LEGACY Oral History Project merges with San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum. Spark sees how they take on the challenges of documenting the work of the Bay Area's great choreographers. Original airdate: June 2003.

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Animator artist James Buckhouse parlays digital technologies over to traditional art forms, in which users can train an animated character on handheld PDAs to tap dance. Spark visits Buckhouse in his studio. Original airdate: May 2003.

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The type of imagery that Chris Anthony is known for – vintage-style processing and antique elements coupled with horror themes – has become quite common in alt photography in recent years. However, few images of this sort that I’ve seen crop up recently resonate with the depth and storytelling that Anthony is capable of. A [...]

Two-Faced Portrait (1996) © Colette Calascione The women of NY-based painter Colette Calascione’s world are the most luscious and enigmatic lot you’re likely to encounter in modern classical painting. Inspired by Victorian portraiture and Surrealism, Calascione is gifted with an Old Master’s hand for technique, a child’s fevered imagination, a wicked sense of humor and a [...]

I’ve been dying for a pair of wide-leg slacks ever since my trip to Tokyo and finally found these last week for a measly $10 on sale at a Melrose Ave. shop. Ten bucks is a small price to pay for this much excellence, even if I do end up having them hemmed. For the [...]

Dolls have long been fetishised and it’s to be expected, really - perfect skin, stylized features, limitless hair possibilities and endless wardrobe options are all enticing. In alt modeling the idea of the living doll is prevalent, in and out of Japan the Elegant Gothic Lolita style has provided much doll-like fashion, and of [...]

“I have a fairly adequate knowledge of satanic forces, and I was interested to find out if this girl was obsessed with such a force.” - James Dean, on befriending Maila Nurmi Finnish-American actress Maila Nurmi, famous for having created the character Vampira, passed away yesterday in her sleep at age 86. Born in Finland and raised [...]

Dec 1, 2007–Mar 16, 2008

Works by upwards of 88 artists from 30 countries in a landmark exhibition that offers up art as a lens through which we experience our common humanity. Established and emerging artists, celebrities and others, have been invited to create works that capture the essence of His Holiness and his mission of peace.

Jan 18–Apr 6, 2008

Pioneer of postmodern dance and performance, Halprin is known for blurring boundaries: between art forms, professional and amateur, performer and audience. Her radical improvisational experiments took her San Francisco company outside the theater where they danced on the street wearing ordinary clothing.

Feb 14–Mar 6, 2008

In conjunction with the exhibition The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, a program of films from around the world that explore fear and liberation, confusion and compassion. Works in genres from documentary to drama, comedy to poetry to experimental.

Mar 2, 2008

This program of short experimental films harnesses the forces of nature by attending to rich details of landscape and encounter.

Mar 4, 2008

A riveting drama that features Academy Award-nominated David Strathairn as a liberal Jewish lawyer appointed by the court to represent a neo-Nazi skinhead.