This week on Where ART Thou?, Ray travels to the shoreline of Eastern Connecticut! Besides great beaches and fried seafood stands, the shoreline is also home to a wide range of artists.
Join us as we visit the basement studio of singer Kolton Harris. Kolton sings music from his latest EP, 4 Freedom, his response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
I hear melodies first. I like to dig into the music and the way that the music makes me feel. I look at it really as a pursuit of hidden treasure but also kind of like mining. It’s a very much a mining process… We engage in the music and I just keep chiseling away to find out what is the music saying.” – Kolton Harris, singer/songwriter and musician
Singer/songwriter and musician Kolton Harris (left) talks with Ray about his songwriting process. / Photos by Julianne Varacchi, Connecticut Public.
Then Ray pops into Tumbleweeds in Niantic to learn more about their collection of rare vinyl and eclectic clothing.
People love to come here. They love to just come in, they wander around. I’m seeing guys who started buying the records here in the ’70s when they grew up in town, bringing their kids, their grandkids. So that’s a whole story in itself to be able to see that in a store like ours. I don’t know that you can really see that very many places.” – Tara Wyatt, owner of Tumbleweeds
Tara Wyatt, owner of Tumbleweeds.
Finally, Ray spends time with Native American artist Annawon Weeden, who makes beautiful jewelry from traditional wampum.
A lot of people tell me, ‘Oh, you sell your stuff really cheap.’ And it’s like, I’m not in it to make money. I need people to start wearing more of it. I need this stuff to be seen more. I need people to ask more questions and find out what it’s really worth and what it means.” – Annawon Weeden, Native American cultural education specialist, artist, and founder of First Light Foundation
Annawon Weeden (right) demonstrates for Ray the process of making his jewelry.
It is a wealth of experiences here to be had on the shoreline. And don’t just limit yourself to the beautiful summer months that, you know, that are there so lovely, because there’s something going on here all year long. There’s always something to find. And not only to find, to see, but you can be a part of it down here as well. So we hope that we’ll reach a lot of people and bring them on down to see the wonderful creatives we have in our area.” – Ali Kaufman, host of WCNI Radio’s “Morning Mojo” and contributor to INK Magazine
A sunflower happily grows outside Tumbleweeds, Niantic.
Find Featured Artists online:
Episode Curator: ALI KAUFMAN, Host of WCNI Radio’s “Morning Mojo,” Contributor to INK Magazine
Instagram | Facebook
KOLTON HARRIS, Singer/Songwriter, Musician
Instagram | Facebook
ANNAWON WEEDEN, Native American Cultural Education Specialist, Artist, Founder of First Light Foundation
Website (jewelry) | Website (First Light Foundation) | Instagram (personal) | Instagram (jewelry & First Light Foundation)
TUMBLEWEEDS
Website | Instagram | Facebook
New episodes of Where ART Thou? premiere Sundays, September 20-October 25, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. on CPTV. Episodes encore on CPTV the following Mondays at 11:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 9:30 a.m., and on CPTV Spirit the following Fridays at 8 p.m.
Each episode will be available for on-demand viewing concurrent with its television premiere. Episodes will be available on content.ctpublic.org, as well as at video.cptv.org; on YouTube; and on the free Connecticut Public mobile app. (Visit Google Play or the Apple App Store to download the app.)
