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Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne.

Coming up, we'll talk with pyrographer Alysia Carmen and the artistic directors of Heartland Sings Natalie Young and maestro Robert Nance.

It's all next on Arts in Focus.

Welcome to Arts in Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Alysia Carmen first learned wood burning techniques in high school after exploring other mediums, she rekindled her love of the art, incorporating mushrooms, gnomes and other whimsical themes into her colorful pyrography.

We visited Alysia at her home studio and talked about her journey as an artist, her process and her work as an art educator.

Alysia thank you so much for having me today.

I had the best time going through your portfolio and I kept thinking, I want to know how you describe your work.

Kind of different.

I like having that old school kind of retro vintage appeal.

I love working with mushrooms and very whimsical ideas.

Yes.

Okay.

So I noticed a lot of mushrooms.

A lot of gnomes.

Yeah.

So cute.

And and skulls which I thought was interesting because you don't usually think of the two together.

So tell me, what inspires you?

Well, I've always been kind of edgy, like that hardcore aspect, but mixing it with a little bit of fun and cute.

Yeah.

So that's what I like, mashing the two together and just making my own.

Tell me about your process.

You work with wood primarily, yes.

And I also loved the photos of kind of your step by step process.

So you start with wood and you sketch on it?

Yeah, I sketch it all.

Everything I draw is freehand it.

I don't typically ever trace things or because I know a lot of pyrographers will do transfer copies.

Yeah, I don't do that.

So a lot of it is sketched and freehand it.

And when I first started, a lot of the struggles I was having was how do I get rid of the pencil lines?

Okay, so pretty much everything that's drawn on with the pencil is burned on the wood because that's the only way to really get rid of.

Sure.

So that's a big part.

I noticed that your work, unlike some other pyrographers that I've seen, you add a lot of color.

Yeah.

So do you do you try to do the basically the outline, the sketch with the burned wood and then fill in with paint.

So I add all the values, all the solid tones and the values.

So like the shadows all burned in.

And then I take acrylic paint and water it down.

Usually, sometimes I do just solid color.

But for the most part, it's watered down acrylic.

So those burnt in tones still show and that gives you the depth.

When did you start pyrography So in high school, my senior year I did this drawing and my art teacher at the time was like, You need to burn it.

I'm like, What?

I didn't even know about Pyrography was at that point, and it.

Just doesn't sound like a compliment.

Exactly.

At first I just looked at her and she was very eccentric.

She was super awesome.

And I just remember looking at her like, Oh, is it that bad?

She's like, No.

Next day she came with a plank of wood and I was like, Oh, what?

Yeah.

And at that point, it was like one of the old, like, heavy duty pens that I burnt myself a lot.

Oh, no.

But that was my first experience with it.

Six years later, COVID hit.

Yeah, I was bored.

I didn't draw, didn't really feel like painting as much on canvas.

And I was thinking back to what I've done in the past.

I was like, Why did I not pursue wood burning or pyrography?

So I mean.

Aside from the burns.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then that just kind of kickstarted me back into it.

It was something different, you know?

And unfortunately with like the art community and the art world, everything is just not a lot of diversity.

A lot of people do the same.

And I wanted to be different.

Yeah, I wanted to stand out and that was my way of standing out.

I love it.

So it seems like you kind of really dove in.

Yeah.

Is it safe to say that that's primarily what you do now?

Yes, for the most part.

I mean, I'll sketch here and there, but it just it's not the same.

I don't get that satisfaction.

When did you know that you were an artist?

Oh, man.

Probably second grade.

When my art teacher just really pushed me.

And it's crazy to think that at seven, eight years old, somebody can make that much of an impact.

And he was like, Oh, no, you've got something.

And it was like, okay, okay.

Did you recognize that in yourself or did it take somebody else saying it?

I think it really did take somebody else saying that.

Yeah.

For me to finally be like, okay, yeah.

And then I just kind of stuck with it through middle school and high school and then went to college for it.

Okay.

So tell me what you when you get to college, what what is your goal?

What are you what did you study specifically and what did you hope to get out of it?

Art education.

Yeah, becoming a teacher and inspiring somebody like my teacher inspired me.

Yeah, that's what I do now.

I was going to say.

So I read that you're a teacher.

What, grade.

K through five so, elementary art.

Yeah.

Do you love it?

I love it.

It's the best.

I can imagine that your students teach you as well.

What?

What do you learn from them?

Oh, man, that mistakes happen.

Yeah, it's okay to make mistakes, because even sometimes when I'm doing projects with them and I'm on display and I'm showing them, walking them through it, I goof up.

