♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Second Story Books celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.

♪ (theme music playing).

♪ WENDEL PATRICK: "Artworks" is made possible in part by The Citizens of Baltimore County and by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund, the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts, the E.T.

& Robert B. Rocklin Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.

♪ ♪ WENDEL: I wanted to ask you, what does fashion mean to you?

AKIO EVANS: Hmm, man, fashion for me means every bit of storytelling, when you step out the house, regardless of what you want, put something on, it's like you're walking and you're telling your story regardless.

It, it might be moments where you walk out the house, you just threw something on, and somebody be like, "Yo, that's, that's fly."

Like, yo, I just literally put this on 'cause I had to walk my dog or something, right?

And then you like, you know what?

I might wear this on Wednesday.

It's Sunday now, I might wear this on Wednesday to repurpose it, but, uh, fashion never goes outta style.

So, what I choose to do is I choose to put art onto fashion because, granted, people like Anna Murray Douglass, a lot of people don't know who Anna Murray Douglass was, Frederick Bailey, met Anna Mary Douglass, at Fells Point, Baltimore.

She was able to meet him, and this is why this is gonna tie into fashion, because she was into fashion way before; in her time, she was a seamstress.

So, all the clothing that you seen Frederick Douglass wear, she was able to, you know, do right?

And Frederick, he was a bad guy.

Like you see it with the cloaks and all that.

She made those things.

WENDEL: Wow.

AKIO: So, when she met him in, uh, Fell Point, Baltimore, she said, "No husband and mine will be a slave."

She said, you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm gonna sell my feather bed, and I'm also sew you up a sailor's outfit.

Because back in the day, it was known for us to be sailors.

He was a conqueror at first.

She sewed him up a sailor's outfit so he can be in disguise for him to get onto the ship.

And then, um, he wound up being in New York, where he was free, finally free.

But he said when he was actually in commute, his heart was racing.

And she met him in New York.

They married each other.

She passed away at 44.

And when she passed away at 44, he had his new wife.

And his new wife was like, "Hey, um, can we get these clothes outta here?"

He said, no, you're just trying to sell 'em.

You know why she actually said that?

Because they were one of ones, nobody has ever created them.

But if it wasn't for Anna Mary Douglass, Frederick Douglass wouldn't been a free man.

And what we know for what he, all the contributions he made, would've never ever been done.

When he passed away.

He didn't never throw away her clothes.

'Cause how do you throw away the clothes of the person who actually saved you?

So, when we talk about fashion and the storytelling of, you know, what art is like when you think about vintage clothing, it never goes outta style.

So, what I choose to do is I choose to put art onto clothing, uh, fashion, and storytelling, and art go hand in hand with me.

♪ ♪ WENDEL: So, we are here at The Last Resort Artist Retreat.

And, uh, can you tell me a little bit about, uh, about this place?

AKIO: Man, this place is, um, one of its kind, it reminds you of when you go outta town, like SoHo House or any of those places.

But it's a special place for artists to come and kind of like, relax and kind of create, because, you know, uh, creative minds need creative spaces.

And Derrick Adams, this is, uh, one of his properties here as he has owned, uh, a art gallery in, uh, I believe, um, Williamsburg, Brooklyn for about 13 years.

And he's seen the magic that had happened in New York, so he wanted to do the same thing here by bringing artists from all over and as well as supporting Baltimore artists here.

And, uh, I'm just grateful to have the ability to, um, be one of the featured artists, you know, in this season of, um, you know, what we see right behind me.

WENDEL: Yeah, yeah, that's amazing.

Well, so we'll get a little, uh, we'll get into what is here in a little bit, but you just mentioned, um, Baltimore artists and, uh, I was trying to think like, how long have I known you?

And that's, that's tricky because, you know, as you know, the scene here is, is very vibrant.

AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: But people tend to pop up, and you start interacting with them, coming across 'em.

AKIO: Absolutely.

WENDEL: And you, you know, you just don't remember, when was the first time... I, I remember seeing you years ago, you would be at different, uh... AKIO: Yes, yes.

WENDEL: Um, venues for, uh, shows and just bump into each other.

AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: You know, we give each other the nod.

AKIO: Absolutely, yeah.

WENDEL: Smile.

AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: Um, and then at some point, um, yeah, I can't remember when we spoke for the first time, but I've, I've always admired you... AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: And your work, and it's been a pleasure watching you... AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: ...move through life.

AKIO: Wow.

WENDEL: And watching your ascension and, uh, so talk to me a little bit about what it means to be an artist here in this city for you for all this time.

AKIO: Man, man, for me, um, being an artist that's from this city, I appreciate the city a lot more because I've been a, as a teenager in my late teens, I've had to flee from this city, 'cause I had, um, legal situations that are taken care of now, right?

But, um, I think that when I had to leave the city from those circumstances, it made me appreciate the city even more to the point where it got scarier for some folks because some people say, are you sure you from Baltimore?

'Cause you love Baltimore a little bit too much, and this was like in 2007, 2008, 2009.

And, um, there's something about when you, um, separate yourself from something you recognize how much you appreciate it, especially when it comes to the circumstances of you not being able to do something on your own or that relative that might have transitioned on, you know, abruptly, for me, I had to leave the city abruptly, you know?

'Cause I had some things that I was doing and those things I'm now too, it's the same vein of creating and making things with my hands.

But now I'm able to see that other people are appreciative of the city.

And in MySpace days, you know, I've always kind of like created things that, uh, encapsulated like the Baltimore diamonds that you see in the flag.

And a lot of people don't know, well, of course they don't know because every artist's job is to illustrate what they see and with their eye and allow the world to see what they see.

So, for me, I've always had like the Baltimore, Maryland flag, and I would infuse that and kind of like do like, um, Harriet Tubman on hunting camo, because I see she was being hunted.

So, in 2007, I was always putting Harriet Tubman on tree camo, but people didn't understand what I was trying to do, and still, until I started paying on canvas.

And then in the canvas, you see that, okay, and she was in modern day time, she would be wearing hunting camo.

She, and then when I was wearing hunting camo back in the day, I was getting cracked on.

People were like, what are you trying to be a redneck?

You know, like, I'm like, nah man, I just love army fatigue.

And now it's being accepted.

So, then I, I put people in check, like, yo, what, what kind of hunting camo are you guys?

Mossy Oak?

Is it real tree?

And people don't know, they just love the design, but... WENDEL: Yeah.

AKIO: Yes, so many layers there, but... WENDEL: Yeah, so you work with so many different mediums, and you continue to expand in that way.

Uh, I was always so impressed and fascinated with what you would do, um, with footwear.

AKIO: Yeah, yeah.

WENDEL: Um, can you talk a little bit about some of the partnerships that you have, uh, forged?

Uh, I, I've seen, uh, I've seen a lot of it online.

AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: But, um, tell, tell me a little bit about that.

AKIO: Uh, well, the partnerships, uh, recently was, uh, Ugg, they contacted me to do something for Jared McCain, who was a rookie player for the, um, he plays for the Philadelphia, uh, 76ers and, um, you know, I think that for me, understanding now what I've been able to do with the footwear is to kind of like, identify, okay, what type of footwear are you making?

Are you making customs, or are you making now fine art, shoe mural art?

WENDEL: Right.

AKIO: So, shoe mural art is attached to a story, Michael K. Williams, uh, a friend of mines, he plays this Omar on "The Wire," it was in 2015 at Artscape, they'd say, "Hey, bro, like, this is not customs.

Like customs don't make you cry.

You make me cry.

Like this is something that's something different."

'Cause art makes you feel; customs is just trendy.

You wear it might wear it in the gym if it, if it gets old.

And then you might discard it and it might goes into a landfill somewhere.

But fine art, you can take that same shoe that you want to throw away, and you can be able to either apply your signature onto it or apply a story onto that shoe, apply your story onto that clothing, apply your story onto that canvas, and it becomes fine art.

So, what I tell people all the time is that I was always in the, in the, in the, in the process of understanding that what I was doing was what everybody else was doing.

And then until I started stepping into these fine art spaces, you don't charge 250 for a custom piece that nobody else is gonna have.

That custom piece, that 250 is how much a Jordan 1 or a Jordan 2 costs... WENDEL: Right.

AKIO: ...that a factory produces.

But when you produce a one of one, you're able to charge $7,000 to Ugg for Jeremy McCain to have the shoe because it's a one of one Dr.

