Arts IN Focus on PBS Fort Wayne is funded in part by the Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne Coming up, we'll talk with barber Sasha Chaney and artist Lee Rainboth.

It's all next on Arts IN Focus.

Welcome to Arts IN Focus.

I'm Emilie Henry.

Sasha Cheney began cutting her friend's hair as a hobby years ago and loved it so much that she decided to go to barber school after gaining years of experience working as a professional barber and building up her clientele.

Sasha's next goal was to share that knowledge with new barbers in Fort Wayne and help them succeed.

This led her to take the next step in her career and open her very own shop.

Legendary Barber Lounge.

Sasha, thank you for having me here today.

I'm so excited to talk to you because you're not only an artist, but you are a business owner.

So let's rewind a little bit before you opened your own barber shop.

When did you decide, A, that you were going to go into the cosmetology field and be that you wanted to be a female barber?

Well, I actually was in college growing up.

I wanted to be a surgeon, and I did about a semester and I realized, oh, I don't know if I want to be in school for ten years.

And I was cutting hair just for fun while I was in school.

And I ended up just wanting to do it all the time.

So I went ahead and went to barber school and just became a barber.

Okay, so that's shows how naive I am about the whole field.

So there is a difference between cosmetology school and barber school.

Yes, the cosmetologist, they do hair and nails, barbers really, who do things from the neck up.

And I know cosmetologist can't use razors.

That's like the only difference.

Yeah.

Ok, I'm glad you brought that up, because I was looking at pictures on your Instagram and the precision that is your art is so crazy.

And I feel like the big difference in barbering cosmetology is the precision.

Yeah.

It's more detailed I feel like then cosmetology style haircuts.

At what point did you decide, okay, I'm going to make this barbering more than a hobby, I'm going to go full tilt.

I started to get my hair cut.

Maybe that was really when it was.

I got, like, my sides shaved and I had the barbershop experience and I just thought it was so cool to work in a barber shop.

Like, it was fun.

Really, I think my barber kind of put it in my head that I could do it.

Well, tell me about the barber shop experience.

Like I'm here and this feels like an experience.

So tell me what people can expect.

I feel like the barber shop is like the epicenter of the community.

Everyone comes in the barber shop like moms, kids, doctors, everybody, every type of profession there all just, like, mesh into one room and it's like a social experience.

People come in here, they talk about everything.

It's fun.

I'm always playing good music.

People aren't in the chair longer than an hour, so it's like we have all different people all day.

Its just fun, its relaxed.

One thing that amazes me about barbers, hairdressers, tattoo artists to work on the human form seems so much harder to me than to create art on a canvas.

It's just like the variables are so different.

Does it feel that way to you or is it just second nature?

Ive been a barber for ten years now, so it's kind of second nature.

But when you're asking I was thinking back like my first haircut, it is a lot of pressure.

Like when you get your first client because they're people, you know, if you mess up, they could get upset or something like that, which never happened to me, but definitely.

But also the variables, it's I would imagine that, you know, the shape of everybody's head is different and the texture or type of hair is different.

And so, you know, all of that has to come into it in and then still create a beautiful product.

I definitely feel like I've mastered it because I've always cut all different types of hair and I just have different experiences just from working in different barbershops.

So when it comes to cutting hair, you can kind of do what they call framing the face.

And you just I use like my people's eyebrows just to create lines.

I don't know, to create symmetry.

There's there's ways that you can do it.

It's like a science behind it.

That's incredible.

That just goes to show what an art it actually is, because I can look at a good haircut and go, Oh yeah, that looks great, but I have no idea what goes into it.

How do you think you've grown as an artist over the last ten years of barbering?

I definitely feel like my hair cuts, like my style, and what I do is more intentional.

I kind of learn what I call, like the psychology of barbering.

You tell me about that.

There's a lot to it.

So when someone comes into the shop, like, I'm very intentional, how, you know, the presentation and the environment.

So someone walks in there's good music playing, there's good smells of all the products I use have great smells so that when people get their haircut, they remember the smell.

So if they if they ever smell that smell again, they're going to think of, you know, me cutting their hair and it's all subconscious.

Even how I mentally prepare, you know, before coming to the shop, just making sure that I'm clear and ready to serve people and making sure everyone's comfortable.

So everything I do now is definitely intentional.

And before I kind of was just go with the flow.

Yeah.

And then now I feel like I've mastered it.

So I'm like, way more intentional with my haircuts.

So what about, you know, you hear about like writer's block or when artists just have a creative block.

