Megan Gatto of Art With A Heart brings out the starving artist in Nestor to promote the new space in Hampden, which is scheduled for a grand opening on November 30th.
Megan Gatto from Art With A Heart discussed the organization’s mission and upcoming changes. Art With A Heart provides 16,000 art classes annually across Baltimore, serving ages 2-102, and offers workforce development, leadership programs, and community art initiatives. They work with 3,000 volunteers and have over 300 public art installations. The organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary by opening a new satellite location in Hampden, featuring a social enterprise store called Heartwares. The grand opening is scheduled for November 30, with a ribbon-cutting at 11 AM. Founder Randy Puppet is retiring in June after 25 years of service.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Art With A Heart, nonprofit visual art, workforce development, social enterprise store, leadership program, community art, public art installations, arts education, Baltimore City Schools, equitable access, grand opening, Small Business Saturday, 25th anniversary, Randy Puppet, creative thinkers
SPEAKERS
Megan Gatto, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W N, S T, Dallas, Baltimore, Baltimore, positive. We hope you’re setting a spot out on the dial. We doing a lot of sports around here, but doing a lot of civic stuff, certainly a lot of rock and roll and music of all kinds. During our International Music Day celebration and Thanksgiving coming up and the holidays right around the corner. I got my first batch of eggnog today with my royal farms coffee. So I am, I am grateful for the holidays, and so we mix things up around in a lot of ways. And I had a cool piece come to me from my friend Karen, said that the art with a heart is having some changes, growing, doing cool stuff. And I’m like, I’m on their mailing list. They they know about me. They know I’m into this art thing. So making Cotto is here. She’s stepping in for a randy puppet who’s a veteran around here for all things art with a heart. They got a lot of things going on. I want to give them the floor to talk about this. How are you first things? First Man, this is tough when the sun starts to set. This time of year for all of us artists, when we get less daylight, which is why I, you know, I went to the sunrise theme here for the new theme in the 26th anniversary. Megan, good morning.
Megan Gatto 01:14
I am good. I am excited to be here. And I am not loving the sun setting early. I like to say I’m solar powered, so it’s been challenging. My husband reminded me today we don’t have to stop doing things at 430 when the sun goes down. It just
Nestor Aparicio 01:31
feels like we’re supposed to. And I ate that, and it’s cold as hell, like I had to go find my gloves and my scarf and my hat. And I’m like, I preferred the 80 degree. I went to New York two weeks ago because I like art and walking around and doing all sorts like, and it was 80 degrees. And I’m like, I’m just going to go and just drink it in, because it’s November, and I saw the election the day before, and I’m like, and now, like, it’s back to this, and we have months of this, so thank goodness there are artists like you to brighten days, right? And I know you guys do a lot of great work at art with arts. So let’s start with this. If I see you in the elevator and say, give me the 92nd elevator speech. What is art with a heart other than a great local organization?
Megan Gatto 02:13
Other than a great local organization? We are a specifically non profit visual art organization. We provide as many as 16,000 classes a year in schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, treatment facilities, senior centers. We really work with ages two all the way to 102 and beyond. That’s really the core of what we do all across the Baltimore community. But in addition to those classes, we have a workforce development program where we use art as a way to teach job skills. We have a social enterprise store where we sell the student artwork and they get the proceeds from the sales. We have a leadership program for high school students. And we also have a incredibly robust community art and service initiative. We work with as many as 3000 volunteers a year, and have over 300 public art installations across Baltimore City, everything from a paper mache peacock to a mosaic sculpture in front of University of Maryland and small, large, a little bit of everything
Nestor Aparicio 03:17
