(bright music) - [Matt] Take a walk with photographer David McIntyre.

Chat with meditative painter Julie Brown.

And catch a performance from Elephant Back.

It's all ahead on this episode of AHA.

♪ You are mine ♪ - [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.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Matt Rogowicz and this is AHA, A House for Arts, a place for all things creative.

Time to put your hiking boots on.

Today we're taking a walk in the beautiful Hudson Valley with photographer David McIntyre to discuss the work featured in his solo exhibition at Hudson Hall.

- Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House is a multidisciplinary performing arts organization and visual arts gallery.

We are sitting here in New York State's oldest surviving theater.

The building was built in 1855 and it was originally built as Hudson's City Hall.

The theater upstairs was a town hall.

Susan B. Anthony spoke here three times and Teddy Roosevelt gave a lecture about his adventures in Africa.

The Hudson River School painters showed their work here and many, many more.

Hudson Hall is now a multidisciplinary arts venue, so much more than a theater.

We host a year-round schedule of performing arts, but also we have a first floor gallery space and we run free community workshops for youth and adults throughout the year.

So we are thrilled to have photographer David McIntyre's solo exhibition Walking in the gallery.

It is a beautiful, engaging, fascinating exhibition of photographs taken in and around Columbia County.

When you experience the photographs, you're not just seeing something beautiful, but you're really taken into nature and shared that experience of stopping and pausing.

(gentle music) - Walking at Hudson Hall is inspired by the writings of Henry Thoreau.

He's a phenomenal force way ahead of his time and the things he was speaking about 200 years ago, about 150 years ago, about the environment especially, are so relevant to the climate crisis we're facing right now.

Nature and essentially plants, they've been around for half a billion years, 500 million years.

They turned this rock of a planet into a place we can inhabit, made the atmosphere, made the soil.

So there's got to be a sort of inherent intelligence collectively with all that history.

Now, we are very smart.

We're very clever.

The things, our innovations are amazing, but I wonder if we've become a little detached from that, that body of knowledge.

And that's what I've tried to tap into.

They're often about what I though I saw rather than that than was actually there.

We were walking along the rail tracks earlier, and if you looked out at down the embankment, I noticed a lot of purple flowers.

And in my mind, I saw a lot of purple, but it was probably 95% green.

And so a lot of the time what I'm doing is just bringing out that color and amplifying it and making a solid block of color.

I think one of the ways of explaining it is in the body of work, there's 26 pictures and you're actually looking at thousands of photographs.

There's various processes I've used.

Most of them designed to sort of get out of my own way to sort of have chance come into the equation, lose control as it were.

So sometimes they're layering many, many images up and down as well as in depth.

But I've also done things in Photoshop taking an individual petal and making it into a brush head so you can kind of paint with it and you can change its size.

The one picture that's made with crocuses, I think it's only made with about five or six different crocuses.

And yet it looks like an entire cosmos of crocuses.

(bright music) My work in this field has traditionally been a lot darker and coming from more of an impasse, more sensing an impasse.

And so in a strange way, I feel that I must have had a little bit of a breakthrough because they are joyful, they are hopeful, and I think people are picking up on that.

And it's really not been a thing I've done with my work is bring happiness, but it's kind of nice.

I'm not shying away from it.

(bright music) Other people have said that they feel quiet.

There's a calming sense to them.

And I think I certainly sense that in making the work.

And I think I mentioned in the first press release that I wrote about the work was it was in counter, to the distraction industry that we have right now with our phones, with media.

Well, it's just endless.

I mean, you can't even begin to describe it.

And back in Thoreau's day he talks about being bodily in the woods, but his mind is in the village.

And so that was the distraction thinking about life in the village.

Can you imagine if all we had to worry about was a village, we'd be peaceful beings.

- Julie Brown is a meditative painter and performance artist based in Troy, New York.

Jade Warrick spoke with Julie to learn how she incorporates healing and wellness into her practice.

- Hello, Julie.

- Hi.

- How you doing today?

- Great.

- I know you're a performer.

I know you're a painter, I know you do community organizing.

Got your hands in like a little bit, a lot of pots.

So what about all those connect for you?

- I think the connecting factor is really bringing people together in community and also bringing people kind of back to themselves.

If I were only to do the painting, I would miss out on all the beautiful things that happen when I'm creating spaces and just creating opportunities for people to connect.

- And why is that important to you?

- I feel like that has probably meant the most to me.

Like when people made space for me and I sort of through that process learned how to make space for myself, that was really huge for me.

So I'm sort of trying to pass that on in a way.

- Yeah.

Trickle down artonomics.

Working in practice.

- Exactly.

- So I know you stopped painting when we spoke for about 10 years.

And then in 2020, you painted like, I think like what, like a hundred or something paintings in one month?

- Yes.

- So like what, what made you get there?

What brought the inspiration back?

- Yeah, it was really the slowing down from COVID.

