Art Index TV

Gr 11 Up—This series of 30-minute interviews by art administrator and filmmaker Joy Glidden focuses on various artists, art critics, gallery owners, and curators of today's contemporary art scene. Joy and Howard Osofsky, collectors, best sum up its theme: "Contemporary art helps you feel the struggle of what people are going through." Artists such as William Pope.L and Dawn DeDeaux answer questions exploring their backgrounds and the meaning behind their art. Each episode includes two pieces of video art, which may be shown independently. Slow Room by Jonathan Schipper features furniture pieces being slowly sucked into a hole in a wall. It is indeed slow and would not excite today's teens, who are accustomed to fast action films, although that is the point of the work. In the video piece Swamp Gas by David Sullivan, molecules are melted into gases. Tremor by Sally Heller, another video presentation, highlights the hand of Heller's father, who has Parkinson's disease. Episode 6 in particular stresses art as a reflection of culture. Also included is business advice to struggling artists. Karen Atkinson, the author of Getting Your Sh*t Together, stresses how important it is for aspiring artists to stay organized and have all their artwork available online.