WENDELL: "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.

♪ ♪ DAVID: I am David Sloan, I'm the production director over at Wide Angle Youth Media and I am a filmmaker, but I also am an educator and I run what we think is one of the only official apprenticeships in digital media in the state of Maryland where young people get paid to learn and work on real-world projects for clients across the state of Maryland and hone their skills as filmmakers.

TAHIR: Wide Angle Youth Media's mission is to provide media education to Baltimore City students from ages 10 to 24, uh, not only to teach them the foundations of filmmaking, photography, graphic design and animation, but also to show them the power of their own voice.

So we amplify their voice and give them the opportunity to tell their own stories, whether it's about themselves, their families, or their communities.

JANAI: So, Wide Angle Youth Media has helped me as a independent filmmaker by bringing me on within their Workforce Development program to develop my skills as a filmmaker.

I'm able to develop my skills in pre-production, screenwriting, camera operation, and just storytelling in general.

It's a great place to develop my skills.

DAVID: The challenge of this work, as a storyteller, is how to do justice to somebody's story.

STEVEN: My name is Steven Skeritt-Davis.

I serve as the Executive Director of the Maryland State Arts Council, part of Maryland's Department of Commerce.

Our vision is that every person in Maryland has access to the transformative power of the arts.

Primarily what we do is grant-making.

So we have 15 different grant programs where we, uh, distribute state money to, uh, artists and to arts organizations.

So one of our strategic goals is that we are here to elevate the stories of, of artists and arts organizations to make sure that everybody understands the importance of the arts, um, and that will, that will lead to, uh, to supporting our broader goals.

TAHIR: Getting the opportunity to work with Maryland State Arts Council was, I feel like, a perfect match because we get hired to tell stories from, from different communities and different traditions.

So we're amplifying the artist's voice to tell their own story in their own way.

DAVID: Uh, we're oftentimes working with artists who are practicing a cultural tradition that maybe they've been steeped in their whole life.

You know, we gotta take these rich cultural traditions, these amazing artists, and try to sum up who they are and what their craft and their tradition is in a short film.

And how do you fit, you know, sometimes thousands of years of cultural history and artistic practice into a five or six-minute video?

It's a ridiculous ask, but we are so lucky 'cause we're working with artists and they're creative and they're collaborative, and they work with us to try to think about the best way to tell their story.

And they're always really supportive of us finding ways to innovate and use different camera techniques, use different lighting scenarios, use the skills we have as filmmakers to try to depict their tradition in a way maybe it's never been seen before.

And what we hope to do is just open a window and let viewers across the state find new connections with cool traditions they may not have heard of before.

MIMI: The first time I saw a Baltimore Album Quilt, suddenly there was something in my city that really spoke to me.

What I saw in that quilt was that the quilt maker lived on, maybe she picked flowers for that quilt because they were in her garden.

Maybe she put a picture of the Washington Monument because she'd been in downtown Baltimore.

And I, I just thought to myself how incredible that a quilt could speak and tell stories, and it was like I had to make one of these quilts.

My name is Mimi Dietrich.

I've written 17 books about quilting, and when I look at Baltimore Album Quilts, I see something beautiful about Baltimore.

Originally, they were made in Baltimore in the 1840s and 1850s.

Each square or each block in the quilt is like the page in a photograph album.

Images of monuments, homes, ships, patriotic eagles, as well as local flowers and animals arranged in baskets and vases.

KATIE: I like having an "I spy moment" and then looking closer and then looking closer again and thinking through the way that they were made with a community of people.

Sometimes these quilts were made for individuals in memory of somebody or a major life event or a commemoration of some sort.

You have to almost look at it as a collection of a moment in time.

I'm the president and CEO of the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

We are the keeper of Maryland's memories.

We are the home of the largest collection of Baltimore Album Quilts.

We have over 125 Baltimore album quilts.

These quilts are huge, as you can see, so it is a lot to care for all of the objects and archival materials.

All of our collections are housed on-site.

The quilts are actually rolled, like a carpet would be rolled, to reduce the stress points on the fabric.

It's a great responsibility, but an honor to be part of that legacy and that continuum because they're such a central gem of our collection.

Quilting can be something for anybody.

It's such a versatile form of material culture.

It could be for a utilitarian purpose, it could be for therapeutic purposes, it could be for creating community, just for the sheer nature of being able to get together with your friends.

And I think that's why it is such an accessible art form.

MIMI: I've been teaching Baltimore Album Quilts for 30 years.

There is a whole community of quilters sharing experiences with other people.

Sometimes it's sharing fabrics, sharing techniques, and just coming together.

It's amazing.

You can put two quilters in a room who've never met each other before and they can talk for hours.

