(rock music) - [Tom] On this episode of UTR, we get creative and celebrate the incredible endeavor of art.

We'll sample some thoughtful audible art, magnificent murals, and an awesome illustrator.

Then we'll swing by a cool, colorful collection and blow some glass that'll blow your mind.

Get ready to explore the artful people, places and things that make Michigan a great place to be creative.

- [Tim Allen] Let's catch up, not online or over text.

Let's catch up in a place where time isn't measured in minutes but in moments.

Moments made paddling the day away on a crystal blue waterway or just sitting around a campfire beneath a canopy of twinkling stars.

It's time to make up for lost time.

This summer let's catch up with pure Michigan.

- [Man] The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is dedicated to enabling economic prosperity.

The MEDC markets Michigan with a focus on growing businesses and building resilient communities in our state.

- [Woman] A visit to the Stahls auto collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around.

A fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info at stahlsauto.com.

Annarbor.org is your gateway to Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

Find out the best spots to eat, festivals to attend, activities to do and places to discover at annarbor.org.

- I've been around the world but there's one place I keep coming back to.

And the more I explore, the more I realize it's the place to be.

I'm Tom Daldin and this is "Under The Radar Michigan".

(upbeat rock music) Now, if you've watched this show before, you know that I always say that art is the icing on the cake of life.

Well, if you live in Michigan, I hope you like a lot of icing, oh look, art.

That's because we have so many creative and awesome artful artisans in our great state that you can't throw almost anything without hitting one.

Don't hurt them.

From whimsical sidewalk stylings and fine classic creations to Shakespeare in the sun and even enormous iron art, we've got your cognitive creative cravings covered.

So put on your smock, your beret and get ready to light up your frontal lobes 'cause we're about to get artsy on you.

Hey guys, you want some?

I bought six.

(cries out) Our first artistic offering is one you actually have to hear to believe.

It's audible art made by a man who not only makes music, he even manufacture some of the creative contraptions that carry his melodies.

Frank Pahl is an award winnig teacher, composer, performer and writer from Wyandotte who makes creative music for your mind, body and soul.

He's actually what you might call a sonic artist who goes beyond the conventional to bring you the conceptual.

What is your inspiration for what you do?

How did you come into this kind of music?

- I think with most art forms, somebody has to kind of give you permission.

And so most people that like chance music, John Cage gives them permission.

I was listening to rock bands in the probably late 70s, early 80s and I heard Eugene Chadbourn.

And he sometimes plays an electric plunger and he plays an electric rake.

And they weren't great sounds but he was the person, after seeing him and meeting him and getting to know him, that ultimately gave me permission.

That anything is music.

- But you're brilliant at taking stuff, that I don't know where you scavenged and find these things, but taking stuff and turning them into- - [Frank] The sad thing is you could point and I could probably tell you.

(Tom laughs) That's what takes up my brai.

- [Tom] Yeah but it's like it's part music, part mechanics and you've turned music into these creative little audio scapes that take your brain to so many different places.

How do you even do that?

- [Frank] You need a day job.

You definitely need a day job.

- [Tom] I'm still looking for one.

- And I copy edited for over 15 years.

Bought the house, I have a rental property.

That gave me enough time so that I thought if I spend my time going to yard sales and flea markets, it won't be totally wasted.

I have something to fall back on.

- Yeah, who do you make the music for?

- Oddly enough, during the pandemic, band camp.

- And you also score short films.

- [Frank] Yes and dance kept me employed for a long time and theater.

- [Tom] So what would you call the genre this performance art music that you do?

- [Frank] Every piece is different.

So it would depend upon the piece.

- [Tom] For you personally, is it the performance or is it the preparation that you love?

Do you love being in the studio and creating or is it all about the performance when you're on stage?

- Well, most of my music making is recording.

And then it leaves my brain.

The piece that I was playing earlier, I tuned this zither, - Oh that's a zither?

- Well, it's an auto-zither now.

But I tune that for a specific tune.

Once it goes out of tune that tuning disappears except for the recording that I have.

- 'Cause, yeah, who wants to do that again?

(chuckles) - It is very awkward.

You know, I still get hired regularly to do music for theater, film and dance.

And it's very awkward when I'm doing live theater and somebody says, "Frank, can you play...?"

and they'll mention one of my tunes.

And it's like, I don't know what that tune is.

And even if I did know the tune, I wouldn't know that that was the name of it.

- Ladies and gentlemen, Frank Pahl.

He'll be here all week.

Try the beef.

Well, you heard right.

Frank Pahl is an absolute innovator, pioneer and one heck of a creative composer.

And a pretty nice guy, I might add.

So if you're feeling audibly adventurous and you'd like to delve outside of your mundane music box, look him up.