Yeah.

And they're always like, it's fine.

It looks like... And Im I like I could do better.

And they ‘re like its beautiful.

Thank you.

Right.

Does working with the kids give you a different kind of outlet than you get with your pyrography?

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

They just see the beauty and everything for the most part.

So even like with my own pieces, like I've got piles of rejects and they just look at things differently.

Like if I'm going one way with it, they see a dinosaur or something and I'm like, okay, let's make it that.

Let's go for it.

Exactly.

That has to be liberating, I imagine is really awesome.

Okay, let's talk about the pile of rejects, because I imagine that there is a learning curve.

Did it take you a while to get really good at at burning your art?

Yeah, it's practice makes perfect.

It's like everything.

The more you practice, the better get.

You don't use it or lose it.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, just doing the same thing, reworking things.

How hard is it to take what is in your head and get it onto the piece of wood, especially knowing that those pencil lines are going to become permanent when you burn them?

That's probably one of the hardest parts.

It's a lot of reworking and a lot of planning around things that end up on there.

Yeah, I just do you for the most.

Part, do you sketch on paper first and then.

Okay, so you go straight for the word sketching.

Yeah.

Is it is it an expensive art because what is it.

So it started out really cheap.

Like I could buy pieces of wood for like two for a dollar.

Yeah.

And now it's not.

No.

Yeah.

Okay.

I see behind you you have all of these plaques.

Do you always work with that type of wood or do you work with like natural wood?

You know, if you saw the stump outside, could you use it?

Yes and no.

It really depends on the type because I more I've done it, the more I've learned.

Like some woods are toxic to burn.

Like you can't burn them because it can cause long term lung damage.

Yikes So there's, like, safe woods and not so safe woods.

So if I don't know the type of wood not touching it.

Yeah, because I do have a respirator, but I don't like to use it normally.

Interferes with the creative process I would imagine.

but if need be, if somebody did ask me to burn a piece of wood that was significant or something and I was maybe unsure I would wear the respirator.

But yeah, yeah, it does depend on the type of wood, but it's okay.

Tell me logistically how the wood burning pen works.

Are there different tips?

Are there different?

Yeah.

So I use a razor tip, which is the machine I like the most.

But yeah, there's a bunch of interchangeable tips.

So for finer lines I'll use like an actual straight razor almost that's on a pen.

And then that really gets the clean lines and the have pen tips, ballpoint tips, shaders that are like little spoons.

So there's a wide variety.

Yeah.

Did it take you a while to get really good at it?

To kind of get used to the do.

Yeah.

We talked about the fact that, you know, mushrooms and skulls and gnomes and bugs, lots of that kind of thing.

Are there things that you want to get into in terms of sketching them that you haven't yet?

I'm trying to get more into people, but more like that 1930s, like sad eye style.

That's like art nouveau.

Like that's something that I want to try more of.

But proportions and faces, they've always been a struggle.

Yes.

I'm so glad you said that, because I talked to a lot of artists who make it seem like, oh, no big deal.

And I'm like.

It's so hard.

Yeah, some people are incredible and I've known people where it's like, how like, teach me your ways.

Well, it just goes to show that, you know, somebody can be incredibly talented in in one vein and then, you know, it takes a lot more work in another.

Yeah.

So to that end, what is the hard Oh, man.

Coming up with ideas because sometimes art block kind of like writer's block, it's a thing.

Or I'll do the same thing for a while because, you know, I really like how it turns out the first time and I'm like, Let's make it better each time.

And then that like perfectionist attitude where it's like, I can make it better.

And sometimes you just got to know when to step back like you did it.

If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

A writer?

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

So you feel like you would have to be in some creative field?

Yes, yes, yes, definitely.

Of course, yeah.

What do you hope that your students learn from you?

That anybody can be an artist.

Like just stick with it.

Practice, practice, practice.

But anybody can.

Yeah, yeah.

Put your heart to it.

It's blood, sweat and tears.

But get there.

Do you see some of your students who have more innate talent than others, or do you do they all just possess something special?

They're all different in their own way.

Like, I can't.

They're so young right now for the most part, but everybody's got something.

They're like, There's not a single piece that my kids love.

Students have made that I just.

I can.

Find a beauty in every piece they've done.

And sometimes, even when I point it out, they're like, What?

that's what you see?

Yeah, that's incredible.

Yeah.

Like, you're awesome.

And that's like, my biggest philosophy with them.

Like, anybody can be an artist, you guys can do it.

Don't beat yourself up.

That's the biggest thing.

And they work on me with that.

