artists
Enter the Independent Lens Artists Month Contest
Prizes include a signed print from Marwencol and an original painting from Mikey Welsh (former Weezer bassist)
In celebration of Artists Month, we’re putting out a call for entries to you — our creative audience — to create and submit a piece of artwork that best reflects you. We’re looking for expressions of identity and creativity here: Perhaps it’s a self-portrait, or a photograph of a beloved object, a diorama scene, or a collage of found objects. Prizes will be awarded to all who enter, but the further along you advance in the competition, the better the goods you’ll win!
We were inspired by the docs airing this month and the artists they celebrate: Vik Muniz’s portraits made with garbage in Waste Land; the graffiti artwork in Tamra Davis’s Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child; and Mark Hogancamp’s spectacularly evocative photographs of his entirely original universe in the film Marwencol. In that spirit, we created this contest to celebrate that original vision in you, our raison d’etre.
Art in the Shadow of Extremism
The Desert of Forbidden Art, airing Tuesday at 10PM on Independent Lens provides viewers with some of the art world’s best-kept secrets.
Stalin consolidated his 1950′s post-war power by declaring all modernist art “decadent” and “bourgeois.” Those caught practicing it were sent to the gulag, or executed.
So archaeologist Igor Savitsky began his heroic quest to save 44,000 pieces of forbidden art from the masters of Russian modernism by squirreling them away in an Uzbek museum, far from the eyes of the KGB.
Paula Kerger Rings in Artists Month on Independent Lens
PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger highlights the arts-stacked lineup on Independent Lens this April in celebration of Artists Month.
Watch the video after the jump.
Preview: Independent Lens Goes Interactive for Artists Month
A special interactive section for Artists Month will be carved out on the Independent Lens website.
In celebration of Artists month this April, Independent Lens will present four remarkable films about unconventional art and artists from around the world who have challenged our presumptions about beauty.
From censored art in Uzbekistan to Basquiat’s street art in Manhattan, from the world’s largest landfill to the mind of an artist with a brain injury, we’ll circle the globe by surfing art’s fringes.
Slated to air throughout the month of April, Independent lens presents:
• The Desert of Forbidden Art by filmmakers Tchavdar Georgiev and Amanda Pope (Tuesday, April 5)
• Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child by filmmaker Tamra Davis (Tuesday, April 12)
• Waste Land by filmmaker Lucy Walker (Tuesday, April 19)
• Marwencol by filmmaker Jeff Malmberg(Tuesday, April 26)
Encore Presentation of Between the Folds Tonight on Independent Lens on PBS
“For folks interested in the intersection of arts and science, the PBS series Independent Lens is presenting a fascinating in-depth look into origami titled Between the Folds.”
- Make Magazine
It’s National Youth Art Month, and tonight Independent Lens is celebrating with a special encore presentation of Between the Folds –– a film that will make you look at paper folding in a whole other way. Do you think origami is just paper planes and cranes? Meet a determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at graduate degrees to forge new lives as modern-day paper folders. Together they reinterpret the world in paper, creating a wild mix of sensibilities towards art, science, creativity and meaning.
Watch this special encore presentation of Between the Folds, tonight, March 9, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
BETWEEN THE FOLDS Premiering Tonight on Independent Lens
“For folks interested in the intersection of arts and science, the PBS series Independent Lens is presenting a fascinating in-depth look into origami titled BETWEEN THE FOLDS.”
- Make Magazine
Think origami is just paper planes and cranes? Meet a determined group of theoretical scientists and fine artists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at graduate degrees to forge new lives as modern-day paper folders. Together they reinterpret the world in paper, creating a wild mix of sensibilities towards art, science, creativity and meaning.
BETWEEN THE FOLDS premieres tonight, December 8, at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
Quiz: Can You Match the Folds?
BETWEEN THE FOLDS, premiering Tuesday, December 8 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings), chronicles the stories of fine artists and intrepid theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and hard-earned graduate degrees to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders.
Take our new quiz and see if you can spot the patterns.
Every finished origami object begins as a line or series of lines on a single plane. With each fold, the final shape begins to emerge.
Once you’ve completed the challenge, download some fold patterns provided by some of the artists featured in BETWEEN THE FOLDS and see if you can master the craft.
BETWEEN THE FOLDS Screenings Explore the Art of Paper Folding
In cooperation with OrigamiUSA and The Mathematical Association of America Community Cinema presented 42 free screening events for BETWEEN THE FOLDS a documentary by Vanessa Gould that delves deeply into the magical intersection of mathematics, science, and art that is paperfolding which is also known as origami. The film drew huge crowds across the country.
Rodger Despres, a local Michigan paper folder, displays a 45-foot long paper model train that took him 1,500 hours to construct.
Our first free event for BETWEEN THE FOLDS took place at the fabulous Urban Institute for Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Community Cinema is in its 3rd smash season. Emily Maurin, Community Cinema Producing Partner with WGVU, told us, “We were extremely lucky to have two amazing paper folders with us––Richard Alexander, one of the film’s participants, and Rodger Despres, a local paper folder who has constructed a 45-foot long paper model train. They each offered a different perspective on paper folding. Richard spoke about his artwork as well as his experiences making his own paper. Rodger discussed how he has used paper to engineer working train cars and tracks. He was very excited since Richard was the first paper folder he had met! They talked about how paper folding is almost a secret society that is just now emerging as a mainstream art.”
In the video below, director Vanessa Gould gives a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like making the film, how she worked with artists and a discusses a variety of issues related to independent filmmaking.
Huge Turnout for BETWEEN THE FOLDS in St. Louis
Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. Last night, Producing Partner KETC in St. Louis, MO, screened the Independent Lens film BETWEEN THE FOLDS. The film looks at fine artists and theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and hard-earned graduate degrees to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders. Sydney Meyer of KETC gives her take below:
Wow! That was the first word that came to my mind as people kept flowing into the St. Louis History Museum for the screening of BETWEEN THE FOLDS last evening. This was Community Cinema at its finest. Approximately 340 people showed up for the viewing of the film and I was amazed watching the diversity of people fill the auditorium and overflow onto the steps and the sides of the theater. People of all ages laughed and clapped at various parts of the film, signaling they understood what the artists were trying to communicate to them.
After the film, the fun continued as more than 120 folks stayed to try their hand at paper-folding with artist Sugi Taylor. There was a lot of laughter and concentration as people attempted to make a paper box and bird.
As I walked around the tables, I heard comments like “I thought the simple figures would be easier. Now I admire the film artists even more!” or “I loved the film and I am amazed I can make this figure out of almost nothing… one simple square of paper.”
A middle school girl who came with her math teacher told me, “I am a beginner paper-folder and the film inspired me to want to continue learning and try to become like the people in the film.” I loved the little girl’s comment and it made me appreciate Community Cinema even more because inspiration and change is what the program is all about.
Interview With Director Vanessa Gould, BETWEEN THE FOLDS
Community Cinema selections are screened in more than 50 locations throughout the United States. This month, Community Cinema presents the Independent Lens film BETWEEN THE FOLDS, which chronicles the stories of fine artists and intrepid theoretical scientists who have abandoned careers and scoffed at hard-earned graduate degrees––all to forge unconventional lives as modern-day paper-folders.
In the video below, director Vanessa Gould gives a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like making the film, how she worked with artists and a discusses a variety of issues related to independent filmmaking.
Find Community Cinema screenings near you >>
Learn more about Community Cinema >>
BETWEEN THE FOLDS premieres on December 8 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
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