GLENCOE, Ill. (CBS) – You’ll never guess what’s coming up in the kitchen in north suburban Glencoe.

CBS 2’s Joe Donlon rolled up his sleeves and met a baker who fashioned food into art. She’s one of Chicago’s Hidden Gems.

Pretty purses, fancy footwear, cartoon characters, and more. They’re all very artistic and all made of bread.

Yes, bread.

“I started making this for friends and family and everybody said, ‘You should sell this,'” said Anya Viner.

Viner, a Glencoe resident, is the owner and founder of Tigertail Bakery, which was named for the street where she grew up loving baking and art.

Donlon: “Are you a baker? Are you an artist? What are you?”

Viner: “I like to think baker-turned-artist.”

She specializes in creations made of challah, a bread of Jewish origin that’s commonly shared at ceremonial occasions, though her work is anything but common.

“I need to roll my sleeves up, I guess,” Donlon said.

Something else that’s not too common is Donlon in the kitchen. He asked how Viner does it. She told him to roll up his sleeves and find out.

The task on this day was to create an emoji of a guy wearing sunglasses.

“Cut your dough in two pieces,” Viner instructed. 

Donlon: “Do I have the right end of this cutter?”

Viner: “I’d use the other side, but that will work too.”

Donlon: “This is not off to a good start. How’d I do?”

Viner: “That looks good.”

Viner taught Donlon all the steps from the all-important “braiding.”

“The right one goes over the middle, then the left one goes over the middle,” she said.

“I’ve never braided my hair or my daughter’s hair,” Donlon said.

She also taught him how to get the bread on the sheet pan and into the oven.

“Now I’m seeing where I messed up earlier,” Donlon said.

While the bread was baking, CBS 2 learned more about Viner. While she’s a Los Angeles native, she came to Chicago to attend Northwestern University and its Kellogg School of Management.

After high-level business jobs and three kids, she decided to get busy baking, something she really loves.

“My math-minded husband likes to tell me how many I’ve made,” Viner said. “I think I’ve done over 3,000.”

After posts on Instagram, Tigertail took off with requests for events, classes, and even corporate team-building events. Everything is custom by request.

Donlon: “What’s the strangest request you’ve had?”

Viner: “There’s one they wanted for a bridal shower and I said, ‘Thank you, but I will not do that.’ I try to keep it clean.”

So how did the baking turn into art?

“Earlier this year, a gallery in New York saw what I do on Instagram and they asked if I would be in their show,” Viner said. “How do I hang a loaf of bread on a wall? So I started preserving it and coating it in a resin and working with a conservator. So this has been a work in progress.”

It took a lot of hard work and a lot of flour.

“I buy five-pound bags, but I’ll buy 10 of them and people look at me,” she said.

Back in the kitchen, Viner and Donlon were ready to decorate.

Viner: “I have tons of candy. My kids are excited because they’ll get to eat what we don’t use.”

Donlon: “This looks nothing like sunglasses.”

Viner: “So smoosh it out with your fingers. It’s OK.”

But Viner’s was perfect. Mission accomplished.

Donlon: “One thing we did well, we made a mess.”

Viner: “Good?” 

Donlon: “Delicious!”

Be kind judging Donlon’s final product. After all, it was his first try.

Check out Tigertail on Instagram to see more of Viner’s incredible designs.

Joe Donlon

Emmy-winning journalist Joe Donlon is co-anchor of CBS 2 Chicago’s weeknight 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts with Irika Sargent.

December is upon us and for folks in Miami— or in the art world— that means: Art Basel Miami Beach. From December 6 to 10 (by-invitation private viewings are on December 6 and 7), the Miami Beach Convention Center will be home to 277 galleries; 25 of which will be participating for the first time, with two-thirds hailing from North and Latin America. In mediums ranging from paintings and sculptures to photography and digital art, some of the resounding themes this year include works that speak to nature, as well as cultural and spiritual geographies.

We break down the fair’s main sectors with what to expect this year:

Galleries is the main section of the fair where the world’s leading galleries present the highest quality of paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photography, videos and digital works.

This year’s show will include never-before-seen works by Argentinian Italian surrealist Leonor Fini from the artist’s personal collection, jointly presented by Galerie Minsky (Paris) and Weinstein Gallery (San Francisco), as well as an homage to Brockman Gallery, the first major contemporary gallery run by and for Black artists, coorganized by Parrasch Heijnen Gallery (Los Angeles) and Franklin Parrasch Gallery (New York) in collaboration with Alonzo Davis, one of Brockman Gallery’s founders.

