| Click on a film title to see more |
|
|---|---|
 |
1492 Revisited
This remarkable documentary features provocative artwork from the widely touring exhibition, Counter Colon-Ialismo, to provide an alternative perspective on the quincentenary of Columbus's "discovery" of the "New World." |
 |
Accident by Design This widely acclaimed exploration of beauty in art and nature features a stellar cast of commentators from among the leading figures in the arts and sciences, and has elicited from them righ threads of insight and personal testimony that are woven together into a complex tapestry of image, word, and music. |
 |
All About Looking
Renowned American artist Jim Dine teaches drawing (from male and female nude models) at the famed Internationale Sommerakademie fur Bildene Kunst in Salzburg, Austria. |
 |
American Impressionists
and Realists: In Search of the New In the period between the Civil War and World War I America underwent great social and technological change and produced two important groups of artists: the Impressionists and the Realists. |
 |
The Angel That Stands
By Me: Minnie Evans' Paintings Minnie Evans is the embodiment of the visionary artist. She is an 88-year-old Black painter in North Carolina who has created a rich world of mythical animals, religious symbols, and natural beauty. See also Visions of Paradise. |
 |
The Beach This exceptional documentary portrays the history of San Francisco's North Beach in the 1950s, focusing on the artists, writers, and "Beat" hipsters who made "The Beach" legendary. |
 |
Between Light and
Shadow: Maya Women in Transition This vibrant, wide-ranging documentary examines the impact on contemporary Maya culture of changes in the lives and expectations of Maya women in Guatemala. |
 |
Biennial '97: The
Whitney Museum of American Art This compelling documentary provides an unfailingly intelligent and clear-sighted tour through America's most significant exhibition of contemporary art. The 1997 Whitney Biennial is particularly significant, since it is the last to be held in the 20th century (the next Biennial will be a special exhibition planned for the year 2000). |
 |
Boneshop of the Heart
This highly original and thought-provoking film explores a rich vein of visual expression and American individuality through incisive portraits of five contemporary southern folk artists, four of whom are African-American. |
 |
Clementine Hunter:
American Folk Artist This outstanding video profiles the life and work of one of America's greatest African-American folk artists. |
|
Edward James: Builder
of Dreams This acclaimed documentary explores the world of the Surrealists by profiling the life and accomplishments of the surrealist collector, poet, and architect Edward James. |
|
Future Wave: Japan
Design Most of us know Japan primarily through its products -- seductive consumer goods whose high-tech, high-fashion styling has taken the world by storm. |
|
The Gods of Beauty
Mona Boulware Webb is a fascinating African-American "outsider" or "visionary" artist and mystic. For the past 30 years, she and her "extended family" of artists and friends have transformed her house in Madison, Wisc. into a total art environment. |
|
Grandma's Bottle Village:
The Art of Tressa Prisbrey Grandma Tressa Prisbrey built her first bottle house to hold her 17,000 pencils. This was the beginning of The Bottle Village in Simi Valley, Calif. At 84, Grandma Prisbrey is a vivacious guide to 15 of her brilliant houses crammed with objects scavenged from the county dump. See also Visions of Paradise. |
|
The Hall
of Man Commissioned by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in 1930 to sculpt "The Living Races of Mankind," American artist Malvina Hoffman traveled around the world to find models and created 104 life-sized figures, busts, and heads in bronze and stone for "The Hall of Man," the museum's resulting anthropology exhibit. |
|
Hundred and Two
Mature: The Art of Harry Lieberman Harry Lieberman, at age 102, shares with wit and wisdom his art, philosophy, and love of life. This delightful film depicts the connections between Lieberman's life and his art, which celebrates Talmudic lore and Jewish life in long-ago Eastern Europe. See also Visions of Paradise. |
|
In and Out of Africa
This extraordinary documentary is one of the most intelligent, perceptive, and engaging films ever made on African culture and art. |
|
Jim Dine: A Self-Portrait
on the Walls This Academy-Award nominee for "Best Short Documentary" records eight days of intense work and quiet rumination as internationally renowned artist Jim Dine produces an exhibition of huge, bold charcoal drawings directly on the walls of the Ludwigsburg Kunstverein near Stuttgart, Germany. |
|
Mazes and Labyrinths:
The Search for the Center This fascinating, wide-ranging documentary explores the historical and cultural aspects of mazes and labyrinths worldwide. |
|
The Monument of
Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder At age 71, Chief Thunder lives in the Nevada desert with his young wife and small children in The Monument, a concrete and stone house he built and decorated with powerful forms and arches. His overwhelming sculptures, "spirits of the living," portray Indian heroes, family, and friends. See also Visions of Paradise. |
|
Old Treasures from
New China James Earl Jones narrates this "exquisite" (Booklist) portrayal of China's evolution from a primitive society through the Yuan dynasty (about the 13th century). |
|
Paj Ntaub: Textile
Techniques of the Hmong This wide-ranging, fascinating documentary introduces the culture, history, and traditional weaving techniques of the Hmong people of Southeast Asia. |
|
Photo Wallahs Renowned ethnographic filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall explore the many meanings of photography in this profound and award-winning documentary set in India. |
|
Possom Trot: The
Life and Work of Calvin Black Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. See also Visions of Paradise. |
|
The Reluctant Muse
Throughout history, when two artists have come together it has often resulted in one holding back to let the other flourish. This insightful and intimate documentary is about husbands and wives, about sacrificing one's artistic dreams for marriage and family, and about the role of women in the world of art. |
|
Robert Irwin:
The Beauty of Questions Filmed over a five-year period, this extraordinary documentary is one of the finest explorations of an artist's life and work ever made. It captures the scope and depth of Irwin's artistic trajectory and shows that its unifying theme has been a continuous effort to catch us up in that moment when, uncannily, we perceive ourselves perceiving. |
| |
Seducing
the Guard Most films on art deal with an artist or movement. "Seducing the Guard" looks at all art, cutting across cultures and disciplines, to explore the "value" of art and the human needs it fills. |
|
Separate Visions
