Spark meets artists who have made landscape their subject but with a contemporary twist.

First, encounter the small-scale, yet familiar, buildings of Tracey Snelling‘s process-driven sculptures.

And Paul Madonna hits the streets looking for cityscape inspiration of which to draw for his weekly San Francisco Chronicle comic, “All Over Coffee.”

Then, camp out with photographer Trevor Paglen as he surveys the desert’s hidden elements.

Finally, see San Francisco as you’ve never seen it before: as a jiggling kaleidoscope of Jell-O in sculptures molded by Liz Hickok.

Spark asks, “After a lifetime pursuing creativity, what do the years teach about art?” Modern dancer Anna Halprin, who is in her eighties, is still performing and honing her craft. Actor and director Peter Riegert appeared in the off-Broadway debut of the play of “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” 30 years ago; now catch up with him as he directs the 2006 A.C.T production. Meet artists displaced by Hurricane Katrina who find shelter at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program. And take a brief look inside the Dance Improv, a regular event hosted by Kara Davis.

In the 2006 season premiere, Spark plugs into the energy created when artists and institutions start anew.

First, visit the de Young Museum, which re-opened its doors in 2005, refreshed and revitalized with a new look and location.

Photographer Bill Owens stepped away from the camera for almost twenty years, catch up with him while he revisits the suburban landscape to document the ordinary and everyday.

Meet the teachers and students of ASCEND, a progressive primary school in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, where academic merge with the arts.

Finally, hear from ballet dancer Aesha Ash, who is a Bay Area newcomer and recent addition to Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet.