Category Archives: Episodes

Episodes

Our Creative Nature

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Spark: Our Creative Nature explores innovative projects that help to protect and enhance our environment. See how Bay Area artists, working in a variety of genres, hope to swing public opinion behind efforts to improve the quality of our land, waters and air.

First, strap on snowshoes to follow artist Sonja Hinrichsen as she and dozens of volunteers make massive snow drawings in the Sierra. Designed to enhance natural landscapes around the world, Hinrichsen’s art is completely ephemeral; when her creations are complete, it’s a race against time to photograph them before the next snowfall covers them up or they simply melt away.

Next, take to the stage with San Francisco choreographer KT Nelson and the ODC dancers as they perform a stunning new work, “Dead Reckoning.” Scored by former Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud, the dance uses a mix of visual and acoustic motifs, the sound of a tree falling, for instance, to make viewers experience the anxiety and urgency of a world transformed by climate change.

Then, step into the Berkeley studio of Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, designers who are using organic materials like sand, salt and clay to bring new form to large-scale 3-D printing. Their creations are among the first steps toward a whole new world of sustainable, natural building materials that could profoundly change how we design and manufacture everything from our furniture to the houses we live in.

Finally, inspired by her fieldwork in the Arctic and Antarctic, composer Cheryl Leonard creates instruments and compositions from field recordings and found objects like penguin bones, dried seaweed, and ice. As she prepares for her performance as part of the Brower Center’s Vanishing Ice exhibit in Berkeley, she hopes to use sound to help her audience make visceral connections to polar landscapes in need of preservation.

Episodes

Arts + Social Issues

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Watch the full Spark episode.

From themes of political suppression to mankind’s misuse of the
land, Spark highlights work that is both spellbinding and thought-provoking.

Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei delves into themes of
freedom of speech and imprisonment in a large-scale art installation
on the notorious former prison island of Alcatraz. More info.

David Maisel’s stunning aerial photographs reveal landscapes
irrevocably altered by mankind, from the eerie salt flats of Owens
Lake to the open pit mines of the American West. More info.

The Market Street Prototyping Festival explores an innovative
urban planning approach designed to bring new life and public art
to a neglected urban corridor in San Francisco.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony appeal
to younger, more diverse audiences by creating a more contemporary
classical music experience, complete with video projections, casual
seating and even a bar.

Episodes

Culture Creates Community

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This special episode of Spark spotlights art that connects.

Go inside the Throckmorton Theatre’s comedy night in Mill Valley, which is a local institution and a haven for stars like Dana Carvey and Robin Williams.

In San Jose, hundreds of professionals and students perform in a show that mixes traditional Chinese dance, music and martial arts with Western ballet.

Follow local bluegrass legend Laurie Lewis as she performs and works to mentor new artists.

And watch as Ed Drew revives the art of the tin-type while making images of at-risk youth on an organic garden project that’s seeking to redefine the image of farming for African Americans.

Episodes

The Photography of Doug Rickard

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the television show, This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark talks to local photographer Doug Rickard, who brings a keen eye to Google street view.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Afghan Culture in Little Kabul

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the television show, This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark visits Fremont to explore the Afghan art created in the Little Kabul district.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Occupy Bay Area

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the television show, This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark visits the Occupy Bay Area art exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for Arts which opens July 7 and runs through October 14, 2012.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Pixar’s Sanjay Patel

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the television show, This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark catches up with Pixar animator Sanjay Patel on the occasion of the Oakland Museum of California exhibit Pixar: 25 Years of Animation, which runs from July 31, 2010 to January 9, 2011. Patel, who has worked on such Pixar films as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Toy Story 3, draws on his Indian heritage to create a uniquely personal body of work — illustrated adaptations of ancient Hindu epics.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

The Fisher Collection

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the television show, This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark gets a sneak peek at the masterworks as the exhibition From Calder to Warhol: Introducing the Fisher Collection at SFMOMA. The show presents 160 of the more than 1000 pieces from Don and Doris Fisher collection, long considered one of the finest in private hands. Part of SFMOMA’s celebration of its 75th anniversary, the exhibition runs until September 19, 2010.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

The Steinbeck Project

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark takes a journey with San Francisco playwright Octavio Solis to the heart of Steinbeck Country in Monterey County, as he seeks inspiration for an adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Pastures of Heaven. Solis is adapting the tales of farmers and ranchers looking for the California dream into a play for California Shakespeare Theater in Orinda.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Mission District Street Art

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark visits San Francisco’s Mission District, which has been a breeding ground for alternative art and culture for more than 40 years. Why has the neighborhood, more than any other in the city, been such a beacon for outdoor creative expression? We meet artists Susan Greene and John Jota Leaños and talk to Annice Jacoby, who explores the question in her new book Street Art San Francisco: Mission Muralismo.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Bay Area Glee Club

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark visits the San Ramon Valley High School Concert Choir as they prepare pop, classical, and folk selections for their 2010 spring concert. Choir director Ken Abrams, who stresses music theory and comprehension, leads this 82-member chorus.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Torah Scribe

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, Spark heads to San Francisco’s Contemporary Jewish Museum, where Julie Seltzer, a female scribe known as a soferet, is breaking ground by writing out an entire Torah. Being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, Seltzer continues to make history, one letter at a time, at the museum until October 3, 2010.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

The Fillmore Project

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

In this segment, we follow choreographer Jacinta Vlach and saxophonist Howard Wiley as they start work on a new dance theater production about San Francisco’s Fillmore District. “The Fillmore Project” is a tribute to the cultural legacy of the neighborhood once known as “The Harlem of the West.”

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.

Episodes

Shanghai at the Asian Art Museum

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In October 2009, the production model of Spark changed, moving from a stand alone series of original programs to the production of Spark segments, which will be premiered throughout the year as part of the newly re-vamped This Week in Northern California.

Shanghai at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum is the first large-scale exhibition to feature the cultural productions of the city of Shanghai. Using a wide range of visual artifacts, the exhibition traces the impact that globalization has had on molding the city’s dynamic, international character. Spark gets a guided tour of this unprecedented exhibit.

This Week Produced by Spark for This Week in Northern California.