The VetsConnection Podcast

Ep. 61 - Art, Hands, and a Flag. Artist Ariel Basso's Journey to the "We Are America" Project

• Scott McLean • Episode 61

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We talk with artist and musician Ariel Basso about a life in art shaped by Miami roots, Brooklyn grit, and a mother’s blindness that sparked a tactile mixed-media method. The conversation builds toward “We Are America,” a community flag made from the handprints of veterans’ families, alongside a documentary and an original song with a children’s choir.

• first‑generation Cuban American upbringing and early street creativity
• New York years in music and found‑object sculpture
• Prospect Park earthwork and the joy of impermanence
• self‑taught practice, risk over critique, multiple works in progress
• South Florida’s growing arts ecosystem and Northwood’s hive
• mixed‑media raised canvases for visually impaired audiences
• the We Are America concept, symbolism, and traveling exhibit plan
• search for Gama, a blind Vietnam veteran who inspired the project
• song collaboration and 30‑piece children’s choir
• funding challenges, resistance, and building a 13‑star demo
• invitation for veterans’ families to submit children’s handprints
• ways to follow, donate, and join the project

Go to his Instagram account, go to his website. If you really love what he's doing and you're impressed by it, like my wife and I are, then give him your money. If you have a child that fits their hand fits in a six by six square, and you would like your child's handprint to be one of the stars stars on this flag, send them an email.


Scott:

Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. My guest today is Ariel Barso. Ariel is a local artist out of West Palm Beach. He's part of the Northwood Art and Music Warehouse, which is a collective of artists. It's an amazing place. I had the opportunity to go up there. I never knew it existed. Ariel and I were introduced through a veteran friend of mine. Ariel is not a veteran, but well, two things. One, it's my podcast. I can interview anybody I want. And two, he's doing something very patriotic that I thought was very cool, and I think people should know about it. And so, with all that said, how are you doing, Ariel?

Ariel:

Hey man, I'm doing well. Thank you for having me again. And just I appreciate you, man.

Scott:

Now he said again in open book. I had interviewed him once earlier, a couple weeks back. And well, not being a good podcaster, I forgot to double check my microphones and the camera microphones took over. So redo. That's the remix. The remix, exactly. So now we're back. Everything's right, everything's good, and we're gonna we're gonna pick up where we left off. So Ariel, tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from originally?

Ariel:

My mother and my father are both Cuban. I'm first uh generation Cuban American. Grew up in uh down in Miami in Carroll City. I left Miami and uh moved to West Palm back from 2000 to 2008, and then I moved to Brooklyn from 08 to 2018, and then I came back to West Palm. Yeah, but I'm majorly just raised in Miami.

Scott:

Okay, so Miami to Brooklyn. How did that happen?

Ariel:

That's funny you say that because uh every time uh I when I arrived in New York, they were like, wait, it's the other one, usually we're the one that come down, not somebody comes up, you know. I uh I went up there on a business trip to New York. It was the first time that I've ever been to New York, and I immediately loved the beat, the edge of New York. You know, being a creator, just it feels like every street in New York has something to say to you and inspire you. So I was like, I came back from that business trip and I found an opportunity two weeks later to apply for a position. And I got hired, and within less than a month, I was back over there, but permanently. So I just packed all my stuff and um headed over there and started a new chapter.

Scott:

So were you an artist back then?

Ariel:

Been an artist as long as I I always like to say is I've been an artist even before I can label it as art. I don't remember myself never not creating. And, you know, from you know, that was my my my hustle when I was a kid. You know, it was a it was a time I remembered one of the oldest members, you know, we came from a very lower income homes, government cheeses, government milk, you know, food stamps, projects, very rough part of uh Miami. And my side hustle to make extra money was drawing ninja turtles, people's naming graffiti, and that's how I make my my little money on the side. So I've never not created as a kid, I started seeing the importance of art in the way that they the teachers would always ask for me to do like murals, you know, and get me out of the classroom for me to do a mural for the season, you know, welcome the Christmas and you know, things like that. So yeah, like I've never not done art, you know. So it's uh and then when I got to New York, it was uh just a different animal, you know, it's just uh inundated with creativity.

Scott:

Were you in the world of graffiti?

Ariel:

So yeah, I uh I I have I I was early as a kid also. That old movie remember breaking back in the in the 80s, it was uh it inspired a lot of b-boys, b girls break dancing. And it was part of the same culture, you know, graffiti, breakdancing. And so, yes, to answer you, yes. And and I also did a lot of especially in New York, I would always like give myself these challenges where I was like, all right, I'm walking these five streets. Whatever I pick up in these five streets on the trash or anywhere, let me make an impromptu sculpture and leave it behind. So I'd leave it for people to just pick up and and then my my name got you know in the paper, like who's this person?

Scott:

And give me an example of that.

