PBS ARTS GALLERY

The Messages episode of Craft in America looks at ways craft artists go beyond skill to personal and political expression. They use craft to tell a story, prove a point, or bring attention to contemporary issues. Often the work is provocative.

Wisconsin glass artist Beth Lipman, New Mexico santero Charles M. Carrillo, Baltimore bead artist Joyce J. Scott, and New Orleans jewelry artist & sculptor Thomas Mann are featured in the Messages episode. This collection includes bonus clips of these artists and their work, as well as stories from curators and related artists.

--- Carol Sauvion, Executive Producer,

Craft in America

For more information visit the Messages Episode page, view the Craft in America website, or check local television listings.

Emile Norman’s lifelong passion for art was inspired by the forms and flow of nature. Working with wood, bronze and marble as well as modern materials like epoxy resin and plastic, Norman created imaginative objects of enduring beauty and originality. This intimate film explores his life and art, his experiences as an artist in New York and his deeper connection to Big Sur. The film is also a love story between two men who were devoted both to one another and to Norman's art.

For more information visit the Emile Norman: By His Own Design film page or check local television listings.

Some of the world’s most innovative pieces of public art reside in the midst of the bustling cityscape of New York City. These works alter the urban environment and with it viewer perceptions, creating moments of stillness or reflection in the chaos of the metropolis. WNET provides rich arts coverage around New York. This unique compilation of public art videos includes artist interviews and explorations of works on-site - from the rooftops of Manhattan to Mountainville, NY. WNET New York has enjoyed a long history of partnering with the city’s most celebrated cultural institutions and capturing their work for public television audiences. WNET's SundayArts is the portal through which local, as well as non-local arts enthusiasts, can access the city’s cultural best.

Watch previous "PBS Arts from" video exhibits featuring the cities of Phoenix and Cincinnati.

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When a new opera is produced, dozens of artists and craftspeople from various disciplines come together around a shared dramatic and musical vision. This collaboration requires extraordinary skill, and cooperation on a grand scale.

San Francisco Opera’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter, composed by Stewart Wallace with a libretto by novelist Amy Tan, brought together singers, designers and musicians from three continents. Many were steeped in the Western operatic tradition, but for others, it was an introduction to American opera.

This collection focuses on the joys and challenges of collaboration, with reflections from several of the artists who brought The Bonesetter’s Daughter to life.

Watch The Bonesetter's Daughter.

Kicking the Notes the Toradze Way is a performance documentary of political rebellion, passionate performance, and extraordinary master teaching. The story begins with Alexander Toradze in Soviet Union during the Cold War secretly listening to the Jazz Hour from Voice of America. To Lexo, jazz music symbolized the spirit of freedom, something he didn’t have. His dream of artistic freedom in America instigated his defection from the Soviet Union and the founding of a one-of-a-kind classical piano studio in South Bend. But what sets Lexo apart is not only his virtuosity, but his abilities to inspire young pianists to “kick the notes” their own way. He never encourages piano students to copy his interpretative style, but shows them by example of his own concert preparation how to create compelling musical performances that reach across the stage to the hearts of the audience. For more information on the film visit Michiana's WNIT.

Watch previous "PBS Arts from" video exhibits featuring the cities of New York, Phoenix and Cincinnati.