Profiles four pioneering Native American artists in the Southwest: Baje Whitethorne, a Navajo painter; Brenda Spencer, a Navajo weaver; John Fredericks, a Hopi kachina carver; and Nora Naranjo-Morse, a Santa Clara sculptor. |
|
The Serpent and
the Cross In several outback Australian communities, Aboriginal artists are consciously seeking a new form of artistic expression that builds bridges between traditional Aboriginal spirituality -- the Dreaming -- and Christianity. |
|
The Space of Pottery
This sensitive documentary explores the work, creative process, and philosophical perspective of internationally acclaimed ceramicist Paul Mathieu, whose works in porcelain defy conventional boundaries of craft, sculpture, and representation. |
|
Traditions for
Sale This fascinating documentary examines the lives and work of contemporary Hungarian folk artists. It explores in depth the making of embroidery, floral designs, and hand-made and hand-painted furniture. |
|
Visions
of Paradise Series These five classic films, by Academy-Award-winning producers Allie Light and Irving Saraf, are among the most insightful explorations of the creative process ever made. Each of the five films portrays the life and work of an important, self-taught, American naive artist. See the individual titles: The Angel that Stands By Me: Minnie Evans' Paintings; Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey; Hundred and Two Mature: The Art of Harry Lieberman; The Monument of Chief Rolling Thunder; and Possom Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black. |
|
Wearable Art from
California Wearable art combines aspects of the fine arts, crafts, and design, and is the preferred medium of some of America's most talented and innovative artists. This five-part series profiles six of the most prominent artists working in the field of wearable art: Ellen Hauptli, Candace Kling, Gaza Bowen, Katherine Westphal, Jean Cacicedo, and K. Lee Manuel. |
|
1492 Revisited |
 |
|---|
| This remarkable documentary features provocative artwork from the widely touring
exhibition, Counter Colon-Ialismo, to provide an alternative perspective on the quincentenary
of Columbus's "discovery" of the "New World." In the 500 years
that we have been celebrating Columbus's "discovery" of the "New World,"
the effect of that event on America's native peoples has been overlooked for the
most part. This compelling documentary changes that by providing an alternative,
"indigenous" perspective on the quincentenary of Columbus's arrival. It
features provocative artwork from the touring national exhibition Counter Colon-Ialismo
as well as challenging commentary by artists and scholars. In addition to presenting remarkable art pieces that address various aspects of the colonial encounter in the Americas, the film also raises important questions about the nature of history and its construction. In the words of one of the artists interviewed in the program, "Is it enough in a society such as ours to look at history strictly from a single point of view? Is there a need to introduce other voices?... Not so much for the purpose of getting at a single truth, but for the purpose of realizing that history, like everything else involving human beings, is ultimately a negotiation." This is essential viewing for anyone studying American history, multicultural or Native American issues, ethnography, the media, or art. Produced by Paul Espinosa for KPBS San Diego. 28 min. Color 1992 Catalog #38155 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $50 |
 |
Teachers need materials that not only engage students but help them in the hard work of critically re-visioning the received traditions of our society. This artful film does this in a most refreshing way. It is a visually and intellectually engaging production that helps us see a different Columbian legacy. -- Roger Simon, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Toronto A powerful statement, much like the art it features. -- Los Angeles Times  Natl. Educational Film Festival Gold Apple Award American Studies Assoc. selection National Assoc. of Latino Arts Organizations honoree |
|
Accident by Design |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Rhodopsin Productions Ltd One of the deepest and most universal human responses is the experience of beauty. What, though, awakens or stirs our sense of beauty? Beauty can be found in painting, music, literature, and dance, to be sure. But it can also be found in the natural landscape, skeletal x-rays, mathematical equations, and the structure of biological organisms and the cosmos. This profound and fascinating documentary explores the common principles of aesthetics. It illustrates how these same principles apply to the arts as well as to the powerful sense of wonder we sometimes feel when we look at nature itself and to what scientists can experience when they discover a new pattern in their data or a model that unifies it. The film brings together different forms of beauty from diverse sources and through careful montage enables the viewer to see what those forms have in common. It intercuts images of painting and sculpture (emphasizing works of Vermeer, Cezanne, Monet, Rembrandt, the German Expressionists, and Rodin) with images from dance, science, and nature and links the images with thought-provoking commentary by a variety of eminent artists, writers, scientists, and curators. This remarkable film will richly reward viewing in a wide array of courses dealing with art, art appreciation, aesthetics, and creativity. It is accompanied by an excellent teacher's guide. Produced by Daniel Conrad. 50 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38416 Sale: video $195; Rental: video $75 |
|
 This film is unique in its successful integration of matters that are at the center of both art and science -- the search for pattern and the appreciation of beauty. This is the sort of work that can help bridge the still-enormous gap that yawns between the 'two cultures' of science and humanities. It features a stellar cast of witnesses from among the leading figures in the arts and sciences, and has elicited from them rich threads of insight and personal testimony that are woven together into a complex tapestry of image, word, and music. This is a film that I will use in my courses on Art and Communication and Art, Artists, and Society, because it illustrates, explores, and explains important concepts in a fashion that books and articles cannot. -- Larry Gross, Prof. of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication, Univ. of Pennsylvania A wonderful film! What is especially interesting is how the discussion is edited so that a polylogue that begins by spinning out in various directions turns back and becomes a whole. And the loving luminosity of the paintings comes through so well.... -- Roald Hoffman, Nobel-Laureate and Prof. of Chemistry, Cornell Univ. UNESCO Intl. Festival of Films on Art |
|
All About Looking |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 29 min. Color 1996 Catalog #38343 Sale: video $175; Rental: video $50 |
|