Ariel:

So um, so you know, you've been to my studio, you know, that that bird that I have there. That's kind of like what I did when I first got to my studio in that compound. I said, All right, let me create a sculpture from whatever I find. And what I like doing that is because it's it's it's a challenge to, and it's allowing you, it's almost like a game with yourself. And it's like, all right, how can I look at this and re remake it, retranscribe it for it to fit an image, and it's almost like a scavenger hunt. And as you pick one piece, it leads you to the next piece. And then in your mind, you're like, oh man, but if I had this little piece, and then all of a sudden a block, then you find that piece, you know? So it's like it's almost like a little game that I like to play, but it's almost like you don't know where it's gonna end, but you're also in amazement through the process. But in New York, I would just do these things and leave them behind. I wouldn't take them home, I just leave them for like a like uh, you know, somebody's walking in the street, it's like a little walking gallery. You see something, you know, oh look, it's absurd.

Scott:

Does one stand out that you did? Is there that one you're like, oh, that was fucking amazing?

Ariel:

I actually have a video of it. It's funny, I put it in a time lapse. I was in in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and I was walking prospect park and I see a bunch of logs and driftwoods, just like in a pile. I just, I mean a bunch of them. And I kept looking at them, like, all right, let me do some earthworks, let me just get to work and put so I kept looking at them, and you know, you just look at one thing, you look at it a different way. I'm like, all right. So I started building this massive megalithic thing with a bunch of logs and wood and this and that. But the cool part was is that one of the pieces that stood up, I wanted I since I I wasn't using any nails, any glue, and nothing to adhere it. It was like it was all using its own, leaning against each other for its own weight to uh, but then I had one long piece of wood that there was a point, and I made it balance perfectly. And as the wind was pushing, it would be like a almost like um, like a whimsical mobile, right? So once I was done with the piece, I stood back to look at it, and here comes a bird. And you see the bird going to the piece that is like on this, like it was almost like a balancing, uh like just like it's balancing on the little point, and you see the bird go on one end, and I thought it was gonna knock the whole thing out, but it was perfect, it was its perfect weight to make the whole thing perfectly balanced. So I'm just observing, like I made the piece, and he was my audience. He was the first person, the first being to come in and observe it was a bird. So I have a video of it, it's actually pretty funny. So stuff like that. I just I get a kick out of it, you know. It's just like that's what keeps me as an artist. I feel like in a youthful, childlike excitement. Because to me, the frequency of uh creativity, it's like you're creating from the ether from the unknown, and then you bring something forward. It's like it's it's to me that's exciting than me sharing it with anybody else, you know.

Scott:

So you're in New York for how long?

Ariel:

Ten years.

Scott:

Ten years. Ten years.

Ariel:

No.

Scott:

Okay. And so you do your thing up there, you got involved in the scene and music too.

Ariel:

I had a band up there called uh Fourth Kind. We we did a lot of experimental music, you know, but did a lot of music in there and yeah, and art, and you know, just uh live the New York City life.

Scott:

And you know what part of New York? Where was the art scene that you were part of?

Ariel:

So I first I lived one year in Long Island, right? And what was cool about that is that we had a house with four guys, and everyone was a musician. And one of the guys that lived that in the house, he was actually Michael Jackson's pianist during the bad tour. So when Michael died, I was living with him. So it was really cool. He was playing all the Michael tracks, and and it was like in that house was like around the clock music, music just coming out of the pumping out of there. And we would do like our own personal little festivals where people from the city used to come out. It used to call the mothership parties, and we would have started at 12.

Scott:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Reference. I got you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ariel:

It was really cool, man. It was and and and I made the flyers for it, and it was a thing that people used to look out for. And a lot of our friends that were musicians, after their gig, they would take the train out to Long Island and then come hang with us to like eight o'clock in the morning making music in the basement. Yeah, it was just a really, really cool time. But then I moved to uh Brooklyn and I was part of that Brooklyn art scene out there, you know, and in Williamsburg and Bushwick and just a really good time, you know. I just um but again, it's like there's nowhere you cannot not go. And you cannot, that's one of the things that attracted me to New York is like you can talk to the guy at the bar back and have deep conversations about cinema. You know, you just get like these really rich, enriching conversations that if you're an artist, that's like soul food for you, you know.

Scott:

You find do you find that street people are more sometimes I'm not gonna say intellectual, but knowledgeable about things than studied people?

