♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Second Story Books, celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

(theme music playing) WENDEL PATRICK: "Artworks" is made possible in part by The Citizens of Baltimore County, and by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund, the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts, The E.T.

and Robert B. Rocklin Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.

♪ ♪ MEHVES LELIC: My name is Mehves Lelic.

I'm an assistant professor of Fine Arts and Mosely Gallery Director at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Uh, for most of our students, you know, being able to see artwork by African American artists is really important because thematically, uh, it speaks to their experience, sometimes it's from a different era, but there's still this continuity of a legacy that you see, uh, you know, on the walls.

Uh, the most important consideration definitely is that, um, artists of color are very underrepresented in museum collections across the United States.

Statistically, we know that in public museum collections, uh, the representation of African American artists is under 10%, possibly under five in most institutions.

So, when most of our students walk into a museum in a major city, or, you know, anywhere in the United States um, unless it is a museum that's dedicated exclusively to African American art, they're not seeing themselves represented on the walls of that gallery.

So, we want to create a powerful experience by making sure that when they step into this gallery, they see themselves represented in the artwork.

Whether that's, you know, through the identity of the artist, um, the questions that an artist is asking, or the very kind of representational figures and environments that the artist is putting in their work.

It it's still very, very valuable for, for our students.

♪ ♪ So today we're actually doing some prep work for the students for an exhibition that will mount in the spring 2026 semester.

Uh, it's an exhibition about food culture, especially in the African American context, uh, and its relationship with visual art.

This artwork is really interesting.

It's called "Maryland Crab Feast," and it's a screen print, and when you're making a screen print, you have to run a screen for each individual color.

So, it's kind of like a color blocking exercise, and we think that it works really well with kind of the festive mood of the particular, um, work.

Um, uh, Tom Miller was, uh, very into describing and depicting Baltimore in his work, and this is one of, uh, his works that most kind of, um, you know, represent, um, his, his community.

Alright, so let's look at the margins, let's start with the margins right here.

We have a little dent there, right?

So, colors look great, so I think we're in good shape.

STUDENT: Mm-hmm, here's the... MEHVES: This one has a lot of food items, a popsicle here, and then some watermelons there.

Um, the watermelons are on a cart, like really, when you get too close, you can't see because there's so many layers.

Um, but actually we're looking at a man buying kind of a slice of the watermelon off of a cart that's drawn by this paint horse, um, which is really pretty cool.

STUDENT: Mm-hmm.

MEHVES: As Mosely Gallery Director, I produce eight to 10 exhibitions a year here in our academic gallery space.

I also, uh, try to start partnerships and provide internship opportunities for my students in museums and galleries outside of UMES.

As museum workers, as gallery workers, as art students, art history students, we are stewards of these works so that we can help them, you know, survive for future generations to be able to see them.

Sometimes when an artist passes away, the understanding is that they won't be making any more work, so all the work that they have already made is out there in the world now, and that needs to be preserved, uh, so that the future generations can also take advantage of seeing such artworks.

You know, when we are handling them, we wear gloves, we make sure that, um, you know, we carry them through clear paths.

Usually, when artwork arrives at this gallery, they arrive in crates; the crates come through the door, and then they're opened here.

The work that you see behind me is work from the faculty exhibition, so the different faculty members in the department have made them, uh, and in a way, uh, thematically we don't want artworks that are too similar to each other, to be next to each other so that each work can breathe on its own and speak to the viewer on, on its own.

So these are just some of the considerations, you know, that there are so many, uh, but one of the most enjoyable parts of this experience is to be able to, you know, talk to students who trickle in during install, uh, you know, work with student workers, uh, give them the agency to make some of those decisions so that, uh, you know, they feel ownership to the exhibitions that we're able to place in the gallery.

♪ ♪ NAYANI LEWIS: I am from South Central Los Angeles.

I grew up in Leimert Park.

I went to school in Culver City.

My dad worked in Hollywood, so I really, like L.A., is my home.

I grew up all over the place.

My journey with art began for me before I was even born; all of my family is in the film business, or they have some type of creative eye.

So, I've always been surrounded by art.

I grew up on sets.

My mom used to do paintings when I was younger, so my first painting came from using her old paintings in the garage.