 Dine the teacher emerges in this film, and he is first-rate. His bald head and hard, dark eyes become emblemsof clarity as he pushes his students to draw and redraw the same two nude models. The film is nothing less than revelatory -- a primer in the art of seeing. -- Stephan Talty, Time Out/New York Connects us to an artist with an intensity we rarely see... a moving glimpse into the roots of creativity. -- Chicago Tribune |
|
American Impressionists and Realists: In Search of the New |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: University of Texas Center of American History 22 min. Color 1994 Catalog #38294 Sale: video $175, Rental: video $50 |
|
 An excellent introduction to the richness and complexity of one of America's most dynamic eras. It can be used to advantage by instructors of history, art history, and American studies. -- Mark Thistlewaite, Prof. of Art History, Texas Christian Univ. |
|
The Angel That Stands By Me: Minnie Evans' Paintings |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Light-Saraf Films 29 min. Color 1982 Catalog #38377 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50 |
|
 This film was instrumental in establishing my understanding of the artist's dual inspiration in religion and nature. No words or exhibition can show the actual environment in which the artist works as graphically as this film. Here in Minnie Evans' home state, this film has practically assumed cult status. -- Mitchell D. Kahan, Curator, American and Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of Art |
|
The Beach |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: CA Palm 57 min. Color 1996 Catalog #38340 Sale; video $225; Rental: video $70 |
|
This is that rare item, a true-to-life history of the San Francisco bohemian scene as particular people made it -- truer because some of them, the more localized, still do make it, and 'Oh yeah,' as one says rightly, 'Ginsberg and Kerouac were around and about, too....' -- Bill Berkson, Director of Letters and Sciences, San Francisco Art Institute Mary Kerr has done a magnificent job of researching the facts and filming the actual sites where so much history has taken place. As an artist who lived and worked there for many years, I can attest that in addition to her astute documentation of the history of that time, she has also captured the true flavor, sights, and sounds, just as I so fondly remember them. -- Charles Modecke, painter |
|
Between Light and Shadow: Maya Women in Transition |
|
|---|
| This vibrant, wide-ranging documentary examines the impact on contemporary Maya culture
of changes in the lives and expectations of Maya women in Guatemala. Traditionally,
weaving and textiles have played a central role in the lives of Maya women. Today,
however, Maya women are expanding their vision of their identity and their role:
although they maintain important links to their cultural traditions, they are seeking
greater access to education and entering such fields as teaching, health care, marketing,
and painting. The film examines the lives of a number of these Maya women and explores
their efforts to improve their social and economic situation and at the same time perpetuate and revitalize their rich traditional culture. Produced by Kathryn V. Lipke. 27 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38398 Sale; video $175; Rental: video $50 |
|
 Beautifully conceived, captured, and crafted, this documentary is at once visually appealing and thought-provoking. It focuses on Maya women, their art, and their changing role in Guatemalan society, and allows the women to speak memorably of themselves, their art, and their world. Through their voices the film also touches on such related issues as ethnic identity, pride, and revitalization. I highly recommend it for introductory classes in anthropology, women's studies, art, and Latin American studies. -- Prof. Richard Rinke, Dept. of Anthropology and Sociology, Champlain College "Best Independent Documentary," Canadian Intl. Film Festival |
|
Biennial '97: The Whitney Museum of American Art |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Michael Rush 35 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38412 Sale; video $150; Rental: video $60 |
|
 "Alien," by Richard Phillips Guiding us through the complexities of current art-making, this video elucidates difficult themes and knits individual works into a convincing and comprehensible whole, providing an indispensable document of a moment in our cultural history. From video to painting to installation to photography, the video makes sense of a riotous diversity of contemporary art, revealing its underlying motivations and obsessions. The tour is supplemented by probing interviews with key artists who offer personal insights into the lives that fuel the work. -- Miles Unger, Managing Editor, Art New England |
|
Boneshop of the Heart |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Small Change Productions 53 min. Color 1991 Catalog #38108 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $70 |
|
This excellent film focuses on some of the most interesting artists working today. -- Eugene W. Metcalf, Prof. of Interdisciplinary Studies, Miami Univ., Oxford, Ohio American Folklore Society honoree Sinking Creek Film Festival honoree American Anthropological Assoc. selection |
|
Clementine Hunter: American Folk Artist |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: University of Texas Austin – Center For American History 28 min. Color 1913 Catalog #38237 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
|
Natl. Educational Film Festival Award Global Africa Intl. Film and Video Festival Award |
|
Edward James: Builder of Dreams |
|
|---|
| This acclaimed documentary explores the world of the Surrealists by profiling the
life and accomplishments of the surrealist collector, poet, and architect Edward
James. James built one of the 20th century's most remarkable and yet least-known
architectural monuments in the jungles of Mexico -- a fantastic and visionary sculpture
garden with no obvious purpose. These sprawling 80 acres, known as Las Pozas
(the pools), contain 36 extraordinary surrealist concrete structures, some more than
100-feet high. Las Pozas was built by 40 full-time workmen and craftsmen employed
by James over the last 24 years of his life at a personal cost that exceeded five-million
dollars. Born into extreme wealth and luxury (he was rumored to be the bastard son
of King Edward VII), James turned his back on the rigid aristocratic circles of Edwardian
England and befriended, supported, and collaborated with many fledgling artists and
intellectuals who would later define their era, including Dali, Magritte, Leonora
Carrington, Kurt Weil, Bertolt Brecht, Aldous Huxley, Man Ray, George Balanchine,
and Sigmund Freud. He even commissioned Igor Stravinsky to write a requiem for his
dying pet alligator. Although he was called "a legend among the legendary,"
few people now recognize his name or know of his artistic achievements. This outstanding
film should help change all that. It was produced by Avery Danziger. 58 mins. Color 1996 Catalog #38338 Sale: video $195; Rental: video $70 |