Ariel:

Academia, people in the academia, so I think there's there's two so I this is my take on that. People that are pick up wisdom through life, the challenges, the people that are not textbook savvy, but they're life savvy, you come with a different beat. And I feel a lot of the times it's cooler because you're more daring. You know, I I feel like there's like like for instance, and I've and I've talked, I'm a self-taught artist. I can't I can't say a self-taught, I believe that I'm getting taught by the creation that's creating. It's I've been observing and it's teaching me how to navigate our artistically. But I've noticed just from my observation, a lot of people that are artistically schooled, since they're all in a constant critiquing, like every every time you do a project, you gotta put it in front of the class, you get critiqued. And I feel that there's a there's a thing with these kind of artists that sometimes they they lack being daring to try new things because they I feel like they always want to look good and they're and they are afraid to look bad. Now, to me, the self-taught artist doesn't know that, doesn't know we're kind of ignorant to that. So you're constantly wanting to try things and who cares? They just throw it out the window. So I think, in my opinion, a lot of innovation happens being not knowing, just being just go, because I think the the schooling program kind of sometimes shackles a creator, you know, because you have to be a certain thing or a certain way, or it has to fall into a certain, you know, suit while the other one, you know, it's just like no holds bar, let's try whatever, you know, and then you learn through your actions versus the text. So to get back to what you said, I find more I have found that people that I've run into on my journey that are just like these characters usually are the ones that drop these nuggets of wisdom just because they've lived a life. They are, you know, they're not just behind the scenes, you know, just more. They're they're not in the bleachers, they're out in the field, you know.

Scott:

You ever stay in touch with any of the artists from New York?

Ariel:

Oh, all the time, yeah.

Scott:

All the time.

Ariel:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They see what I'm doing down here, I see what they're doing up there. And it's just really cool to see because uh the art journey is like, you know, when we were kids, we're all we all used to put our little astronaut helmet on and explore our minds, making forts, coloring, whatever that, you know, we're all little creators. Usually creativity is beaten out of us, or you gotta grow up. And so you lose that childlike sensibility and excitement, and you know, a dream dreamy, being a dreamer. So, you know, and that and I forget the quote that Picasso said, something about like completely paraphrasing, um, something about like that an artist is a child that has not given up, or something in that vein. Like, if you if you created a journey, like if if your life, if you're still a creator at the end of your life, give yourself a pat on the back. Because everything in society, even from the rip, they always say, Oh, you're gonna be a starving artist, you know, or there's so much dogma, or like things that are already put on you to get you out of the creativity. You gotta fall into this, blah, blah, blah, blah. So to be an artist and do it and do it as a uh because you have to do it, there's something to say about that. You know, I think it's we're the ones that bring beauty into the world and make you think and things like that.

Scott:

So has your art? I well, I won't say progressed, changed.

Ariel:

Oh, you know.

Scott:

The platform that you use or multiple times.

Ariel:

You know, I you grow up in, you know, when I was a kid, we again we didn't have money. So I didn't care what I was creating with. You know, I remember I still remember being in the kitchen table making sculptures out of, you know, uh, you know, the garbage bag, the twist eyes.

Scott:

Yeah.

Ariel:

Just little sculptures, because that's what what I had. Or one time I remember I was where I had a produce, organic produce stand. So I I had it was mango season here in Florida. I'm like, I wonder if I can take these mango peels. And I learned a way to dry them. They look like leather. So I started making sculptures like portraits out of mango peels. You know, or you know, I've done things with rusted nails and just like not only leaving it to paint. You know, so now, you know, after my mother went blind, I now I do stuff that is mixed media raised above the canvas so even the visually impaired can feel and have an experience, a visceral experience with the work. Where majority of the time when you go to a gallery, the first thing they say is don't touch the artwork. For me, it's like, why not have a multi-sensory experience with art, you know, versus just being a visual thing, you know?

Scott:

So you you created the raised art for more than a couple of reasons.

Ariel:

Yeah.

Scott:

So let's talk about that. Your mom, right? You want to kind of yeah.

Ariel:

So well, well, I was um I uh me and my uh business partner in 2018. We had well, we started in 2016. We opened up a restaurant in New York, plant-based vegan restaurant. It's still there actually, it's called V Spot. And I get a call from my mother that she's a very strong woman, and and she called me and and I just hear, she's terrified. I can hear it in her voice. And she's always wanting to meet get me back down here to Florida. And I told her, What's up? And she was like, Well, my vision is you know, it's declining really quickly. At that time, she had 58% vision, and on top of that, she was going through uh breast cancer. So basically, I dropped everything I was doing and and immediately moved out here. And, you know, I she went through breast cancer, she went through that. And this is a part of like sometimes um that I don't like she was getting persuaded to do this experimental procedure in her eyes to bring down the inflammation. I was trying to tell her, please don't do it. You just went through chemo, let your body recover, and then think about well, she didn't listen and she went straight to doing this experimental procedure, which just even the idea of it like literally they were putting a a needle in her eye every month for a year. It took her from 50%, now she has five percent vision. So, you know, and she's always been my biggest champion. Unlike my father, she was always anything I wanted to do creatively, go try it. I felt the need because I was like, man, she lost her vision. How can she experience some of my new works? So for for a couple years I was trying to like figure out methods to go make my work raised, and nothing was really like sticking the way I wanted it to look. And I had this really in crazy paranormal experience that gave me the clear vision when I woke up the next day as to how to do what I'm doing now. And so that was two weeks before the pandemic. While the world was like going in chaos, I was stoically in my art studio working this method and doing it in small, but to figure out where can I pull this and where how can I take, how far can I take it? So I always say like sometimes with from uh necessity comes an opportunity. So from that, I'm able to do like I create, I can go up and create these walls so now I can do like different mediums that shouldn't live together. Am I able to do it like something sheen with something rusted, these dichotomies within my work that I've been very I get it, like I get lit up thinking about like how can I make something that shouldn't live together live together? So, you know, so again, you know, I was doing it for her, and now I'm noticing it's opening up different possibilities of something that I don't really have seen out there in the art world, and it fascinates me. Like again, I'm I'm I'm a curious, I'm a scavenger hunt, so it's always like I don't know the end result, I just know that there's a journey and I'm just following this thing. And it happened this this pivot happened to try to facilitate my mother to be able to feel my work, so you know, and I sent you a picture of my mother, the first piece that she touched, and I didn't think how emotional I was gonna get from it. And now we're working also with the Lighthouse School of the Blind to try to put a show for the visually impaired to come out. So I'm having some ideas for next year with music so they can also have a multi-sensory experience.