Dre have it inside of his studio on display.

'Cause it's a one of one.

So, it's just kind of to separate that, not just with shoes, but with clothing.

WENDEL: Yeah.

AKIO: The art apparel, you know what I mean?

The archive pieces.

WENDEL: Mm-hmm.

Um, so you mentioned Dr.

Dre, uh, I know you've done work for, uh, lots of amazing individuals, Dave Chappelle being one of them... AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: So, can you talk just about, uh, maybe just some of the different people that you have done, uh, artistic work for and how you approach each individual piece for each individual person?

AKIO: Man, a lot of research, lot research goes into it.

I, I kind of like, you know, tap into the last few letters in heart is art.

And my mother, she transitioned from a heart attack.

So, what I do, every time I create a piece of one of one piece, it's a piece of her that I carry with me with doing thorough research because back in the day, she always used to say, "Kio, did you read this book?"

And I would kind of like, well, comic books... She'd be like, and I would hardly read the comic books, but she was like, I, she knew what happened before she gave me the comic book, 'cause as a parent, you don't allow a kid to watch the television show without screening, what the television show was about.

So, she did the same thing with the comics, 'cause as you know, in the '90s, man, the comics was kind of like... WENDEL: Yep.

AKIO: They, they was for adults.

And now, um, so anyway, um, the process of me creating now is mainly to, um, I go through a process where it's a lot of things that I'll research, and then it winds up being a synchronicity moment where people say, how did you know?

It's like, people call me the Nardwuar of shoes, you know what I mean?

Because it's like, it, it's something else that takes place, not just me, something else that takes place.

And I don't want to get too deep, but, um... WENDEL: It can be a little deep if you want.

AKIO: It's... okay, so example, um, I was waking up in the middle of the night and I seen a Ludacris ad, and I don't be on Facebook, but sometimes I might get on there and, you know, I'm on Facebook.

I might scroll 1, 2, 3, and I'm out.

You know what I'm saying?

It might be three or four posters within, there was three swipes and I'm out.

But this one particular night, I seen this Ludacris, um, ad, and he was eating peanut butter, Jif, peanut butter.

I was like, "Oh, that's weird."

You know, what I mean?

"I never seen this commercial before."

'Cause as he was eating the peanut butter, his braids was unraveling, right?

Looked at it, didn't think nothing of it.

And I said, all I gotta get outta here 'cause at the time when the writer strike had happened, I had to take on a part-time job or whatever, right?

Left, left out, and it's something that miraculously happens within those hours of the night.

I don't wanna get too deep.

That's another masterclass.

But anyway, I, um, went and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna pack me a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because in the middle of the night you don't want to order DoorDash, 'cause some of the closed... I was working 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM shifts, so some of the stores are closed.

So, I decided to, um... WENDEL: You definitely get a different caliber of food... AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: After a certain... AKIO: Yes, certain time.

WENDEL: Certain time.

AKIO: And I, and I said, if I do get hungry... WENDEL: Like the grease factor goes... AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: Way up.

AKIO: Yes, the salt, all that see... masterclass, right?

So, I decided to just get, um, just, I have it on handy, you know what I mean?

And um, man, it was wild when I, at 8:00 AM I got off and I said, yo, I realize I didn't have any peanut butter.

So, I said, I'm gonna just go to the store and get some peanut butter, right?

Go to the store at Harris Teeter, because it was close to my job in Canton.

And I get to peanut butter, and I laugh because I remember just seeing an ad just hours ago.

I said, well, and I said to myself, "I guess I'm about to be on my Ludacris."

Rings me up.

And it was the same time the Shoe City was closing down.

WENDEL: Yeah.

AKIO: And my friend was like, "Kio, that idea that you talked about, you better do it, man, you know, 'cause you know how things be working.

If you don't act on an idea, you'll see it somewhere else."

WENDEL: Mm-hmm.

AKIO: So tired, I was like, all right, bro, lemme just do this video.

I was in my car.

I recorded myself.

I was singing the Shoe City anthem, and I put the video together.

And when I'm locked in, as you know, Wendel, you're doing your music, you're locked in.

Whereas, though, you know, the outside world is, it doesn't exist.

So, I locked in, I finished the video around like, maybe about close to the afternoon, and I checked my email, and the email was from CFG Bank Arena.