So, Kay, whatcha working on today?

KAY: I am trying to finish this white rotary purse.

MIMI: Oh.

KAY: It's in the center of the vase.

MIMI: Oh, that's so pretty.

Sometimes I think it's very therapeutic!

KAY: Oh yeah.

MIMI: Just to get together.

It's more than just loving these quilts.

There's something really, really deep about it.

I just feel like we are recreating history.

KAY: It's a responsibility to pass it on.

MIMI: Oh, that's good.

KAY: Really and truly.

We have been giving a mantle, if you will, to appreciate it, to love it, and to honor it.

MIMI: It's getting together with other people, learning the craft.

To me that's really important because it's telling their story and it's their voice that's coming through.

HEATHER: And it kind of gives a voice to the past to people who otherwise wouldn't really have a voice.

Back in the time of Baltimore Album Quilts, women were listed on the government census under their father or under their husband.

They were not given their own name.

Through the quilts, we're able to find out what their lives were like.

MIMI: The quilts tell our stories.

They tell stories about things that we are interested in.

They just tell stories about what colors we like, where we are in our journey.

I just want that to continue.

I think it's important.

(vocalizing in foreign language) ♪ ♪ SAMIA: My name is Samia Mahbub Ahmad.

I'm a Hindustani classical vocal musician.

The Hindustani classical music tradition means so much to me.

It is the way I view the world.

The music is an oral tradition passed on from the grandmaster to the disciple, the apprentice, which dates back to the Vedic times about 5,000 years ago.

(vocalizing in foreign language) I'm the solo vocalist.

My responsibility is not just to sing, but moderate the whole thing.

So first is the invocation, which is introducing the raga through a chant.

Then we present the actual composition, and then around that composition, there are different ways of presenting improvisations.

(vocalizing in foreign language).

The ragas are time-sensitive.

They are categorized according to the hours of the days or according to season.

So it's very much sensitive to nature.

And then these lyrics, express devotional feelings could be devotion to the higher being or expressing love for your family, for your partner, for your children.

So all of these are captured in these lyrics.

(clarinet solo) ABRAAR: My background is primarily playing the clarinet, learning how to recreate the sounds of Hindustani classical music using the limitations of the instrument that I have is something that really feels like an accomplishment.

(vocalizing in foreign language).

♪ ♪ (vocalizing in foreign language) Spending time with my mother and learning this way, it's nice that I can feel like music isn't just a hobby or a career, it's, it's a part of who I am and is a part of how I was raised.

(applause).

SAMIA: It's very important for me to see and ensure that this tradition of Hindustani classical music carries on into the future.

The master apprenticeship relationship that I'm establishing with Abraar exemplifies the adaptable nature of Hindustani classical music.

ABRAAR: Now that we've been practicing for some months now, what do you think all the grandmasters would say if they could see us sitting here, clarinet in Maryland passing down this tradition?

SAMIA: Well, I think the grandmasters would be very welcoming to the idea because, throughout its history, Hindustani classical music was constantly, um, evolving.

It has always been crossing boundaries, boundaries of religious faith and geographic boundaries.

So the grandmasters, first of all, would say this is very natural.

And then why not the clarinet?

(vocalizing in foregin language) ABRAAR: The fact that I am across an ocean in a completely different country and I can still feel in touch with where I owe my roots to.

It's something that I think is important for all of us, whether or not we're first-generation, fifth-generation, however far down the line you go.

(vocalizing in foreign language) SAMIA: You can live anywhere in the world, but this identity will connect you to the first musician 5,000 years ago.

And that's a very profound feeling.

It's a sense of rootedness, it's a sense of identity.

It's who we are, and no one can take that from us.

(vocalizing in foreign language).

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ SHANTHI: Kolam's are done in front of the house where people walk in and out and it marks the meeting point of the inside and the outside.

Two different spaces, two different things, the opposites, and it is the meeting point of those opposites.

I spend a lot of time thinking about my ancestors and the future, and I always think of myself as a threshold, so the past and the future, and here I am.

I find that very fascinating.

♪ ♪ I grew up in scientific research community in India.

I was very good at subjects that had images and it was very hard for me with physics, which did not have as many images.

Anytime I have an opportunity to use my hands to create something, I can understand an abstract concept better.

And Kolam's have been a huge part of that.

♪ ♪ It's very fascinating to break something into a tinier portion in terms of space or time, everything in the universe, it's all made of atoms, and these atoms connect together to form molecules.

A lot of my work is very symbolic.

It just could be a line, but that line reminds me of time.

The dots represent challenges in life.

One can weave around all of these dots and get back to the starting point.

It, it is a way to be able to problem solve in life and to be able to deal with life's ups and downs.