That's Frank Pahl, P-A-H-L. Trust me your cerebral cortex will thank you for it.

Well, next up, we're gonna go big.

No, I mean really big.

In order to see this art you gotta take a step back.

One more.

Keep going.

There.

Now you got it.

Mural art is something you're seeing more and more of and for good reason.

They create a welcoming and colorful sense of life in a downtown.

And in Ann Arbor, murals do an artful job of reminding you why this city is one of the best places on Earth to live, work, and pla.

And one of the reasons why Ann Arbor is exploding with color and creativity these days is Mary Thiefels, a thoroughy thought provoking person who's accelerating this awe-inspiring art form.

When did you first realize that you were creative and when did your art get so big?

- Well, I think we all start out creative.

I think something happens when we reach adolescence where we start doubting our own creativity.

- That's me.

- And instead of stopping, I just plowed through those developmental phases with gusto.

Yeah, studying art was something that was always on the forefront of my mind.

I love how throughout histor, through the beginning, since the dawn of man, we have been using our hands and our voices and our expression to create things.

To communicate things.

- But this mural is amazing.

What was the inspiration for this one?

- Well, it started with a partnership and that's how all of our projects become born really is when people that have ideas.

Destination Ann Arbor approached Danijel and I, and we started scouting for a location.

They knew they wanted to work with TreeTown Murals but we didn't have our wall yet.

So we went through a process of just investigating where this piece, the centerpiece, could go because we definitely wanted the mural to celebrate our community.

So this was the biggest piece of eye candy we could find.

And when we lobbied to the building owners, Wickfield Properties, they were extremely amenable to the idea.

- Now this particular mural is called "Challenge Everything Create Anything".

- [Mary] That's a pretty bold statement, right?

- It is a bold statement.

(Mary laughs) I have to ask.

To do something like this, you have to be part mathematician, part engineer, part daredevil.

I mean to go up that high and paint something and still keep it in proportion, how do you do that?

- [Mary] I think that one of the things that drives Danijel and I the most is the challenge.

And so this being the biggest wall we've painted, we had to talk to the right people.

We had to figure out what our plan was.

- It's such a, like I said, it's math, it's engineering, it's daredevil.

Don't you get scared when you're all the way up there trying to?

No?

- No.

It's actually exhilarating.

- Wow.

- It's pretty.

The view of Ann Arbor was just breathtaking and- - Well, speaking of Ann Arbor.

Love Ann Arbor.

I love the creative spirit and energy here.

Why do you think murals like this are so important to cities?

- Sure, I mean, if you notice murals are popping up all over the world.

And so it's not just important to cities but it's important to humanity.

It's brought art outside and murals have been part of our human dialogue and conversations since we could make a pigment and put our hand on the wall.

We want to make our mark and say we were here.

But then there's artists that also want to represent larger bodies of people or larger communities by using big pictures.

So these are big pictures on wall that can evoke conversation, awe, excitement, curiosity.

We need to jump out of our skin sometimes to feel that we're alive and we're in the moment.

And I think art does that.

- Let's face it, when was the last time a big blank brick wall made you think, smile or wonder?

Well, thanks to awesome artists like Mary and Danijel Ann Arbor's walls are filling up with fantastic and inspirational art, some of them way up.

So if you find yourself just staring at a big wall, don't worry, there's probably a mural on it.

Bonus.

Now I just spent some time with a creative creature from planet Earth, who's as much fun to talk to as his art is to look at.

I think that's me.

Now, you watch this, I'm gonna go set up our next adventure.

I'm talking about Dave Chow, an award-winning teacher, artist and illustrator who's turned his nonstop noodling into a very successful career.

When he's not story boarding or creating images for corporate America, he's sharing his inspirations on Instagram or even lending his creative eye to TV commercials.

Let's say we get to know Dave through the art of conversation.

Dave, this is gonna sound strange coming from me because we know each other but I have a great deal of respect for (Dave laughs) what, I do, for what- - Easy, easy, oh, I hurt myself laughing.

- No, I have a great deal of respect for what you do because I tried doing it myself.

In college, I took two-dimensional drawing, three-dimensional drawing, they even tried the fourth dimension with me and I just can't do it.

I mean, kudos to I don't know where it came from- - Stunt doubles.

(Tom laughs) I have stunt doubles in the back.

There's actually a Vietnamese family, seven over there, that does all my work right now for a pound of rice a week.

- Well, I wanna ask you.

What was little Dave like when you, were you drawing on everything - Or what?

- Everything.

One of these days we should sit down, I've got a friend, Ryan, that's actually written a book on this, the history of Chinese restaurants in North America.

- What?

I thought we were talking about drawing?

- Okay, okay.

(Tom laughs) But here's the thing.

When my dad came here in '54, got to Canada, met his dad for the very first time, I think.