|
Highly recommended! Edward James is an astonishing figure, more so for being virtually unknown and yet absolutely central to his day. It would not be an exaggeration to say that James ushers in the modern world, along with others who are more famous than he, yet not more important. He was there to make them known, to save their work, to help them do their work, to help determine much of what we consider the modern sensibility in art as well as life. This film is an indispensable part of our understanding of the years in which James lived and during which so much of our world underwent enormous change. -- Leonard Michaels, Prof. of English, UC Berkeley My students loved it! This film captures the essence of surrealism while higlighting the life and artistry of one of this century's most extraordinary and yet least known individuals. It is an extremely valuable teaching tool for courses in 20th-century cultural history, architecture, art history,or the humanities. -- Jo Stealey, Chair, Art Dept., Univ. of Missouri Natl. Educational Film Festival Award Columbus Film Festival "Chris" Award CINE Golden Eagle Award Biennale Intl. du Film sur l'Art (Paris) honoree Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY) Screening Selection |
|
Future Wave: Japan Design |
|
|---|
| Most of us know Japan primarily through its products - seductive consumer goods whose
high-tech, high-fashion styling has taken the world by storm. Through unprecedented
access to top designers and executives in the fields of electronics, furnishings,
and fashion, this entertaining documentary shows how modern Japanese design has helped
create a Japanese consumer lifestyle that is being exported around the world. Discussion
guide. Produced by David Rabinovitch; written by Katherine McCoy, former director
of the Industrial Design Society of America. 27 min. Color 1988 Catalog #37485 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $50 |
|
Takes the viewer into the heart of Japanese design.-- Douglas Davis, Newsweek
Natl. Educational Film Festival Award |
|
The Gods of Beauty |
|
|---|
| Mona Boulware Webb is a fascinating African-American "outsider" or "visionary"
artist and mystic. For the past 30 years, she and her "extended family"
of artists and friends have transformed her house in Madison, Wisc., into a total
art environment. Every inch of wall and ceiling has been sculpted with colored plaster,
adorned with mirror and glass shards, and painted in a wild, chaotic mix of expressionistic
and representational styles. The house is an evolving statement on perception and
illusion. This unusual biographical portrait of the artist traces her background
of associations with Aldous Huxley and Krishnamurti and shows how she has trained
a large and increasingly influential group of younger artists to look inside themselves
for courage and outside to nature for inspiration. The video is an excellent introduction
to "visionary" art and is sure to stimulate discussion in a wide variety
of classes in art appreciation, folk art, African-American art, and women in art.
Produced by Niels Nielsen. 29 min. Color 1995 Catalog #38334 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $50 |
|
 This portrait of Mona Webb moves between the sublime and the surreal to capture the essence of a truly independent spirit, in every sense imaginable. -- Todd Boyd, Prof. of Cinema, Univ. of Southern California Cindy Award American Film Institute Video Festival honoree Columbus Intl. Film Festival honoree |
|
Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey |
|
|---|
| Grandma Tressa Prisbrey built her first bottle house to hold her 17,000 pencils.
This was the beginning of The Bottle Village in Simi Valley, Calif. At 84, Grandma
Prisbrey is a vivacious guide to her brilliant houses crammed with objects scavenged
from the county dump. The film lovingly documents the interiors of 15 of her houses,
including Cleopatra's Bedroom, The Round House, and the marvelous Mosaic of the Village
Sidewalks -- all masterpieces of assemblage art and tapestries of artifacts from
the first half of the 20th century. See also Visions of Paradise. 29 min. Color 1982 Catalog #38375 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50 |
|
 American Film Festival Award |
| The Hall of Man | |
|---|
| Commissioned by Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History in 1930 to sculpt "The Living Races of Mankind," American artist Malvina Hoffman traveled around the world to find models and created 104 life-sized figures, busts, and heads in bronze and stone for "The Hall of Man," the museum's resulting anthropology exhibit. The task required the artist to travel to remote areas of the world. Many of her subjects had no previous contact with people outside their small villages and had taboos against having their images recorded. The Hall of Man was a key attraction of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair and a favorite of visitors to the Field Museum until 1968, when it was dismantled. This remarkable documentary includes fascinating archival footage of Hoffman's difficult travels and a rare interview with the artist. Photographs and films of the people she sculpted are compared with her sculptural portraits. The film also focuses on the changing concept of "race" and the validity and significance of Hoffman's achievement. When she was commissioned to sculpt the works, the prevailing body of anthropological thought held that it was possible to identify "pure" and "mixed" races. Anthropologists, educators, and artists comment on Hoffman's work and its anthropological context in the light of contemporary scientific knowledge of human races and modern sensibilities regarding cultural and ethnic diversity. "The Hall of Man" will provoke reflection and discussion in a variety
of courses in cultural and physical anthropology, art history, popular
culture, and ethnic studies, and in any course that considers the interaction
of art and science, changing concepts of race, and the evolution of modern
anthropology and museum exhibits. It was produced by June Finfer and Lost
and Found Productions with the cooperation of the Field Museum and the
archives of the Getty Research Institute. |
|
"I was particularly impressed with the footage of the fieldwork undertakings and of the artistic production. The material is so valuable that it could be used in a graduate anthropology class dealing with ethnology and ethnography. The film conveys a good sense of the dedication that it took for the artist and her husband to undertake and complete this monumental task. The beauty of the statues, and their basic humanity, their ability to convey the dignity of individuals as human beings rather than abstract and idealized types, also comes through magnificently. This is a first-rate job. It is certainly a film that I could use in my cultural preservation/museology class or my research methods class." -- Nancy Parezo, Prof. of American Indian Studies and Anthropology, Univ. of Arizona "Brings to life an incredible woman artist and her artistic vision. Through