Meridians showcases large-scale sculptures, paintings and installations which go beyond the traditional art fair booth layout. It will feature 19 projects this year, including site-specific works for Art Basel Miami Beach, curated for the fourth consecutive year by Mexico City-based curator and Director of Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporaneo, Magalí Arriola,

Kabinett, which provides provides galleries the opportunity to present curated exhibitions within their main booths, will have 28 installations.

Nova is a space for galleries to present new works by up to three artists. The Ranch (New York) will showcase never-before-exhibited sculptures by Puerto Rican artist Daniel Lind-Ramos inspired by his hometown of Loíza, the largest Afro-Caribbean enclave in Puerto Rico. Gypsum Gallery (Cairo) will present new paintings by Egyptian artist Basim Magdy, the first staging of the artist’s paintings in the US.

In Positions, the sector for young galleries to showcase solo presentations by emerging voices, Galatea (Rio de Janeiro) will exhibit a new photo series by Brazilian artist Allan Weber, known for his work on everyday life in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. Dürst Britt & Mayhew (The Hague), the first Dutch gallery to participate in Art Basel Miami Beach, will present new works by Mexican artist Alejandra Venegas, hand-carved on native wood.

Survey, dedicated to galleries to showcase artistic practices of historical relevance, will include solo presentations of American artist and activist Karen Finley centered on her 1977 interactive installation at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, during a protracted legal battle with the National Endowment for the Arts, presented by Freight+Volume (New York); as well as American artist Vivian Browne, whose “Africa Series” paintings from the 1970s will be presented by Ryan Lee (New York).

Conversations, a series of live debates among artists, gallerists, collectors, curators, museum directors and critics will run from December 7 to 9. Curated by Emily Butler, this year will features 35 thought leaders across nine panels celebrating Latin America. The program will draw inspiration from Miami’s position as a gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean, honoring Afro-Latino, Latino, and feminist histories, the artistic ecologies of Florida, and other topical issues in 2023. These conversations will be live-streamed on Facebook and recorded.

Also taking place during this period, the UBS Art Lounge (open to UBS-invited guests) at the Miami Beach Convention Center, will showcase the UBS Art Collection which includes a site-specific triptych painting by Jeffrey Gibson entitled, “Just When You Least Expect It,” commissioned for the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The Lounge will also feature the Collection’s recent acquisitions by Nick Cave, Awol Erizku, Deana Lawson, and Hank Willis Thomas.

UBS has also partnered with Art Noir, a global creative collective and non-profit organization that catalyzes cultural equity across the arts and culture industries, to create the UBS Art Studio, which will be stationed near the Meridians sector. The group presentation organized by Art Noir co-founder and curator Larry Ossei-Mensah will features works by Anthony Akinbola, Sonia Gomes, Melissa Joseph, and Nari Ward, artists who engage in practices that utilize accessible materials like durags, shoelaces, and other textiles to create art that invite inquiry and discourse. This is open to all Art Basel Miami Beach ticket holders. (They will also be presenting at the Soundscape Park.)

For more tickets and more information, please visit the Art Basel Miami Beach website.

Estimated read time: 6-7
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SPRINGVILLE — It became apparent most of the fifth graders in Alice Owen’s Meadow Brook Elementary class had never tasted fry bread before as not-so-quiet whispers of appreciation buzzed through the class as the kids took their first bites.

When Diné (Navajo) educator Brenda Beyal asked what the students thought of the fry bread, those whispers turned to excited shouts of, “It’s so good” and, “They should serve this for lunch.”

“It tasted like heaven,” 10-year-old Jamison King said. “I learned that Navajos can make fry bread in different ways, like they make hamburgers with them, they make normal fry bread.”

The treat was part of a visiting lesson organized by BYU Arts Partnership’s Native American Curriculum Initiative, which brings Native American arts and culture to Utah classrooms.

“We’re gonna lose access to these beautiful art forms if we don’t find a way to improve the conversations and increase understanding about the sensitivities around this content,” BYU Arts Partnership Program Director Cally Flox said. “It’s an essential issue in the arts that we find respectful, culturally appropriate ways to share works from Indigenous people.”

Beyal, the initiative’s program coordinator, said it was born out of teachers asking questions about things like cultural appropriation and a need for authentic resources to teach Utah students about the state’s eight sovereign nations: the Navajo Nation, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray reservation, Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians, Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, Ute Mountain Ute, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah and San Juan Southern Paiute.

“Native Americans are not a homogeneous people. The eight sovereign nations of Utah have their own distinct ways of doing things, their own history,” Beyal said. “Our mission is to amplify Native voices.”

