As cuts in federal and state funding continue to erode support for public school fine arts programs and field trips, opportunities for children to experience the visual arts, music, dance, and theater are disappearing. In this documentary, Kerry Bennington, of the Krasl Art Center, and other concerned experts trace the evolution of the arts in America and enter into the debate over whether the fine arts are an educational asset or an elitist diversion...

What do Piero della Francesca's Dream of Constantine and Edward Hopper's Summer Evening have in common with the films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and The Night of the Hunter? This program analyzes the lights that illuminate the night-from candles and street lights, to the moon, to Ingo Maurer's hologram of a neon-rendered light bulb-and the way artists make use of them to create revealing contrasts and to direct the viewer's gaze. Technical aspects...

Thanks to the efforts of dedicated visionaries, there is an intergenerational learning experience spreading across the country. This fine arts forum invites the creators and supporters of outstanding school and community programs to take center stage. Together they share the positive impact the programs are having on students and the public at large, promoting art education and helping to ensure that the nation's artistic reservoir will grow in vitality...

What is it about slumber that has beguiled artists and viewers alike, down through the centuries? This program focuses mainly on depictions of sleeping women-clothed, partially bared, and totally nude-in paintings, sculptures, engravings, art photos, and film, from the medieval period to mid-20th century. Topics include the latent eroticism and voyeurism inherent in such subject matter, symbolism such as entanglement in bedding, the use of veils as...

In the second part of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," Mr. Collins arrives and proposes to Elizabeth who rejects him, to Mrs. Bennett's dismay. Elizabeth forms an acquaintance with militia officer Wickham, who relates his mistreatment by Darcy. At the Netherfield Ball, Darcy becomes aware of the expectation that Jane and Charles Bingley will marry. Mrs. Bennett is distraught when Mr. Collins proposes to Charlotte Lucas, who accepts, and the Bingleys...

Barbara literally dives into her work, the pool, to photograph images suspended in water, models magically moving in poetry in the clear atmosphere of H2O. Cole has been able to mix fashion and fine art to become a true maverick in her artistic approach, making her work both highly collectable and respected. Her work back on dry land is equally evocative.

Lincoln Clarkes' relationship with the street and its inhabitants is the subject of his work. Clarkes has been documenting life and death for over three decades and continues to find powerful imagery in the faces and lives of the every-man and woman. His award-winning work includes the stunning doc series, 'Heroines', which focuses on female addicts, down but not quite out in Vancouver's notorious downtown eastside.

Seven Canadian painters who helped define one country. ART FOR A NATION is a vivid and compelling testament both to the Group of Seven's beautiful art and their struggle against the critics and academic painters of their time. Frank Carmichael, Franz Johnston, Lauren S. Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley and J.E.H. MacDonald set out to create works that were distinctively Canadian. In so doing, they developed a reputation recognized...

How do photographic images evoke meaning and emotion? To understand that, viewers first need to understand how the eyes and brain process input from the visual world. After an overview of the biomechanics of vision, this program explains how proximity, similarity, and continuity affect perception; what light is and how lighting types and angles alter an image; and how color theory operates. Commentary is provided by photographers Dale Kistemaker,...

This program examines how photographers work with images to communicate stories and ideas and how viewers interpret those images. Message manipulation deriving from point of view, context, editing, superimposing, cropping, recoloring, and captioning are discussed. In addition, selective perception-seeing pictures through the filters of values and prejudices-is studied. Commentary is provided by Doug Nickel, curator of photography at the San Francisco...