Do you ever have that?

And if so, what do you do?

Because you have people coming into the shop.

Honestly, I did have a moment like that.

I'll say it was back in 2016.

I felt like no matter how hard I tried to make the haircut look good, it wasn't just wasn't looking the way I wanted to look, and I didn't know what was wrong with me.

Honestly, I don't know how I shook it.

I just kept.

Kept going.

Kept trying.

Yeah.

Just kept trying different things until I came up with a technique that actually worked for me.

So how do you come up with techniques that work for you?

Is there like a continuing education, or do you just is it just continued experience?

It's definitely the experience.

There's no right or wrong way to do haircuts.

There are steps that people teach, but everyone has a different everybody has a different style.

And it's kind of just what you do.

Like if someone shows me a picture of a haircut in my mind, I'm just going to do what it takes to get to that, that desired style.

And there's not really a right or wrong way to do it.

But honestly, I've is this from trial and error trying what works and what doesn't work.

So you're in this space as a female barber, a female business owner.

Has that taken any of, being a business owner that is.

Has it taken any of the joy out of the artistry, having the business side?

Or do you still love it just as much?

And then there's the business side to it as well.

So there has been times where it's definitely felt stressful.

I would say when I was opening and before I actually had barbers, I just thought if I built a nice shop, people want to come work here.

So but that's not how it works.

I found out the hard way.

So that time period was pretty stressful just doing what it took to attract barbers.

So my, my skill over the years has always been I've been able to attract clients and have clientele like I'm booked out, but now I'm learning how to attract barbers and how to manage them and keep them and teach them.

So sometimes it is a little stressful, but still I'm still learning that part.

But as long as I focus on haircuts in the moment, all that goes away.

How do you find the right barbers who not only have the skill but also fit that vibe?

Because, like you said, you've gone to great lengths to make this a very intentionally positive place.

So how do you what if somebody comes in and they're a great artist but they don't fit personality wise?

Oh, so it's hard.

I've been through a couple of barbers because they didnt fit Some people can have the skill, but they don't have like the professionalism or the people skills.

It's just so many.

And I guess I'm looking for people who have the skill and good personality and people who are respectful and can fit in this environment.

Because our space is small, one person can like really affect the vibe, you know?

Yeah.

So what's next?

You have this incredible shop, which is such an achievement.

You again are a busy barber.

You have other artistic outlets as well.

Do you have another step that you want to take or do you feel like this is you're in a really good spot?

I feel like this spot here, this physical location is definitely like my first learning experience.

It's great for my first barbershop, but after or because you kind of think about who you want to be or what type of shop you want to be before you have it.

And then once you go through the experience, you start learning new things.

You kind of tweak the dream a little bit.

So now my biggest goal is to be a downtown barber.

Like, I want to get us downtown.

Yeah, yeah.

I just want to be in the middle of like Fort Wayne's growth because I love Fort Wayne so much.

And I just want us to be, like, right in the forefront of barbering.

I want to be Fort Wayne Barber, you know?

Yeah.

Now, I guess that leads me to maybe an obvious question.

Have you come up against any challenges being a woman Barber?

Every day.

Really?

So one of the main reasons I became a barber shop owner is because I don't know.

I will work with some of my peers like guys, and it just would seem like they want to be good, but not, you know, obviously better than them.

And it kind of was like a and some places I worked at it was more like a competition and I'm like, I don't want it to be like that.

I just want us to be all on the same page.

Everybody eats, you know.

And even when I was getting my shop, maybe like even dealing with contractors and stuff, they kind of treat you like a woman and they don't respect you sometimes.

And I've dealt with that, but I've learned from it and I just demand my respect now.

Oh I love that.

Yeah, you have to you have to.

So do you feel artistically fulfilled?

Definitely.

I'm so grateful for my life.

I'm grateful for this path that I have been on because I realize, you know, some people don't get to wake up and enjoy their job.

And every day I love my job and I love my clients.

I love everything that barbering has brought into my life.

I could have never even imagined it would be like this when I first started.

That is incredible.

What a ringing endorsement.

And, you know, just that push that people sometimes need to to really find what it is that lights you up.

Sasha, I have really enjoyed sitting down with you.

I can't wait to see your downtown shop because I'm out there in the universe.

It's coming.

Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down.

Thank you.

Thank you guys for having me.

For more information, visit legendary barber co dot com Im joined now by artist Lee Rainboth.

Lee, thank you for being here.

