Hey out there Akronites!

Welcome to the ten years season premiere of Around Akron with Blue Green and you guessed it, we have an amazing year and an amazing show ahead of us today.

We're going to head to downtown Akron and visit Art by love.

Then it's over to Akron honey to meet up with Wesley the keeper.

Then I meet up with musician Mr.

Jeff and to wrap up the show, I'm going to sit down with Amy Mothersbaugh and learn all about her artistic endeavors.

Then I kick this show off today we're headed to downtown Akron to meet up with the founders of Art by love.

Let's go see what Art by Love is all about.

When we moved into this larger space, you know we are still doing Art By Love projects.

We're still taking client work, we're still doing Mac and still doing commissions.

But we don't need this much space for what we are doing.

But because this is our 10th year, we've been working with artists for ten years locally now.

We were like, I think we can.

I think we can call on these artists, and I think we can give them a place to show their work, but there used to be a lot more galleries in Northeast Ohio and Akron specifically.

The market has changed a lot.

So what we decided to do was focus more on emerging artists.

So we have about 30 different spaces that we can rent out to an artist.

Yes, Forever Changes is a place where anyone in the area can apply for a free display, can find out if there's a market for what they do.

You can generate incremental revenue for themselves to make new works, explore new subject matter, maybe sell enough where they can, then rent the space, create new relationships with people, help people come into the space and discover all of these different voices and different points of interests, different ways of expressing themselves.

But then maybe even most importantly for me, it's also to create new art collectors.

There is a huge imposter syndrome that a lot of artists feel.

Some of that is perpetuated by the art industry itself.

It's made to set up to say there's an exclusive class of excellent, tremendous, amazing artists, and there is an exclusive class of collectors and experts who know who those artists are and who know what to look for.

And so it's amazing to me how many artists I find who don't know if their worth their work is worth anything, or if it would even inspire anybody else.

There's also so many people who have beautiful homes and families and careers and life stories who don't feel like they can they can choose a piece of artwork.

And so we very much want to cross that bridge and help them understand that if a piece of artwork speaks to you, if it means something to you, if it might inspire you, buy it.

Like bring it home.

Make that part of your daily experience.

I can choose where I spend my money, where I don't spend my money, if I'm going to buy product A or product B, and I know where those corporate dollars are going, and I align myself with corporate B, I'm going to spend my dollars there.

That's how I can make my own little difference.

Buying something from a local person, buying something from an artist to put in your maybe it's your first office, maybe you're 30 and you're getting promoted, and you have an office for the first time and you're not in a cube anymore.

And you want to put three local things.

You want to buy a photograph of your favorite place and you want something handmade.

You can find that in a lot of places.

You can find that at Northside.

You can find that here.

You can find that at Art walk.

You can find it in a lot of places.

And I would just encourage people to to do that, to shop local whenever you can, because it really does make a difference.

I think things that separate this place and this experience out from some others, one is that we're open five days a week.

Yes.

Anyone can come in Tuesday through Saturday, come and see the local artists work.

You know, they can buy something if they want.

But this is set up to be a gallery experience.

It's, It's more of a gallery than it is a shop.

Second is that you can anything that you want to buy, you can take it with you that day if you want.

So if you're shopping for a last minute gift or something, you need to ship to a friend.

This is a place where you can buy authentic Akron artists work and, you know, gift it to somebody.

Downtown is walkable.

From here, I can walk to Luigi's in four minutes depending on if I catch the light at MLK or not.

I can walk to Cilantro in 15.

Walk downtown.

The more people that are out and about, the safer it will feel.

The more investment we will have.

Just be present is all I can say.

They can walk in Akron.

You see all the positives.

If you're only driving through the city, you're going to be in a defensive mindset and you will over obsess and focus on a single pothole, you know, or maybe, maybe a piece of landscape that hasn't been mowed yet or something like that.

But if you take a walk or you bike, you're going to notice the topography and those lines of sight and the way the light reflects off of things.

You'll hear the wind chimes on someone's front porch like, there is so much positivity and beauty and love around in this community, but you do have to spend just a little bit of time here to see it, and then you're going to realize there's just an abundance of it.

We've recently completed a mural for Akron Honey that was funded by an Arts Now Arts Forward grant.

That mural was actually painted by four local artists.

We helped organize the project.

Lead the project.

I helped with painting the mural as well, particularly reaching the very hard to reach high up scary areas on the wall.

But that mural, that was created entirely by local artists.

So we always do try to hire and put together teams that are the best fit, not just in terms of like, talent, but also in terms of ownership and identity and understanding, you know, growth opportunities.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We whenever possible, we really love to mentor people and to teach them like how to use new tools, new skills.

It's we all have gaps.

We don't always see them.

But it's nice when you get to work with others and you can ask those questions, you know, how to evaluate an opportunity or an RFP, you know, sharing best practices.

I think that that, that that's how it helps all of us.

And that's very much what we're trying to do.

We're not in an entirely for ourselves.

We want to see this entire community thrive.

There's enough work to go around.

If you love honey, you're going to love Wesley the Keeper.

Let's go see what Akron, honey, it's all about.

The fascination and love of honey.

For me, if it happened, began after I'd started it.

So I know that most people began to notice us, like nine years ago.

We've been doing it at this point, 12 years.

So it was 2013 where, I saw this vacant lot right across the street from here.

And, you know, I bought it and decided to start keeping bees.

Now, at that point, I wasn't, like, fascinated by them cause I didn’t understand them.

I didn't know the fascination just grew, just starts later and starts growing because then you you're you don't know what you don't know.

And then you go through, you're like, whoa, you know?

So you learning all the lessons that honey bees teach you.

You learn about like honey, why it's so important, and then you learn that, like, dude, Urban honey is insane.

I was just, like, harvesting and not straining.

Just going into a jar.

Which would that does is that that keeps the it just the flavor is just on high.

Now it’s the fact that we're in the city gives us wonderful flavor.

But like because I wasn't straining or filtering it just it just made us famous.

It made us so famous.

When people just taste it, they're like, whoa, it's crazy.

So like, that was 2013, 20 1415 happened.

And we just, you know, we start doing a little bit, do the same thing.

But like on the east side of Akron, we grab another vacant lot, develop it, and we're keeping bees there.

And folks just lost their mind.

It was in Middlebury, where we have Middlebury Apiary, where it's still is.

So folks kept saying like, yo, I'm putting this stuff on this and that and chicken and, and sandwiches and yogurt.

So then we were like, okay, there's some realization happened.

I started just noticing that, like, folks were using our honey with everything, and and it wasn't until I was on the trip with Phillip Neighbors, Phillip neighbors, you know, a lot of folks don't realize his accomplishments.

I'mma shout them out real quick.

He took me out to, Expo West at, during 2016.

I never forget it.

We were walking through this, this, this huge convention center, and there was just, like, brands everywhere.

It's this is an ocean of people.

And so he's just like, we're walking together.

He's just kind of real quick, you know, Phillip Neighbors quiz says also like, you know what what do you you know what what do you got?

What do you do.

Like, you know what's the what do you do urban honey.

And he's like, okay.

Like what do people say?

I'm like, oh, they love using it this and that and you know, flavor.

He goes, oh, so your flavor brand.

And I'm like, oh yeah, I'm a flavor brand.

And that's been our identity.

As a brand, if you were to ask online like, hey, what are the three words that describe Akron honey?

What are the what comes to mind when you just when we say the word Akron Honey, the phrase Akron Honey.

And people will say community.

They'll say love, they'll say family.

They'll they'll saying, oh, I've done this before.

And they said all these things and they say, good honey and tasty honey, all that stuff.

But like that, it was the way we made people feel that impressed upon them almost permanently.

They see how we going into the schools.

We still get kids, I still get kids coming up to me, and they're adults now.

They come up to me like, hey, you remember me?

I'm like, they're like, you taught me.

When I was in in third grade at Saint V, I'm like, whoa, you a whole grown person now?

You know?

But it means something to them.

Like, we've.

Our brand has very proudly been able and humbly been able to like, you know, lift as we climb.

A big significant part of our story right now is that we're launching a new business district.

Most people don't know about it.

You know, we haven't been shouting it out terribly.

We've just been like building the blocks.

And, you know, the name of that district is Yellow Brick Road.

One of the only yellow brick roads in Akron is right here.

And it's like a cluster.

It's like, it's like a little neighborhood, you know?

I know we're in Highland Square, but this has its own identity.

This this corridor has its own identity.

And this this district is really just going to look just like.

And feel like the community, which is cozy, romantic and charming.

We do that often.

We look for whatever we do.

We, we find like three words as a filter and we filter every decision through that.

If we want to get some planters outside.

Okay, is that cozy?

Is it romantic?

How can we make it more charming if we're planning events?

Okay, how can we create an esthetic, an ecosystem out here that feels cozy, romantic and charming?

A lot of really awesome things have happened, but we've connected with, like, some of the best people and bringing these worlds together to create this really amazing concept of a new district.