other than doing what I do. I’m a writer, right? So, I mean, I’m a words guy from way back. That’s all I’ve ever really done for 40 years, been writer, and my artistic skills come to play as a one time newspaper design person. I design all the elements of Baltimore, positive despite sometimes what Jessica Vallis can draw up for me as our official artist around who has, you know, the master’s degree and like all that stuff, but I think of what you do in some ways. And my wife is very artsy, right? Like her and her sister, making jewelry, Etsy, this that do things, buff up my beautiful Pacifica belt buckles, and the things that I consider art, but I’m not artistic at all. Other maybe able to sing a song in a band, not so much, right? But I think about art from my childhood, and I know Joyce Bucha is going to be listening. She was my art teacher in 10th grade in high school, when I flunked out of typing because I was missing a finger, and I mentioned I’m a writer, but flunked out of typing, right? So it’s a long story with a really, really long white ribbon that people your age don’t know about every with every flying cap. So Joyce was my art teacher, and we did the god ponchalism, and we walked around galleries and did the cones as we you know. And I’m broadcasting, by the way, free plug gertrudes. I’ll be at the BMA on on the fifth with Dan Rodricks and Chef shields, my cousin, eating crab cakes and whatever John puts in front of me, but probably a lot of aggression and holiday food and drinking eggnog as well. But I love art, but I’m not good at it, and my wife, like, would do the wine thing or the art with yoga. And I’m a yoga dude, but I just want my when I’m done with yoga, I ain’t drawn, uh, other than stick figures, but you bring. Out this feeling of me that when I was a kid making clay things and making things, that if my wife pulled me by the ear and said there was wine involved and pretty girls and good music and nice vibe and new people and maybe some charcuterie, you know, maybe I look, I mean, am I? Am I speaking your language? Here
Megan Gatto 05:21
to some geez,
Nestor Aparicio 05:22
I didn’t even read the press notes, Karen, and I’m speaking her language, right? The thing is,
Megan Gatto 05:26
and I made a face, because we tell everyone, as soon as you walk through our doors, you’re an artist. You know, we have corporate volunteers who come, accountants that come, and they’re,
Nestor Aparicio 05:37
I do all of my spreadsheets in these old dick pens, those are colored, right? I mean, I am very color or, I mean, I see the world in a in a bit of a spectrum way. I think people would tell me that who know me? You know what I mean? Yeah,
Megan Gatto 05:52
but it is we, our goal as an organization is to make art accessible to everyone. And you know, you talk about having art in school growing up, and unfortunately, it is not a myth that Baltimore City Public Schools don’t all have art teachers. And so one of our goals, in addition to all of the things that I mentioned, is to fill the gap of arts education. And that’s like I said, many different ways. It’s after school, but it’s also in school, so we provide support to 17 Baltimore City Schools as their art teacher. So schools might have a dance teacher or a theater teacher, and they might not have access to a fine arts teacher. They might have someone on maternity leave or someone’s on FMLA, an art with a heart will come and provide the arts instruction, and we provide a teacher and an assistant in every classroom, so always two people. We provide curriculum, we provide all of the supplies to make sure that the students, no matter where they live in Baltimore, whatever neighborhood, whatever zip code, that they’re getting equitable access to arts education. Because can you imagine a second grader having never had an art class, and then we talk about, you know, they scissor skills are behind, or kids don’t know how to use rulers, and the only way to teach them those things is to give them, give them the scissors and help them practice and cut things out and make it fun, so that they’re not frustrated, that they’re excited to learn, because they at the end of it, they get to a cute Penguin or a snowman or, you know, whatever they’re making for the day.
Nestor Aparicio 07:28
Are you from around here?
Megan Gatto 07:30
I grew up sort of between Baltimore and Annapolis from. Where’d
Nestor Aparicio 07:34
you go? I’m from.
Megan Gatto 07:35
I’m from Crofton. And Alright,
Nestor Aparicio 07:38
alright, my Denny nagels from Crofton. He roots for the wrong football team. So I worry about you folks down there. Maybe you know you’re on the wrong baseball team,
Megan Gatto 07:45
wrong football or Baltimore Orioles.
