Product Description

A 100-minute exploration of the creative process that takes off from the essential question how do artists get ideas? and soard into the fascinating world inhabited by seven diverse artists. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 04/08/2003 Starring: David Bowie Dale Chihuly Run time: 100 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Michael Apted

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #68592 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2002-06-18
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
In Inspirations seven artists from the famous (the late Roy Lichtenstein, David Bowie) to the more obscure (Pueblo sculptor Nora Narango-Morse, French Canadian dancer Louise Lecavalier) discuss why they became artists and what it means to create as both a daily routine and a lifelong passion. Director Michael Apted (Enough, the Up documentaries) neatly avoids the usual talking-head format of documentaries by focusing on very visual subjects. Narango-Morse digs mud from the mountains and works it between her toes, glass artist Dale Chihuly instructs urban kids as they turn molten mass into colorful creations, and Lecavalier and partner dance in dramatic staccato, choreographed by film subject Edouard Lock. Revelations are surprising, such as when Bowie extols the calm of waking at dawn since he quit drinking and drugging, and candid, such as when Japanese architect Tadao Ando confesses that the ugliness of his home city Osaka inspired him to add beauty and spirituality to his designs. --Kimberly Heinrichs

Customer Reviews

The art of creation, shared firsthand by artists who create!
I've waited for a long time to purchase this film and I'm so glad it is now available. I saw this documentary at the Santa Barbara Film Festival a few years ago and was deeply moved by the work of the artists profiled as well as by the artists themselves. Some were familiar to me, while others (like sculptor Nora Naranjo-Morse) were a revelation. I think that civilization evolves through individual acts of creation by artists, writers, scientists, and inventors who shape the future with their minds and hearts. Apted's beautiful film lets us inside the minds and hearts of seven remarkable creators, and in doing so he gives all of us new license to explore, rebel, innovate, and grow.

What Inspires You?
Listening to artists speak about their process helped get the inspiration burning in me again too. A good film for any artist of any discipline ~ and for art students too.

Unexpectedly I learned the most from the disciplines most unlike my own -- the choreographer said things which helped me think in new ways (example -- "why do artists think they should simplify? Think of a Forest -- a forest is complex, it is not on a human scale -- there is something different to notice every time you look at it. The complexity makes it interesting.") Also the concept of time in art -- and when is a piece of art "finished"? (Nora the sculptor feels something is finished when it feels it has been born; the dancer and choregrapher say a piece is never finished, is always changing) Compelling thoughts too from David Bowie -- "People think artists somehow KNOW more than other people. They don't. They just DWELL on things more."

GREAT!
This documentary is an excellent look at the creative process, and how it is shared across mediums. Bowie fans will definitely enjoy this one.