So, I just grew and, and developed with art.

It was always my safe space.

So, it will continue to be, it's like a passion, I have to do it, it's the way that I live.

So, it's just been from day to night, that's all I think about, that's all I do.

So, in the same way that Los Angeles is so diverse regarding everyone across the world, outside of being in South Central, Los Angeles doesn't have a very high population of Black people in one spot.

So, when I went to school, I was, it was mostly PWIs around, um, a lot of different people, but I never saw anyone like me.

I didn't have a group of just Black friends.

And when I came here, I was just shocked about how many different type of Diaspora are here.

So, like, the way that I talk on the West Coast versus my best friend being from D.C., and our languages interacting with each other.

That difference in embracing her culture, which is the same as my culture, but it's completely different.

It really made me set in stone and confident in, like, how like I'm so curious to travel around the world and learn about more people.

I just knew there was so much more to learn.

I came here because I committed to the women's golf team here, and unfortunately, I was injured last year, but that allowed me to have more space and time to focus on my art and really curate what I'm trying to do with my future.

So, although golf is the reason why I'm here, I stayed for the art program.

I created this painting earlier this year in the semester, and it was about my experience last summer having, um, a torn labrum.

And I had shoulder surgery, which prevented me from playing golf, which I've been playing golf for 14 years, so it was a very long time, and also the passing of my cat.

So, it took a lot of time and patience, and I just couldn't wait to get back to painting once I was able to literally lift my arm again.

So, everything is pretty smooth.

I really wanted everything to be pretty calm, and I liked the way that looked, but moving forward, when I started to create these two pieces, um, what I first do is take, uh, photos, and I edit them and procreate so I can really, um, trace out everything I want to create.

But I noticed in this technique that it was almost too smooth; it was too relaxed.

And what I wanted with these pieces was to have, um, high texture make you feel something, something you can look at since the background is pretty solid.

Um, so I took a spatula and first I painted the hair black, and then I used my wrist in this half circular motion to create the highlights of my locks, since I shot this in our studio here on campus.

And I used high flash so that you can really get the reflections on my eyes, get the reflections on my hands, and on my hair.

So, it's really like you have this hyperfocus on this very detailed portrait of myself.

When I came here, I had to learn confidence.

I had to learn how to be confident in my artwork, be confident in my technical skills so that I could allow myself to grow.

At this university, they breed like learning, they breed diversity, they breed learning from different, uh, majors.

So, in my first, freshman year, I had to draw comics, I've never done that.

I don't particularly like it, but it taught me a lot.

And it taught me how to use different, like in comics, we had to use inks and watercolors and color pencils, so I moved that into my own personal fine arts.

So, I was able to use something that I hated doing in the moment, but it actually really helped me as an artist.

It helped me grow.

TYASIA BELL: With the education classes, they're amazing.

The professors amazing and they really guide us.

And with that, like they do push us past our limit, which is what you're supposed to do as a artist in general.

Like, not only do they push us out of our comfort zone and past our limit, but they also help guide us outside of that.

Obviously, they're not gonna do all the work for us, but they give us pretty much like, "Hey, you could go do this."

"Oh, I, I never did use oil paint."

"But you can do it."

And then, like with instructions, they get the job done, and so I really think it pushes you to be out of your comfort zone, but in a good way, because you get to cover more areas of being an artist and student.

MEHVES: The three qualities that I try to stress most are empathy, uh, resilience, and curiosity.

Uh, when an artist is curious, there is nothing that they cannot do.

If you approach the world with the desire to understand it, then what you can put on paper or on your surface or the computer screen that you're working on, um, you know, that, that kind of translation can be quite powerful.

But in doing so, I think that you have to preserve that sense of empathy with anyone who might see your work.

How can we step out of our own bodies and understand what life is like for, for other people, I think, is a very important tenet.

And to this end, um, you know, we take a lot of trips with the students, and we can see that we're, we're building empathy together, the faculty and the students alike.

So, uh, we go to New York City every year so that we can see all the major museums with the students.

And last year for spring break, uh, I took them to Italy, where we did the, a three-city trip, and we got to observe how other people lived and looked at art and made art, and understand art.

