- The first thing to know about City Girl Farm
is that it''s not actually a farm.
- Ah, but it does yield something
you might find in a barnyard,
and no, it''s not a cow.
- The City Girl Farm is a place
from which chicken footstools emerge.
- And they don''t go for chicken feed either.
They''re serious pieces of fiber art
probably best described simply by showing you.
[laid-back music]
♪ ♪
- Okay.
I''m really in the finishing process of this chicken.
Just going around and making all the final passes.
And Mom is working on basting on her chicken,
making sure everything''s covered,
and you''ve got a head on.
Great.
♪ ♪
- Yep, poultry parts.
Being, for lack of a better term, upholstered,
inside a small storefront just west
of the Country Club Plaza
by the mother-daughter team
that''s at the heart of the City Girl Farm.
- Mom gets a lot of credit for
being involved from birth on.
[laughs] Creatively.
So, yeah, I grew up on a farm in central Kansas,
in Lyons, and I was given the gift of chickens,
I think, sometime in middle school.
And so I had a lot of
happy childhood chicken experiences
and loved collecting the eggs,
and just watching them around the farm,
and I think they''re so ridiculous
and quirky and unique, each chicken,
that they make me feel better about
my own quirks and uniquenesses.
- The story moves onto Sally''s
graduate studies at Kansas State,
where she majored in interior architecture.
Inspired by the French artist Francois Lalanne''s
sheep footstools, she introduced
a product of her own.
- Henny and Penny were the result of a semester
of designing how to, um, how to make a chicken.
What''s the essence of a chicken? What parts need to be there?
And I was honestly just hoping
that they would stand up. [laughs]
- They stood.
And an idea was hatched. Sorry.
Teaming one newly minted college graduate
with her mom''s skills at the spinning wheel
and her father''s abilities to build.
The first chickens were white and basic.
They sold.
So did the next batch.
And the next.
As have the increasingly not found in nature
varieties which continue to emerge.
- We create our own rule.
We''ll look at each other, and we''re like,
"There''s nobody to ask, we have to solve this,
"and we may do it wrong; we may do it right;
and we''re just taking that risk."
One of the first shows we went to,
there was somebody that looked in our booth,
and they said, "Are you taxidermists?"
They looked at it. They knew it was a chicken.
Their minds told them, then the second later,
they realized, "Oh, well, there''s no chickens
that big running around any farmyard."
But it was the scale of it that she created
that, I think, made it real.
But yet, they knew they weren''t real,
so it was a real play on, you know, their--
what their mind and their eyes
were telling them at the same time.
- Our goal is always to create a chicken,
but the way that we get to the end result
is always changing based on the fiber,
based on the feather-making processes,
and then what we-- what we pin on the chicken
and how we decide to stitch it.
- So far, the roughly 500 chickens
that have gone out the door have
at least one thing in common:
they''re sturdily constructed.
With bronze legs and beaks,
and a solid wooden egg at the core.
They are, after all, footstools.
Expensive footstools that take weeks to create.
- People will say, "I wouldn''t buy this
and put my feet up on it," and--or they ask us,
"Do people use it that way?"
And we''re like, we really have no idea.
It''s up to them, you know?
But they are engineered as a footstool,
and the price is, you know, reflects that.
We did recognize, kind of, a couple years ago,
that these chickens were going
to some pretty cool homes.
And I was--I was starting to get a little jealous.
There''s one we know of that-- that has
the view of the Pacific Ocean
every single day, and I''m thinking,
that isn''t quite fair!
- While there may not be an ocean view here,
Susan does get to see something
that many parents would envy her for:
her daughter, nearly every day,
as they tackle this task
for which there is no manual.
- I don''t know, somehow,
our differences
and our strengths have made this work.
As long as I don''t comment about her hair,
or what she''s wearing. [laughing]
- Okay. - We have a similar work ethic.
I think that''s really big.
We will push and put in, you know,
to the midnight hour
without even questioning it,
and that''s hard to find people,
pay people to put in that kind of,
you know, effort.
- Except, perhaps, for this group of chickeners.
Among them you''ll find architects, nurses,
students, and friends-- even friends of friends.
They come together nearly every week
for conversation and camaraderie,
some snacks, and no matter what their sewing skills may be,
to play some small role
in the unfolding tale of the City Girl Farm.
- They do get compensated for their stitches.
We do our best to decide
how much of a chicken they''ve stitched,
and then pay them accordingly.
- So what I''m trying to do is...
