Product Description:
Choose a title above from the following Academic Success programs:
#33023 Graphic Design: What's in a Logo? (Run Time 15 min.) DVD $49.95
Graphic designers with the consulting firm Navy Blue must produce a new corporate identity for Digital Animations Group, a Scottish company on the cutting edge of 3-D technology. Their task is to create a logo that captures the company's spirit and works across different formats, such as on paper, signs, windows, and Web pages. This program follows the entire process, from sitting down with the client to determine the mission, to brainstorming and pitching proposals, to unveiling the finished product. (15 minutes)
#33024 Electronics: Polaroid's Passport Photo Business in a Box (Run Time 15 min.) DVD $49.95
The task: design and build an all-in-one camera with an integrated printer that produces instant digital pictures. This program follows a team of industrial and electronics designers at Polaroid's U.K. headquarters as they take on this challenge. The whole process unfolds neatly as the idea jumps from paper to 3-D model to computer-assisted design program to prototype. Eventually, the designers debug the prototype and a professional photographer puts the production model through its paces. (15 minutes)
#33025 Product Design: A Hand-Made Stereo for a Hand-Made Car (Run Time 15 min.) DVD $49.95
The sound system that goes into a hand-assembled Aston-Martin sports car must be special indeed. In this program, designers at Linn, a precision-engineering company specializing in state-of-the-art sound reproduction, draft and build a compact stereo for this elite automobile. Project leaders demonstrate the use of 3-D CAD in the drafting process. The outsourcing of a component provides a good example of how to work with subcontractors. (15 minutes)
#33026 Systems and Control: Design in the Abstract (Run Time 15 min.) DVD $49.95
Hydrovision specializes in the design and manufacture of remotely operated vehicles, or ROV, for use underwater. The company has decided that it is time to come up with a new and improved version of their long-standing, highly successful model. This program looks specifically at how electronics and software engineers at Hydrovision use block diagrams to organize the onboard component systems of the ROV. The designers also get a chance to test and debug the prototype. (15 minutes)
#35236 American Folk Art Museum: American Anthem (Run Time 29 min.) DVD $49.95
Can needlework, toys, and decorative boxes be called art? At New York City's American Folk Art Museum, exhibits of quilts and weathervanes, hunting decoys and furniture, challenge traditional perceptions of fine art every day. This program tours the institution's collection, which includes thousands of items from the U.S. and abroad and from the 17th century to the present. One 29-minute video.
#10794 Photography, Graphic Arts, and Desktop Publishing (Run Time 14 min.) DVD $79.95
This program provides a succinct overview of the commercial applications of photography, the graphic arts, and desktop publishing, along with the careers associated with them. Demonstrations of equipment and software, plus definitions of industry jargon, demystify these fascinating fields, while discussions on a diverse range of topics such as how a camera functions and how DTP technology has revolutionized the publishing industry provide technical insights. Concepting and design are touched upon as well. A Meridian Production. (13 minutes)
#5578 Art and Science (Run Time 23 min.) DVD $89.95
Not so long ago it was fashionable to think of the arts and sciences as opposites, but recent developments are casting doubt on this point of view. Today's artists utilize a multitude of sophisticated technologies based on scientific principles. Cameras, for example, are much-simplified replicas of the human eye. Other artists make use of everyday, but nevertheless captivating, technology. Examples include neon lighting and even copy-art, which uses color photocopies. The program also shows some of the secrets of special effects. (23 minutes)
#5587 Sculpture (Run Time 23 min.) DVD $89.95
To give form to memory, an image, or an abstract idea, the sculptor has a choice of many different techniques. This program shows how bronze is cast, and how those who restore or repair old sculpture use technologies more advanced than did the original artists. The program also shows two fascinating new technologies: metals with memory of shape, and the reproduction of sculpture by laser. (23 minutes)
#5610 Color (Run Time 23 min.) DVD $89.95
Color is not a palpable thing but a sensation triggered by the action of certain electromagnetic waves on the visual system. This program covers the perception of colors and the ways in which color can be used in clothing to make the wearer less visible or more sexually seductive. The program explains the relationship between psychological responses and physical phenomena, and also shows how different colors and combinations of colors are used in inks and paints. (23 minutes)
#25175 Desktop Publishing: Getting the Message Out (Run Time 16 min.) DVD $89.95