AISHWARIYA: I started learning Kolam's from a very young age, mostly from my mom.

It's something that is typically passed down by mothers to daughters, um, generationally, it was like a very casual learning.

I just grew up seeing them so often around me that they became a very intrinsic part of my artistic vocabulary.

And so I found those shapes very repetitive and soothing, and I would doodle them a lot growing up.

Having this connection and being able to participate in this tradition is something that's really meaningful for me.

I grew up in the United States and so my connection to my Indian heritage has really been based on what for me and what has been in my environment.

My mom, my grandmother, and I had all turned to Kolam's, especially during the pandemic as a way to ground ourselves.

I organized a three-generation Kolam show recently called, "Thalaimuraigal."

It had artwork from myself, my mom and my grandmother.

Experience was really therapeutic for me because it, it felt like I was able to create that connection through this vehicle of Kolam.

Each generation had different interpretations of a common pattern or theme made it feel like we were coming together.

SHANTHI: The actual origins of Kolam are not very clear because this is a living tradition that people still do.

It has been going on for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands.

The word Kolam means appearance.

Your Kolam depends on how you make your dots.

Your life depends on how you build your foundations.

Kolam's are embedded with a lot of philosophy and symbolize a lot of deep life lessons and meanings.

One of them is about impermanence.

There's going to be a cycle of creation and dissolution.

Things will come and go.

You make something and it's gone and it's a cycle and we are part of the cycle.

AISHWARIYA: What's interesting to me is that with Kolam's, the permanence doesn't come from the art form.

It comes from the art maker.

It comes from the person who creates it.

The art form doesn't last, but the process of making it lasts.

My energy going into it doesn't necessitate that it has to exist forever.

I find Kolam's as a, a vehicle for me to understand myself better, and I think it helps me understand my culture and my heritage better as well.

SHANTHI: When we draw a Kolam in front of the house, we do the best we can that day, that time, and we make that and we let go of it.

Even though we might have spent hours and days preparing for this elaborate drawing, but once it's done, people walk over it and it's gone.

Life is like that.

We make the best we can with the time and space we have and Kolam constantly reminds me of that.

♪ ♪ (chickens clucking) GWEN: Taking care of animals gives me a sense of purpose every day.

Be it, I'm sick or I'm tired, someone depends on me.

My name is Gwen Handler.

I live on a farm.

I raise sheep and I'm a fiber artist.

Mostly what you see in this room is made from my flock of sheep.

This is a blanket which I wove several years ago.

It's really special to sleep under something like this that you made from your own animals.

Sheep have been part of man's life for centuries and centuries, very important to civilizations.

There's evidence of sheep in caves.

There's evidence of sheep in burials.

I love to think that I'm following in the footsteps of some of the people that came before me.

I think sharing and teaching is a good way to show people that this is a valuable way to live.

WINNIE: I really was, uh, nicely surprised by the amount of hard farm labor that I would be doing.

I was here at the farm for a week and a half by myself.

I was bottle-feeding these lambs three or four times a day.

That sense of responsibility just ties you even more to the animals and to the cycles of life.

I always knew that I would love weaving even before I started because I had a sense of what it would feel like.

Weaving involves the whole body.

It's so rhythmic.

It does take you to a very deep place.

The tools of woolwork are absolutely fascinating.

A Carder is one of the first things that you would use when you have the fleece off of the sheep.

We use the carding machine to get all the wool fibers going in the same direction, and we use the spinning wheel to then take that fiber and form it into yarn by stretching it out as the spinning wheel spins.

And then we take that yarn and we put it onto this really cool thing called the Umbrella Swift.

And what that does is it lets us put that yarn into a form like a ball.

Now we have this beautiful ball of wool yarn that started as the fleece off the sheep, and we take it to the loom.

And the loom then forms that wool into fabric that we can then use to make very functionally beautiful items.

(crowd noise) GWEN: There's been a renaissance of people wanting to make things of wool.

People wanting to raise sheep.

Makes me smile.

I love to help people get started.

It's wonderful to share it with other people and see where it goes.

(sheep bell ringing) For me, it's important to have connection with the land that I live on and the animals I have.

It makes me feel good.

It makes me have a sense of satisfaction in what I do.

It broadens who I am.

I've certainly have met wonderful kinds of people and we have something in common, something we can share.

WINNIE: An outcome that we wanted from this was for her to pass on enough to me so that we could both pass on the knowledge and the tradition.

I think that somewhere in our brains we're hardwired to things that our ancestors have done.

Woolwork ties us to human history from the very beginning.

If we can step back and spend some time in that space, I think it's an intrinsic reward that we get.

Certainly, it is for me.

(music plays through credits) ♪ ♪ WENDELL: "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.