CLEVELAND, Ohio — There's a big picture of Cleveland that most people see, but "there's a beating heart of the city you can't see just by flying over it," Andrew Spirk says.
Spirk should know: His team at Clockwork 9 creative agency has documented a few beats of that heart in their documentary series, "Artisans of the Land."
"We decided to go out and find people that represented that spirit of entrepreneurship but also had this imbued artistry in everything they do," Spirk, who serves as Clockwork 9's managing director, told 3News.
The six-part series profiles a neighborhood barber shop, a ceramicist, a custom framer, a screen printing business, a local chef, and a mural artist — quite a varied palette of artisans, but each with their own place in the diverse community of Cleveland.
"I would consider myself an artisan," Clockwork 9 post-production supervisor Adam Huffman says. He isn't a subject of the docuseries, but crafted the segments profiling the artisans and capturing their passion.
"It's amazing," he admitted. "It's almost like what they're giving to other people, I'm able to give to someone else in a roundabout way."
The fabric of a community is made up of many threads, and Cleveland is no different.
"We have great talent here; we have these niche spots," according to Huffman. Spirk added, "It's not about how much they succeed, but it's about how much they get out of what they do every day."
Those threads are woven tightly together here in The Land. To view the full production of "Artisans of The Land," head to clockwork9.com.