The email said, "Hey Akio, we um, have Janet Jackson and Ludacris in town, we was wondering if you could do a piece for Ludacris."

How is it that just hours when I woke up in a wee hours of the night?

But that's just one story.

I'm not gonna talk about 'em all.

But a lot of people who know me personally, they'll talk about how a lot of the things that you see visually, it'd be like manifestations, it's so wild.

It's not surface of you just putting something together; it's like acts of manifestations when you see images and when you talk about things, they become things.

But sometimes, you know, I haven't drank since June, 15th, 2019 and since then, I've been able to be, as what you would say, um, aware of the coincidences.

If I'm actually numbing myself down with maybe a relationship.

It could be anything, not just alcohol.

WENDEL: Sure.

AKIO: Maybe relationship, maybe... then you can miss those, those, um, those moments of, um, them serendipitous moments.

So, that I, I'll just leave it at that.

But it's, that's, that's, that's, it's so powerful man, so powerful man.

WENDEL: Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that.

AKIO: No problem, no problem.

WENDEL: Uh, so something else that you and I have talked about, um, during a coffee shop conversation, uh, you're a twin.

AKIO: Yes, yes, and you're a twin.

WENDEL: Yeah, yeah.

Um, if you feel comfortable, can you talk a little bit about that relationship?

AKIO: Man, absolutely, man, my twin sister, her name is Keila Evans, uh, she's 6'4", 6'3", 6'4", and I'm this height, you know what I'm saying?

She always took the, the basketball.

Uh, she got a basketball career.

Well, she had, uh, with Wake Forest, she took everything man, the hazel eyes, all that right, but, uh, we all, you know, but, um, my twin man, she's an artist as well.

And, um, you know, we grew up, uh, in a single-parent home, had to use what we have, so we've always been creative, and, and her and I, uh, we would have those moments where we would finish each other's sentences, only if we're like tapped into each other for a while.

But then sometimes when she's feeling away, I know that she's feeling away and vice versa.

So, um, that is a thing.

And, um, it's just a special relationship that, um, I don't take likely.

Um, you know, we may not be able to with life, talk to each other every day.

She just texted me this morning, um, she said, "Kio, I've been busy, I've been tired."

I'm like, look, I know.

'Cause it's like, that's when we, when you buckle down, that's when we kind of like, you know, take care of other responsibilities.

But, um, yeah, man.

Um, I've been able to, um, with me, it was like years ago, um, 2023, July 29th, of 2023.

I was, uh, as well, we, we, we shared before off camera, uh, I was carjacked and uh, I was held gunpoint by five individuals and two guns was drawn at me.

And that's the sixth time that a gun was drawn at me in my life.

So, but when it happened, I didn't think; think of it now, I walked away with only a scar right here on my right side with them hittin' me in the head with a butt of a gun.

And it was crazy because, um, I remember in 2003, I was a teenager that did the same thing.

I was a teenager that used to rob pizza-men and cab drivers, as I'm talking now, I wasn't the guy who I was, so that's why I, when I'm being called a talk to the Cleveland, the kids in the juvenile detention center, I'm able to, um, tap in and, um, but anyway, um, it was in that moment where I left my, uh, my studio apartment, um, at Bolton Hill and I stayed with my sister for about a couple of weeks.

And I seen that she had all these pieces for a decade, canvas pieces, and keep mind, I wasn't even doing canvases then, I had that blank canvas over there since 2019.

I didn't feel confident to do that canvas right there till 2024.

The only reason why I chose Gervonta Tank Davis, because the same night that I was carjacked, it was during the fight.

Uh, so I figured out, "Okay, I can't keep thinking about this moment.

I gotta create a new memory."

'Cause when you go to that coffee shop and you might break up with that individual, and then your new partner comes along and say, "Hey, I love this coffee shop."

And you're like, "Where is it?"

"Uh, such and such?"

You like, "ugh", so now you gotta create a new memory.

So that's what I did with that art piece, and that's why art is a way of healing.

So going back to my sister saying that she had all these pieces, I said, yo, like if I have a have an exhibition in any capacity, I'm gonna actually help, you know, we are gonna collaborate.

And we wound up being able to do that October, 2024.

