The Philadelphia Museum of Art
A Nation of Artists
A celebration of imagination, identity, and the enduring power of art to reflect, shape, and inspire.
Philly in the Making
Seven artists. Seven studios. One film.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art marked two anniversaries in 2026, the country's 250th and its own 150th, with A Nation of Artists. Organized with the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and drawing on the Middleton Family Collection, the exhibition brings more than a thousand works into two museums, the largest presentation of American art ever mounted in Philadelphia. The museum's galleries move in order, from Charles Willson Peale through Mary Cassatt and Horace Pippin to Mark Rothko.
Our companion film to the exhibition, Philly in the Making, sits in the last gallery and carries that story into the present.
The film is also now available on YouTube
The Approach
A story of contemporary art, told seven ways
Gallery 219 is at the end of a long exhibition, and visitors come in mid-thought. Some stay ninety seconds, some twenty minutes, but nobody starts at the beginning. Seven separate films would present a passing visitor with just one artist and a limited impression of the film’s breadth. We presented the museum’s team with a concept for one interwoven film, where any moment could show a blacksmith, a textile artist, and a painter arriving at the same idea from three directions. That argument won the commission.
The Experience
The team collected the actual tools and artworks from the featured artists for display in a case next to the film.
No Beginning, No End, No Wrong Way In
The film runs forty minutes: seven conversations braided into one, with no fixed entry point. It loops on a cut inside the edit's rhythm, so the return feels like the next thought instead of a restart.
It plays via laser projection through a short-throw lens, with directional speakers in the ceiling, so the sound belongs to the room and nobody needs headphones. Taking advantage of a widescreen film playing on a taller projection, we added captions below the picture instead of on top of it. Plush seating and a small library give visitors a reason to stay, and a case beside the screen holds the artists' own tools and work.
Forging iron. Blowing glass. Throwing clay. Painting with oil and rust. Weaving cloth. Meditation. The film makes these ancient practices feel contemporary. Timeless work, shown in a timely way.
The Production
A lean crew for intimate interviews
Two scout days in January covered every studio: a forge in Fishtown, a glass hot shop in East Falls, a weaving studio at Firehouse Arts in Germantown, and four more across the city. Six filming days followed over two weeks, with about an hour of interview per artist and process coverage in each space under its own light.
The crew was two people with a RED V-Raptor 8K VV. Closely directed, produced, photographed, recorded and mixed the sound, edited, colored, and installed the film, with Jon Chicot as first assistant camera.
The Stats
Production
2x - Location Scouts
6x - Filming Days
7x - Studio Locations
7x - Artist Interviews
Delivered
1x - Site-specific film
2x - Versions, gallery + web
Our Roles
Narrative Storytelling
• Creative Direction, Exhibit Media
• Documentary Story Development
Creative Production
• Shoot Production
• Post Production
• Cinematography
• Sound Recording
Collaborators
Director / Producer
• Dan King | Closely
1st Assistant-Camera
• Jon Chicot
PMA Strategic Initiatives, Project Manager
• Liz Russell
PMA Head of Interpretation
• Rosalie Hooper
PMA Coordinator of Interpretation, Special Projects
• Lily Scott
PMA Audio-Visual Services Manager
• Stephen Keever, CTS
Kathleen C. Sherrerd Deputy Director for Learning and Engagement
• Audrey Hudson
Ceramicist
• María G. Albornoz
Glass Maker
•Daniel Cutrone
Interdisciplinary Artist & Expressive Arts Facilitator
• shanina dionna
Blacksmith & Visual Artist
• Warren Holzman
Furniture Maker, Woodworker & Teacher
• Larissa Huff
Textile Artist
• Richie Wilde Lopez
Painter, Designer & Poet
• Cynthia Zhou
Related Work
Let’s work together
Get in touch.