commentary by leading contemporary anthropologists, and historical film
footage produced by Hoffman herself, the film creates a fascinating stage
from which to learn about Hoffman's Hall of Man commission, her travels
around the world, her creative process, and her humanitarian vision, which
guided her in creating timeless likenesses of people of all races and
ages. In a parallel way in which Hoffman's figures go beyond being mere
documents or models of racial types but instead monumental tributes to
the beauty and diversity of mankind, this documentary is constructed so
that it conveys the same magic." -- Jane Milosch, Curator, Cedar Rapids
Museum of Art
|
|
Hundred and Two Mature: The Art of Harry Lieberman |
|
|---|
| Harry Lieberman, at age 102, shares with wit and wisdom his art, philosophy, and
love of life while being shown painting, sculpting, and meeting with other senior
citizens at the Golden Age Club in Great Neck, New York, where he started painting
at the age of 80. This delightful film depicts the connections between Lieberman's
life and his art, which celebrates Talmudic lore and Jewish life in long-ago Eastern
Europe, and also shows the artist surrounded by inner-city high school students while
working with them as an "artist in residence." See also Visions
of Paradise. 29 min. Color 1981 Catalog #38374 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50 |
|
 American Film Festival Award "Best Art and Artists Award," Hemisfilm Intl. Film Festival Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival honoree |
|
In and Out of Africa |
|
|---|
| This extraordinary documentary is one of the most intelligent, perceptive, and engaging
films ever made on African culture and art. It explores with irony and humor issues
of authenticity, taste, and racial politics in the transnational trade in African
art. Interweaving stories of Western collectors, Muslim traders, African artists
and intellectuals, and the filmmakers themselves, the film focuses on a remarkable
art dealer from Niger. It shows how (through occasionally hilarious and frequently
fantastic tales about the art objects) he adds economic value and changes the "meaning"
of what he sells by interpreting and mediating between the cultural values of African
producers and Western consumers. Produced by Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Taylor; featuring
Gabai Baare; based on original research by Christopher Steiner. 59 min. Color 1993 Catalog #38230 Sale: video $295, Rental: video $75 |
|
 The film's thematic unity, perceptive subtitling, and reflexive irony make it a groundbreaking masterwork.... Advances the art of ethnographic filmmaking to new heights. -- Prof. Bennetta Jules-Rosette, Dir., African and African American Studies Project, UC San Diego A first-rate addition to the curriculum of all courses and educational programs on African art and culture. -- Enid Schildkrout, Anthropology Curator, American Museum of Natural History A superbly thick description of the trade in African art. Nothing is taken for granted, least of all the very idea of art itself, as we follow the trade that transforms bois into $2,000 objets d'art. The trade between use value and exchange value, the expectations that such art must fill in the minds of dealers and collectors to earn the title authentic, and the gradual ascension of this art to museum status while the makers and intermediaries fade in a nebulous haze of mystified origins: these are but a few of the themes pursued in this intriguing documentary. -- Bill Nichols, Prof. of Theater Arts, UC Santa Cruz Royal Anthropological Institute Commendation Society for Visual Anthropology honoree African Studies Assoc. honoree Natl. Educational Film Festival Award American Film Festival Award Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree |
|
Jim Dine: A Self-Portrait on the Walls |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 28 min. Color 1995 Catalog #38318 Sale: video $175, Rental: video $50 |
|
A superb film! Never obtrusive and never dull or repetitive, it caught the atmosphere and personality of the artist and made the audience feel part of the 'happening.' I could taste and smell the charcoal. It got the wit and the humor and was one of those rare occasions when you felt let into the creative process of the artist. --Sanford Lieberson, Director, National School of Film and Television, England Academy Award nominee, Best Short Documentary, 1996 Natl. Educational Film Festival Award CINE Golden Eagle Award National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) screening selection Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City) screening selection |
|
Mazes and Labyrinths: The Search for the Center |
|
|---|
| This fascinating, wide-ranging documentary explores the historical and cultural aspects
of mazes and labyrinths worldwide. From the mythological Minotaur on the island of
Crete through the tombs of the ancient Egyptian pharoahs, from "primitive"
stone and turf labyrinths through hedge and church mazes and contemporary constructions,
the film reveals mazes and labyrinths to be much more than simple pastimes or puzzles.
This symbolic and highly metaphorical artform has spanned the ages and continents
and represented birth, death, the paths of the planets and stars, God, and the journey
through life and our search for ourselves. This work is an excellent discussion-starter
in a wide range of history courses. Produced by Scott Campbell. 28 min. Color 1996 Catalog #38344 Sale: video $150; Rental: video $50 |
|
A most impressive, thoroughly enjoyable, and thought-provoking work that captures the essence of our search to create order out of confusion. Because it examines the deep symbolism of mazes and labyrinths and demonstrates how this symbolism is shared across time and cultures, the video is great for stimulating classroom discussion in a wide array of classes, including history surveys, introductory cultural anthropology, sociology, social psychology, art history, and folklore. -- Lyla Campbell, Dept. of Psychology, UCLA School of Medicine |
|
The Monument of Chief Rolling Mountain Thunder |
|
|---|
| At age 71, Chief Thunder lives in the Nevada desert with his young wife and small
children in The Monument, a concrete and stone house he built and decorated with
powerful forms and arches. His overwhelming sculptures, "spirits of the living,"
portray Indian heroes, family, and friends. The film captures the tragedy of his
life, his painful isolation, the beauty of his work, and his creative process. Its
highlight is a remarkable sequence in which Chief Thunder sculpts a complete piece
on camera. See also Visions of Paradise. 29 min. Color 1982 Catalog #38376 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50 |
|
 |
|
Old Treasures from New China |
|
|---|
| James Earl Jones narrates this "exquisite" (Booklist) portrayal of China's
evolution from a primitive society through the Yuan dynasty (about the 13th century).