And that sort of experience can really equip the students with the empathy they need to understand what the wider forces shaping the art world are, and work so that they can be successful artists.

NAYANI: Since being here and doing the study abroad trip, I want to go around the world.

I want to do my master's degree.

I could, I would love to do it at UCLA, but I could also go to Europe.

I can go to Italy, I can go to Spain, I could go to France to learn about these different things.

Going to Italy literally changed my life.

We first went to Rome, and then we went to Milan, and then we went to Venice.

And in all different spots, we went to crazy, like amazing museums.

We went to the Vatican, like it was a truly spiritual experience to be in Italy and to walk on the cobblestone streets; you see how much everything they did had intention with it.

Every piece, every door, like it had creativity in it.

Everything was touched by an artist, and it really hit me in my soul.

Like I, I loved everything about it and it actually inspired me, right after going to Italy, I decided I wanted to do my first solo exhibition because I really lived my dream.

I went outside of the country.

I shared my art with Italian people in Milan, we had our own UMES exhibition in Milan, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world, and I was so happy, and I've been chasing that high ever since.

So, I'm actually going to be the first art student at UMES to study abroad next semester.

I'll be studying at the Florence University of the Arts in Florence, Italy.

MEHVES: The Mosely Gallery sometimes collaborates with the Performing Arts Center to, uh, put on concerts that are parallel to the exhibitions program.

One of the tenets of the gallery programming here is accessibility.

Uh, for us, one of the most valuable experiences a campus gallery can provide is when students can just roll out of their dorm rooms, come in here, and see globally significant artworks.

Um, so to that end, we collaborate with collectors, uh, galleries, artists in order to bring that art in and make sure that our art students understand what it takes to be making art and showing art out there in the world.

PABLO JERRY: Sometimes you just gotta take it all in, man.

Just gotta take it all in.

"Next up, coming to the stage, Pablo k-low k baby."

It feels good, man.

It, it, it feels surreal just being back here when I was on that stage, you know, doing a play or doing a performance, man.

Um, just the smells, you know, just, just hearing the crowd cheering and in awe and happening and clapping.

Man, it's, it's, it's a good feeling.

It's a good feeling.

We are in the Ella Fitzgerald... Ella Fitzgerald Performing Arts Center here at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Hawk pride.

♪ SINGER: Elevate my mind, ♪ ♪ oh, don't forget about me.

♪ ♪ No, no, no, no.

♪ ♪ Don't forget about me.

♪ ♪ No, no, no.

♪ ♪ Take my hand, ♪ ♪ we'll lift each other higher.

♪ ♪ BACKGROUND VOCALS: Higher.

♪ ♪ SINGER: Tried and true, ♪ ♪ we've all been through the fire, oh.

♪♪ PABLO: Hey, how you doing?

My name is, uh, Pablo and uh, I'm a full-time actor, comedian, model, and also run my own art company.

Okay, so, I'm from, I'm from D.C., you know, I migrated, you know, to, to Clinton, Clinton, Maryland.

I went to Surrattsville High School, then I left Surrattsville and transferred to Virginia my last year of high school to King George and I was looking for a school to go to, I was looking at, uh, Harvard, I was looking at, um, UVA for instate tuition, 'cause I was in Virginia and I was looking at Cornell, you know, 'cause I originally, you know, wanted to do architect design.

I applied to Hampton, I went to Harvard, uh, I made it the last cut and didn't make it, so if I would've made that last cut, I would've got a full ride to Harvard.

But I felt like God said, "Nah, you not gonna be at Harvard, you gotta go to a HBCU."

So, I'm coming to UMES to all the parties and the events.

I was coming here so much people thought I was a student, and they're like, "Yo, do you go here?"

I was like, "Nah, nah, I don't go here."

And after that first year that I took off of high school, I ended up applying to UMES, 'cause I was always coming down here, and I got accepted, and they gave me scholarship money.

As far as the academia, the teachers were amazing.

They always made sure that you had everything that you needed.

And I was a overachiever, you know, freshman class president, Mr. Sophomore, Mr.

Junior.

I started a boxing club here on campus, uh, right inside of, uh, the gymnasium.

And I was a campus tutor, you know, I was a RA.

