art related tv for a change

a reminder that the next installation of How Art Made the World: The Art of Persuasion, the new PBS series, is on tomorrow......as they say, check your local listings. I just happened upon it last weekend and can't wait for the next show. I managed to catch the rerun of The Day Pictures Were Born last night; and as is usual, heard different things than I had the first time. It's an excellent series, and the one show I saw seemed to focus very clearly on what's new as far as art history goes... specifically new theories about cave/rock art..why it was created, by whom, etc. etc.

the fact that I caught it at all was wonderful timing, as our electricity had gone mostly out following a lightning strike during a nasty thunderstorm. It wiped out one line on the transformer so we had semi-power.... which practically speaking meant most of the incandescent bulbs still burned at a low wattage, and the ceiling fans ran slowly, and everything else was off. I had long since gone to bed to try to go to sleep when I heard the trucks outside, and felt the fan kick in to full throttle...Just in time to turn the tv on to watch it....(not to mention turn the a/c on again!) if there's one thing we've learned in the last year, it's mother nature is in charge, and her force cannot be denied. or controlled.....

anyway! The other art related tv event is Project Runway. I've got the first season on right now as background noise for my next sewing project, which is, gulp, making a dress for my daughter. eek! I HATE sewing clothes! and haven't followed a pattern in so long I sure hope it's like riding a bike and it all comes back to me... Anyway...I digress again... I have loved watching the first 2 seasons, and while I hope they spend more time on the actual design process this go round, it's probably the closest thing I can think of on tv that relates to the design process we all go through in our work, regardless of the media. Including (but certainly not limited to) the hoops we all have to jump through: time crunches, material limits, how they affect the design we create, workmanship, making work that reflects your own voice, marketability, dealing with personalities whether they be critics, judges, jurors, buyers, gallery owners, collectors, and coming back full circle again to the media... Etc. .

AND

the current show running is about designing an outfit for the year 2055,,,,which has set my head reeling in all sorts of directions....Beginning with what will the relevant and pressing issues be in 2055?? And ending (sort of) with how will the work we are producing be regarded then???
I certainly don't think that whether or not we as individual artists dyed or painted our own materials, and WHAT materials we used, will be of any interest outside of cultural/historical interest. The one thing that will remain is.....is it art? does it function as art and meet the criteria of art??? Wwhich then also leads to...will the concept of what art is be changed???

lots to think about..
off to sew.
wish me luck.