BJ Robinson: In this edition of "KPBS Arts," a San Diego playwright reveals her writing process.

Dea Hurston: I want to write about black people doing normal things and having normal struggles and normal joys.

BJ: A Renaissance painter's little-known darker side.

Peggy Fogelman: Botticelli is interpreting stories from ancient Roman times and contextualizing them in the political struggles of his own day.

Now we can look at Botticelli's work and interpret them through the lens of the struggles in our time.

BJ: A sprawling landscape of art from across the globe.

Ruth Adams: I think if you come to Art Omi with no expectations, you're guaranteed to have an adventure.

It's a place that you can come many times during the year, you're gonna see art that surprises you, and some of it is quiet, some of it is shocking.

BJ: And hear a song from a San Diego folk band with a punk rock edge.

♪ Keep the ball rollin', the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Gotta keep it rollin'.

♪♪ BJ: It's all ahead on this edition of "KPBS Arts."

♪♪♪ BJ: Hi, I'm BJ Robinson, and this is "KPBS Arts," the show that explores art of all kinds.

Dea Hurston is an award-winning San Diego playwright.

She tells us about the unusual path that helped her discover her talent.

Dea: The thing that really told me I was a writer and inspired me to continue to write was the way that the actors reacted, and they said to me, these black actors, they said to me that if I could write words for them like that, if I could write characters for them like that, that I had a responsibility to do it.

Family is a central theme in my plays and I think there are several reasons for that.

One is I think you write about what you know and I grew up in a small town in Ohio and really didn't have access to the arts.

We really couldn't go into arts venues because black people really weren't allowed in those places, in those days.

One of my earliest memories is wanting to take tap-dancing lessons.

I thought I should be the little girl that's tap dancing next to Bojangles and not Shirley Temple.

And my mother took me there.

They told my mother that they just couldn't allow little colored girls to come to the tap school.

It was the first time I'd ever seen my mother cry because she couldn't overcome that and make my dream come true of learning how to tap dance, and that experience never left me.

It's something that I have dedicated my life to, is access for children and for people of color to the arts on all levels.

So, sometimes people ask me why I waited so long to start a writing career, and that was not my plan.

I did not plan to be a writer.

I was busy being a mother and a teacher and I served on the City's Arts Commission for eight or nine years.

And then about 12 years ago, I had a terrible accident and it left me extremely immobile.

And in the midst of that, I was diagnosed with cancer.

And basically, I lost my life for six or seven years.

One of the issues I had at that time from the accident was I was unable to read.

I could not comprehend information and I could not retain information.

But I realized that I could still write and so when I tried to get my life back, I took a class at Playwrights Project and just something happened in that class and it clicked with me.

And I knew at that point I was a playwright.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Dea: The project I'm currently working on is "1222 Oceanfront Home: A Black Family Christmas."

And we're producing that at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad, California, and in "Home," you spend Christmas Eve with the Black family, which has been a tradition for 30 years but, as all good things must come to an end, maybe this tradition comes to an end too.

Most of my characters are black people and I try to write them so that they are in normal everyday situations.

I do not write trauma plays.

I want to write about black people doing normal things and having normal struggles and normal joys.

And people say, "Well, how do you do it, you know, how do you keep going?

How do you keep writing when you're fighting cancer?"

And it does tire you out and it is a struggle.

But it's being in this artists' community that keeps me going, that keeps me writing, that keeps me alive, and so, I am proud to be a cancer warrior, and I will continue to write because it is the way that I fight this terrible, terrible disease.

BJ: And now, here's a look at some of the arts events happening this week in our community.

BJ: Even in his own time, the Renaissance painter Botticelli was a superstar, celebrated for his pristine beauty.

But a new exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston reveals a much darker side of Botticelli's intentions as he delved into two devastating stories.

They're fables for his time and ours.

Jared Bowen: Sandro Botticelli was a legend, even in his own time.

A leading figure of the Italian Renaissance, he built a name for himself, painting works like "Primavera" and "The Birth of Venus," and taking on the divine, right alongside or rather, underneath, Michelangelo.