Scott:

So, no, that's amazing. So, Florida to New York, South Florida. South Florida, different Florida, Northern Cuba. I love South Florida, and I probably have listeners up in northern Florida.

Ariel:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott:

I just find it very vanilla up there. Oh man.

Ariel:

You like the spices?

Scott:

There's just so much more flavor down here. Oh, definitely. And I think the beaches are nicer too. Absolutely. So, South Florida to New York, 10 years, time to come home. What was it like coming back? And I know you went back and forth, but coming back to settle in 10 years later, what was that like?

Ariel:

Well, when I left Florida, I was kind of tapped out with Florida. Like I said, I have a joke that I say people don't read out here. You know, it's just like I wanted to be stimulated. I wanted my mind to be stimulated. So I went to New York. When I came back, number one, it felt like I can breathe again, you know, because in New York, you know, it's just, you know, it's a it's a hustle, you know. So the first thing is like, oh my God, these wide roads again. This is awesome, you know. And the funny thing is that when I got to New York, it was I was about to go into fall, and I didn't know how much this not having sun for that period of time was how much it was going to affect me being a Florida guy. So that's one of the first things I was like, man, I'm really getting into like a little depression out here. So just being back in the sun, oh, you know, it's like, here we go again. Going out to the beach. You know, I like to go to drum circles and stuff like that just to sit on the beach and listen to music and whatnot. That's another thing. But what I was really impressed when I got back was the artistic cultural landscape of what's happening in South Florida. Completely different. You got Winwood, you got things that are happening in Fort Lauderdale, there's a whole art scene out there, and then what we got at Northwood Art and Music Warehouse. So it's like it's like becoming another mecca of the art world out here. And it's cool because now, and I used to live in West Palm right before I went to Brooklyn. And even though I did a lot of art shows, it still lacked the intensity, you know, like how in New York is. Now, I would even like to say that, you know, I've been part of a new uh Miami art scene when it first started, I was part of Brooklyn, and I feel like what we got going on now is has a lot more intensity behind it. Like it's just like like you came out to the 51st art exhibition in a row we had. You know, 51 shows in a row. It's like kind of insane, you know. And we're just like right now we're doing some remodeling, but we're gonna have we're picking up the pace again now in two weeks. So it's a really good time.

Scott:

So you had mentioned that the northward art scene seems to be a combination of the New York art scene and the South Florida art scene.

Ariel:

If New York met Miami and had a kid, that's what we got going on over there.

Scott:

Yeah, yeah. So how how does that do you do you have artists coming down from the north that kind of settle here or they find it, or is it just an attitude that's kind of evolving at Northwood?

Ariel:

It's it's it's funny because we don't promote too much. It's all like word of mouth. It's almost like that nook, like in New York when you find a nook and you're like, oh man, this is the coolest thing ever. It's become like that, but it's also like it's almost like a beehive. You know, it's like you're getting all these creative bees coming over and they're like, oh man, these are my people, these are my tribe. And it's a community that is unlike any other ones that I've been a part of, where there's no ego. It's like you do you, and how can we help you do you more? You know, and just it's a really, really cool scene where you know, you got one of my friends, Joe Carroll. Freaking uh he was a musical director for Jim Henson creating the music for the Muppets. So you got cats like that coming through, and just a really good pocket, and it's a good time. Like I tell all the guys that all the other resident artists that are there, I'm like, you know, soak this up, take it in. Because one day there'll be a memory. And it's the memories that live on within us. So I really, really uh appreciate what's going on there. And it's, you know, we not only do we do you know our uh art exhibitions, but we do live jazz, live blues, funk, bluegrass, country, comedy shows, film festivals. So it's it's really, really cool. It's a great art hub.

Scott:

How did Northwood evolve?