Nestor Aparicio 07:47
I would always ask the older people say, did you read the Washington Post to the Baltimore Sun? You may say we read the Annapolis capital because we were in Crofton, right in the Washington I think a Crofton is being more Washington than Baltimore for some reason. But that’s just me. So I, you know, I would just say this, and I’ve never told this story. Megan, I have done maybe 30, 40,000 hours of radio in 33 years. I’ve been doing this a really long time, and I don’t ever remember telling this story. So I’m going to tell you a story now, and it’s an art story, and it involves something almost in the picture, right underneath of the Baltimore Well, this side the Baltimore positive low, I told you spectrum, I don’t know left from right in reverse. It’s like a it’s like a weird that’s in every mirror box. So anyway, the Baltimore Science Center down at the the harbor, when I was a boy was new, and I drew a shoe. It was a hush puppy shoe, because in class we had a pencil, like pencil, and you rubbed it, you know, like to get it to look cloudy. It was a it was an art skill. You’re the artist. You told me what the skill is. Joyce is going to be mad. You’re practicing shading, shading. Thank you. Thank you. Shading. So I did this thing on the Manila paper, and it was my shoe, and I’m being really honest fully. I’m 56 and I’m coming clean on this. I didn’t feel like it was totally my work, like the teacher helped me a little bit with the shading part of it, but apparently I did a pretty good job, but when it was done, it looked a little too good for my work. And I might have been eight or nine, seven. I was literally in elementary school, for sure, and the piece got selected to be on display at the Science Center. I told you, I’ve never told it, you better cry talking about my parents. So my parents and I got on the bus and we went down to the Science Center because my thing was up in the atrium with 100 other kids, and the same way that, like I went into a fast food joint the other day and they had pictures and crayons and what kids do. But like as a kid, I don’t know that I’ve told that story in almost 50 years. I certainly have never told it on the radio, but I guess it speaks to. What what you’re trying to do, right? It’s
Megan Gatto 10:02
a difference to feel celebrated like, you know, not every student in our classes is going to be a famous artist. Maybe they will, maybe they will. Let’s start there. Maybe
Nestor Aparicio 10:13
they will. Well, you really notice, if you spent two days in New York, go through the subways, because everything’s art there, right? I mean, they try to use every space in this way.
Megan Gatto 10:21
And I think the most important thing is that when you participate in art, when you engage in art, it changes your brain. And it’s really about building creative thinkers, creative problem solvers. And if they’re not, if they’re an artist, wonderful, but if they’re not an artist, they’re going to bring that creative thinking to any career that they’re in. See, here it
Nestor Aparicio 10:45
is, right? Here, here’s the evidence, right? I’m I’m a stick figure. I’m telling you, I had a thing displayed, and I I didn’t feel worthy of it. You know what I mean? Because I saw other people like, I have a lot of friends in my life that are really still amazing artists. They had that skill when they were eight or nine. They didn’t go into one of them plays drums and sings in a rock and roll band. Other one is a construction engineering guy. But, I mean, these were the kids that were like, were really like, they could sketch anything. Draw anything. Draw me, you know, draw car cartoons. Even 40 years later, we look back and we see the difference in the skill sets. But what you do with it, I guess, is how it can be used in the real world. Tell everybody about your storefront and stuff, because you guys are doing great things. Art with a heart. I’m spilling my guts to you. Megan, you’re making me bear my was it the coffee? Is it the royal folks coffee? Doing this? No, it’s
Megan Gatto 11:33
me. I’m a great listener. Well, it’s
Nestor Aparicio 11:36
the art thing, because you got me talking about Joyce and good stuff here. Activate folks. Tell folks what’s going on, because you guys are doing some really cool stuff and moving into some new space right. Busy.
Megan Gatto 11:46
Incredible things are happening the organ so we are turning 25 years old, and in a city with 5000 nonprofits, I cannot tell you how big of a deal that is, that we have been around and thriving and growing and flourishing for 25 years, and as part of that growth, we are opening a satellite location in Hamden on the avenue 36th street, right next to the 711 and across from Golden West. We are opening a storefront and a workforce development space. So our storefront is called heartwares. It’s our social enterprise store where we sell artwork made by students in our workforce development program. And it is going to be an incredible place to do your holiday shopping and to do meaningful, purposeful shopping. So any piece that you buy is supporting our work with students, and it’s supporting the students directly. And every piece has been made by students in our program. And when you talk about your experience with your artwork being displayed at the Science Center, our students, when they see their artwork in the store, they have that experience of pride and like, holy crap,
Nestor Aparicio 12:59
I can, if somebody buys it for 25 bucks or 50 bucks, even right matters.
Megan Gatto 13:04
What i i can create and put out into the world matters and has value. And you know, we our students, come from all different backgrounds. We don’t know if they’re getting that other places. So that’s just one way that we as an organization pour into students, but the community at large can pour into our students by supporting their artwork and supporting our store. So we are having a grand opening on November 30, the Small Business Saturday.