So, it was like, no, I, I, the only thing that kept me sane was that I was a kid that inflicted the same pain and trauma to, I was a kid that didn't look at that a person that was working a job that they were just trying to feed their family.

I looked at it, if you got a job, you got money.

And that's how a lot of these kids are thinking.

So, then I feel like, wow, God is showing me like, "Yo, you better make time for, for them kids in Cleveland."

Because here it is, those kids in Cleveland, they committed the same crime.

Here I am talking to them, talking to 'em, telling 'em I can be your uncle.

I can be a, and four days after the carjack, and I was able to, um, teach a wearable art workshop.

I had still the bandage on me.

We are human beings first.

You get what I'm saying?

So, um, yeah, man, it's, that's why this is needed.

That's why platforms like this is needed.

'Cause a lot of people, they know us, but they don't know us.

WENDEL: Yeah.

AKIO: You know what I mean?

They see what they see behind, behind the screen.

So again, I appreciate that this timing had happened in this time, 'cause I got a lot more to pour with my heart.

WENDEL: Oh, absolutely.

Um, it's interesting that you mentioned that when we talk, we'll talk about what, what we've done.

Um, it's funny 'cause it never, it, it, that's exactly what we do, but it never feels that way with you or with the other artists in the area that I, um, really admire because I feel like when, when we talk about what we've done or when I hear you talk about what you've done, what's really happening is you're, is you're talking about life.

AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: And where you are in life at that particular moment.

And then the things that you are doing or have done that have led up to that point, or we'll talk about aspirations, things that you would like to be doing.

AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: Um, but it's really all secondary to the experience of living.

AKIO: The artist, yeah.

WENDEL: You know, life just goes so, so fast.

AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: And so, I think we, you know, we do the best we can to... AKIO: Yes.

WENDEL: To make the most out of when we do run into each other and spend time.

AKIO: Indeed, indeed.

WENDEL: So, it's amazing to actually get to... AKIO: Yes, bro.

WENDEL: ...to sit down... AKIO: Yep.

WENDEL: ...in your space and talk to you about your work and the art.

AKIO: Indeed, indeed.

WENDEL: And, um, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm always cheering for you.

AKIO: Appreciate you.

WENDEL: Whether you, uh, whether you know it or not.

AKIO: Nah, appreciate you, yeah, when you came to the Scout Art Fair, man, and we just had a natural a, I don't know if you remember that photo, but we was just like, man, it was so magical, man.

And then every time you pull up or every time, I see you, you greet me, whether we're at a party, it's, or even just now when I see you, when you came in these doors, you just gimme this long stare like, "I'm here," right?

It is just like, yo, it is, it's like, yeah, man.

But it's like what you just said, man.

Um, any moments that we feel like we need to isolate ourselves, most people who understand, whereas, though you're sitting behind this camera or you're sitting behind the post and you gotta edit, you gotta hear the same thing over and over again.

It's the patience and the love of the craft.

But even then, was the sense of healing, and we met each other in the moments time that we both was experiencing the same thing.

Whether we talk to each other every day.

And it's that camaraderie of conversation that can help artists where they, well, we're painting it heels, but conversation heels as well.

So, I'm appreciative of, you know, this unpeeling the layer of what it takes to not just be an artist, but being a maker, being a creative.

WENDEL: And we only have a limited amount of control over... AKIO: Indeed.

WENDEL: ...my thoughts, you know, and, um, as an artist, you know, our own, uh, worry or insecurity or sometimes it's confidence can actually taint what the actual experience is.

And what I've discovered is, you know, a lot of the folks, um, that if you tell them about an idea too early and they seem dismissive or they are dismissive, right?

AKIO: Yes, yes.

WENDEL: Once the idea comes to fruition, many, many times those individuals are the ones that are actually the most supportive, right, 'cause it's not that, it's not that they didn't wanna support you, they just genuinely didn't understand what you were saying.

AKIO: Yeah, yeah.

WENDEL: And they're just telling you that, you know, so if I share something with somebody and I can't demonstrate it or articulate it, uh, effectively, I cannot fault them for having a reaction that doesn't, uh, it doesn't help.

AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: Right.

AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: Um, so, so we do what we do.

AKIO: Yeah.

WENDEL: And we, we hope that it, uh, resonates with others, and uh, your work certainly resonates with me.