Ariel:

So there's a uh Joe is the founder. Well, he he owns a compound, our buddy Joe. Really cool. He's a surfer, really great guy, and he um he uh he was like a man cave for a while. It's just like him and his buddies. And I wasn't there in the first artistic iteration of that, what happened there. I came to, I've been there for two years. So I wasn't there. I just know that more artists, I know Maximo brought a lot of people over there. He's another artist out there, he's brought a lot of the artists there, and it's evolved. And I think the from what I hear from other people that this the artists that are there resident right now, the synergy that we have is it's epic, it's beautiful, you know.

Scott:

Does Northwood and West Palm and Westwood down Wynwood, right? Winwood down in South down Miami. Is there any like I'm not saying rivalry, is there any like um collaborations or do you kind of go down there, they some people or do they just stay in, like you said, their pocket and it's just and it's all cool.

Ariel:

Well, we've had we've had uh artists from down there come up and do shows with us. And and vice versa, too, but it's not like everybody's like a little independent, you know, and then if you mix and you say, Oh, look, we're doing a collab show. Come on out, you know. Right now I have a show, a group show in Miami right now with a lot of the artists that that are in our place and artists in Winwood. We have a group show in Opalaca, actually. They're pumping a lot of money into that, they're making an art scene out there too.

Scott:

In Opalaca, really?

Ariel:

Yeah, wow, and that's on my old so I grew up in Carroll City, but my my aunt and all that, they're from Opalaca. So it's another hood, but they're what they're doing there, it's really, really uh impressive. They're putting a lot of money in and they're creating because that's the thing is like art. If you look at, and this is funny because I was talking to a cop in Brooklyn, he goes, I like to buy real estate, but I would how I buy real estate is I follow the artist. Because the artists create the cultural scene, which then in turn brings the coffee houses, the boutiques now move in, and then the next sky rise is moving. So usually the artist will always move to the lower income places because that's what they can afford, but then they create the windwood and then you get priced out, you know.

Scott:

So interesting concept. Good good strategy. Good strategy. Okay, I mentioned this at the beginning of the podcast. We were introduced by uh well, a mutual friend, and I was made aware of this project that you're doing. It's it's extremely patriotic, yes, right? Yes. So let's start from the beginning of now. You did an event last Flag Day, right? So let's let's let's take it from there.

Ariel:

Well, just for your audience, I want to go ahead and and uh appreciate you here on live because I um you know uh you and your wife are now, you know, not only championing me, you know, with your presence, but also uh sponsoring a lot of it. And I I can't tell you how much that means to me. And uh, and it's just a cool thing to, and I appreciate that greatly. So this project is it's called We Are America. You know, we're going into our 250-year anniversary next year. And I've been filming now for about eight months. And what it is, it's a journey. It starts out with a gentleman, his name, his name is Gama. I met him in 2000. When I was uh when I before moving to uh West Palm Beach, I had traveled to, you know, I was taking the train, and on the first stop out of the train, there was a bus. In that bus, I met this gentleman that lost his eyesight in Vietnam due to ancient orange. He used to take that bus where I first met him, and he would go to the VA and teach the visually impaired veterans how to function in life. This gentleman, it's like he was like a sage. I mean, like, I mean, not only did he I mean he was the first man that ever gifted me a gift. You know, my dad wasn't there, and I and I looked at him like just immense wisdom. Like he we were talking about AI back in 2000. Just this guy was very profound. So we used to like ride together and he would always leave me a seat and I would sit next to him. And for eight months before I I moved over there. The journey happened while I lost touch with him, but uh he's always been in my mind. So this documentary starts me looking for him, and I'll leave it, I don't want to say anything yet here, but it starts there and then it moves into this community art project that I which I'm building a 14-foot by 12-foot American flag. It's a mixed media piece, but the stripes are gonna be one way, the the and but the hands are on a six by six canvas, they're the handprints of children and grandchildren of veterans.

Scott:

Those will be the stars, those will be the stars.

Ariel:

And everything apart of this this flag is is symbolism. And one, you know, going into this project, I didn't know how much it was gonna hit my heartstrings. Like, even taking the handprints of a little kid that his grandfather's right behind him, you see him, how proud he is. He feels like he even says it out loud, like, oh man, I feel like I'm seen right now. I feel like I'm being heard. And and the idea is when this flag goes up, it'll have a QR code where every child's name will be there and like an index, but also which parent and grandparent served, what years did they serve, and if they were any in any wars. So I wanted to go into like a very it's a tribute piece. But I I I I say that this project is also a trifecta. There's three things to it. The documentary. Um the community art project. And then the third thing is I have a really good friend of mine, Eugene, that he's uh one of the most prolific singer-songwriters that I know. He's he travels the country in his van, which he converted into a stage and he performs all over the country. Brilliant guy. He wrote a song for this, for this flag for the documentary, and we're getting a 30-piece children's choir to sing the chorus line of the song. So it's a song, a documentary, and okay, and my hopes is that I really would love for this flag to travel the country for a year. And and it's uh it's um it's a tribute piece, but it also it's more of a it's uh I hope to convey unity. That's why I call it we are America. It's not about my team, your team, left, right, area codes, none of that. We and that's what I hope to convey. It's like the depth of our connection.