Nathaniel Silver: Botticelli forged his reputation on the crucible of the Sistine Chapel in the 1480s when he led a group of Florentine painters to Rome at the Pope's request and covered the walls of the chapel with the most monumental narrative scenes from the Old Testament.

Jared: Nathaniel Silver is the curator of the collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Botticelli, he says, was the go-to artist for some of Rome's wealthiest patrons who sometimes commissioned grisly subject matter, tales of rape and murder seen here in the story of Lucretia and the story of Virginia, which have been reunited outside of Italy for the first time since the 16th century.

Nathaniel: Lucretia and Virginia were both ancient Roman noblewomen, renowned for their heroism in the face of violence by men.

Lucretia was raped and, to defend her honor and that of her family, she committed suicide.

And Virginia was murdered by her father to prevent damage to the honor of the family.

Jared: Their stories are shocking and horrendous examples of abuse by powerful men.

But they were meant to be cautionary tales, especially in Florence which had recently overthrown the tyrannical rulers, the Medici family, says Museum director Peggy Fogelman.

Peggy: Botticelli is interpreting stories from ancient Roman times and contextualizing them in terms of the political struggles of his own day.

And so now we can look at Botticelli's work and interpret them through the lens of the political struggles in our time.

Jared: Part of that contextualization comes through the work of Karl Stevens, a graphic novelist and cartoonist for "The New Yorker."

He tells the women's stories just as Botticelli once did.

Jared: Now this is pretty intense.

You take us into this story nearly as Botticelli does.

Peggy: Well, what Karl has done by placing these hands here, when we're standing right in front of his cartoon, those become our hands so he actually places us right in the middle of the action and there's no way to personalize this story more than feeling like we are actors in this drama.

Jared: The death of Lucretia led to the establishment of the Republic of Rome, and the death of Virginia sparked the restoration of that Republic.

They were violent milestones, although here, Botticelli holds back.

Nathaniel: In the story of Lucretia, he shows Tarquin attacking Lucretia, but he doesn't actually show her rape.

In the subsequent scene, he shows Lucretia fainting in front of her family but he does not show her actually committing suicide.

There was nothing he could depict and paint that would be anywhere near as disturbing as his viewers could imagine if he gave them the right tools to get there.

Jared: So take me through how this story unfolds.

Nathaniel: So this is a complicated story.

Renaissance viewers didn't read left to right.

But we start here at the far left.

We see the king's son, Tarquin, threatening Lucretia on her doorstep.

The next day, we see Lucretia and she's confronting her family.

She's explaining what's just happened and they're outraged.

It all culminates in this incredible crowd scene in the center.

Jared: Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1894, this was the first Botticelli in America.

It's loaded, Silver says, with historic and architectural metaphors.

Nathaniel: Above her, you see embedded in this building, a low-relief scene depicting a man on horseback confronting an invading enemy army.

Now, this is a story also from ancient Roman history, the story of a warrior named Horatius Cocles.

Effectively, he was going on a suicide mission, and that's exactly what Lucretia is about to do here.

So the heroism of that particular type is exactly the kind of action which Lucretia is about to take in her own story.

Jared: And, which persists.

Peggy: I think it's actually in the DNA of the Gardner to link the historical past with the contemporary present and, through art, to begin these conversations and really mine the collection for the significance and meaning that it can have in our own lives.

BJ: For more information go to gardnermuseum.org.

And now, here's a look at some upcoming arts events around San Diego.

BJ: The Fields Sculpture Park at Art Omi in Ghent, New York, presents the works of internationally recognized contemporary and modern artists, spread over a sprawling natural landscape.

Here's a look.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Ruth: Art Omi is a 120-acre sculpture and architecture park, open to the public, no charge, showing contemporary sculpture and architecture, and we're bringing international art and artists to the Hudson Valley to expose people to new work and new ideas, to challenge our audience, and to enrich their lives.

The wonderful thing about visiting Art Omi is that you can do it on foot, you can do it on one of our bikes.

In the winter, you can do it on skis.

It's free.

You can bring your dog, you can bring your kids.