I feel like I moved up from the city and I was in New York City for maybe 10 years, 11 years, and I was just going way too fast and I felt like I could never, I wasn't connecting with myself in the way that would be most beneficial.

So I really just took space and time.

I went down, at the time I was staying at my parents' house, went down to the basement, got out all my old art supplies, and it just felt like 10 years of stuff came pouring out.

And I noticed almost immediately how much better I felt just emotionally, physically.

And that was really a turning point for me because I really realized this is about being well.

This is not just something I can choose to stop doing.

And then I really, from that point, started to really look at why did I stop?

Why did I not allow myself to be an artist?

What was the block for me?

I spent 10 years working in the art world and just never allowing myself, giving myself permission to call myself an artist.

And I really looked at that and worked on it with my therapist and worked on it in other healing modalities and just started to ask those questions.

- Yeah, I too talk to my therapist a lot about my art career.

- I'm sure.

- I wonder if they're just like, but they do help.

So from speaking with you and a couple of other artists, it seems like a lot of artists flourished during COVID.

Would you say that you've seen other artists?

Because I think it was the first time a lot of people who are practicing artists got the time to sit still.

Would you say that was true for you?

- Absolutely.

It was, I had gotten furloughed from my job, moved out of New York.

Yeah, I absolutely think I had never actually slowed down enough.

And it took a few weeks for me just to calm my nervous system down enough to not be on alert the way that I was in New York.

And with my job at the time doing logistics, it felt like I had to almost deprogram that out of my body a little bit before I could even get creative.

But I think that did it.

It happened for a lot of artists kind of found their, Found space to work, found inspiration in what was happening because we had to be with ourselves and we had to find a way for our circumstances to make sense.

And I really feel like there was a time where it was like, I need to express what I'm here for.

I need to find my purpose.

I need to get back.

It was almost like a return for me, a return to my early dreams.

Like wait, I wanted to be an artist.

Where did those 10 years go?

What was I doing and why am I not?

And I had all of these things and aspirations and where did those go?

And it just gave me enough time to think about that.

- I know you also, it's kind of relatable, practicing in meditative arts, meditative painting, meditative performance.

So for a person who may not know what that means, what is integrating meditative practices into your art look like?

- The practice of painting for me is meditative in that the way I paint is I'm gonna slow down, I'm gonna pick a couple of colors, I'm gonna be with this piece and I'm gonna ask myself what's coming up for me.

And throughout the painting process, it's really a response to what I'm creating.

So I don't usually have a vision before.

I'm really working through it as I go.

So in that way too, it's sort of like, I'm just gonna notice.

And for me, meditation is that for me, it's really just slowing down, noticing what's already there, seeing what comes through, being curious and trying to be non-judgmental of what comes up and comes through.

- That's a big one.

I'll say that's probably the hardest.

- Hardest part.

But that's where so much of that beauty happens because you're opening yourself really up to your own voice.

So I think both painting and meditation do that for me.

And certainly to show people what that looks like in performance too.

I remember thinking about practicing meditation and being like, I can't do that.

There's no way I can sit still for five minutes, let alone like 20 minutes or 30 minutes.

And so I think making it approachable for people.

- Yeah.

Showing them a different perspective of like healing and wellness through art.

- Yes.

- So I know in your performances you do movement, sound work, fork tuning, correct?

- Yep.

- So why do you think it's important to let the audience in and see these parts of, I don't know, seeing how these wellness practices collide with the art, do you think it's important for the audiences or all audiences to see things like this?

- I do.

I think I started to really ask the question too when I started, when I really wanted to get into performance, like can a work of art really have a healing effect?

Can it have a tangible effect when you interact with it?

And I am an absolute yes now.

I was really asking that question and didn't know.

I was 50/50.

And now I really believe that it can have such a positive impact on people's wellness in general.

So I think, I mean, holistic healing in general has absolutely transformed my life.

It brought me back to my painting.

I think eventually it was really one of the things that allowed me to even get to that point where I could be creative again.

So I feel like a lot of artists, myself included, struggle with being highly sensitive and having a lot of high highs and low lows.

There's so many modalities.

Find the one that works and really speaks to your heart because I didn't find the tuning forks until 2021.

I didn't even know they existed.

But once I did, I was like, this is the thing.

This is the thing that can bring me back to myself like in an instant almost.

And it made like so much, so much more possible for me just because I felt well enough and resourced enough to do it.

- I love that.

And as you said, sitting for 20 minutes, I'm like, ah, I have a partner who you know, Eugene O'Neil, who is very into meditative states and meditative based arts.

And I remember he tried to sit me there and have me do like yoga and sit still for 20 minutes and I was losing my mind.

I was like, I can't do this.

I have really bad ADHD.

The sound bowls.

Sound bowls brought me back.

Like I can meditate if there's sound bowls going through.

Like something with the frequencies.

So you're right.