Scott:

When did that light bulb go off? Like, this is what I want to do.

unknown:

Jeez.

Scott:

I want to do a flag, and I'm gonna make a giant flag, and it's not gonna be cloth, it's gonna be made out of wood, and then you know, of course, the creative process.

Ariel:

So so yeah, that's one of the things about I don't know how other creators create, but I know for me, sometimes it comes in like a drip or sometimes it comes in like a waterfall. This one came in a drip. I've I I I was like, oh wow, that we're going, we're going into our 250 year anniversary. Okay. I remember I was like, you know something? I want to do something for that. I want to create a piece that stands for something great and us. And then I was started talking to a friend of mine, and we and just in that conversation, the idea for this flag came up. And I'm like, wow, you know how cool would it be to have make it a community art piece instead of just me designing it and that's it. The the the journey of gathering these little these hands is also part of this, like the depth of it. So it came in tears, it came in waves, it didn't just like all come at once, but as it's coming through, and it's my first documentary film. It's like, you know, even meeting you now. Well, we're working on an art exhibition at the end of the year for veterans, that's also going to be included. So these there's these little inspirational like you know, pieces that are all like organically just coming together. And I'm amazed by it too. And like a gentleman that I can't wait for you to meet too. His name is uh Tim Vernon. He's uh the Santa Claus for the VA. He was also in the Air Force, hella just a great human being. He's he's also helping me out in this project, and you know, I didn't know he also takes the visually impaired scuba diving, quadruple legics and and the visually impaired scuba diving. So now there's another layer based on Gama, my mother, and here's this gentleman. Like, there's that's the whole magic behind the whole thing. It's like we're we we're starting with this vision, but it's the people in the journey that are is creating the documentary, the you know, the the depth of it. It's not just me. So that's what's cool about it, like just meeting you, hearing your story, and what we're gonna about to do. It's it's like that's that's I'm excited about that.

Scott:

Yeah, I th I found that uh as did my wife. We found it very uh interesting. It's it's inspiring, it's uh, you know, 250 years, and it's a very outside the box type of thing. It's a big undertaking. As we've talked about, this is not like, hey, I'm gonna build this flag and people are gonna you want this to go out on the road, you want to display this. You've had, I guess, offers to unveil it at certain locations, um and and that. So, what has the process been getting sponsorship or reaching out to organizations saying, hey, this is what I'm doing? And uh, that's not trust me, I I run a nonprofit and it's not easy to get all that accomplished.

Ariel:

So it's funny you say that because I'm may I'm creating right now a mock smaller version of it. But instead of having all 50 hands, I'm doing the the original 13 just so I can go ahead and be able to give talks to I can get the sponsorships. So, and that that idea came from my butt my buddy Tim. He was like, Why don't you make a smaller one? Right now, as you're still finishing off, I think I need 19 more hands. And if anybody in your audience that has a veteran that has a kid that wants to be part of that, you know, they can reach out and I can send them a kid and and we can talk about that. But how's the process been to now? You know, I read a good book called The War on Art, not to be confused with the art of war. The war on art by Stephen Pressfield. And he states that in the book that he goes, the bigger the mission, the bigger the vision, the more resistance you're gonna have. You're gonna face. As long as you're aware of the resistance, then you can identify it and keep moving forward. Sometimes when we we're not able to identify it, we are we believe in the resistance. Oh, who the heck are you to do this? What do you think you are? That's not gonna work. That's crippling. So going into the project, I wrote myself a note to myself. If you face this, you keep moving forward. And there's been times where like I would take three steps forward and five back. And then I'm like, okay, and then I was just getting frustrated, you know, and I'm like, man, these hands are should be easy to get. That's that hasn't been the case. And now, you know, all my chips are on the table, like I've mentioned. And now I'm getting to the point now I am gonna look for the sponsorship, the other sponsorship financially. So I can get the marketing, the the finishing up the documentary, the travel part of it. So it's uh it's it's been a journey. But again, I truly believe if I've been given this vision, I must finish it off. I must complete it to its full completion. I would be doing myself and the creator of disservice if I don't complete it. I have to finish the the whole circle. But it's been um, it's been uh uh it's it's I remember I was even my weight went up. Like I was like pretty bummed out a few times, and I'm like, man, what's going on? But the more I started just going back and saying, you know something, you know, I I I had a gentleman one time, he says, you know, in life, you want to you want to hold life with an open palm, not with a closed fist. You know, relax, believe, trust, and things will start falling into place. So once I did that, you know, now we're getting now the engine is reveting a little bit, and we've taken it now to fourth gear.

Scott:

So Yeah. So and as I know firsthand through my uh one man one mic foundation, one man one mic foundation dot or g like the ask isn't always easy, and the ask you get more no's than yes. And that can be that could lead to a defeatist attitude. And I learned that you just can't take no for an answer. You can take the no, but that's keep moving forward.