Sally is very good at directing
and teaching, but then she allows you
to have, like, flexibility
and your own creative look on things,
and that''s, I think, how you can get so much,
and then if you''re nervous, she''s like,
"No, you''re doing such a good job!"
And she''s just very positive,
which I think is great.
You get...you get her today. [laughs]
- It''s tempting to say that the chicks are in charge,
and apparently I just did,
but there are some guys involved at the farm too,
including Dave in the back room.
He''s the designated felter,
transforming raw fibers like wool into fabric
using the powers of water and heat,
and a process that falls somewhere
between science and magic.
- Look at that. - Then there''s Joe.
Recently added to the CGF team
to help Sally keep a more vigilant eye
on those pesky numbers.
- Definitely learning more this year, particularly,
about the business end of things,
which was not my forte and never has been,
but I''m learning a lot, so it''s a beautiful mix
of, like, production that needs to--to happen,
and, um, just wanting to protect the culture
of flexibility and spontaneity
and--and creativity in the making.
- We never get bored.
I mean, it''s like, you know,
we''ll look at each other and just kind of,
"Really?" You know? "We get to do this?"
[laughing]
- We''re having a lot of fun,
and I''m really, really thankful
for the idea, um, and just the joy
and delight that it seems--
that they seem to spread into the world.
♪ ♪
- Here on "Arts Upload," we like to say we''re out
to prove Kansas City is America''s creative crossroads.
- But it''s also still the City of Fountains,
which, we think they kind of go together.
- That''s why we created My Favorite Fountain,
where people tell us about the one they particularly like,
and then Dave Burkhardt goes out and shoots pictures of it.
- This week, newscaster Lara Moritz explains
why the Firefighters Memorial Fountain
means so much to her.
[serene music]
♪ ♪
N- This is my favorite fountain in the city because
to me, it speaks to me, and it makes me reflect
and just find a place of gratitude
for our public servants.
31st and Broadway is always busy,
yet this place, with the water,
and the firefighters, is a place of calm.
NYou see a fire truck and you-- you may even be
irritated if they''re going on a call.
But you come here, and it makes you
realize how intent and how determined they are
to keep you and your family
and your--your home safe.
I think that''s a lesson that I learned
as a little kid when we had
our family barn burn down,
and I remember, as a little girl,
watching these big firefighters
in all their garb go running
into our barn to save our animals.
It never dawned on me that they could be hurt,
or they could die doing that.
On that night in October of 2015,
when Larry Leggio and John Mesh died,
Kris Ketz and I were on the set.
We''d been covering the fire.
We learned, as we''re covering this on set,
that they had passed away.
It was a heartbreaker.
Knowing how everybody reacted and felt so deeply,
I think that the community--
the firefighters and the community as a whole
needed to have something that was permanent,
and this fountain is permanent.
And when you think about it,
I mean, how beautiful is the fact
Nthat you have two firefighters
determining, in my mind,
what--how they''re going to attack this fire,
and you have water, their greatest weapon,
all around them.
I think that if you come here
and if you just pause,
you will reflect on
how firefighters try and keep us safe,
and keep us alive.
And I don''t think anyone could
not walk by and stop,
and not think about firefighters.
♪ ♪
- All right, that particular fountain, like most,
is turned off for the winter, but, hey,
positive thoughts for warmer days ahead.
- And speaking of the future, next week on "Arts Upload,"
we''ll share a story about how the UMKC Conservatory
gets ready for the big Crescendo program.
- And judging from what you''re about to see,
they also do a good job teaching media and filmmaking.
- It''s a student-made project about Arny Young,
a jazz drummer we often see
quite a bit of around Mardi Gras time.
- All right, let me see what I can do with the names.
Julian Schempf is the director/editor,
working along with Kyle Womelduff
and Justin Longmeyer.
[frenetic drumming]
♪ ♪
- I''m Arnold Young.
I play drums and cymbals
and other various instruments.
Percussion, flute.
Mainly that''s just for composing.
That''s how I compose, but mainly I play the drum set,
which consists of drums and cymbals.
It''s called the drums, but it''s really the drums and cymbals.
Cymbal''s a big part of it.
I''m from, uh, um,
Paola, Kansas.
That''s it. That''s where I''m from.
[jazz music]
♪ ♪
You know, I moved here when I was 17,
so, man, during the time,
I''ve been here ever since then.
That was like 1963.
You know, and like, but-- but in that time,
I''ve also spent about 12 or 13 years in other cities.
Like, I lived in San Francisco for eight years;
I lived in New York for a couple of years,
I lived in LA a little bit.
You know, I''ve moved around.
You know, so, but I end up back here.
