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.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art —
A Nation of Artists
Seven artists. Seven materials. One city.
A Nation of Artists was commissioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art to mark the country's 250th year. A portrait of contemporary Philadelphia making, the film asks a quiet question underneath the noise of an anniversary: in a nation built and rebuilt by makers, what does it actually look like to make something now?
The Ask
Presented chronologically around distinctive themes, the massive exhibition explores art making of all types, from ceramics to wood carving and painting to fashion, and includes works by Indigenous, African American, and historically underrepresented artists who have shaped the nation’s visual culture.
The film lives at the end of that arc, in Gallery 219. After three centuries of objects behind glass, the room turns from the past to the present and asks a simple question: who is making this country now? On screen, seven contemporary Philadelphia artists answer in their own hands and voices, giving viewers a look at the living continuation of the very crafts the galleries have just traced.
Bringing it to the modern day
The Experience
No Beginning, No End, No Wrong Way In
People wander into a gallery film mid-thought; some for ninety seconds on the way to the next room, some stay for the full half hour.
The film was built as a loop with no true beginning or end. Every movement stands on its own and still belongs to the whole, the way a piece of music does. Whatever part of the film you happen to catch delivers a chorus of artistic voices. And with the plush seating and small library in the film gallery, you may find yourself watching the whole thing.
Just as the exhibition lets a colonial cabinetmaker and a modern painter share a wall, the film lets a blacksmith and a ceramicist share a thought. The artists are threaded by feeling, not by name, so they answer each other across crafts they'd never otherwise meet over. A weaver and a woodworker land on the very same idea — that the material remembers what it used to be. Cut together, seven interviews become one conversation
Forging iron. Blowing glass. Throwing clay. Painting with oil and rust. Weaving cloth. Meditation. The film makes these ancient practices feel like right now. Timeless work, shown in a timely way.
The team collected the actual tools and artworks from the featured artists for display in a case next to the film.
The Stats
Physical Production
2x - Location Scouts
6x - Filming Days
7x - Studio Locations
7x - Artist Interviews
Delivered
1x - Site-specific, non-linear documentary film for Gallery #219
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 Russel
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
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