From prehistoric cave paintings to the invention of today's high-speed printing presses, there has always been a need to "get the message out," and with the advent of computer technology, anyone can get their own message out with the services of a desktop publishing professional. Using computers and DTP software packages, these pros work in home offices and small design firms putting together everything from glossy business reports to restaurant menus to wedding invitations. It's an exciting career area and experienced DTP designers are much in demand. Desktop Publishing: Getting the Message Out introduces the world of digital design with a look at the work these artists do, the hardware and software needs of a DTP pro, and some of the elements of page design that go into creating an attractive, effective document. Desktop publishing is a career more students should consider and this video "look behind the scenes" will help your students do just that. A Meridian Production. (16 minutes)
#31995 Grace Medicine Flower and Joseph Lone Wolf, Santa Clara Potters (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
This program examines the pottery of Grace Medicine Flower and her brother Joseph Lone Wolf, members of the renowned Tafoya family of Santa Clara Pueblo. They revived and expanded the traditional forms and techniques of their pre-Columbian ancestors, the Mimbres, to create exquisite works featuring abstract designs and emphasizing sgraffito and polychrome techniques. Together with their father, Camilio Sunflower Tafoya, Medicine Flower and Lone Wolf are filmed digging and refining their clay and then molding it into pots, which they decorate and fire. (30 minutes)
#31996 Fritz Scholder, California Mission Painter (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
The first to portray the Native American as "real, not red," Fritz Scholder has been a major influence on an entire generation of Native American artists. This program films Scholder, an artist of Luiseno descent, as he takes his painting Television Indian and his lithograph Film Indian from conception to completion. His unsentimental vision and his technique-a blend of abstract expressionism, West Coast pop, and Bay Area colorism-have enabled Scholder to produce a strong body of work that realistically illustrates contemporary Native American life in the Southwest. (30 minutes)
#31997 Allan Houser, Apache Sculptor (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
Sculptor Allan Houser won international recognition for his depiction of the stoic, powerful figures of his Chiricahua Apache and Navajo families in wood, stone, and metal. This program follows Houser-also acclaimed for his murals and paintings-from quarry to studio, where he sculpts a face in marble, and to the Shidoni Foundry, where he casts a bronze head. The art of Houser, whose father was with Geronimo in 1886, blends his people's heritage with his own personal spirit of adventure to create iconic figures and images that honor the past while looking to the future. (30 minutes)
#31998 R. C. Gorman, Navajo Painter (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
"Unconventional" and "paradoxical" are two of the more common words people use to describe R. C. Gorman, an award-winning Navajo painter and printmaker who treats Native American subjects ranging from geometrics to nudes with a distinctly Mexican artistic sensibility. This program films the man The New York Times dubbed "The Picasso of American Indian Art" as he works, capturing his fascination with mass and shape as he paints both on paper and on a lithography stone. At once timeless and contemporary, Gorman's idiom unites the Indian and mainstream art scenes. (30 minutes)
#31999 Helen Hardin, Santa Clara Painter (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
The abstract geometric paintings of Helen Hardin beautifully illustrate the artist's struggle to depict aspects of her native heritage yet depart from the Santa Fe/Dorothy Dunn model of her predecessors-including her mother, the acclaimed Pablita Velarde. This program takes a close look at the work of a gifted Santa Clara painter and printmaker who acted almost as if she knew that her time to make a mark in the art world would be short. Her multi-layered paintings, created with a combination of brushes and drafting tools, reveal the crisp precision that characterizes her distinctive style. (30 minutes)
#32000 Charles Loloma, Hopi Jeweler (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $89.95
Charles Loloma was one of the first Native American jewelers to use gold instead of silver and diamonds and other precious gems in addition to turquoise, coral, and shell. His innovative designs, so sculptural in quality, were internationally acclaimed. And his clients included celebrities, monarchs, and presidents. This program examines the work of Charles Loloma-and how the visionary behind the enchanting jewelry managed to break the barriers that separated Indian traditionalism and mainstream modern art. For him, the art world and the Hopi world were one. (30 minutes)
#33423 Painting on Architectural Surfaces (Run Time 27 min.) DVD $89.95
This program travels to four locales to examine technical aspects of how frescoes have been painted: a villa in Pompeii, where walls saturated with figures, dense colors, and ornamental motifs functioned both decoratively and ritually; the Basilica of San Francesco in Arezzo, home of della Francesca's Legend of the True Cross; the Salle des Saisons at the Louvre, to view Romanelli's frescoes combined with richly gilded stuccowork; and the Residenz palace in Wurzburg, to see how Tiepolo's trompe l'oeil creates an extraordinary illusory space. (27 minutes)