Employs beautifully photographed selections of artworks in the Chinese archaeological
exhibition that toured the U.S. in 1975. The many treasures shown are informatively
placed in the artistic and cultural context of Chinese social history and are displayed
in all their splendor. By Shirley Sun and Peter Wang. 55 min. Color 1997 Catalog #37137 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $60 |
|
Chicago Intl. Film Festival Award San Francisco Intl. Film Festival honoree PBS National Broadcasts |
|
Paj Ntaub: Textile Techniques of the Hmong |
|
|---|
| This wide-ranging, fascinating documentary introduces the culture, history, and traditional
weaving techniques of the Hmong people of Southeast Asia. Following the Vietnam War,
most Hmong were forced to flee their native Laos. Since 1975, many have immigrated
to the United States from refugee camps in Thailand. Several thousand have settled
in Providence, Rhode Island, and it is from this group that the four women artists
profiled here were chosen by their peers to demonstrate the techniques of batik,
applique, cross-stitch, chain-stitch, and the more recent "story cloth"
style of weaving. This video serves to preserve the traditional Hmong textile arts
for future generations and to introduce the Hmong culture to students of all cultural
backgrounds. It will be of interest to high school and college courses in multiculturalism,
cultural anthropology, women's studies, textile arts, and crafts. Produced by Joyce
Smith. 39 min. Color 1996 Catalog #38366 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $60 |
|
A very useful and much needed addition to the existing body of films and videos on Southeast Asians in the U.S., too few of which examine traditional arts and crafts. -- Peter Allen, Prof. of Anthropology, Rhode Island College Natl. Educational Film Festival Award Rhode Island Film and Video Festival honoree |
|
Photo Wallahs |
|
|---|
This title is no longer distributed by UC Extension. For distribution information, contact: Berkeley Media LLC 60min. Color 1992 #38223 Sale: video $295, Rental: $75 |
|
 There is now an interest in making films that do not simply deliver a statement about a topic but open it up in richer and more productive ways. These are films that develop complex networks of connections and relationships. In a sense they are meant as structures for generating meaning. That is certainly our intention in Photo Wallahs. We want it to be a resource for a range of observations, ideas, and possibilities. -- David MacDougall, interviewed in Visual Anthropology Review "Exceptional... and remarkable. I found the film thought-provoking, particularly regarding the issues of universals in photography versus unique cultural presentations and representations. -- Joanna Cohan Scherer, Smithsonian Institution, in American Anthropologist Royal Anthropological Institute Commendation Society for Visual Anthropology Award Bilan du Film Ethnographique (Paris) honoree Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree Berlin Film Festival honoree Bombay Intl. Film Festival honoree |
|
Possom Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black |
|
|---|
| Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created
more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and
costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform
and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two profound levels.
One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque
female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses,"
protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation
of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls
to move and sing and brings the theater to life as in the artist's imagination. See
also Visions of Paradise. 29 min. Color 1981 Catalog #38373 Sale: video $125, Rental: video $50 |
|
 American Film Festival Award Mannheim Film Festival honoree |
|
The Reluctant Muse |
|
|---|
| Throughout history, when two artists have come together it has often resulted in
one holding back to let the other flourish. This insightful and intimate documentary
is about husbands and wives, about sacrificing one's artistic dreams for marriage
and family, and about the role of women in the world of art. It is one of the best
documentaries ever made exploring the psychological, interpersonal, and sociological
aspects of being a creative artist in our time. John and Ruth Waddell met at the
Art Institute in Chicago more than 45 years ago. They shared a love for the arts
and for each other. The film examines the life events and societal influences that
led one young artist to diminish her own artistic endeavors and to channel her creative
energy into the creative life of her partner. The issues that have confronted this
partnership through the years are universal: family, finances, and infidelity, to
name a few. This remarkable interdisciplinary work is essential viewing in a variety
of courses in art, psychology, women's studies, sociology, and anthropology; it is
also excellent for general adult audiences. Produced by Amy Waddell. 58 min. Color 1995 Catalog #38314 Sale: video $225, Rental: video $70 |
|
A fascinating exploration of the relationship between work and the passion for one's career and how men and women work out the balance between these two factors in the context of their shared lives together. An excellent film for courses in women's studies and American culture, as well as anthropology classes dealing with kinship, mariage and the family, gender relations, and art. -- Nancy Lutkehaus, Prof. of Anthropology, Univ. of Southern California, and Editor, Visual Anthropology Review An honest portrait of a complex marriage. You'll think about art, about husbands and wives, about growing older, but most of all you'll think about your own life. I highly recommend this for public libraries everywhere. -- Sarah McGarry, Phoenix Public Library Louisville Artswatch Film and Video Festival honoree American Psychological Assn. honoree |
|
Robert Irwin: The Beauty of Questions |
|
|---|
| Robert Irwin has spent a lifetime systematically dispensing with everything -- image,
line, frame, and even objecthood itself -- that most people take for granted when
they think about a work of art. Step by step, Irwin has pared the artistic endeavor
down to its core value in the splendor of perception. Filmed over a five-year period,
this extraordinary documentary is one of the finest explorations of an artist's life
and work ever made. It follows Irwin from Paris to New York to his home and studio
in Southern California, with illuminating excursions to the desert, the racetrack,
and the neighborhood in which he grew up. It spans the artist's entire aesthetic
journey, from his beginnings in the forties, through his years as a painter, and
then out of traditional art spaces and into the world at large, where he presently
stakes his ambitious projects in the most public of settings. Commentary is provided
by the artist himself, and is richly illustrated with archival photos and many images
of Irwin's work, from early abstract expressionist paintings to current large-scale
installations and works of art in public spaces. This exemplary film captures the
scope and depth of Irwin's artistic trajectory and shows that its unifying theme
has been a continuous effort to catch us up in that moment when, uncannily, we perceive
ourselves perceiving. Produced by Leonard Feinstein. 59 min. Color 1997 Catalog #38407 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $75 |
|
 The aesthetic concerns that Robert Irwin has found himself exploring across his fascinating career have been deep and often confounding, but his touch is invariably light, his creations hauntingly luminous, and he himself is wonderfully present and often downright hilarious. All of these qualities come through vividly in this marvelous film portrait, and, on top of that, true to its subject, this movie swings. -- Lawrence Weschler, Staff Writer, The New Yorker, and author of the noted biography of Irwin, Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees Robert Irwin is a major visual artist whose main work, for a variety of reasons, are invisible. So it is cause for jubilation to see a film which brings the art to us with a vitality unavailable in the books devoted to Irwin, and carries with it the voice of the artist. For Irwin's inspired and inimitable discourse is not the least of his creations. -- Arthur Danto, author and Art Critic, The Nation An artfully crafted tour through the art and life of Robert Irwin, with Irwin as our personal guide: articulate, engaging, and disarmingly direct. I highly recommend this to anyone teaching or studying contemporary art, for it is wholly accessible to students and specialists alike. -- William Camfield, Prof. of Art History, Rice Univ. An indispensible resource to anyone who would understand the art of Robert Irwin. The filmmaker has taken full advantage of his unusual access to an elusive artist. This remarkable film provides us with unprecedented insight into the thought and work of one of our most important artists. -- Hugh Davies, Director, The Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego Intl. Festival of Films on Art honoree |
| Seducing the Guard | |
|---|
| The response to art varies widely among individuals
and among cultures, but there is no culture that does not pursue art avidly
in one form or another. Something so universally conserved must have a larger
purpose than just entertainment. A biologist would say that art displays
"survival value." Yet our culture has marginalized the fine arts, and
partly replaced them with commercial forms. Are we losing something vital
for our survival?
