thank you.

- Woo!

Please welcome Reese Fulmer and the Carriage House Band.

(acoustic folk music) ♪ My arms had never known a different lover ♪ ♪ His eyes were soft and when we met ♪ ♪ He took me home and told me all the others ♪ ♪ Had always left ♪ ♪ And I could tell that that old house was haunted ♪ ♪ The way the shadows seemed to dance ♪ ♪ But I settled down and gave him what he wanted ♪ ♪ Another chance ♪ ♪ And sometimes we were almost like we promised ♪ ♪ His words cut soft as loving can ♪ ♪ But some things have a way of making honest ♪ ♪ A callous man ♪ ♪ And Caroline I swear I could make it better ♪ ♪ And stop my heart from growing cold ♪ ♪ But I will never have a chance to let her ♪ ♪ Save my soul ♪ ♪ Driving all night to say goodbye to Caroline ♪ ♪ I'll never be the same again.

♪ ♪ I'm driving all night to say goodbye to Caroline ♪ ♪ I'll never be the same again ♪ ♪ And now that house is gone and lit a fire ♪ ♪ And it will not be born again ♪ ♪ And I can hear a prayer drifting skyward ♪ ♪ A requiem ♪ ♪ Someday when the stars fall on Ohio ♪ ♪ I'll will set his spirit free ♪ ♪ And someday when the stars fall on Ohio ♪ ♪ I will be free ♪ ♪ I will be free ♪ ♪ I will be free ♪ ♪ I will be free ♪ ♪ I will be free ♪ ♪ Somewhere there's a field of golden sunlight ♪ ♪ And wildflowers on the air ♪ ♪ And she will smile and tell me that it's alright ♪ ♪ I'll meet her there ♪ ♪ You might sign a law to try and stop it ♪ ♪ And call the wretched thing divine ♪ ♪ But until my last breath has left my body ♪ ♪ The choice is mine ♪ ♪ Crossing state lines to say goodbye to Caroline ♪ ♪ I'll never be the same again ♪ ♪ I'm crossing state lines to say goodbye to Caroline ♪ ♪ I'll never be the same again ♪ ♪ Crossing state lines to say goodbye to Caroline ♪ ♪ I'll never be the same again ♪ - This is a tune that will be released in January 2023.

It's off of the record that I'm working on right now called "All the Time in the World" under Reese Fulmer and the Carriage House Band.

This is a song called "San Francisco."

(folk guitar music) ♪ Somewhere ♪ ♪ The air is alive ♪ ♪ The bees keep the hive ♪ ♪ The river beds stretches ♪ ♪ And waits for the rains to arrive ♪ ♪ But it will not survive ♪ ♪ And somewhere ♪ ♪ You lay your head ♪ ♪ On a four poster bed ♪ ♪ Canopy opens ♪ ♪ You fall through tomorrow instead ♪ ♪ To the hard days ahead ♪ ♪ But oh the sky ♪ ♪ Big as those eyes ♪ ♪ It takes all the time in the world ♪ ♪ And gives it to somebody else ♪ ♪ It swings like a necklace pearls ♪ ♪ And drops like a coin in a well ♪ ♪ Somewhere ♪ ♪ Out on the road ♪ ♪ I get what I'm owed ♪ ♪ A tumbleweed dances ♪ ♪ Will ride like the wind to the coast ♪ ♪ To San Francisco ♪ ♪ And somewhere ♪ ♪ Red roses crowned ♪ ♪ A stone on a mound ♪ ♪ That breathes in a sunrise ♪ ♪ With all those ghosts in the ground ♪ ♪ But it's nothing profound ♪ ♪ But oh the sky ♪ ♪ Big as those eyes ♪ ♪ It takes all the time in the world ♪ ♪ And gives it to somebody else ♪ ♪ It swings like a necklace pearls ♪ ♪ And drops like a coin in a well ♪ ♪ Oh the sky ♪ ♪ Big as those eyes ♪ ♪ It takes all the time in the world ♪ ♪ And gives it to everyone else ♪ ♪ Yeah it swings like a necklace pearls ♪ ♪ And drops like a coin in a well ♪ - Thanks for joining us.

For more arts, visit WMHT.org/aha and be sure to connect with us on social.

I'm Jade Warrick and thanks for watching.

(deep electronic music) - [Male Announcer] Funding for AHA has been provided by your contribution and by contributions to the WMHT venture fund.

Contributors include the Leo Cox Beach Philanthropic Foundation, Chet and Karen Opalka, Robert and Doris Fischer Malesardi, and the Robison Family Foundation.

- At M&T Bank, we understand that the vitality of our communities is crucial to our continued success.

That's why we take an active role in our community.

M&T Bank is pleased to support WMHT programming that highlights the arts and we invite you to do the same.