Some people they may like, oh, I can't sit down here and just, you know, it's like, but I can sit in silence for 20 minutes with sound bowls going because something with the frequency.

So you're right.

Everybody has to find like what fits them and there's so many wellness practices out there that could, you know, that you can find that fits your puzzle.

So I know you said Troy, the Troy community, Troy, New York really helped change your life and really helped make you the artist you are today, or at least had a big influence on it.

How did they do that and why do you think it's important to continue giving back to the Troy community and how do you give back to the Troy community?

- Yeah.

Troy completely, I really feel like Troy helped me even call myself an artist for the first time to start, like when I changed my Instagram handle from just like Julie Brown to Julie Brown Art and decided this was gonna be the path that I was going to take.

Troy, I feel like the community in Troy helped me do that in so many ways.

I started with a free artist healing, like Sunday event at a bar in downtown Troy.

And just to have the owner be like, yeah, absolutely.

Use my space.

Like do it here.

You can collaborate with this person and that person.

And before I knew it, I had a community of people that were coming to this event.

I was doing something I had never done before.

I was in a sense returning home to myself and really being true to myself and showing people and being vulnerable and being like, this is really what I want to do with my life.

And it just kept coming.

I mean, meeting people day after day that were supportive, that wanted to give me opportunities.

Drea LaRose, shout out to her.

She gave me my first ever art show in Troy at Second Street Studios.

That completely changed my life.

And I realized that like how much of those opportunities, how much weight, like the first art show or the first opportunity you get like that, it really was completely life changing for me.

It did lead to my decision about a year and a half ago to finally leave my corporate art shipping job.

And I was like, that's it.

Like I need to be in the community with these people doing what I love and making more opportunities, making more of the things that were given to me.

And I think those are such beautiful things to witness in other people.

- I love that.

Well, thank you, Julie, for coming and talking to us today.

And I love all your work and appreciate you as someone in our arts community.

We need more folks like you and you are creating more folks like you, are giving the platform for folks to move like you, which I really appreciate.

So thank you for stopping by and chatting with us today.

- Yes, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Please welcome Elephant Back.

(upbeat music) ♪ Don't believe me when I say ♪ ♪ That I swear ♪ ♪ I miss you every single day ♪ ♪ Life can always change on a dime ♪ ♪ So go ahead and hold me one more time ♪ ♪ And we hug ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ I know you don't like it when I say ♪ ♪ That I swear ♪ ♪ I miss you every single day ♪ ♪ Life can always change on a dime ♪ ♪ So go ahead and hold me one more time ♪ ♪ And we hug ♪ ♪ And we hug ♪ ♪ Well in my heart ♪ ♪ There's only you and I ♪ ♪ Want to spread the light ♪ ♪ Hold you through the night ♪ ♪ Without you, I will be the same never again ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You know ♪ ♪ How to deal with my bad news ♪ ♪ And they'll never ♪ ♪ They'll never be another like you ♪ ♪ You make me feel brand new ♪ ♪ Without you, I don't know what I'd do ♪ ♪ And we hug ♪ ♪ And we hug ♪ ♪ And in my heart ♪ ♪ There's only you and I ♪ ♪ Want to spread the light ♪ ♪ Hold you through the night ♪ ♪ All the stars ♪ ♪ They spell out your name ♪ ♪ Without you I will be the same never again ♪ ♪ You are my mind ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ ♪ You are mine ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ I need a rhyme ♪ ♪ I need a line ♪ ♪ I need a song that we'll sing along to ♪ ♪ I need a word ♪ ♪ No one has heard ♪ ♪ A little bird ♪ ♪ A little soundbite ♪ ♪ I got too many stories, got too many tears ♪ ♪ Got too many years ♪ ♪ Never finding glory ♪ ♪ So I sit here in the dim light of the kitchen ♪ ♪ And I'll write it down and hope that people listen ♪ ♪ I need a rhyme ♪ ♪ I need a line ♪ ♪ I need a song that they'll sing along to ♪ ♪ I need a word ♪ ♪ No one has heard ♪ ♪ A little bird ♪ ♪ A little soundbite ♪ ♪ So many days I thought we'd never be ♪ ♪ For so many days ♪ ♪ You're all I ever seen ♪ ♪ This person that I am ain't the same no ♪ ♪ And I know yeah ♪ ♪ You're to blame, yeah ♪ ♪ I need a rhyme ♪ ♪ I need a line ♪ ♪ I need a song that they'll sing along to ♪ ♪ I need a word ♪ ♪ No one has heard ♪ ♪ A little bird ♪ ♪ A little soundbite ♪ ♪ I need a rhyme ♪ ♪ I need a line ♪ ♪ I need a song that they'll sing along to ♪ ♪ I need a word ♪ ♪ No one has heard ♪ ♪ A little bird, a little soundbite ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ ♪ Yeah yeah ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (bright music) - Thanks for joining us.

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

I'm Matt Rogowicz.

Thanks for watching.

(upbeat music) - [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.