I think my dad's like 24, 25, met his dad for the very first time.

My grandfather owned a coffee shop so my dad was his doughnut maker.

Okay, so he's like 27 years old, Working with Dad in Canada as a doughnut maker.

Dad says, "Son, you're going home to China.

Get yourself a bride.

Marries my mom in China.

Back in 65, they pop me out.

So next thing you know, hey, let's take Dave to the coffee shop.

I start drawing on everything.

- Oh, in the coffee, so that's how it started.

- Uh huh, so- - Coffee?

- No, no, decaf for the son, lady.

No, I started going nuts on the place mats.

So, "Uh, we can't afford that.

Here's the Coca Cola blackboard."

You know, the daily specials.

My dad got an extra one and got me one of those for home.

- I've always tried to wrap my head around what you do 'cause you do a little bit of everything.

- I do a little of everything.

I taught for 17 years.

- You taught at CCS.

- I taught CCS, my alma mate.

But before going to do that, for myself, for my own sense of balance or practicing what I preach, I worked 17 years in the industry before I went and taught.

Because I'm not into this, oh, I got a degree, I can go teach.

No, the thing that I brought to the classroom was I use to do it for a living.

I mean there were multiple times I would show up for class and I'm like, pulled an all-nighter and I look worse than the kids do.

Yeah, there's a running joke that the kids slept more than I did.

(Tom laughs) Usually in my class.

But no, I mean, I work.

I do this first and foremost and then went back and taught for 17 years.

- Well, that's what I love about your stuff.

There's humor to it.

It's cartoony.

- It's warped.

- Yeah, but that's what I love about it.

- Honestly, I grew up by "Mad Magazine", all these weird comic books and all these weird things.

I think I still have an issue or two here stashed on my desk.

- I love that sense of humor because not only is it drawing but it's also verbal.

It's the written thing.

It's the whole package.

I just draw my way through life if I have to.

It comes in handy.

- You're my hero.

- Or if you guys ever need help playing Pictionary, I'm your chemical engineer friend.

- (laughs) Yeah, everything I draw, "What's that?

What's that?

What's that?"

- The in-laws use to make me draw left handed.

- [Tom] Why?

Just to improve your skills?

- No, just so they could slow me down at least a little bit but.

- [Tom] Oh, can you draw left handed?

- I can draw left handed.

(Tom groans) (Dave laughs) No, now the skill I want is I want to be all double (indistinct), if I can do this.

- We're in two different projects at the same.

- Wow, no, I can't do that.

- Can you do this?

- Uh, no.

- If you've got an artful inner child who's just aching for some attention, check out the awesome illustrations of one Dave Chow.

They'll make you think, laugh, dream and wish you had his endless creative energy.

They might even inspire you to pick up a pencil and that, Dave would love.

Now, if you wanna see some great art you go to a museum but if you wanna purchase some great art, you go to a gallery.

Ah but if you wanna go to a really cool gallery, well, (chuckles) you know where I'm going with this.

It's called the N 'NAMDI Center for Contemporary Art.

And it's one of the most interesting, awesome artful adventures you can take.

George N'Nandi started this nonprofit gallery and exhibition space years ago with a mission.

A mission to enlighten all of us through art and by jove, I think he's done it.

The gallery is located in the historic Sugar Hill district in Midtown Detroit, an area with a long history of tolerance, creativity, entertainment and inspired people making their mark.

And speaking of people making their mark, time for me to make mine.

Well, I don't even know where to start with this place because it's a cultural, artistic social experience here.

You don't just feature artists, you help promote the artists as well.

Right?

- Yeah, yeah, you're correct.

Right, I think you have to do both.

You feature the artist, yeah it's good for that day or week or what have you.

But when you really work to promote their careers, that's where I think you have really done the best for the artists.

We always have done that.

- So this place has been here for how long?

- When we finished the renovation of this place, it was 12 years ago.

We moved here 20 years ago now.

And we moved from Birmingham, Michigan.

All right and we were out there 13 years.

And before that we were seven years.

And so this is my 40th year of being in the art business.

Like what you see around this area.

You have MOCAD Museum of contemporary art.

You have a good Detroit artist market, although none of these things were here when I was coming.

When I was coming from Birmingham, everyone thought it was the most foolish thing that I could have done.

Because to move from Birmingham, one of the richest communities in the country, to Detroit but I knew it was time and that's what I wanted to do.

- Well, tell me a little bit about the artists you have on display here right now.

Because you're primarily African-American artists?

- It's primarily, yes.

Yeah.

But we do a lot with all artists, particularly in Detroit.

We do that but we are primarily African-American artists.

But I always tell people Detroit gives you more.

Like if you are local artist, this is your home base.

Detroit pays more attention to you than a Chicago.

It's like if you're not national or international they give you very little attention.