#36456 The Artist and the Model: An Age-Old Couple (Run Time 27 min.) DVD $89.95
Throughout the history of painting and sculpture no muse has exerted more influence than the artist's model. This program studies the role of the human form in art, focusing on complex relationships between famous male artists and their female subjects. Works featuring the male figure are also examined. Discussing numerous artistic milestones-including classical Greek statuary, Masaccio's revival of human-centered themes, Botticelli's ethereal Primavera and Venus, and the reclining nudes of Titian, Velazquez, Renoir, and Matisse-the program explores the mystical, erotic, and purely formal inspiration that models have produced. (27 minutes)
#36458 Under the Image: The Secrets of a Picture's Layers (Run Time 27 min.) DVD $89.95
Museums and galleries offer one way to look at art. When a painting is taken off the wall and subjected to high-tech scrutiny, an entirely different view of it becomes possible. This program demonstrates the ability of laboratory researchers to venture beneath the finished surface of paintings, shedding light on previously hidden versions and designs. Techniques that use X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, and infrared light are examined, illustrating cases in which the original goals of an artist-as well as subsequent restoration, misguided revision, or even blatant attacks on a work-become apparent. (27 minutes)
#7763 Color (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
Color is perhaps the most powerful artistic element, but it is also the most difficult to control. In this program, artist June Redfern goes to Venice to see one of her favorite paintings-Titian's Assumption of the Virgin. Analyzing Titian's innovative use of color, Redfern traces other color innovations pioneered by artists like Monet, Van Gogh, and Mark Rothko. (30 minutes)
#7764 Brushstrokes (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
John Virtue is painting an impressionist landscape on an enormous canvas laid out in a field. While he paints, he discusses how he expresses himself artistically through creative brushstrokes rather than through realistic imagery. Through Virtue we learn how the elevated social status of artists in general, and physical changes in the composition of paints, have allowed for more artistic experimentation with a wider variety of mediums and techniques. Individualists such as Titian, Constable, Van Gogh, and Pollock are discussed. (30 minutes)
#7765 Composition (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
Everyone has the desire to arrange things in a way that is most pleasing to the eye. In painting, composition involves arranging every ingredient-shape, color, texture, and light-so that working together, they create artistic balance. In this program, artist Ray Richardson deliberately chooses a long, slim canvas to challenge his compositional abilities. As he confronts his quest to create a cinemascopic work, students begin to appreciate the composition techniques of painters such as Piero della Francesca, Tintoretto, Degas, and Matisse. (30 minutes)
#7766 Light (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
How to capture light is a major preoccupation for artists, and each has a different way of accomplishing the task. Although John Greenwood paints still lifes of imaginary objects, he is nevertheless determined to paint them as though they were sitting in natural light. On a fishing boat, Len Tabner tackles the challenge of adapting to changing light. How artists such as Masaccio, Turner, and Monet used light in their work is discussed. (30 minutes)
#7767 Perspective (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
In this program, artists Ben Johnson and Patrick Hughes travel to Florence, where 15th-century painter Piero della Francesca first employed mathematically based perspective. Tracing the use of perspective, they discuss how artists at the beginning of the 20th century rebelled against its limitations. Johnson then uses a computer to create a perfect perspective model for a planned painting, while Hughes completely subverts the rules of perspective in creating his own work. (30 minutes)
#7768 Portrait (Run Time 30 min.) DVD $129.95
It seems appropriate for a portrait to be a fair representation of its subject. However, problems can arise when the sitter does not perceive himself or herself in the same way the painter does. In this program, Tai-Shan Schierenberg paints a portrait of a wealthy English gentleman in two 3-hour sittings, under the intimidating stare of portraits by Holbein, Reynolds, Rembrandt, and Van Dyck. As an artist, Schierenberg is drawn to his subject's natural awkwardness, but wonders whether the Englishman will recognize the tendency and accept the portrait. (30 minutes)
#30592 Toshiko Takaezu: Portrait of a Ceramic Artist (Run Time 29 min.) DVD $129.95