Ariel:

Exactly.

Scott:

Keep asking.

Ariel:

No's will be eventually become yeses.

Scott:

Yeah. Yeah, and you know, it's it's it's fishing.

Ariel:

Exactly. It's a it's a numbers game. Usually you just keep you know, and just sifting and just I believe when you have something that you truly believe in your your frequency, your the way you you know, say it to the world, you're in full conviction of it. So you it becomes infectious. But you have to have that full conviction. You can't be like half in, half out. And that's in the past when I've been half in and half out. That's when you're like you start a project and then you just it withers away. You gotta live in that full conviction.

Scott:

How many unfinished projects do you have in your warehouse? I'm asking the artist side of you, because I know I don't know. I don't know. So I I I I am like you're painting something, you you're creating, and then you just kind of like, I gotta put this down.

Ariel:

So it's funny, I I it's in my which my mother busses my chops all the time about it. Because I unlike other artists, some artists just stick to one thing from beginning to end. I know I don't operate that way. It I don't because there's days I feel doing so. I usually have four things that I'm working on around me, and they're all different mediums. One's a painting, one's a sculpture, one's a a block print, one's a you know, an experimentation. I know I operate that way, but my mother would always say, you know, a dog has four legs, but only can walk in one path. And that's when I was like, nah, I think that dog needs to learn how to break dance, figured something out. You know, don't he need to do something new. So uh dog needs to learn how to break dance. He needs to do something else, you know. Because I know for myself, I operate in uh uh everything will get completed. I just don't, I I just have my own methods, you know. And who's to say what's right and wrong, anyways, you know, as long as it gets done.

Scott:

So this project has, unlike your other projects, has a deadline.

Ariel:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Scott:

Which has to be a little different for you.

Ariel:

Oh, yeah. It's and the thing that makes it a little uh more challenging in, especially when you're filming, is that you're also going off of um my my St. Louis who's who's uh uh the camera guy, he's he's he's doing the filming for me, uh, but you're also taking account other people's schedules if it aligns with them. So you have to pivot, wait, and then when you don't have funds, it's like, all right, now I gotta raise some funds. So it's it's it's been um it's you know, if if I had unlimited funds and and and limited time, it would be so it'll be, you know, like so it's been a balancing. But again, I trust the process, and that's one of the things about and I've observed about creativity, at least for me. To me, being a creator is a is a very spiritual practice because you're exercising vision, trust, listening, you know, uh faith that you're gonna get there. Action, you know, there's so many things that make up bringing something from the unknown to the known. And so it's a process, but yeah, it you know, it's 4th of July of next year is our 250.

Scott:

Yeah.

Ariel:

So, but I want to have everything post-edited, done, everything. I would like to do a viewing a month before, like a soft viewing of the piece with intimate be, you know, my friends, and and then hopefully take it to the you know me and my wife are gonna be there, but it's it, brother.

Scott:

Doesn't matter what we are involved in with this. We we would want to be there.

Ariel:

Front and center, front and center, brother. You know it.

Scott:

We would want to be there.

Ariel:

Yeah, yeah. That's it's gonna be cool, man.

Scott:

It really is. So the name of the project again is We Are America. We are America. Is there a website for it yet?

Ariel:

So right now you can go to my um my uh my personal website, arielbaso.com, a-r-i-e-l, b-as-so.com, and under projects is the full scope detail of this project. And for anyone that wants to uh part, you know, donate, there's a donate button there to help out. And eventually when the flag comes out, there'll be different tiers of prints, you know, in different, you know, cost ranges and styles. But yeah, if you can look at also my artwork there, I also have merch, I have clothing line, and you know, I I call it like witness wear, like a like intentional t-shirts that mean things like they have different sayings, affirmations, things like that. And you kind of see what I'm doing. And you know, you can go through there through my Instagram and Facebook and all that.

Scott:

And what's your Instagram?

Ariel:

Ariel A-R-I-E-L-B-A-S-S-O again, underscore art.

Scott:

Okay. Go to his Instagram account, go to his website. I say this for the nonprofits every episode, and I'll say it for you. If you're out there and you're listening and you're watching and you like what Ariel is doing and you want to know more about it, go to his website. If you really love what he's doing and you're impressed by it, like my wife and I are, then give him your money. Just give him some money. Any every little bit counts. Just like this is a this isn't so this isn't like giving money for a nonprofit and you know what they're doing. This is for a very unique, one-of-a-kind project that you have an opportunity to be a part of just by donating. And you know, I'm sure people that donate will be on, you know, they'll be on the mailing list. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, you're gonna you're gonna know first about what this project is and and and and all of it.

Ariel:

Yeah, and or if you have a child as well that or a grandkid that want to be part of it, you know, send me an email.

Scott:

If you're a veteran and you have a young child, because there's an age for the size of the hand all of you, right?