AKIO: No, I appreciate you, man, man, always that's an honor to hear... for you, for you to say that man, you work with the GOATs, the legends, and, and, and just the... WENDEL: Legend right here, this is a GOAT right here.

AKIO: No, I appreciate you, man.

Appreciate you, man, indeed, indeed, yeah.

No, absolutely, man.

But it's just so much that goes on, I think that, um, I'm just like grateful for this social currency, 'cause granted, social currency is still is a thing that can help somebody else and can help us, you know, while we're sleeping, while we're resting, while we're away from whatever the social currency, it helps people or breaking bread, it helps people, whereas though it's like information changes situation.

So, with this information, this might be able to change somebody else's situation of looking at their situation like, yo, let me not give up.

WENDEL: Yeah.

AKIO: You know what I mean?

Because it can be worse.

You know what I'm saying?

Um, you know... WENDEL: Always.

AKIO: Yeah, so... WENDEL: But we need get to get together too, like we've said before.

AKIO: Absolutely, absolutely.

WENDEL: Lemme make some music.

AKIO: Absolutely, yes.

WENDEL: You some art.

AKIO: That's going to be dope, bro, 'cause when you broke that down to me, see I don't even wanna get it on the camera, but you would say, yeah, we gonna leave it at that.

But all I'm saying is that the crackling, I don't know if you remember that, he was like, Kio... yeah, that's going to be fire, just, uh, the, the sounds of, and the ambiance of the studio.

The "Shoe-dio" or they call me Sansei Keys, that's why they attire here, right.

"Hey, you doing?"

uh, you know, Akio will be laughing like, "Yo, this is Keys."

But people like, nah, Keys from East Baltimore will be different, you know what I mean?

But this is Sansei Keys, I got my front side, my mouth, so I'm wanted to give God y'all this, this experience.

But, um, Wendel, I really appreciate this man, you know what I mean?

You have been a light since I've known you, I appreciate you even being able to shed light on what we already be talking about on a day-to-day.

Clothing being a piece where you can even utilize it for, you know, um, storytelling or just being able to just say, "Hey, look, this is what I'm deciding to wear today" with the intention of having something you know, that for me, for my mother, she was a seamstress, so Anna Mary Douglass was a seamstress.

So, it's our duty to be able to preserve story and preserve that history.

And for me, I like to put her on clothing so that way people can be, they can educate themselves on who this important person was, how she had safe houses, how she helped Harriet Tubman, she was already a free woman.

She had money already.

And she was like, "Yo."

So, it's just like, um, I think those things are important as it relates to clothing.

So, it's just like even like Gervonta Tank Davis, like, you know, he's a boxer, my father, he served the Vietnam War.

He won Golden Gloves.

I didn't know that the first art piece that I created, as you can see, it has the heart there and it has the cape, Akio, in Japanese, means "glorious hero" and it also means "bright man."

So, the 1984 Olympic boxer that my father was inspired to name me after it coincide with both him being a boxer and my mother meaning, Akio, meaning glorious hero in Japanese.

So, when I do that on clothing, I'm also doing what, uh, Frederick Douglass was doing, which is honoring my mom with creating clothing and showing people other ways of just not consuming, but collecting, 'cause that's what Frederick Douglass did.

He said, No, I'm not throwing these clothes away.

I will preserve her legacy because that's the only thing I have left.

With the thread of the clothing that she created for me is how I was able to be free.

She's made me a sailor's outfit for me to be free.

So that shows you the power of clothing is transformation.

I'm transforming clothing into wearable art.

I'm transforming what we call customs into fine art.

I'm transforming, you know, things with my heartbeat, you know what I mean?

And that's the last three letters in heart is art.

So that's what I do, you know what I mean?

WENDEL: Mm-hmm.

AKIO: Thank you.

Yes, indeed, appreciate you.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (music plays through credits) ♪ ♪ (theme music playing).

♪ WENDEL PATRICK: "Artworks" is made possible in part by The Citizens of Baltimore County and by the Ruth R. Marder Arts Endowment Fund, the Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker Endowment for the Arts, the E.T.

& Robert B. Rocklin Fund, The Henry and Ruth Blaustein Rosenberg Foundation Arts Endowment in memory of Ruth Marder.

♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Second Story Books celebrating 50 years of dedicated book selling.