Educational Media Reviews Online

Artists don’t just create works of art – they may also design, build and live in them. To illustrate how art and place can be integrated into life and work, photographer and filmmaker Freeman visits the homes and studios of 11 influential American artists and designers. By exploring these places, others have an opportunity to understand the artist at a deeper level and to see his or her work in a larger context than a museum or gallery. The homes and studios of the 11 artists and designers presented in this beautifully photographed and scored film are:

• Ceramist Henry Chapman Mercer (1856-1930) – Fonthill | Pennsylvania
• Artist and environmental architect Paolo Soleri (1919-2013) – Cosanti | Arizona
• Artists Jane Whitehead and Ralph Radcliffe – Byrdcliffe Arts and Crafts Colony (established 1903) | New York
• Painter Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900) – Olana | New York
• Artist Wharton Esherick (1887-1970) – Pennsylvania
• Designer Russel Wright (1904-1976) – Manitoga | New York
• Woodworker George Nakashima (1905-1990) - Pennsylvania
• Sculptor Costantino Nivola (1911-1988) – New York
• Painter Henry Varnum Poor (1888-1970) – Crow House | New York
• Abstract Expressionist Raoul Hague (1905-1993) – New York
• Artists Michael Hahn (1936-2007 and Leda Livant (1926- ) – Eliphante | Arizona

In addition to seeing these artists not as celebrities or icons but as real people, in the spaces where creative ideas were transformed into something else, viewers also get a glimpse where each drew inspiration, found refuge, raised families, and entertained friends.

Although most of the sites presented in this exquisitely crafted film are open to the public, some are not. An underlying message of the film is that not only is it important to see where artists live and work, but that these places also need to preserved for future generations to see as well.