Renowned for her extraordinary pottery and highly respected as a teacher, Toshiko Takaezu is one of the most significant ceramic artists of the 20th century-and the 21st. This program, filmed both in New Jersey and the artist's native Hawaii, presents the life story of the internationally acclaimed potter. Film clips of Ms. Takaezu at work-shaping clay in her studio, demonstrating pottery techniques at Princeton University, and overseeing raku-firing-provide illuminating insights into her philosophical creative process, as do interviews with ceramic artists Claude Horan and Jennifer Owen; gallery owner Charles Cowles; Paul Smith, director emeritus of the American Craft Museum; poet Stephen Berg; and the artist herself. (29 minutes)
#29891 Color and Fire: Defining Moments in Studio Ceramics, 1950-2000 (Run Time 51 min.) DVD $149.95
Produced in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's exhibition of the same name, this lively program explores the evolution of late-20th-century ceramics. Using interviews and myriad examples of their works, leading figures in the field, including Ruth Duckworth, Wayne Higby, John Mason, Ron Nagle, Otto Natzler, Richard Shaw, and Peter Voulkos, discuss such major themes as Abstract Expressionism, Funk, vessels, form and function, and the debate over the decorative arts versus the fine arts. (51 minutes)
#30176 Encounters with Contemporary Designers (Run Time 52 min.) DVD $149.95
A philosophy of design arises out of the tension between form and function. This program showcases the finished products of a number of contemporary designers, objects that directly reflect the ratio of style to practicality unique to their creators. From Marc Sadler's performance-driven protective suits for motorcyclists to Jean-Paul Goude's Orangina bottle to Nestor Perkal's symbolic mirrors, these objects define the cutting edge of the field. Extended interviews with the designers are mixed with examples of their work, including televisions by Philippe Starck, tools by Jean Claude Neyton, objects for the table by Sylvain Dubuisson, and street furniture by Martin Szekely. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (52 minutes)
#30177 Sitting Down: The Art of the Chair (Run Time 52 min.) DVD $149.95
For sheer functionality, what piece of furniture is more essential than the chair? In this program, six leading contemporary designers discuss their technical and aesthetic approaches to making places for people to sit down. In keeping with the innovative spirit of design, the program blends stylishly filmed interviews with many examples, such as Alberto Meda's aluminum injection technology chairs; Ross Lovegrove's ergonomic chairs based on composite plastics; Charlotte Perriand's work with tubing and cushions; Ron Arad's sculpted steel furniture, notably "the well-tempered chair"; Antonio Citterio's functional, ecologically minded business furniture; and Gaetano Pesce's diversified series. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (52 minutes)
#30178 Working: Interpretations of the Office (Run Time 50 min.) DVD $149.95
The accelerating rate of technological innovation is rapidly changing the workplace. This program offers several interpretations of work environments by leading contemporary designers, such as the "virtual" office by Gaetano Pesce, the modular office by Ross Lovegrove, the "Less" office by Jean Nouvel, the mobile office by Antonio Citterio, and the office of the future by Michele de Lucchi. Jonathan Ive, chief designer of the iMac, discusses the tool integral to all of these spaces: the computer. Commentary from the designers complements a stylish presentation of their work. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (50 minutes)
#30179 Lighting: Designing New Ways to See (Run Time 52 min.) DVD $149.95
An integral component of any planned space, light is a favorite theme of designers. This program surveys the innovative work of seven contemporary designers whose lamps and lighting installations have literally changed the way we see things. Achille Castiglioni, Michele de Lucchi, Ettore Sottsass, Alberto Meda, Philippe Starck, Richard Sapper, and Ingo Maurer discuss their influences and ideas concerning the practical, decorative, and industrial applications of light fixtures. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (52 minutes)
#30180 Going to Table: Food and Design (Run Time 51 min.) DVD $149.95
From its preparation to its enjoyment, the meal has always been a province of design. This program gathers six of today's leading designers for an exposition of objects used in the kitchen and dining room. Interviews with designers artfully blend with examples of their work, including spoons, cutlery, glasses, vases, and a Champagne stand by Ettore Sottsass; kettles, cooking pots, and espresso machines by Richard Sapper; dining tables and chairs by Philippe Starck; serving trays and bowls by Enzo Mari; cutlery and glasses by Achille Castiglione; and kettles, teapots, and trays by Alberto Alessi. Not available in French-speaking Canada. (51 minutes)
#33022 Design Solutions (Run Time min.) DVD $199.80
This four-part series takes students through the crucial stages of the design process. Each program follows a fascinating project at a cutting-edge company from start to finish, illustrating how design teams work together to analyze a project, plan and create a product, and evaluate the prototype. 4-part series, 15 minutes each.