So, I pretty much tell people I do everything but drugs, you know, and UMES gave me that, that opportunity to just use all of my gifts, all of my talents in the Mosely Gallery here on stage.

And big shout out to, uh, Mama D, Della Dameron-Johnson, um, the Drama Society here, uh, we did so many plays, you know, from "Fences" way before Denzel turned into a movie we was doing at a play, you know, right here on stage, you know, Motown and much more, uh, we just did so much, always be a student at a game, you know what I'm saying?

Always research your producers, research the other actors, research the casting director.

And you gotta do the work, you gotta do the homework.

I tell people that wanna do what I do full-time, being an actor is equivalent to being a student for the rest of your life.

Every script is a new class.

You know, every you know, line that you're studying, you breaking those down, it's like a syllabus.

And you gotta always be willing to learn.

And no matter what role I take on, whether I'm a cop, a drug dealer, a hitman, I always try to embody that, and they say, you know, you have to make it believable.

And when Della Dameron-Johnson, Mama D, I might say something, "Nope, I don't believe it.

Nope.

Do it again, Pablo.

Nope.

Alright then, now, okay, now you seem angry.

Don't act like you're angry, actually embody being angry."

And her just embodying us, being real and authentic, and, you know, my acting coach went to UMES too, Percy Thomas.

And between him and Della, they got me right, they got me right.

And that's why I'm here, where I'm at today.

Now, I went from small stages like this to big stage like the Bowie Center for Performing Arts, you know, and working with Netflix and HBO and BET+, so this gave me my, my grounding, you know, right here at UMES, and I appreciate 'em so much for that.

It was 2023, uh, my first ever American Black Film Festival, and I ended up booking my agent right there, right outside of the auditorium, before the, uh, "The Color Purple," uh, forum.

So, um, they got the Scene Stealers, you know, award, and last year, you know, I had redid the scene from "Lottery Ticket" and I was playing, uh, Brandon T. Jackson and Bow Wow.

"And yo, we broke.

We broke, broke."

But it didn't get selected.

So, this year, me and my buddy AC we did the scene from "How High," "Get 'em," "Oh Jimmy the cricket suit wear 'em up..." And they nominated us, and we were ranked sixth in the nation.

And just the fact that we nominated out of all the people that submitted, and I know a lot of people got their start at the American Black Film Festival, and we've been going up ever since.

Whew, for me on the artist, man, it gave me so much culture, you know, like where we're sitting at Ella Fitzgerald, like learning about her, learning about the history of her, you know, the history of heights, you know, JT Williams learning about our Black culture, because you're not gonna learn about that at a PWI, they're gonna teach you just a regular curriculum or just teach you about slavery or something simple.

But they're not gonna teach you about all the stuff we made, all the inventions, all the foods, all the, the songs that we, all the inventions.

They're not gonna give you that in-depth culture experience, and I feel like right here, I feel like I'm at home, you know, I feel like everybody on campus is my brother and my sister.

You don't feel like that at a PWI, you feel like a minority, and you're in this bubble, and if you see somebody that look like you, all right, I'm gonna pull with them, I'm gonna connect with them.

But here we're all one big family.

And I think most people don't realize how much of a family we are and not just a family, but HBCUs are diverse.

When I was running track, I had people from Jamaica, Spain, France, Czech Republic, uh, Kenya, um, Nigeria, so it's not just Black, it's world.

You know what I'm saying?

If you look at the flags, we got flags from Turkey, flags from Adi Sababa, so many different places, Ethiopia.

And I feel like a HBCU is a big mixing pot and it, it culturally makes you aware of what the world looks like.

♪ ♪ KADEEM TURNBULL: Hi, I'm Kadeem Kory Turnbull.

I go as Dr. Kadeem Turnbull.

I have three degrees here at University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Um, I'm the alumni director for special events, and I've also done work within the drama area.

It's a pipeline institution, I would definitely say that for sure.

Some of the great alumni that have passed through these waters, I'll definitely say someone like Starletta DuPois, she's an actress, and she has been an alum for several, several, several years.

We, she actually has an honorary doctorate degree here at the institution.

I remember my first play that I played in was "Miss Evers' Boys."

