Educational Media Reviews Online

Heartland is a fine biographical film on the life, works and influences of (James) Bo Bartlett. It has a cohesive timeline, starting with Bartlett’s early life and examining his major life experiences. While Bartlett is considered a painter in the American Realist Movement, the film does not go into great detail about the movement itself.

The focus is on the influences in his life that shaped him as an artist, with photos, home movies, interviews with family and friends, art reviews and comments from Bo himself, slowly interlacing the different periods of his life up to around 2003. Bartlett knew from an early age that he wanted to be a painter. At the age of 18, he went to Italy to study under Ben Long IV, a study cut short by family needs. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Philadelphia to continue his studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His first solo show was in 1982 at the Marian Locks Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since then he has had more than 40 solo shows, as well as numerous group exhibitions.

During a particularly rough time in his artistic career, he was invited by Andrew Wyeth to come visit. Bartlett became friends with the Wyeths and was asked by Betsy Wyeth to do a film on Wyeth. Bartlett spent 3 years following Wyeth around and produced the documentary Snow Hill. Andrew Wyeth is quoted as saying “I’m a pretty critical old man. There are very few young American artists whose work I find exciting. One of them happens to be my son, Jamie. The other is Bo Bartlett. They’ve got it. It’s there. Keep a close watch on their future.”

Bartlett has his own website where he posts his thoughts about life and art, current and upcoming events, art work and even his reading list for those who want to have a more personal connection with the artist.