We're working with Kent State and another local architect to develop and ideate and draft and create this new district.

And it was an it was a proposal with a specific number, and that was a big number we had to pay for the but like we're we're bringing them in.

We've had like conversations with Akron Children's Hospital and trying to figure out how we can bring them in as well.

You know, in not just like maybe it's yoga in the alley, maybe it's some, some some sort of health and wellness, aspect, what we're doing this month, and this is a super fun thing, we're doing dinner and a movie.

So we're, like, transforming this alley into a movie theater.

And, you know how, like, you are a movie theater and you go, like, go get food and everything.

We're going to have gourmet hot dog cart and called FrankieLynn They’re going to be out here.

And, we’re also going to be serving Mocktails from our Tea Truck.

Next up is one of the up and coming hottest children musicians in the nation.

Let's go see what Mr.

Jeff is all about.

How I learned about jazz was through Johnny Costa and Mr.

Rogers and Vince Guaraldi and peanuts.

So I always think about that when I view it from the eyes of a child.

They're going to learn like maybe they've never been.

And a lot of times kids come to my concerts, parents are like this is his first concert ever.

And I always think about, like, what's the impact that we're leaving?

What are they leaving with?

Are they going to want to go home and play a guitar?

They're going to want to play the drums.

They're going to want to like do something completely different, whatever.

You know, like it's it's amazing that we could even potentially have that type of impact, like the Titans that I was impacted by growing up.

One of my main messages that I want to impart, because I grew up different, I grew up that skinny ADHD kid.

I'm tiny, I'm little like, I'm I'm wild, you know?

So it's really important.

One of my main messages is it's okay to be yourself.

It's okay to be unique.

In fact, that should be celebrated because there's so many people that are trying to be not who they are, being who you are and being your own unique self is the true rebellion and is the true way to find your path and find your happiness.

When I was in the classroom, it was amazing because I'm like, I'm not even going to tell anybody that I'm a musician.

I'm just going to focus on learning all about child development and learning all about what it takes to be a good teacher, or what it takes to to help out in this way and remove the me me me about it.

But once they found out that I played ‘Hey bring your guitar”, it just it was like, Now I'm I'm playing for this classroom of kids.

I'm playing wheels on the bus and they're loving it.

And it is all joy and it is all happiness and it is all fun.

Then the next, the next classroom comes in the next day.

Can you play that?

Okay, cool.

Well, I need something new.

We're not just going to do wheels on the bus.

So I started learning all these classics.

One classroom, then three classrooms, then the whole school.

Then it was every Friday, then it was multiple times a week.

Then it was music with Mr.

Jeff.

Like it just it snowballed and it became something that I just like, found so much joy in.

Now, as somebody who is creative, I couldn't just play the classics.

I knew that I had to start writing.

It just seemed like the next logical step, because I had always written music since I was 14.

That's always just been a part of me.

Hey, I'm going to we're going to write a song right now and we're going to vamp or all of a sudden we're like, we got to get out to the playground, but everyone's having a tough time getting out there.

Cool.

We need a transition song.

Let's write a little transition melody to get us from point A to point B, and then we sing the playground song.

It just became a part of my classroom where it was like, just music is how we learn and how we do it.

And now it's translated into this recording career and this content thing.

It's so satisfying to know that it is being enjoyed by kids, but also grown ups.

I like to think of the Mr.

Jeff project as a collaborative project with my family, my wife, she does all the visual art for it, so all the album artwork, all the YouTube thumbnails, all the t-shirt designs she does, all that, that's that's kind of her realm.

She's also my biggest confidant.

Hey, I got an idea for this.

No, I don't know what that or try this way or whatever.

She's great to bounce ideas.

She's an essential part of this project.

My wife Jillian, and then my three kids, they help with the songs, they help sing some of the songs, and they both have multiple writing credits on this new record.

For instance, I have a song called Game Night with the Fam.

It's like it's a game show theme inside of a game show about board games.

So it's all about games and game night.

And that was born based on just.

We love game night at my house.

We love it.

We love doing it.

Like, man, this would be cool with a theme with a theme song.

Let's write it.

So my son and I got together and we're like, let's just think about all the board games we like.

So the verses are really just us naming games.

And it was it was a collaboration.

There are a couple of songs where he helped write verses.

There's a couple songs where my daughter Junie, who's now four, came up with things, wrote things, saying things.

I asked her to sing parts.

She sings lead.

So they both have songwriting credits and singer credits on this record.

And they're just they're just outstanding.

And they love they love being a part of it.