Most films on art deal with an artist or movement. "Seducing the Guard" looks at all art, cutting across cultures and disciplines, and asks the forbiddingly difficult question, "Why?" This illuminating and deeply reflective documentary explores the "value" of art and the human needs it fills. The film incorporates different forms of art from diverse cultures and periods and skillfully intercuts them with thought-provoking commentary by a variety of noted artists and writers and some of the most interesting scientific thinkers of our time. These commentators argue that art makes the mind supple. Whatever its source or form, art provokes us to perceive and interpret. The more ways of perceiving we learn, the more limber our perceptions become and the more readily we perceive an otherwise chaotic world. A culture that supports the arts will form an adaptable sense of itself. It will have a far better chance of finding its way through the confusion of unforeseen technological and social changes, without losing its humanity or destroying its environment. And it will see itself in the process of change. "Seducing the Guard" is guaranteed to stretch students' minds and stimulate analysis and discussion in a range of courses in art, art appreciation, aesthetics, communication and the media, and philosophy. It was produced by Daniel Conrad. Interview subjects include Steven Weinberg, physicist, author, and Nobel-laureate;
Elaine Pagels, scholar and author of The Gnostic Gospels; Roger Guillemin,
neuro-scientist, artist, and Nobel-laureate; Jane Coop, concert pianist;
Paul-Andre Fortier, choreographer and dancer; John Gray, playwright and
author; Daniel Dennett, cognition scientist and author; Jean-Pierre Changeux,
Director of the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at the Pasteur Institute,
Paris; Judith Marcuse, choreographer; Roald Hoffmann, chemist, poet, art
collector, and Nobel-laureate; Jerome Friedman, particle physicist and
Nobel-laureate; Margaret Geller, astrophysicist; Steven Miller, author;
Maria von Finckenstein, Curator of Contemporary Inuit Art, Canadian Museum
of Civilization, Ottawa; Russell Hulse, physicist and Nobel-laureate;
William Unruh, physicist; and Roy Andersson, Swedish film director. |
|
 "A ravishing, pan-disciplinary film as subtle, complex, and revealing as the creative processes it illuminates." -- Mark Achbar, Co-Producer and Co-Director, "Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media" "An extremely provocative, interdisciplinary exploration of the fundamental character of art and the ways it affects human emotions and experiences. This is a valuable resource for the teaching of fine arts, not so much for the answers that it provides as for the questions that it raises." -- Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Prof. of Art History, Univ. of Maryland, Curator of Northern Baroque Paintings, National Gallery of Art "I plan to use the film in my undergraduate course on Religion and Art. It is an excellent classroom tool to problematize and therefore challenge students to think about the connections between the sacred and artistic expressions." -- E. Ann Matter, R. Jean Brownlee Term Professor, School of Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Pennsylvania "A brilliant juxtaposition of artists, scientists, philosophers, with works of art and thoughts. I do hope it gets widely shown." -- Oliver Sacks, M.D., Author of The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat "The decision to give equal time to Nobel laureates from the sciences as well as to actors, musicians, and choreographers is inspired. Because what emerges is an almost palpable sense of the connectedness of artistic creativity - -the patterning of our existence in ways that make us see it afresh -- with scientific theory and discovery. The film's richness of reference and fecundity of ideas make it more of a work of art in itself than a documentary." -- Max Wyman, Film Critic, The Vancouver Sun "I have now watched it three times, the most recent last night. I play it rather in the way I listen to chamber music, to refresh and renew something deep inside. It will stand like a beacon of light in an ocean of dross." -- David Malin, Head Astrophotographer, Anglo-Australian Observatory "One of those rare films on innovation in great artworks that is itself
stylistically gifted and innovative." -- Ron Levaco, Prof. of Film, San
Francisco State Univ. |
|
Separate Visions |
|
|---|
| Profiles four pioneering American Indian artists: Baje Whitethorne, a Navajo painter;
Brenda Spencer, a Navajo weaver; John Fredericks, a Hopi kachina carver; and Nora
Naranjo-Morse, a Santa Clara sculptor. All four work in the most contemporary modes
of their media, and all are on the leading edge of change - a fact that invites controversy
among critics and collectors as well as their own people. Produced by Peter Blystone
and Nancy Tongue for the Museum of Northern Arizona. 40 min. Color 1989 Catalog #37899 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $50 |
|
A high-quality video! It is understandable, personal, attention-holding, and well-designed.