The funding for the program is targeted at elementary schools, but the program managers have seen a great deal of interest from K-12 classrooms across the state. There is some grade-specific content, but they said the curriculum is adaptable for a variety of grades and subjects.

“Teachers are starting to gain confidence and they are more willing to share important information about cultures and people that live within their communities rather than not saying anything or sharing anything because of their lack of understanding,” Beyal said.

Teaching with authenticity

Involving tribal nations and ensuring their peoples are portrayed respectfully in the curriculum has been a priority for the initiative.

That includes reaching out to each individual tribe to see what topics they want students to learn about, getting lesson plans approved by tribal councils and accepting “no” gracefully when tribal leaders opt not to share cultural practices.

It’s also meant not shying away from difficult topics, which Emily Soderborg, the initiative’s project manager, said are taught “gently.”

“Truth is being told in a way that doesn’t traumatize anyone, doesn’t make others feel bad for actions that they were not involved in, but also helps us recognize and empathize how hard things have happened,” Soderborg said.

Beyal added that they initially wondered if children would be able to understand some of the lived experiences of tribes. But they’ve since seen how capable the students are of learning about these topics, especially when they learn through the arts, which Beyal said “have a way of unfolding a story that helps with empathy.”

The fry bread lesson taught to Owen’s fifth-grade class, for example, was far more than a chance to sample fry bread. The kids learned about the process of making the food through film and music, and each tried their hand at flattening the dough before Belay’s husband fried it outside the classroom.

Beyal also explained the history and cultural significance of fry bread, which was created by the Navajo people in 1864 when the U.S. government forcibly removed them from their homes and marched them hundreds of miles away to an internment camp. Hundreds died during the Long Walk, and those who lived arrived in an unfamiliar territory without anything to subsist on. Fry bread was born out of “hard times” as the Navajo mixed the rations they received with their own creativity and imagination, Beyal explained.

“Now, there’s a lot to learn from that. You could be in a place of suffering and you can use your imagination, creativity and create something good and that’s what the Navajo people did,” she told students. “Your brain, your creativity, your imagination, your resilience, your courage and your bravery — you can be in dire circumstances and not have that taken away from you.”

It’s a lesson that felt personal for 11-year-old Mateas Mendes, who said it reminded him of his own family’s difficulties in Venezuela.

“We were in really hard times, too. Venezuela is not very good right now. They are in hard times, my dad and I are home (in Utah), we are OK. I just hope my grandparents are OK,” he said. “(I learned) that in hard times, you can make good things.”

Lessons to be learned

Although the initiative specifically focuses on Native Americans, its tactics could be applied more broadly as Utah grapples with how to teach ethnic studies.

How to incorporate ethnic studies into the state’s K-12 curriculum has been a dividing issue. The Utah Ethnic Studies Commission, which was created in 2022 as part of a bill that requires the state to include ethnic studies in core educational standards, will eventually provide recommendations to the Utah State Board of Education regarding the topic.

“We feel like the questions that we asked can be applied to so many different cultural resources,” Soderborg said of the initiative’s professional development course for teachers, which explains how to evaluate resources for accuracy and authenticity.

Those questions include, Is the material specific or glossing over a group? Does it bring people to the present and show how people live today? Does the creator’s background lend credibility? Are any references to traditional ceremonies or deities respectful and appropriate? Does the resource encourage copying or replicating traditions or symbols in appropriate ways?

As a Diné woman, Beyal said her hope is that Utah children see themselves reflected in the curriculum and that there is equity in schools.

“I know those are trigger words, but I feel strongly that there is much to be learned from other peoples and their ways and that there are more similarities than there are differences. When we don’t allow other people’s voices, informed voices, into schools, then we are really cutting the education of our children short,” she said. “One perspective isn’t the only perspective and it’s not the true perspective. You need many perspectives to find truth.”

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Local tribes are celebrating Native American Heritage Month this November. They say they hope the nationally recognized month encourages education and awareness of their cultures.

“We worked hard to get this month and have it recognized,” said Glenna Wallace, chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. “It’s important that we celebrate this.”

Many area tribes have held events, educational seminars and exhibits to commemorate Native American Heritage Month.

Kim Garcia, cultural preservation officer for the Wyandotte Tribe of Oklahoma, said among their activities are daily educational social media posts, crafts and song preservation.

The tribe recently sent a group to Wyandotte Days in Monroe, Michigan, where Wyandottes lived in the 1700s. The group hosted field trips for about 2,000 kids at the River Raisin National Battlefield Park.