Nestor Aparicio 13:30
By the way, I’m a small business. Support small business. Everyone talking about it. All of you, I see you pulling into these box stores and chains and whatnot, buying. So I’ll give in to the
Megan Gatto 13:42
Black Friday sales. Um, this is my internal mantra as well. Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday, November 30, we’re having a ribbon cutting at 11am we’re going to be there until six, and it is the opening night for Miracle on 34th Street. So come hang out with us. Get some meaningful artwork.
Nestor Aparicio 14:03
Maybe start caroling now, aren’t you, right? Lights. I
Megan Gatto 14:07
know Christmas is up. I we’re, we love a Thanksgiving in our households. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 14:12
getting there. I mean, I’m, I’m this close to Mariah Carey. You know what? I mean, like I’m thinking about it. I’m not but I did go out a week and a half ago, and I walked into one of those spaces where everything became december 24 and I’m like, Whoa. Time out. It’s still October, to me, until we get to two digits in November, it’s still October, right? November 30, we
Megan Gatto 14:31
can switch over, you come come shop, and then you can switch over to Christmas. I
Nestor Aparicio 14:36
got eggnog. I swear to God, I’m drinking eggnog. First thing this morning is the first time I’ve had eggnog. My wife said, how was it? I said, You know what? It’s really tasty. Was a little thin because I got the lighter eggnog, and I thought, I’m ready to work into the good stuff. But not till after I get the pumpkin pie down. Mega Gatto was here. G A, T, T, O, um, almost like God el del Sol, who won the Preakness back in the 80s. That’s another racehorse and all of that stuff. I. Um, small business Saturdays, the 30th art with a heart. Uh, every you can find everything online. You can Google it up. Um, they do all sorts of really cool stuff. And they have this party at the Hippodrome in March, so you can find out all the cool stuff they do. But come down. Everybody that’s listening to me is going to Hamden to the lights at some point, probably, if they’re smart, stop by ecoben and getting that broccoli tempura, or going up the street and get one of those delicious oyster things on the Sunday that I add oyster fridge. You
Megan Gatto 15:29
can’t go wrong. You absolutely can’t go wrong on the avenue. Stop in and see us. We’re going to be open Saturdays and Sundays and during the week as well. We’re closed on Mondays. But after
Nestor Aparicio 15:39
never had a bad time in Hamden ever in my life. Never just adding
Megan Gatto 15:43
to the party. Now we’re adding to the party. We’re so excited to be there. Pretty,
Nestor Aparicio 15:47
artsy city, aren’t we? Like, really, like, my, my, my wife’s sibling came down to Baltimore, never 12 years ago, and like, pick Baltimore to come to college. And I say that COVID states, one of our partners. You know Morgan. I mean, people come into the city and go to school. I went to UB, right? So I’m a Dundalk guy, community college kid and like all that. But she came down to go to Micah and the art scene. And my friend Michelle mode having friends in the art space here, we’re more artsy than most people in Towson or Parkville or Glen Burnie or wherever, would realize and we’re more foodie than that, I think. And this is part of being Baltimore positive. I think we’re cooler than we think we are when people come in, and especially with you open in a really a gallery in Hampden, all of my crab cake places see people from all over the country, all over and they come here because, like, as John Waters would say, we’re a little weird, right? I mean, let’s keep it that way. Yeah.