It''s kind of like a whirlpool or something.
I don''t know.
And I''ve been here 27 years now.
This last stretch.
[lively jazz music]
♪ ♪
I started playing professionally when I was about--
I guess I was 15 then?
And I played in terrible bars out in Kansas.
There was a guy my stepdad knew who was a guitar player.
And he''d come pick me up,
and I had a pituitary deficiency,
so I looked like I was like seven or eight years old
even though I was in high school,
and I''d go play in these horrible dives out in Kansas.
Just terrible, I mean, biker bars and stuff.
♪ ♪
Well, my style is--is also,
uh, it''s a group effort, you know?
It''s not just me.
It''s like I have a group with, uh,
really great musicians,
and they''re not necessarily jazz musicians, per se.
Some of them are; some of them aren''t.
Some of them go out and play straight-ahead jazz gigs.
Other guys don''t.
Like, Patrick Alonzo Smith Conway
is this fantastic musician-- now, he''s not a jazz guy.
But he plays alto sax in my band, and he''s--
now he''s playing bassoon too.
Through effects, man. That''s awesome.
And then, like, he happens to be the best conga player,
AfroCuban conga player, in--in Kansas City.
So we have percussion in my group.
Sometimes the whole group--my group''s called the RoughTet.
We''re dedicated to rough jazz.
We don''t like smooth jazz.
You know, we think jazz should be rough.
And it''s not just jazz-oriented.
We use a lot of different kinds of music in our music,
like, sometimes, we might all be on percussion.
Sometimes we might all be on bamboo flutes.
So we use traditional, non-Western instruments,
but mainly, we use, like, uh--
and we got a guy that does electronic music.
See, that''s-- that''s important to me.
To have something that fits the sound profile
of this time we''re living in.
I''m not trying to recreate what happened
in 1965 or something.
You know, that''s great, I was-- back then, I was,
but it''s not 1965.
[upbeat jazz music]
♪ ♪
You know, if there was even 10 or 20--
I mean, if you go back and look at the ''30s,
the heyday of Kansas City jazz?
Kansas City was the top place in the nation
in the ''30s-- swing was invented here.
Swing is Kansas City''s gift to the world.
Today, because of Bobby Watson
coming back 16 years ago and taking over
the jazz program at UMKC,
has become a magnet for all these
great young musicians to come here, and guess what?
Like, for instance, Ben Leifer.
He''s one of the finest bassists anywhere, I think.
He moved to New York for a year and a half.
He didn''t like it, he came back and lives here.
People are moving here from other towns
because the scene is so hot.
But what we don''t have is clubs.
We don''t--there were five jazz clubs.
Take Five, there''s, uh, the Majestic,
there''s the Blue Room, and there''s, uh,
Green Lady, they have jazz like seven nights a week,
I think, upstairs and down, that''s a good thing.
And that''s--that''s really-- but then there was
Broadway Jazz, that''s gone.
Take Five''s gone.
And so there''s just nowhere
for all these great young musicians to play.
It''s really tragic-- I mean, like I say,
if there were ten jazz clubs in town, even I''d be working.
Somebody needs to step up, and get some balls,
and open a couple of jazz clubs.
If there were a few more clubs here that had jazz,
and there are--there are a few opening up,
and it''s getting better, you know,
but there''s just not enough places
for all these great young
musicians that live here to play.
♪ ♪
I think jazz is very much alive.
I mean, it''s been shot full of holes
for the last 100-some years,
and it''s still going, man.
♪ ♪
- Well, the Arabia Steamboat Museum isn''t devoted to art,
but I''d say there''s an art to the way the Hawley family
and their associates put this place together 25 years ago.
- Well, first they had to dig up the boat.
It was covered under tons of mud
sitting in a field near Parkville,
sitting where it sank in 1856
while heading up the mighty Missouri.
- The amazing thing is how much of what was on board
the Arabia is still intact.
And so much fun to look at.
- The colors and the details on the clothing,
a true time capsule.
Even some of the canned food was still edible.
- Maybe the coolest part of this whole story,
they think they''ve now found another boat, the Malta.
- They''ve run tests, and they are encouraged
and are hoping to start the big dig
maybe even as soon as this fall.
[upbeat music]
- No doubt about it, this is a true homegrown treasure,
so while we''re here, we decided to share with you
the story of how another city has devised a way
to look back at its past.
- Old Milwaukee isn''t just a yard beer.