I was telling you, I started doing my research and I was like, where do I even begin with this guy?

Your your whole life and your artistic journey is pretty incredible.

Tell me when you first realized you were an artist.

Yeah, well, I've always known I was an artist ever since I was a kid.

If you had asked me when I was five years old, when I was going to be, when I grew up, Id a told you an artist, like it's always been my path.

What did that mean to you as a five year old?

Did you did you have an idea of what what that was going to look like or, di you just know, you were going to be creative?

There's no way I could have imagined that it look that it would have looked like what it does now.

You know, as you said, my journey as an artist has taken me a lot of different places and evolved in a way that I never knew that an artist could be what I've become in a way.

But, you know, I grew up in Iowa in a small town on a farm, so I didn't really have a sort of representation of what life as an artist or a career as an artist would look like.

So in that way, I kind of was able to create it myself, you know, And take it wherever I wanted to, which is what I've done.

So you absolutely have literally, you have taken it sort of all over.

So how do you go from a farm in Iowa to a world traveler?

What what sort of was the impetus for that?

Yeah, well, I think probably because I grew up in that small town on a farm in Iowa, that was sort of what inspired me to be like, where can I use my art to take me beyond, you know, the small town upbringing that I had and experience the world in different ways.

So I went to college at Iowa State University, studied art there, and when I was there, I got to do some studying abroad in West Africa, which is kind of what really inspired me to understand my art in context of the world and different cultures and how we understand each other and how art can really be used to build community amongst people in different places around the world.

I got to work with some really incredible artists there that became real mentors to me and have carried through my career as sort of mentors and inspirations for me.

And so through that experience, I kind of, you know, realized that sort of art can have that power to connect you to other places and other cultures and really help us understand each other better.

And like I said, just build community in different ways.

So I started looking for other opportunities and that's what's led me many other places.

Yeah, so ok, we have to talk about Haiti because it became a huge part of your life personally and artistically.

So what what made you decide to make that move?

Yeah, After graduating from college, getting my degree again, I kind of just knew I didn't want to stay and be an artist in Iowa.

You know, nothing against Iowa.

Appreciate Iowa, but, you know, I wanted to find sort of a different place to experience and really develop my art.

Found this opportunity in Haiti.

It was with a fair trade artisans group that was looking for some volunteers to come down and work with some craftspeople there.

Fair trade artisans who make crafts to sell in fair trade stores.

That group actually sells some stuff here in Fort Wayne at Creative Women of the World and the founder of that organization, actually traveled to Haiti with me.

Long story but how cool that it's all connected right it's kind of come full circle.

Yeah.

Lorelai, the founder of Creative Women of the World.

Yeah, she was one of the first people that I traveled to Haiti with back in 2007.

But, yeah, I originally just signed up to volunteer for six months.

But the art and the culture and the people there just kind of felt so much of a home for me that I ended up staying 13 years, worked with that organization for a few years, but went on to work with different groups of artists down there in many different ways, started a couple organizations down there myself and just really became part of the community and it sort of led to what's really influenced my art.

Obviously, over the next being there and living there for 13 years, just setting up my home and becoming part of that community, my art then sort of grew into how do I reflect this community that I've become a part of?

How do I tell their stories a little bit more to the world, and how do I also use my art to bring awareness and educate other people about their creativity and the stories that they're trying to tell and how art is so powerful and so important to them.

That's such a huge mantle to take up, you know, I mean, to to not only have that revelation, but then to to say, okay, I'm going to work to make my art reflect that is quite the undertaking.

Before we get further into that, I want to know what it was specifically, or maybe there were several things about the Haitian culture that you just really connected with and fell in love with.

Mm hmm.

So many things.

I, I ended up living in this rural part of Haiti, in the southern part of Haiti, on the mountains, just beautiful natural environment to be an inspirational, just in that sense of just the natural beauty that I was surrounded with, but also the people of Haiti and their culture, they use art and creativity so much to express their freedom.

It's been such a source of their own story of liberation and revolution that I think it's something really powerful for artists around the world to sort of understand and integrate into our art and how we create the work that we do.

I think something that even a lot of artists in other places around the world that haven't had the same experiences sort of take for granted in the way that art can have that power for people and culture.

And so but I think it's still very important and relevant no matter where you are at in the world.

So arts is just part of who they are, they're in Haiti.

So.

So as you are working with these crafts people, what medium are you predominantly using to create?

Well, originally the when I was originally went down there and working with Fair Trade artisans, you know, they were making all sorts of crafts from whatever materials they could find, a lot natural materials, recycled materials.