And it's kind of like how we play.

If they have a really good idea for a song, they're like, you know, my daughter walks around singing all of her actions.

No idea where she gets that from.

Me obviously.

We'll be like, she'll be singing something and I'll be like, hey, that's that's really cool.

Go where my guitar.

I hear where she's at.

And all of a sudden I got the chord progression, and then she hears it.

And then she has two options.

She's like, I'm going to sing along and it'll be a fun game.

Or she's just like, Dad, oh no, no, no, I just want to sing this.

So, some of the songs were born from that.

Some of the songs were born from just me singing something and realizing that there was a need for an action song with this and.

It's children's music, and it's amazing to have them involved in a creative way.

Now to wrap this show up today it's off to the farm to meet up with Amy Mothersbaugh.

She has murals all over Akron, and she has an interesting family memories you might know about.

Let's go see what Amy Mothersbaugh is all about.

When I was in kindergarten, I was painfully shy.

I literally was that kid who cried every single day and didn't want to go and was like, I won't be bad.

Let me stay home with you.

Like, why?

Why do I have to do this?

And I hated it.

I'm sitting at my desk and it was art time and, you know, back in kindergarten in the 60s, you know, you probably art time was like 15 minutes, you know, like, we only did a half a day and we took a nap.

So I'm sitting there drawing and I'm just scared to death.

Like, I don't even remember my teacher's name, her face, anything.

Like I was scared of her.

Like I probably looked at her only when she, like, yelled at me or called me directly.

And, she's standing next to me and she's standing with another person, and they said, see?

And I was like.

And she picks up what I was drawing, and she's like, she just drew that.

And I realized that was the art teacher, and we didn't have art teachers, you know, we just had the one teacher who put up with us for half a day.

They talked about how I did a really nice job drawing a bear, and I just thought, oh, I'm good at something.

I grew up with a family of artists and musicians.

My mother could draw beautifully.

My dad could do amazing lettering.

Like he would be a huge fan of of, Copeland.

If if he were, if he ever saw his work, his ability to show me mathematically how to balance things really played into me being able to compose, images and, and balance a picture.

He also, he encouraged it like he loved the artistic side of my siblings and myself.

Downtown Akron Partnership.

Susie Graham contacted me and said, I wondered if you'd be interested in doing some murals at the Akron Zoological Park.

And I'm like, I had no idea what I was doing, but what did I say?

I'd love to.

And that started about a, 19 year relationship or, yeah, at least 19 year relationship, doing murals and repair work and getting design things and getting to fix things up.

And I'd say this is probably my first year that I'm retiring from zoo work.

I'm just kind of feeling like me on the scaffolding, holding rollers, brushes, paints and pans and buckets above my head and stuff.

It's it's time.

My dad had an employment agency there and he had apartments upstairs, so I met all tons of people through that.

Then when my dad decided he'd rather play golf and not do this, I bought his business from him and I ran it for another ten, 15 years.

Maybe 20, if I do the math.

And I had an I had a placement service, I moved location and became the landlord of all of these.

Well, for my brother Mark, landlord of all of these buildings on Front Street, and I think there were like four commercial and about a dozen residential spaces.

I then retired from the placement agency.

The irony is I kept finding people jobs they wanted to do, and it's like I hated my so.

But it I can't complain.

It paid for houses and cars and caring for my children, and it allowed me to take care of my family.

So then, I retire and my dad's like, you can't retire.

He's like six months a year, you're going to be doing something else.

And suddenly I had art studio at Studio 2091.

Towards the end of me having the studio, my mom got sick and she needed a lot of, help.

I needed something to do because I just couldn't just be there.

So sort of like the ADHD in me.

I started doing sketches and, I could do.

I took a lot of watercolor paper and about eight by eight, nine by nine, I would do drawings of things.

And I was given this incredibly cool Japanese watercolor set and thought, I'm going to do Butterflies and Moths and bugs, and that will challenge the watercolor to be vibrant, iridescent and subtle.

You know, like, we'll see what this paint can do.

You know, I was at the point where I was going to my dad passed and I was going to do close my gallery, and I thought, I want to show my bugs.

So the last shows me and the mayor shows up.

And I had been such a supporter of all of the community events and stuff.

He gave me a proclamation that January 12th was Amy Mothersbaugh Day in city of Cuyahoga Falls is a thank you for the work I'd done Thank you once again for watching this episode.

Of Around Akron with Blue Green.

Thank you for ten years on PBS Western Reserve.

You can catch me on social media.

Thank you and have an amazing day.