Garcia said there are 576 tribes in the United States. In Oklahoma, there are 39 tribes that have come from all over the U.S.

People can have stereotypical images of Native Americans, lumping them all in together, she said.

“I think that people don’t realize that each one of us is different,” Garcia said of the different tribes. “We all have different cultures, we all have different languages, we all have different histories. This is a great time to share our culture so that it’s respected, not looked down upon.”

Wallace said she views the month as a time of inclusivity. The Eastern Shawnee tribal land is located adjacent to Jasper and Newton counties, but the invisible line of the border seems to block their presence from people, she said.

She used to teach at Crowder College and talked with students who thought there were few minorities in the area. It’s quite the opposite, she said, as within a few miles there are nine tribes. Seven of those tribes were forcibly removed from the Ohio Valley.

“I am always amazed at how little the people of the Missouri side know about the Native Americans on the Oklahoma side,” Wallace said. “There’s much to learn.”

Sonny Glass, vice chairman of the Quapaw Business Committee, said the month is a good time to remind people that Native Americans have always been here. They’ve consistently tried to take care of their culture, their lands and their people.

Art exhibit

One of the ways the Quapaw Nation is celebrating Native American Heritage Month is a collaborative exhibit with the Post Art Library in Joplin. Currently on display through the end of the month, the exhibit showcases Quapaw art and history.

Quapaw potter Betty Gaedtke’s work showcases the techniques that have fallen to the wayside. Gaedtke digs her clay from ground and often uses traditional Quapaw techniques to make her pottery.

In addition to pottery such as bowls, the exhibit includes her ceremonial pieces to be placed in graves. Gaedtke said her goal is to bring these pottery pieces back to burial ceremonies.

Through her efforts and research, the Quapaw now have a dedicated pottery studio to carry on these techniques and teach them to younger generations.

“I really hope this exhibit encourages people to ask about the Quapaw Nation,” Gaedtke said. “Who are we, where did we come from? Some people think the Quapaw completely perished. But we want to tell you we are here and here to stay.”

In addition to education, another way to celebrate the month is through supporting Native American-owned businesses, Garcia said. There’s many local gift shops run by area tribes. Online shops owned by tribes are also a good option, like Eighth Generation or Teton Trade Cloth.

Garcia said some people might be worried that it is appropriation to buy Native American beadwork or clothing.

“It’s actually appreciation as long as you’re purchasing it from an actual Native American,” Garcia said. “You just have to be careful that it is a Native American tribe or person. There’s a lot of misleading people who say they are Native, which is in fact illegal.”

Leading to awareness

Native American Heritage Month should lead to awareness, Wallace said. She proudly notes the tribe was recently active in having eight of the Eastern Shawnee’s mounds in the Ohio Valley entered into world heritage status through UNESCO.

One of the Eastern Shawnee’s concerns is that the history books are largely missing in this history about Native Americans, she said.

“It would be interesting if people would check and see textbooks their school is using,” Wallace said. “Check to see what they say about Native Americans and how much are they included.”

All of the leaders encourage the education and awareness to extend far past November.

Glass said for the past 151 years, they’ve had a Quapaw powwow over the Fourth of July holiday. This is a good place to start becoming familiar with Native American history and culture.

Everybody is willing to talk with them, and asking questions opens up a lot of doors, he said.

Even the experience itself can be a moment of revelation.

“There’s the music itself from the drums,” Glass said. “It feels like it’s your heart singing to you. These are the things we are proud of and are glad the community is seeing that.”

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MATHISTON, Miss. (WCBI) – A local singer-songwriter is getting some major recognition for his work. Mathiston native, Matt Lomax has always loved music, and recently the music business was returning some of that love.

Lomax was nominated for Country Vocalist of the Year at this year’s Josie Awards in Nashville.

The Josie Awards recognizes outstanding independent artists.

Becoming a singer-songwriter just seemed a good fit for Lomax.

“Music has always been a part of my life. I have been listening to music for as long as I can remember. I used to sneak into karaoke places and play when I was about 14. Music has gotten me through a lot of things and a lot of tough situations in life. So, it has always just been a big part of my life,” said Lomax.

Country music is a tough business to break into, and Lomax said there’s a lot of competition.

“The toughest part is standing out. Throughout other artists and other musicians, there are so many talented artists out there. So, to stand out and to get booked for the show is definitely the toughest part of the job,” said Lomax.

But he has some advice for future artists.

“One thing I would say to them is to keep going. People will want to knock you down, but keep going and do your own thing,” said Lomax.

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