"Miss Evers' Boys," the story was told about a study that was done in Tuskegee where individuals was like injecting Black males with syphilis.

And I played the character Willie Johnson, and in that role that I played, I learned so much history, and it's just the teaching from our professor that helped me to go in that direction, I would definitely say.

So, it's just having that family connection here on the campus that caused us to know exactly what direction we are going in the arts world.

It's not just to do a play, it's making sure that when we're doing it, we're also educating students that are going through.

One thing you must know for sure is "Every day is a stage."

That is from Dr. Johnson, who was my drama teacher when I was a student here at the institution.

If you understand anything about the arts, it takes a lot of moving pieces.

The arts is just a community, and with a community, you have to really have the love, you have to have the passion, you have to have the joy, you have to make sure when you're telling that story, you can reach someone just beyond the stage and know that you're gonna make a difference in their life.

So that's what we try to instill every time we have a drama class, every time we have a production, every time we work together or even think about doing something together, if you are reaching one or two, you're reaching someone.

So, most of the time people will think about how is the theater gonna be sold out?

How are we gonna sell these tickets?

But it's not always about the mass production, it's about the story that's within that production and what you're trying to get across for individuals to understand.

♪ ♪ ABDUL-HAKEEM KARGBO: My name is Abdul-Hakeem Kargbo.

Um, I am currently the building manager at the Student Service Center, but I also serve as the assistant band director for the Thunderin' Hawks Pep Band.

I've been there for a couple years now unofficially, but now officially.

And I'm from, uh, Prince George's County, Maryland.

But, uh, my family is originally from Sierra Leone, West Africa.

We still have organizations such as the band, the Gospel choir, and the newly found, uh, The Muses, so it's an acapella group, and we basically are the collective music, you know, soul of the campus.

I thank God that I've been able to stay here and influence all three groups the way that I can and keep them alive.

So, it has been quite the journey.

I think people don't realize, um, that music really impacts the soul more than just, it's more than just you listen to it, you like this new beat, you know, this song was cool, but in every aspect, you know, music really is one of those keys to life that I feel like everybody needs.

MEHVES: Resilience and empathy are, are key.

Um, it's a world that isn't always kind to young people, so we want our students to understand that they need to persevere out there in the world and that what they make as artists can actually change people's understanding, not just of, of life and how to treat other people, uh, but also, you know, it can give meaning to their existence.

NAYANI: I want my legacy to be, um, really whatever you put your mind to, you can do.

And no matter where you're from, who you are, I really want to make art that inspires people to make art that makes people think.

It makes people think about who they are in the present, how their ancestors have impacted them.

And I really just want my legacy to be impactful.

I want to do something with the creativity I have; I want to use that to its greatest potential.

PABLO: Don't let people put you in a box and don't let people tell you what you can't do, 'cause so many people told me, "Hey, you're not gonna be an actor."

"You can't do this; you can't do that."

But people only tell you stuff because they're afraid of their own insecurities.

And you gotta get out, you gotta venture out, you gotta try new things.

Like I just got back from Germany, and I went out to Germany on a limb, not knowing what to expect, ended up meeting a family out there, shooting a commercial, for Got Bag, the number one sustainable bag company in the world.

And I ended up booking an agent with Bobby Dazzler, so now I got an agent in the U.S. in New York from American Black Film Festival, and I have an agent in Germany.

So, you can't be afraid, and it's okay to be scared, but when you're scared and you still go through with it, that's what they call bravery and courage.

When I came to UMES, I was scared, "Yo, what if I can't do all this classwork?"

"What if I, what if I fail out?"

"What if I'm not smart enough?"

Like you can't keep those insecurities inside, you have to go through it, fearful, man.

I'm telling you, if you know that, look, no matter what's gonna happen, God got this.

Like the sky's the limit, man.

You gotta persevere.

You gotta work hard and trust the voice inside of you.

I always tell people the voice inside of you should be louder than the voice around you.

(music plays through credits).

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Second Story Books, celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

(theme music playing) WENDEL PATRICK: "Artworks" is made possible in part by The Citizens of Baltimore County, and by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund, the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts, The E.T.

and Robert B. Rocklin Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.