But where I was living in is also in proximity to Jacmel, which is like the artistic capital of the country, the biggest artistic city in the country where all the artists congregate and live.

And the most incredible art in the country is created there.

And so eventually I got more connected with that community in there.

There are painters, there are sculptors, there's filmmakers, there's photographers, there's musicians, and dancers, and, you know, just every sort of discipline you can imagine that is really creating incredible work there in the city of Jacmel.

So, yeah, there I got to get connected to this artists of all different types and styles and genres, all different materials.

Myself, my background is in painting, 2D, painting, drawing work that's what I studied.

But through my life and work with artists down there, I started integrating more mixed media into my work, use a lot of sequins and glitter and those sorts of things.

Tell me about that.

Yeah, those are things that are very relevant to Haitian culture.

The sequins come from their voodoo, spiritual traditions and culture there.

It's very much a part of integrating things into the work that reflect light in different ways and can bring the viewer into a different sort of experience with the art rather than just something flat that you're looking at on the wall.

But they actually use sequins and things when they're in their ceremonial experiences to really bring sort of a trance like experience into the work.

And it has to do with not just the sequins and that they put on these flags that they're waving around and there's candlelight flickering, but there's also drumming, there's also dancing, there's also chanting and singing and all these things you know, the sense and the smells and offerings all kind of working together.

So.

So youre just enveloped.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

So to me, I mean, art always been about creating some sort of spiritual experience and spiritual connection with the viewer.

So integrating that into my art was important, even though, you know, that's not my experience, it's not my culture, it's something that is still relevant to the work that I'm trying to create.

And it reflects, again, the community that's reflected in the work that I make.

So.

So as your experiences evolved, so did your art.

Yeah, absolutely, and continues to.

I'm sure.

I mean, I hope that all artists can say that, right?

Yeah.

So you're in Haiti for 13 years.

Yeah.

What brings you back stateside?

You can give me the CliffsNotes.

Yeah.

Yeah, I moved in 2020, and honestly, after 13 years in Haiti, I love my life in Haiti, you know, still consider Haiti home in a way, but just kind of got to a point where it was time to move on and try something different.

Haiti in general got to a point where I needed to sort of move away to even the work that I do with those artists.

It was important for me to move somewhere where we could exhibit their art to other communities more and share their art with in other places in a different way.

And to do that I need more stability in the US in order to do that.

So I came here honestly to work with the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, which is who I work with now.

I'm the executive director.

They're here in Fort Wayne as well.

And and how do you make that transition?

What was that like?

Yeah, I have friends who work at the Dance Collective, who I knew before I moved here.

I was very involved in some organizations and activities in Indianapolis for for many years served on the board of directors for an organization down there.

Got to know some artists there, also got connected with some artists up here in Fort Wayne.

So I had some friends at the Dance Collective when they were looking for a new executive director.

I literally sent them a text message just joking, like, Hey, should I come be your boss.

And I did not imagine it was actually going to happen.

But here I am and I've really enjoyed it, really love the work that we get to do there at the Dance Collective.

It makes sense in the trajectory of everything that I've been doing about the way that that organization builds community and uses its art and creation to really create a sense of belonging and identity.

Yeah.

So when I moved, it's still even now living in Fort Wayne doing the work that I do, I still stay very connected to that community in Haiti and everything that I experienced and all the work they did there still influences the decisions that I make here and the work that I do even here locally in Fort Wayne, of how do I connect people to each other and use art in a way that does sort of open up our worlds a little bit more And I still paint all the time.

So I have my own studio and my home, you know, still create my own work.

And a lot of that is me personally and continuing to try and navigate and stay connected, both to that child from Marcus, Iowa, but also the person that I became through all these other travels and experiences and all these other communities I continue to be connected to and how do I carry that through in everything that I do?

Well, Lee, I am sure as as a kid in Iowa that you didn't envision yourself back in the Midwest, here in Fort Wayne, but I'm so glad you're here.

We are so lucky to have you.

Hey thanks.

Im so glad that the Dance Collective found you because or you found them or you found each other.

Because as I hear you talk and I understand your passion, that's really is their whole thrust.

So, yeah, absolutely.

They are lucky to have you.

We as a community are lucky to have you.

Thank you for all you do.

Well, thanks.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thanks for coming.

Yeah.

For more information, visit Lee Rainboth dot com Our thanks to Sasha Cheney and Lee Rainboth.

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