Sometimes I beat myself up You know, I was going to say I bet that that that it helps with your own personal work because that mantra which should probably stick.

Yeah it does.

What do you hope your students take away from you above everything else?

That they're awesome in their own ways and that Mrs. Carmen cares dearly about them.

What has your art taught you about yourself?

That I can grow as a person and that I can change and evolve over time, and that I need to have more confidence in myself and my work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are some big lessons.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

Your work is so cool and your students are so lucky to have you.

Thank you.

For more information, find Alysia Carmen on Instagram.

I'm joined now by Maestro Robert Nance and Natalie Young from Heartland Sings.

Thank you, guys, for being here.

Bob, we were just talking.

We go way, way back.

And I was so surprised when I was doing my research for this interview about how Hartland has grown and evolved over the years.

I can't wait to dove into all that.

But tell me in a nutshell what Hartland sings is.

Well, Heartland is what I would call a vocal production company.

It got started with the idea of providing career opportunities for professional vocal vocalists.

Right.

And I call them vocal artists because I think people have used the word singer maybe a little too much and rather in a pejorative way like, Oh, they're just a singer versus an instrumentalist.

And really, that was the crux of why Hartland was started in the first place, kind of a justice issue and primarily a keyboardist but I work with singers all the time, vocal artists.

And what was interesting was that there was never really an equal opportunity for vocalists versus instrumentalists.

And plus, people didn't see the benefit in paying a singer for their professional services versus an instrumentalist, as if that extension of that body playing a cello or a violin was so much more important than a singer.

Right.

So we started Heartland Sings.

Back then it was Heartland Chamber Chorale.

Yes.

As a professional vocal ensemble, much like the Philharmonic or any professional group.

And early on, we we realized that we needed to focus on earned income because we're performing arts organization.

We can concentrate on selling products.

You know, you know, in a very entrepreneurial way and also do cultural programing as well.

So over 25 years, fast forward, we have found a variety of ways to do small ensembles.

We were able to hire full time artists to do it, and if they're on tap every day, we can create some pretty dynamic programing across the board.

So we're doing everything from country to musical theater to, you know, really focused opera.

We just finished doing an opera this year because, you know, the theme opera we did about Matthew Shepard on the 20th anniversary of his murder.

Yeah.

And, you know, so we we've been able to do the full gamut of what any professional artistic company should be about, which is, you know, cultural impact, but also out there earning a living as entertainers.

And that's what we do.

And Natalie, how did you get involved?

I imagine that it has to be so thrilling to know that there is an outlet that you can make a living doing what you love are good at.

And you know, you're an artist, right?

So you came into it.

And how do you fit in?

Yeah, I actually moved here for this job because there aren't a lot of companies like Heartland Sings I would say there aren't any companies quite like Heartland Sings in the United States.

So most artists, whenever you finish up with school, it's kind of just a hodgepodge of whatever you can find.

You're gigging around and you're teaching and just trying to make ends meet.

This job is amazing because it brings together everything that I was doing in my gigging and freelancing into one position, and it's a salaried position, so I have a full time job in the arts as a singer or a vocal artist.

I know.

It's hard to even let go of that... ...

Which is amazing.

So, yes, I moved here in 2019 for this job, and I've been here ever since as one of the principal vocal artists that Hartland sings.

Heartland Sings is so much more than vocalists.

You also have a huge educational component.

Tell me about that.

Yeah.

So we have a lot of programing in under our education umbrella.

So one of the programs that we're really excited about is called La La which is.

Language acquisition.

And literacy.

And literacy for the.

Arts.

La la, la, la.

Like you're singing la la.

Okay.

Yeah.

So what we do is we go into first grade classrooms in elementary schools and we come alongside the teachers, and we teach core curriculum of language arts.

But through the medium of opera and music.

So we are really helping students that might not understand the curriculum in the traditional way.

We give them another way to to learn things like story elements.

We teach characters and setting and problem and solution.

And then we also one of the the units that we're really excited about in this program is that we have a unit of emotions lessons where we take the emotions happy, sad, mad and scared, and we give the students synonyms for those emotions.

So they get five synonyms for each emotion and they learn how to use those words.

So they can talk more effectively about how they're feeling.

And it's really rewarding as a teacher when you see them start to use those words on their own and they will say, you can't say, you know, if you're feeling happy some day.

You can't say you're feeling happy, but you're feeling joyful.

Are you feeling jubilant or.

And we give them body language to go along with it and their songs, of course.

So.

So that's one of the programs that we're really excited about.

And you guys develop these programs in-house?

