"Journeys of An Artist" is a television series consisting of 13 half-hour episodes per year.
Viewers are invited to join artist/host Gene Canning each week as he travels to visit a weekly guest artist on his or her journeys in art. Artists are known travelers. They have an unquenchable need to get first hand knowledge of the places, people and things that they wish to re-create in their various art forms. This is often done at great hardship and personal risk. Often, however, their travels take them to places less remote. These places are filled with wondrous beauty that draws them back there time and time again.
Our viewers will be able to learn about different places and cultures around the world. These experiences will be from a perspective never before seen on a weekly TV program. Our goal is to educate the viewer to look at the world in a new and exciting way, through color, form and composition. Artists tend to see the world just a little bit differently. Artists look at how light hits an object, the way the wind plays on grasses in a field, or the way a cloud forms with the approaching rain. By traveling the world with our artist host Gene Canning and the renowned guest artists, the viewer will learn to see the world "through the eyes of an artist."
"Journeys of An Artist" is not meant to be an art instructional show. It has been designed to be interesting to a wide audience and their families. Diverse cultures, opinions, and individual artist’s stories will be highlighted each week. Production standards of WPBS ensure that each show will have a well-crafted storyline, strong visuals, and a clear appearance, which is both easy and enjoyable to follow. Gene states, " I want the viewer to feel that they are traveling with us. They should feel they are sitting with us by that fire pit in Yellowstone National Park. My job is to act as the facilitator, asking the questions that I feel the viewer would want to ask. While watching a pride of lions on the Serengeti, the viewer will be able to enjoy the visuals of these lions in their natural environment, and learn about the natural characteristics. At the same time, the guest artist and I will talk about how these scenes become their inspiration. Describing how that particular scene finds its way into a painting, or how various elements combine to create a work of art. Artists are often asked these questions by the general public. This is a chance for a wide audience to find out the answers."
Along with far away places, Gene will be traveling to many destinations within North America. Because many artists don’t travel far from home to find their subject matter, an important educational component of this show is to share the splendor of our own homeland with our viewers. Our continent contains a lifetime of painting inspiration. Regardless of the location, the experience of seeing it through an artist’s eyes is sure to be a unique experience.
Each of the artists for this first season were chosen for their unique styles, or subject matter, their worldwide public following, and for their ability and willingness to share these adventures with us. We will also see inside many of their studios, offering a glimpse at the places where their work takes form. While we are talking with the artists, a visual montage will fill the viewers TV screens, blurring the lines between art and reality. We’ll bring the viewers into the artist’s realm, forever changing the way they look at the world around them. "Journeys of an Artist" will take them on the adventure of a lifetime.