#33899 Asian Masters: Cultural Traditions, Esoteric Arts (Run Time min.) DVD $359.70
Every area of human enterprise has its experts. This penetrating six-part series offers viewers fascinating-and unusual-points of entry into the cultures of China, Japan, and India that allow them to encounter authentic Asian masters performing their arts. 6-part series, 13-19 minutes each.
#31994 Native American Artists (Run Time min.) DVD $539.70
This classic six-part series, which aired on PBS during the nation’s bicentennial, examines the careers of some of the most talented Native American artists of the Southwest as they were unfolding at that time. The many examples of their work, combined with intimate glimpses of Indian cultures, make each program a valuable time capsule of an era when Native American art first began to attract the attention of the mainstream modern art community both in the U.S. and around the world. Rod McKuen narrates. 6-part series, 29 minutes each.
#33419 Making Masterpieces: A History of Painting Technique (Run Time min.) DVD $539.70
This remarkable six-part series analyzes the history of painting technique in a way that is at once both highly focused in approach and encyclopedic in content. Each video critically examines an individual aspect of the painting process using well-known masterpieces as examples. The sheer abundance of high-quality art images makes the series an excellent reference work-and special effects and scientific processes such as infrared reflectography enable viewers to see for themselves how some of the world's greatest paintings were made. An outstanding asset for art history and fine arts programs where the evolution of painting is the focus. 6-part series, 27 minutes each.
#36452 Making Masterpieces 2: A History of Painting Concepts (Run Time min.) DVD $539.70
A follow-up to Making Masterpieces: A History of Painting Technique (item #33419), this six-part series explores major ideas, themes, and motifs that have driven the development of Western art. Renowned examples of still life, portraiture, and landscape painting are showcased, along with the manipulation of chiaroscuro, the narrative power of pictures, the ancient connection between artist and model, and the use of scientific analysis to study a painting's hidden past. The result is a set of outstanding instructional tools for both studio art and art history courses. 6-part series, 27 minutes each.
#30175 Stories of Objects: An Exhibition of Contemporary Design (Run Time min.) DVD $749.75
Design is the meeting point between art and industry. This series brings together a host of leading contemporary designers and architects, showcasing their innovative creations while allowing them to discuss their influences, their philosophies, and their unique approaches. Among many notable designers featured are Alberto Meda, Ross Lovegrove, Charlotte Perriand, Philippe Starck, and Alberto Alessi. Not available in French-speaking Canada. 5-part series, 50-52 minutes each
#7762 Oil on Canvas (Run Time min.) DVD $779.70
This six-part series explains and demonstrates the art and science of painting-how light, distance, and perspective are achieved, and why brushstrokes, composition, and color are important. In each program, a different contemporary artist creates an original finished work. The thinking behind the creativity and skill becomes apparent, as each brushstroke is applied to canvas. The discussion makes frequent use of examples drawn from the masters of world art. 6-part series, 30 minutes each.