It's a safe environment to explore, and the landscape is very rolling so you could kind of turn a corner and be surprised by something.

It's never predictable but it's always a pleasant surprise, it's sort of an adventure.

♪♪♪ Nicole Hayes: We're constantly looking at contemporary art, what is out there.

We're looking at our contemporary institutions, other sculpture parks, major public art initiatives in major cities, following what they're doing, and then within that, trying to find things that kind of push the boundary of what is contemporary art and what is art in the landscape as well as looking at things that will really engage our audience.

You know, we are in a rural area in upstate New York and we are trying to find something that will connect with the people here that is diverse as people that have lived in this community for generations as well as a lot of people coming up from urban areas like New York City who have second homes here.

Ruth: It's unusual in that there are pieces that you can inhabit, so you have a glass house on a pond.

We've got Reactor, that is the house that blows in the wind and tips when the architect performs in it.

We have a new piece called Zoid that's an amazing little, like, an octopus with five arms that you can go into and see the park from.

♪♪♪ Nicole: A huge favorite in the park and definitely one of mine is Tony Tasset's deer.

♪♪♪ Nicole: The piece is a 20-foot-long, 12-foot-high fiberglass deer and the artist is really interested in this notion of roadside attractions.

Ruth: And a lot of people just run up to it and get their picture taken immediately.

It's really a hot social media spot.

You know, kids really get it.

Kids are open and I think they are wonderful in that they also lead their parents.

We have education programming that's connected to the park so kids are outside, half of their class, engaging with the work, and then coming back inside and doing projects about what they've seen.

We also have international residency programs.

So we bring artists, writers, musicians, dancers, architects, from all over the world and they stay here.

They work, they explore, they experiment, and they build community.

The Charles B. Benenson Visitor Center was built in 2008 so we opened in 2008 as the first LEED-certified commercial building in Columbia County.

It's a special building.

It's built with a lot of local materials, local bluestone and slate and mushroom wood.

So there's a real tactile sense.

There's horsehair under the counters that kids love to touch.

The gallery shows work all year round: painting, sculpture, installation.

And right now we have a wonderful show of Tom Nozkowski.

♪♪♪ Ruth: I think if you come to Art Omi with no expectations, you're guaranteed to have an adventure.

It's a place that you can come many times during the year, you're gonna see art that surprises you, and some of it is quiet, some of it is shocking.

And it's always intriguing and interesting.

Nicole: It's been really exciting to see more and more people in the park.

Very rarely, even in the depths of winter, am I ever alone out there in this park.

It's just very exciting to see the community really engaging with what we're doing.

♪♪♪ BJ: You can find out more by visiting artomi.org.

♪♪♪ BJ: They're a folk band with a punk rock edge, turning elements of Celtic, bluegrass, and New Orleans funk into a high-energy mix that's pure fun.

Here's a song from San Diego band Finnegan Blue.

Willie Fleming: This song is called "Keep the Ball Rolling."

It's on our album, and you better just keep that ball rolling.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep it rollin', keep it rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep it rollin'.

♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rollin', keep the ball rollin'.

♪ ♪ Gotta keep it rollin', keep it rollin' ♪ ♪ Keep it rolling, yeah.

♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Ah, yeah.

♪ ♪ C'mon.

♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ You gotta keep the ball rolling.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rolling.

♪ ♪ Keep the ball rolling.

♪ ♪ You gotta keep the-- ♪ ♪ Keep that ball rolling.

♪ ♪ Keep that ball-- ♪♪ ♪♪♪ Willie: Keep it rolling.

We're Finnegan Blue.

♪♪♪ BJ: For more, connect with Finnegan Blue on Instagram @finneganbluesd.

And that wraps it up for this edition of "KPBS Arts."

For more arts and culture, visit KPBS.org/Arts, where you'll find feature videos, blogs, and information on upcoming arts events.

Until next time, I'm BJ Robinson.

Thanks for watching.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ CC by Aberdeen Captioning www.aberdeen.io 1-800-688-6621 female announcer: Support for this program comes from the KPBS Explore Local Content Fund, supporting new ideas and programs for San Diego.