Ariel:

So if you do, if the best way to do it is if you get, you know, get a ruler out, get a piece of paper, and do a six by six square, if their hand fits in the six by six square, reach out.

Scott:

That's for the children and grandchildren of veterans. So if you want your child or grandchild to be part of this unique experience, and you know, you'll get your credit, it's gonna be there on the on the QR code. I think it's something that will be, you know, once it's on the internet, it's there forever. And it it'll it will immortalize that moment. You know, absolutely.

Ariel:

If they reach out, I'll send them a little kit. The only thing I ask is uh for them to uh film it, you know, with their video, you know, phone. Yeah, because I'm putting snippets of these remote prints in the documentary as well.

Scott:

And maybe say happy birthday, America. Yes, something cool like that. You know, throw it in there because that's what this is all about. Absolutely. And again, your website, arielbasso.com, a-i-e-l, b-a-s-so.com, go check out everything that Ariel is doing. I I went up there with my wife for the 51st art showing in a row, and it was quite an experience. It's a lively, friendly, just a very good group of people. There's no pretentiousness. They were just all welcoming and friendly. And what I loved about that was it was literally like a community thing because people brought it was like bring food, bring food and put it on the table. And you know, everybody, there was wine, there was food, there was and the impromptu that you warned me about, the impromptu music session that broke out at 10 o'clock. And it was it was lively. It was lively, and the facility is really cool. It's very down-to-earth. There's no like uh, like, oh, don't touch. Well, you don't want to be touching the yacht, anyways, but everybody could get close up on it and see it. It was just a very, very cool. And I can't wait for the next one.

Ariel:

And I remember you telling me the next day, I was like, oh, yeah, I brought out my camera after this.

Scott:

Yeah, I did. It was very inspiring. It really was. I am my father was a photographer for over 50 years around the Boston, Massachusetts, New England area. And so growing up, I just kind of listened to him. He didn't know it, but I did listen to him. And I I am uh I'm a pretty good amateur photographer. I was blessed to have his eye, how he sees things. You know, a funny thing about that in photography is an art form. And I I never thought of my my father passed away in February, and my brother, my oldest brother, my only brother left, passed away in April. But before that, you know, I talked to my brother every day, and he would say, he just said this actually one day in a conversation. He said, because I found hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of pictures of me and my brothers that I never knew existed. My parents were divorced, but my father always had a camera in his hand, and he was always taking pictures of us. We have I I I would be hard pressed to find a family that has more pictures of the of their kids.

Ariel:

Photos.

Scott:

Photos, yes. That's a good point.

Ariel:

That is that's something I will always remember. We we went out to lunch, and that stuck with me. I'm like, yes, it's a it's a different intention.

Scott:

And I and my father, yeah. My father would say a picture is something that you can just it's a snapshot, but he would take photos, he called them photos, and thank you for that correction.

Ariel:

Yep. Well, I I I adopted it as well.

Scott:

Yeah, it it's and it does mean something because he was he intentional. But my brother actually he said every picture, every photo ever taken of us was done professionally.

Ariel:

That's beautiful, yeah.

Scott:

Like I I never really thought of it that way. Every he framed every picture perfectly.

Ariel:

It meant something.

Scott:

Every photo, yeah. So And I'm excited for our collab with uh at the end of the year with uh yes, the fundraiser that we're having at the at the Northwood for the One Man One Mike Foundation. It's gonna be uh music, storytelling, and we want to have veteran art artists out there. It's gonna be a very low-key type of gala event, you know, right before Christmas, and it's gonna be Christmas veterans' Christmas stories that a lot of people don't get to hear. They want they get the combat stories or they get the active duty on duty, but we all all us veterans that that served that served at least one Christmas away from home, we have a story. And the and I've found some beautiful stories, beautiful stories. So that'll be part of it. Yeah. And uh so yeah, well, again, my friend, thank you for doing this again. That's right. Second time around. I actually think this is better than the first time.

Ariel:

We both combed our hair the right way. Yeah, yeah.

Scott:

Yeah. So, you know, let me do my outro and then again, of course, we'll we'll talk afterwards. Well, thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you liked it, share it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for 51 minutes and 26 seconds. I appreciate that. And we built the bridge today, and it's an art bridge. Well, my Boston accent, I'd say art bridge, but people would not know what I'm saying. So I have to force myself to say art. I have to really pronounce that R in art. Because I'd say, yeah, thanks for the it was an art bridge. And they'd be like, What? What's an art? What's an art? So yeah, and this is a great bridge. And uh, I look forward to uh watching Ariel's project grow and become what he wants it to become. And again, if you like it, if you like what he's doing, go to his website, arielbasso.com, uh buy some merch, go look at the the project. And if you if you really like what he's doing, give him some money, donate to it. And if you have a child that fits their hand fits in a six by six square, and you would like your child's handprint to be one of the stars stars on this flag, send them an email. And with that said, I will see you next week.

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Scott McLean

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