This Thursday, May 7, 2009 on NPT, FilmHouse, Inc. producer and director Curt Hahn brings us two wonderful documentaries on two Nashville icons, photo realist painter John Baeder and sculptor Sylvia Hyman. Premiering at 8:00 p.m., Baeder: Pleasant Journeys and Good Eats Along the Way chronicles a passionate interest in diners that has led led Baeder to become the preeminent chronicler of a uniquely American form of roadside architecture.
Said New York Times art critic John Russell: “John lives, dreams, and paints diners. He loves diners, and it shows.”
Sylvia Hyman: Eternal Wonder makes an encore broadcast appearance at 8:30 p.m., with two new scenes added only recently. The documentary traces the evolution of Hyman’s career as an artist, and how, in her forties when she first began working in clay, she quickly gained international recognition. Five decades later she continues to re-invent herself as an artist as she pushes the boundaries of her medium. As a master of “Trompe L’oeil clay”, Hyman’s sculptures inspire both disorientation and delight when viewers realize that everyday objects that appear to be made of wood, cardboard and paper are actually superbly realized simulations made of clay.
When Sylvia Hyman: Eternal Wonder first aired on NPT, timed to coincide with an exhibition of her work at the Frist Center, Hyman and NPT Media Update arts correspondent Daniel Tidwell exchanged thoughts on the nature of art vs. craft in a post that remains one of this blog’s most popular.
