Film series examines ‘Women in Art’

By Luciano Marano • May 28, 2018 10:30 am
Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.
Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.

The Bainbridge Island Museum of Art will continue its latest smARTfilms series with five movie screenings exploring women in art.

Curated and hosted by TJ Faddis and Kristin Tollefson, all the films are presented in the BIMA auditorium at 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7).

Dinner seating in the Bistro begins at 5:30 p.m. (reservations are recommended). For admission/ticket information, visit www.biartmuseum.org/calendar/smartfilms-through-her-eyes. Students get in free with valid ID.

“Through Her Eyes” consists of five documentary films about the art and lives of artists Rosamund Purcell, Elsa Dorfman, Elizabeth Murray, Kirsten Johnson and Agnes Varda. It begins on Tuesday, May 29 and runs through June 26.

The lineup:

May 29: “An Art That Nature Makes” (2015)

Portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell who has established herself as a visual poet of the inanimate, a still life painter with a camera. This film details her fascination with the natural world and insight into her unique way of re-contextualizing ordinary and strange objects into breathtaking imagery.

June 5: “B-Side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography” (2016)

A profile of celebrated portrait photographer Elsa Dorfman, whose friends and subjects include families, Beat poets, rock stars, and Harvard notables. Her comments tell of a lifetime of wisdom, self-awareness, frustration, and survivor’s pride.

June 12: “Everybody Knows Elizabeth Murray” (2016)

An intimate portrait of groundbreaking artist Elizabeth Murray, who broke through notorious art world barriers to become one of the preeminent painters of our time. This film pays stirring tribute to Murray’s vision, devotion, hard work and category-defying inventiveness. Voiced by Meryl Streep and includes exclusive interviews of art world luminaries which contribute to the historical backdrop for the New York art scene.

June 19: “Cameraperson” (2016)

Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson exposes her many years behind the camera through a memoir made up of decades of footage shot all over the world. This film is a collage of gravity and lightness, intimacy and war, a narrative of fidgeting hands and an overlay of field recordings and music.

June 26: Faces/Places (2017)

Eighty-nine-year-old Agnes Varda, a leading figure of the French New Wave, and acclaimed 33-year-old French photographer and muralist JR, teamed up for this enchanting documentary/road movie. These kindred spirits share a passion for images and how they are created, displayed and shared. Traveling in JR’s photo truck in France, they meet locals, learn their stories and produce epic-sized portraits revealing the humanity in their subjects and themselves while forming an unlikely tender friendship.

Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series. Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.

Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series. Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.

Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series. Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.

Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series. Image courtesy of Kino Lorber | “An Art That Nature Makes,” a documentary portrait of artist Rosamund Purcell, is the first slated screening in the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art’s latest smARTfilms series.