Video Tapes
These video programs explore aspects of the Institute's collection. Produced by the Institute's Interactive Media Group, many have garnered national and international awards.

Pierre Bonnard and the Impressionist Vision (12 minutes, $29.95)
Pierre Bonnard considered himself "the last of the French Impressionists," and much in his canvas and prints -- especially the radiant light and familiar surroundings -- reminds us of them. But Bonnard developed his own distinct style, combining his love of color with the simple forms and compositions he admired in Japanese woodblock prints and the work of Paul Gauguin. Using such world-class paintings in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts as Bonnard's Dining Room in the Country (1913), Vuillard's Place St. Augustin (1912-13), and Pissarro's Place du Theatre Francais, Rain (1898), this program explores Bonnard's relationship with his contemporaries and his desire to depict the "poetry" of life in his art.

Creating the Decorative Cloth (43 minutes, $39.95)
This video shows the techniques used in creating four different kinds of decorative cloth -- tapestry, brocade, embroidery, and pile. Lucid narrative and clear demonstrations explain the distinguishing features of each of these textile structures. Not a set of "how to" instructions, this program aims to give viewers a better understanding of decorative textiles by acquainting them with the principles involved. Creating the Decorative Cloth is a compilation of individual videos made to accompany four textile exhibitions held at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts from 1988 to 1991.

The Documentary Urge: Tom Arndt (22 minutes, $29.95)
Narrated by Garrison Keillor, this award-winning documentary shows Minneapolis photographer Tom Arndt in action: "stalking his prey" at the Minnesota State Fair, printing his film in the quiet of his warehouse darkroom, and preparing for a retrospective of his work with photography curator Ted Hartwell. "I'm a common man and I photograph common people," says Arndt. But there's nothing common about Arndt's black-and-white images, which have been exhibited widely in the U.S., Japan, and Italy and avidly collected by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. As a photographer of the American scene, Arndt follows in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank, his acknowledged heroes. But as this program intimately reveals, he is also an artist of deep compassion and humility, whose powerfully "simple" and "direct" photographs seek to record both the confidence and vulnerability of the American people.

Malagan Art of New Ireland (18 minutes, $29.95)
In the South Pacific in Papua New Guinea, the New Irelanders honor their ancestors by staging elaborate ceremonies known as malagans. Days of dancing, feasting, singing, and speech-making culminate in the dramatic unveiling of large wooden sculptures, which are hidden in secret enclosures near the clan's burial grounds. This film documents a contemporary malagan in vivid detail, from the roasting of pigs to the carving of intricate masks and poles used during this complex cycle of festivities that renews the social, economic, and spiritual ties of the island community.

Mountain in the Mind (28 minutes, $29.95)
In this program, noted Hong Kong artist Wucius Wong explains the traditional Chinese approach to landscape painting: of the need to create both the essence of nature and the emotion of the artist in contemplating it. "Overall," says Wong, "these paintings capture a sense of timelessness that goes to the very heart of the Chinese vision." The camera follows Wong closely as he visits a familiar Minnesota landmark, Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis, and then paints it later from memory in his studio.

Paper & Silk: The Conservation of Asian Works of Art (26 minutes, $29.95)
This program begins with a brittle 18th century Chinese scroll painting in hundreds of fragments. With Asian curator Robert Jacobsen (The Minneapolis Institute of Arts) and conservators David Dudley and Downey Rugtiv (Upper Midwest Conservation Association), we are led through the restoration process: from the initial piecing together of the work to its rebacking, in painting and eventual remounting on a paper panel. The tools and techniques of Asian conservation methods are explained in addition to the rationales for procedure -- which objects deserve to be repaired and why.

Printmaking Processes (30 minutes, $19.95)
How can you tell the difference between a lithograph and a silkscreen? How are etchings and aquatints done? How is a woodcut made? Watch contemporary printmakers demonstrate relief, intaglio, lithography, and screenprinting in clear, easy-to-follow steps as they create prints based on the same simple image of a tree. This 30-minute VHS videotape contains the process-oriented animations and video clips that comprise half of the interactive CD-ROM Prints & Processes.

Quilt on the Wall: a Portrait of Jan Myers (28 minutes, $29.95)
Since colonial times, the most spectacular of all blankets has been the handmade quilt. Contemporary textile artist Jan Myers weds this utilitarian respect for quiltmaking with her own desire for self-expression. Antique quilts and historical photographs provide the backdrop as we watch Myers make a patchwork quilt: from planning it, dyeing and cutting the fabric to sewing and quilting the geometric squares of her modern design.

Red Grooms Talks about Dali Salad (4 minutes, $29.95)
As a Pop artist, Red Grooms has always been fascinated with the ordinary and the everyday. In the artwork Dali Salad, he used paper, vinyl, aluminum, wood, steel , plastic, and even Ping-Pong balls to create a lively and humorous portrait of Salvador Dali, a Surrealist painter whom Grooms describes as having "both exploited and been exploited in the print field." A behind-the-scenes look at the production process shows how Grooms's three-dimensional print was made -- from the conception of the salad motif to the actual printing and assemblage of the work at the Minneapolis-based printmaking studio Vermillion Editions, Ltd.

Vermillion Editions: Right to Print (55 minutes, $39.95)
As one of this country's most distinguished print studios, Vermillion Editions attracts artists from across the nation to Minnesota to work with master printer Steven Andersen. This program opens with a brief overview of modern American printmaking and then goes behind the scenes into the studio, where painters Sam Gilliam and T.L. Solien collaborate with the Vermillion staff to make highly complex prints on paper. Also included are interviews with New York artists Harmony Hammon, Red Grooms , and Arakawa, who all have experienced the intense creative stimulation offered by Andersen and Vermillion Editions.

For more information call (612) 870-3100, or toll-free (888) MIA-ARTS (642-2787) and ask for the Museum Shop. Information and orders to markj@artsMIA.org .

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