It''s also a very popular exhibit
at the Milwaukee History Museum.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- This is "The Streets of Old Milwaukee,"
and we''ve been calling it
"The Reimagined Streets of Old Milwaukee,"
because we''ve done a whole lot of new things within it,
but it still is, fundamentally,
the old, beloved Streets of Old Milwaukee.
♪ ♪
The Streets of Old Milwaukee was designed
and built 50 years ago.
It was the first major exhibition to be put on
in the museum''s new building here.
It was designed by Ed Green,
and he''s still around, still a Milwaukeean,
and, um, it''s actually rather rare
for an exhibit to last for 50 years,
especially one that''s as interactive
and well-used as this one.
So the idea that an exhibit
would last for 50 years really speaks to the quality
of the original design.
♪ ♪
Whatever we did had to make what was beloved
about The Streets of Old Milwaukee already
deeper, broader,
more of what people love The Streets of Old Milwaukee for.
And from asking both visitors and internal people here,
what people love about it is that sense
of going back in time,
so we wanted to enhance that sense
of really being there.
♪ ♪
So the first major experience that people will have
when coming into the exhibition
is one of the larger things that we''ve added.
We''ve added the streetcar that is traveling to Old Milwaukee.
And the streetcar starts in the present,
and as you walk through it into the exhibit,
you''re going back in time.
This is your time machine.
This is your wardrobe to Narnia, if you will.
Uh, this is the way that people go back in time
to experience what Milwaukee was like.
There''s a rumble underneath the floor.
There are buildings going past, and they''re--
they''re getting newer as they go past you.
So it''s that sense of walking back in time.
♪ ♪
We wanted to engage all of the senses
with our Reimagined Streets of Old Milwaukee,
to enhance that sense of being there, as I''ve said.
Um, we added the smell
of fresh-baked bread to the bakery.
We''ve added a number of interactive items.
Things you can put your hands on and interact with.
A high-wheel bicycle you can get on and ride.
We''ve repaired the old pump that used to work,
so it pumps real water again.
Uh, you can, uh, find a little butterfly
hidden in the fruit cart
and tap its jar to make it fly.
All of these little details
are to make you feel like you are there,
not just looking through the windows.
♪ ♪
The nickelodeon now will be open for, uh,
all visitors most of the time.
For the general store, we created a glass box inside.
So you can get really close to the artifacts,
uh, inside as well.
So there''s a lot of detail
in there for people to find.
I like to tell everybody that
all of your old favorites are still there.
It''s true, Granny got a little bit of a face lift.
50 years, you know, puts a little
wear and tear on just about anybody.
But it''s the same old Granny
rocking on her porch there.
And people can still buy candy
in the slightly spruced-up,
but still the old candy shop
that everybody loves.
So I think everything that we''ve added
is not taking away from what people loved,
but just more of it.
[whimsical orchestral music]
♪ ♪
Well, one last thing I''d love to tell you
about this exhibition is that
it will change over time.
We have numerous stories,
numerous characters we want to bring to life.
And periodically, the entire Streets will change
in subtle ways.
New movies in the nickelodeon.
New headlines on the newspaper.
New sounds that you hear as you go through.
Supporting new themes.
We''re starting with the theme of entertainment,
but we''re gonna go on to public health,
public safety, immigration,
all things which were important to people
in Milwaukee of that era,
and still important to people in Milwaukee.
But the most key part of that is gonna be
an app, a storytelling app, where you can follow
various characters who are telling their perspective
in what it was like to live in Milwaukee at that time,
through the streets, and it''s a very interesting app
that people can do.
People have told me stories after stories
about how, "Oh, my grandfather
used to work at that store,"
or "my great, great aunt
actually donated that particular object."
This really is the people''s exhibition.
There''s pieces of them, pieces of their history
embedded throughout this exhibit.
So there probably isn''t another exhibit
in the state of Wisconsin
that has so much of the public
invested directly in it.
The museum is engaged right now in
reimagining throughout the institution.
It''s an exciting time here.
We''re refreshing a lot of different things,
rethinking the way that we do it,
and listening to the public about what they want too,
so I hope people come back again and again
to discover what''s new at the Milwaukee Public Museum.
♪ ♪
- Well, while the big wheel keeps on turnin''
here at the Arabia Steamboat Museum,
our time this week is pretty much up.
- Next week on "Arts Upload,"
among other things, a trip to Hamilton, Missouri.
- Home of the crazy successful
Missouri Star Quilt Company.
- Until then, I''m Vanessa Severo.
- And I''m Randy Mason.
How ''bout some more chicken footstools?
- [laughing]
[laid-back music]
♪ ♪
announcer: Production funding for "Arts Upload"
has been provided in part by:
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