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Transcription: [00:34:13]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
I feel very good. Yeah. [[Laughing]] That's great.
[00:34:15]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
But you guys brought some tools with you right?
[[Cross talk]]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Yeah.
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
Some of the tools of your medium?

[00:34:22]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Yeah. So we-- I thought I put them out earlier, but I forgot. This is one of our tools that we use. it is-a Screen printing.
[00:34:32]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
You guys are aware? This is what they call the silk screen. And you put ink in here, and you have a good squeejee, and you can make prints, or T-shirts or posters.
[00:34:45]
This medium is like universal. You can do so much stuff with it.
[00:34:50]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
As long as it's flat, you can screen print on it.
[00:34:53]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
As long as it's flat. And these are designs we have been using in-- in our workshops right over here. And we actually have a bunch of prints in the marketplace if you want to go check them out also

[00:35:09]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
And actually I'm going to connect this to D.C. local resource because, again, D.C. used to be a place where you came to see art, but over the past 30 years that I've been here now, it's become a place that is a place for artists and--
[[Beeping in background]]
[00:35:27]
Are there places, that, in D.C., or around D.C. that you would recommend for people that want to learn silk screening?

[00:35:33]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
And I know D.C. Studio in [[IB?]] City and Pyramid Atlantic
[00:35:39]

[[Cross talk]]

{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Pyramid Atlantic. Yeah. In Hinesville[[?]]. Just outside the city in Hinesville[[?]], Maryland. Up Rhode Island Avenue.
[00:35:45]
It's a great new center and um that's where I'm from actually. Hinesville. It's really, having like a, transformation into this really cool place, especially for the arts, and along Mt Rainer just before that. So, it's a great place to go and explore.

[00:36:02]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
Right, right. Questions, more questions.

[00:36:05]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 3"}
Well I kind of wanted to say something to jump into your question. She was just asking about like transferring from commercial to like doing your own thing and doing murals and stuff.
[00:36:16]
Um, it's funny because I came to, I started doing a lot of my artwork in New York and getting paid for it.
[00:36:25]
And for the time, I was just working by myself on the street and then I got into working for these big companies and like working for MOMA and Nike.
[00:36:33]
And for me, it was like a transfer out, you know? I learned so much working at MOMA, like so much about having typography perfect, we would write screen printing these huge paragraphs on walls for like Diego Riveria[[?]] for like exhibitions and stuff,
[00:36:50]
real--just super perfect design, you know? So I learned a lot doing that. But I just wanted to say
[00:37:01]
because working with a company like Nike you just get in these kind of [[?]].
[00:37:07]
I don't know. As an artist, you kind of want to be about around more humble people, you know? You want to be with people that kind of like feel your vibe
[00:37:14]
and not too worried their fancy shoes or their nice like, where they're going to eat last night and stuff and
[00:37:22]
it was kind of funny for me because I was at Nike all these people were so materialistic it's like, man I couldn't take it anymore, I was so happy to get out.
[00:37:31]
And, it was really funny because right after I left Nike I immediately got a job to work in the MOMA.
[00:37:38]
And that's kind of where my humbling started to begin. But even working for the MOMA is just like, 'Wow, it's a lot of bureaucracy going on.'
[00:37:47]
So, for me to come home and to do my own artwork was always kind of a goal for me, because like, I want to do my artwork and I'm going to do my stuff.
[00:37:57]
It's always kind of been a goal. So I've been very lucky to be able to just like keep on doing my kind of stuff without too having too many people being like, 'Oh, Federico[[?]], uh you're going to have to put a little smiley face in there and I want a duck.'
[00:38:13]
And you know, I love ducks, so that wouldn't be a problem [[laughing]].
[00:38:18]
But um, it's been really nice to have even customers tell me, 'Frederico[[?]], come to my house, come to my restaurant, just kinda do your thing, show me a sketch maybe, show me a sketch, then do your thing, you know, we trust you.'
[00:38:32]
Or even just like, 'We need you to paint this. We trust you. Like, just do it, and I'll pay you later,' you know?
[00:38:39]
It's interesting just being in different kind of like uh atmospheres of like work, you know? and the freedom that you can have.
[00:38:47]
I think it's really amazing when you can have an opportunity to be totally free and really express yourself honestly.
[00:38:56]
And people feel it, you know? It's a real blessing.

[00:39:01]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
That's great. Yeah, I actually wanted to ask a little bit more about some of the challenges,
[00:39:07]
I mean this is a whole big thing with corporate social responsibility and sometimes it's misplaced like in that commercial - I don't know if any of you saw that commercial
[00:39:17]
where they were, uhm, sort of riffing off the Black Lives Matter movement [[crosstalk]]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
Was it the Pepsi commercial?
[00:39:23]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
Yeah okay [[laughs]] the Pepsi commercial, whoops, the Pepsi commercial
[00:39:26]
But, um, but sometimes it's real, sometimes it's you know, it's not so real. What have been-have you had challenges in terms of [[?]] working with um, uh, folks who want your art but they don't want the meaning in your art or they want
[00:39:46]
your art but not your activism or, can you talk about that?

[00:39:51]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
I think it's a constant thing. I mean, more so than those specifics just really trying to control what you're doing and how you're doing and who you're speaking to. Those are very interesting challenges.
[00:40:05]
Something else that's interesting about what we do is it can be seen as sort of like, um, uh, like, background? Like, more, I mean, literally it is in the background, it's a mural or a backdrop.
[00:40:18]
But it's more of like a supplement to a theme, so you get a lot of freedom to work within that as long as it's the basics, right? No religion, no profanity, and nothing, um, nothing showing too much violence.
[00:40:31]
You know, standards for anything for the community but um, I don't find that, I mean, that those challenges like anything else in life are what make it interesting.
[00:40:40]
Just to see, maybe, you could throw something a little subversive in there, just see if they pick it up, that's always a fun thing.
[00:40:45]
Um, or just um, you know, create something that's impactful that meets all the requirements and flies under the radar but still super cool and um, says a lot and makes people think because that's the main goal for me is to make people think about specifically
[00:41:03]
you know, like, where are you from, what's happened in this place, what used to be here, you know, it's like when someone passes away you have to keep the legacy alive.
[00:41:12]
We have that responsibility. And, um, it's like what we do is so important I mean it's like it's always there, it's always for everyone to see. Advertisers know this and they're selling walls everywhere.
[00:41:26]
But um, when we are allowed to do a mural, I feel a great responsibility to the public to just be real, you know? And just really make them think about something, keep them woke.
[00:41:40]
I love your necklace--but keep people woke, aware of what's happening in the world and the choices that we have as citizens to just make life a better place-not to sound overly corny but like we really just need that.
[00:41:55]
You know, on a daily, like micro interaction level, how can we make the world a better place and have more connection?

[00:42:02]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 2"}
Yeah.

[00:42:03]
{SPEAKER name="Speaker 1"}
You know, especially with social media, I mean just computers and technology, you know, we'd rather text somebody than give them a call these days, and sometimes it feels intrusive like, 'They're calling me? Like, what is this?'
[00:42:12]
But yeah, staying more connected is really important for vitality, I feel like, personal vitality.

Transcription Notes:
Speaker 1 - the female artist Speaker 2 - the commentator Speaker 3 - male artist