- Again, for people who come here, like I said, it's an experience.

You've got what's called the Black Box, where you have jazz performances.

- [George] Yeah, we have performances.

- [Tom] You've got a wine bar.

You're connected to Seva.

- Seva, yeah.

- [Tom] Which is an incredibe vegetarian restaurant.

- [George] Yes, it is.

- So you're in a good place.

- Yeah, I had hoped to do this like that.

But it's just been a joy.

I really have enjoyed being able to do what I do in Detroit.

I really credit a lot to Detroit too, by the way.

It was a city that had a lot of the things that we in the family wanted to have in our life.

I mean it has challenges but it's like, what's challenges.

- [Tom] If you've got an artful eye, trust me, you'll need both of them at the N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art because the depth and breadth of creativity on display here will keep you coming back to experience more.

And let's face it, you can never have too much art.

Have you ever wondered how you can take a bunch of sand, heat it up and turn it into incredible art like this?

Well, stick around because things are about to get hot, real hot.

Well, things aren't only gonna get hot, they're gonna get talented too because April Wagner is a gifted artist and artisan who takes one of nature's simplest substances and turns it into priceless, eye-pleasing pieces of art.

Well, not priceless because you can actually buy some of this stuff.

April owns and operates Epiphany Studios in Pontiac.

And when she's not making an incredibly creative one-of-a-kind piece of art, she's talking about it with someone like, well, me.

Well, first of all, what you do is extremely cool, obviously, but I have a very important question.

Just one question.

I know this is hard to do.

So how long did it take until you made something that you could actually show your friends?

(April laughs) This is like it's hand-eye coordination.

It's a balancing act.

You have to be so physically coordinated and talented as well as artistic in your head, right?

- It takes a couple of years to figure out how to get your hands to do what your mind wants it to d. And even then you're still really struggling.

There's so many technical components to blowing glass that when you're trying to add the artistic component on top of it, you've got to learn all of that technical information first and then start applying the concepts.

- [Tom] What amazes me is the ovens that you use are massive to begin with and what are the temperatures of these things?

- [April] So we are running an 800-pound tank of molten glass, it's clear, and that's running at 2000 degrees and that's running 24/7.

So a lot of the expense people see in glass, is that time it takes to learn the technical skill and then the time and the energy that goes into keeping the glass molten.

- Well, yeah, because to watch you work, you need sort of like a little team of people to do what you do.

Like I said, it's a balancing act.

It's almost like part daredevil, part surgeon, part it's amazing watching you.

- I love it.

It's a little bit like being a magician too 'cause you start making something and I sort of know what's gonna happen but the audience doesn't always know and they're like, "Wait a minute.

How did that just turn into a bowl or a vase or a sculpture?"

And you watch the whole thing but you don't know what happened.

- (indistinct)again, ha ha, broke again, ha ha.

So how do you even let some of these pieces go?

If I made something like, well like this or like that, or that, I dont know if I can let go of it.

Aren't they like your little creative children?

I love the flower.

- I love making things and then giving them to the world.

I love for people to see them and interact with them.

So I make these smaller sculptures but I also make large scale installations.

And the more people that can see that work and be affected by it, that's what makes me really happy as an artist.

For me, it's the process of creating.

It's not so much the product at the end of the process.

- God, that's almost Zen-like.

That was very well said.

Well, after our conversation, April was nice enough to even let me try my hand at it and with a little, well, a lot of help from Rebecca Silverman, I actually kind of made a flower.

A flower you'll never see in nature, of course, but at least I gave it the old UTR try.

So if you're looking for a glass master who can make anything from a tiny table topper to a huge awe-inspiring installation, look up April Wagner at Epiphany Studios in Pontiac.

And if you love art in general just be glad you live in Michigan because when it comes to creativity this is one heck of a great place to be.

Because remember you got to have art.

- [Tim Allen] Let's catch up.

Not online or over text.

Let's catch up in a place where time isn't measured in minutes but in moments.

Moments made paddling the day away on a crystal blue waterway or just sitting around a campfire beneath a canopy of twinkling stars.

It's time to make up for lost time.

This summer, let's catch up with pure Michigan.

- [Man] The Michigan Economic Development Corporation is dedicated to enabling economic prosperity.

The MEDC markets Michigan with a focus on growing businesses and building resilient communities in our state.

- [Woman] A visit to the Stahs auto collection will take you back to a time when cars were more than just a way to get around.

A fantastic assortment of gas pumps, neon signs and automated music machines dating back 150 years that must be seen and heard.

Info at stahlssauto.com.

Annarbor.org is your gateway to Chelsea, Dexter, Manchester, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor.

Find out the best spots to eat, festivals to attend, activities to do and places to discover at annarbor.org.

(upbeat music)