Yes, we do.

It's it's it's part of a focus of arts integration.

Yeah.

You know, those were brought to us by several of our previous staff people and not the least of which was Stephanie Carlson, who brought this idea of of pulling arts integration together in our in our music.

But it was so it was so real to me because as a student, when I was in elementary school, we had arts integration.

So we've somehow moved away from it.

And now we're bringing it back through this program.

Mm hmm.

So it's another it really is an entrepreneurial way of increasing people's awareness of the arts and its value in helping us just live together.

Yes, because it is you're so right.

It's a language that that some kids need to be able to articulate their feelings.

I know just from talking with the teachers, a lot of them use the curriculum, the songs that we're teaching when we're not even there.

So we come back in a week later and they've been singing the setting song on their own, and the kids are getting it so much better just because there's a song attached to it.

So yeah, it's exciting.

That's one of our highlights in education.

We do a lot of different programing that this is like a semester long program, but we have others that are one offs and just a whole variety, plus our studios where we're where you can get professional level teaching.

So that's that's a nice aspect.

But also on the entrepreneurial front, we have our mobile unit, which we've now in our second year, it's called the Art V, so it's actually a retrofitted RV that has our equipment on it.

And we can be in a neighborhood at the drop of a hat performing any number of songs.

This year, our artistic team put together three programs a country program, a musical theater program, and an American pop program.

So you're making you're making music so accessible.

Was that was that always the goal?

I mean, you mentioned that that initially it was to allow artists to work, but did you have any idea that it was going to evolve into all of this?

No.

I think when we began to look at how to make the arts sustainable, it's more than just donors.

You have to sell tickets or you have to raise awareness.

And about a decade ago, we were looking at how can we get into neighborhoods and where people are so they know who we are and maybe will come and see a show?

Sure.

So we launched this idea of having a mobile unit, but it didn't take off until the pandemic, when the only safe way to get out there was to be mobile.

And so that spurred us on.

We put a huge investment in this.

And and we are we're changing lives every day like this four times a week sometimes, which is a lot.

Yeah.

So yeah.

And, but that is the, that is the entrepreneurial spirit at work here where we we really, as Natalie said, we're sort of marrying this idea.

We're all gigging musicians.

We know what that's like.

But we have a little bit of safety around it as a company to do it where we can have a salary and we can try new ideas without taking great personal risk.

But, you know, and plus, we're we're all creatives, so we forge new ideas just by sitting around and talking about it.

So it's it's a great it's a great place to kind of hang out.

And I love it because this is what I wanted.

But at the same time, I'm getting all sorts of fresh ideas from young artists.

Yes, Natalie, I think I'm especially interested to hear from you about I know that you are getting more and more and more involved in the business aspect of it.

I always wonder with artists, does getting involved in the business side take any of the joy of the artistry out of it for you?

Well, that's a good question for me.

I don't think so, because that's my personality.

I kind of like being involved in the business side and I like knowing what's going on besides just like getting a set list and having to learn the repertoire.

I have something that drew me to this job is that our full time vocal artists are part of the artistic team, so we are involved in making artistic decisions in the company.

So it's not just a higher up telling us what to do.

So like when Bob was talking about designing these shows for the Art-V we really did that from the ground up.

So we sat in brainstorming sessions thinking, what will our audiences enjoy?

What genres do we really want to focus on in a certain year?

And then we go from there and we choose the repertoire.

We we bring in a stage manager or a stage a staging director.

That's fantastic.

We're more invested that way, I think, as well.

Sure, yeah.

What is the biggest surprise that has come of Heartland Sings?

I can only imagine that around every corner you're like, Wow, I didn't see that.

But here it is.

Well, every day we go to work, it seems to be a surprise because, you know, we're still here.

And for me, it's amazing because after 25 years to see that we have our own building, that we have a mobile unit, that we're out in the community, and when people see our unit, they're like, Oh my gosh, we know who you are.

And I'm like, Well, that's that is that is a big surprise because we've been here for 25 years so that anyone would not know we're here.

Right.

Is probably the most surprising.

And that's still happens.

Yeah.

So we're forever trying to remind people that the arts are important and we're here.

And Fort Wayne is so lucky to have you too.

I'm so glad that years ago you decided that it was worth it to to create this beautiful company.

I don't I don't know that people even can fully understand how how much richer the community is for for Heartland Sings.

Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me and best of luck in in everything moving forward.

Thank you.

For more information, visit HeartlandSings.org Our thanks to Alysia Carmen and Heartland Sings.

Be sure to join us next week for Arts in Focus.

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