Megan Gatto 16:49
I mean, there’s, there’s so much personality, there’s so much life. And you know, one of the reasons we love being in Hampton is because it is, it’s funky, it’s colorful, and that’s very artwork. I’m
Nestor Aparicio 17:01
writing this down. I’m the new Hampton chair. Colivico, damn right. We are right on. Throw the hunt in there too. Anything Did I leave anything out here? Megan, I mean, just, I mean, I can say five years, okay, 25
Megan Gatto 17:19
years, we’re going to have a huge event in on March 29 2025 which is soon,
Nestor Aparicio 17:26
do I get to put something good on? And you like wear a fun, colorful, oh yeah,
Megan Gatto 17:30
gonna be it’s gonna be a big party with a band and creative cocktail attire, color, colorful and funky again. And there’s just a lot of new me
Nestor Aparicio 17:43
on social media. You have no idea at asking me to put color into my wardrobe is not difficult, good. You’ll fit right in. No, I’m gonna have it. So what kind of party is it? What do you mean the band? Or you would,
Megan Gatto 17:57
it’s gonna be a band. It’s that. It’s gonna be at the M T Bank Exchange, which is attached to the Hippodrome that space, and we’re going to have a band. We don’t really do formal seated like
Nestor Aparicio 18:11
it’s that dancing. It’s a party, alright? Interactives,
Megan Gatto 18:16
hands on, art activities, because where are with a heart. That’s what we do. Alright, it’s been really fun. And our opening, I should say, at our opening, we are also going to have some treats. We really don’t do anything without food and snacks, but we’re also going to have some hands on art activities at our opening. And this is all also part of Randy pumpkin, as you mentioned. She is our founder and executive director. She is retiring in June. Why? Because she’s tired.
Nestor Aparicio 18:47
She’s aren’t we all I said that. Tell her I know she
Megan Gatto 18:53
raised her actual kids, and she’s raised this organization to be a, you know, a 25 year old
Nestor Aparicio 18:59
so you can run it. Come on show now and have fun with me. Get up with me. Deal with me. You know, I’m laughing at you because I’m thinking of my childhood now, like you really have stirred me up today about art and that goofy shoe that I drew years ago. You know, all I want to do is play baseball, right? So, like, I played sports. So if it was arts and crafts, you could see the face I’m making, like, you know, lemons or I was gonna play ball. I always went and played ball, right? So, but I’m thinking like I was thinking your event on March 29 I’m thinking, would there be face painting? You know? I mean, I’m just trying to think of fun things for the kids like me, you know. Well, we’re
Megan Gatto 19:37
not going to have face painting, but we are going to have mosaics. We’re going to have coloring. We’re going to have painting projects. A little bit, you can make
Nestor Aparicio 19:45
me look like Paul Stanley from Kiss. I’ll pull my hair down, I’m telling put the star on. Maybe we’ll
Megan Gatto 19:50
have a special we’ll have a special section for you.
Nestor Aparicio 19:54
It’s an art party. If me and three friends go to as kiss dress to kill you, would welcome us in right? You? And you’d be like, Hey, look at them. They’re part they
Megan Gatto 20:02
they’re into it. Hey, everybody’s welcome. Everybody’s welcome to the party. It’s a visual
Nestor Aparicio 20:06
party. I want to express myself. How about that? Absolutely, I’ll be like, Andy Warhol. I’ll be like, living art, like, something like that, right? Eastern Pittsburgh. I’m not talking about him. This week at Steelers week, Maggie Gatto is here. She is with art, with a heart. Please go out and support them down in Hampton as they open up. And support all small business in Andy. Get your butts down there on the 30th and support them for the grand opening and ribbon cutting and all that stuff. And I hope to see you and everyone else on the 29th of March for the big Soiree and tell Randy she retiring. Was she going to do golf? That’s what Billick did. She’s not going to come back and volunteer. I’m going to put her to work. Well, right? Because she made all that. It’s all that wisdom when the silver hair grows in that you need to have. I am Nestor Luke’s running around doing ravens this week, we’ve had an incredible music display here through the holiday of literally hundreds of musicians who spent time with me back when I was a kid, doing the almost famous thing that you can watch in the 40th anniversary documentary. So lots of conversations on I’m tracking down Gina shock because she’s putting the Go goes back together and dragging her out. The Maryland crab cake Tour is presented by our friends at the Maryland lottery. I’ll be giving away Raven scratch offs throughout December at the aforementioned fifth of December, with my friend John shields, my cousin by marriage, and Dan Rodricks, who’s an artist of another kind, doing his theater over at the the BMA and over Gertrude, that’s on the fifth will be a Cocos, nobody more artistic than Marcella and her parents over at the Cocos. On the fourth, the Maryland crab cakes were presented by the Maryland lottery conjunction with Jiffy Lube, multi care. I am Nestor, doing good deeds around town, trying to have some fun here. Keep it light through the holidays. We all need brighter days. I am Nestor. We are W N, S T A of 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive. You.