-- Ann L. Hedlund, Prof. of Anthropology, Arizona State Univ. American Anthropological Assoc. selection |
|
The Serpent and the Cross |
|
|---|
| In several outback Australian communities, Aboriginal artists are consciously seeking
a new form of artistic expression that builds bridges between traditional Aboriginal
spirituality --the Dreaming --and Christianity. This outstanding documentary explores
the work of these artists and examines the controversies that surround their work.
This is an insightful, beautifully filmed look at a new form of art that generates
criticism by cultural purists of both Aboriginal and European backgrounds. By Chris
Hilton. 55 min. Color 1994 Catalog #38297 Sale: video $225, Rental: video $70 |
|
Golden Gate Award, "Best Art Film," San Francisco Intl. Film Festival Intl. Art Film Biennale (Paris) honoree Margaret Mead Film Festival honoree Intl. Festival of Films on Art and Architecture (Lausanne) honoree |
|
The Space of Pottery |
|
|---|
| This sensitive documentary explores the work, creative process, and philosophical
perspective of internationally acclaimed ceramicist Paul Mathieu, whose works in
porcelain defy conventional boundaries of craft, sculpture, and representation. The
video illustrates the many stages of the ceramic process as Mathieu creates a complicated
piece inspired by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawkings's book, A Brief History
of Time. The piece consists of seven highly decorative, fully functional porcelain
dishes that stack into a sculptural unity. By Richard L. Harrison. 26 min. Color 1990 Catalog #38146 Sale: video $195, Rental: video $50 |
|
While other films are bound in the technologies of 'how-to,' this one speaks conceptually about 'why.' Professionally executed and rich in content, it makes a real contribution to the field. -- Prof. Bernard Kester, UCLA School of the Arts Natl. Educational Film Festival Gold Apple Award CINE Eagle Award American Film Festival honoree |
|
Traditions for Sale |
|
|---|
| This fascinating documentary examines the lives and work of contemporary Hungarian
folk artists. Responding to the realities of the new free-market economy, Hungarian
folk artists (like those all over the world) are reviving their traditions and producing
works to sell to tourists. The film explores in depth the making of embroidery, floral designs, and hand-made and hand-painted furniture. There is even a staged wedding that features authentic folk songs and dances. The film includes rare and often poignant scenes of the daily lives of numerous folk artists and illustrates how political changes have affected their way of life and their work. Produced by Sally Gati. 50 min. Color 1999 Catalog #38446 Sale: video $150, Rental: video $70 The film takes us on an emotional journey into village homes where artists comment on and demonstrate their work. We learn the skills involved in each art form, how it is created, and we sense the obvious pride which the artisans value and hold on to their aesthetic traditions. The message that comes across loud and clear is that, although the end products are made as commodities to supplement inadequate incomes, these artists are motivated by more than money. They create traditions with love, pride of heritage, joy, and enthusiasm. -- June Anderson, Anthropology Dept., Calif. Academy of Sciences |
|
 Although this is not a slick production, its view of the lives of these folk artists is fascinating, and it is a vivid testimony to the survival of Hungarian folk arts and the people who create them despite the political, economic, and religious realities of the late 20th century. --Barbara Hornick-Lockard, Dept. of Anthropology, Corning (NY) Community College, in Library Jounal Hungary is small in area but diverse in culture, and this sensitive but not sentimental video captures this diversity, not merely as an ethnographic record, but also as a visual delight for anyone interested in folk arts and folk traditions. -- Kenneth Nyirady, Reference Specialist for Hungary, Library of Congress American Folklore Society honoree Parnu Intl. Anthropology Film Festival honoree Living Roots Conference honoree California Academy of Sciences honoree |
|
Visions of Paradise Series |
|
|---|
| These five classic films, by Academy-Award-winning producers Allie Light and Irving
Saraf, are among the most insightful explorations of the creative process ever made.
All were filmed in the early 1980s but have been out of distribution for a number
of years. However, they remain as timely and instructive today as when they were
first released. Each of the five films portrays the life and work of an important,
self-taught, American naive artist. Little affected by exposure to art movements,
the artists profiled express in their work basic human passions and emotions in a
raw and unschooled manner. Their work is a treasure of ethnic and regional folk art
and a vision of a utopian world. The films celebrate the human obsession to create
in the face of adverse circumstances and despite the lack of formal training. Shot
on location where the artists live and work, each film captures the artist in the
moment of creation, shows the art in its environment, and depicts key events that
shaped each artist's work. The artists include both women and men and represent diverse
ethnic backgrounds and artistic styles, but they share the common experience of working
for years in obscurity before reaching national recognition. These celebrated films
will be of use in a variety of courses in art, folk art, ethnic studies, American
studies, and women's studies. See the individual titles: The Angel that Stands By Me: Minnie Evans' Paintings; Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey; Hundred and Two Mature: The Art of Harry Lieberman; The Monument of Chief Rolling Thunder; and Possom Trot: The Life and Work of Calvin Black. |
|
These are, put simply, some of the most moving documents of living or recently living artists I know. The films are all exceptional. They capture the nature and process of creation in a way that only filmmaking can, and they show remarkable sensitivity to context and to the individuals involved. -- Stephen C. Foster, Prof. of Art, Univ. of Iowa Save More Than 20% Special Series Price: $495 |
|
Wearable Art from California |
|
|---|
| Wearable art combines aspects of the fine arts, crafts, and design, and is the preferred
medium of some of America's most talented and innovative artists. This five-part
series explores the work, techniques, and philosophies of six of the foremost creators
of wearable art. The series was produced for Jo Ann Stabb, Prof. of Environmental
Design, by Instructional Technology, UC Davis. Save More Than 20% Special Series Price: $395 |
|
|
Ellen Hauptli/Candace Kling Gaza Bowen: Shoemaker Katherine Westphal Jean Cacicedo K. Lee Manuel Sale: video $100 each, Rental: video $50 each |
