Museums

Political cartoonist Dan Perkins, otherwise known as Tom Tomorrow, the creator of the weekly syndicated cartoon strip "This Modern World." It stars Sparky the Wonder Penguin. Perkins discusses the strips he's created having to do with the Clinton scandal. "This Modern World" appears regularly in "The Village Voice," "U.S. News and World Report," "The Nation" and other publications nationwide.

Plympton's work can be seen on MTV has a new feature length film, "I Married a Strange Person." Unlike computer animators, Plympton draws every frame of his films by hand. Each feature length film has 30-thousand individual drawings. Simpson's creator Matt Groening calls Plympton a God. The American Museum of the Moving Image in New York presented a retrospective of his work this month.

Segal talks about his work which is being featured through October at The Jewish Museum in New York City. It is his first major exhibition in North America in 20 years. He is best known for his free standing sculptures depicting everyday people in urban settings.

We'll hear from two people who worked on a new Maisin (My-sin) tribal art exhibit "Tapa Style" now showing in Philadelphia. The goal of the exhibit is to promote Maisin culture as an alternative to selling logging rights to their portion of a rainforest in Papau New Guinea. John Wesley Vaso is a Maisin tribal leader. Larry Rinder was the curator for the exhibit and is Director of the Institute for Exhibitions and Public Programs at the California College of Arts and Crafts.

Singer Michael Stipe with the band R.E.M. He has a new book of photographs "Two Times Intro: On the Road with Patti Smith" (Little, Brown & Company)

We remember Linda McCartney, with an excerpt of her September 23, 1992 interview with Amy Salit. McCartney died Friday of cancer.

Artist Chuck Close. He's been called "the most methodical artist that has ever lived in America" and the "reigning portraitist of the Information Age." He creates jumbo size faces on canvas (8 or 9 feet high), copying them from photographs. They are painted in a dotted faux pointillist style. In 1989 Close suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the neck down, gaining partial use of his hand with a brace, he learned to paint all over again. There's currently a retrospective of his work exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Curator of the Archives and Collections at the International Center Of Photography in New York, Miles Barth. He curated an exhibit of the work of tabloid photographer, Weegee, whose real name was Arthur Fellig. Wegee eventually became one of the most celebrated news photographers of the century. His photographs taken with an on-camera flash, were of New York's seamy side from 1930s to the 1960s, of murders, suicides, and accidents. The exhibit is now touring the U.S.

Artist, writer, folklorist, photographer Roger Manley was the guest curator of two exhibits at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore: "The Tree of Life" (w/a companion catalogue) and "The End is Near!" The museum opened in 1995. Using the Native American tradition of a personal vision quest as it's model for the kind of work it wants to present, the museum is dedicated to showing and promoting the work of self-taught, intuitive artists. (The phone number for AVAM is 410-244-1900). Manley will discuss visionary art.

Photographer David Plowden. He's spent forty years chronicling the changing face of America. His new book "Imprints: A Retrospective" (Little, Brown & Co.) encompasses that work. Plowden's work is at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian and The Library of Congress.

Cartoonist Dan Piraro. Since 1985, his "Bizarro" cartoons have been featured in papers such as the Boston Herald, the Seattle Times, and the Toronto Globe and Mail. When his publicist would not pay for a promotional tour of his book "Bizarro #9" (Andrews McMeel). Piraro asked his fans if they might be able to provide him with lodging, transportation, and food as he traversed the country. He's since written a book about this experiences on the road: "Bizarro Among the Savages" (Andrews McMeel).

One of America’s leading architects, Richard Meier, talks about what it was like to undertake the architectural commission of the century, the building of the Getty Center in Los Angeles. He’s just written “Building the Getty”

Fashion historian Valerie Steele. Her new book outlines changes in the fashion world through the past half century, noting how the economy, global climate, and sexual politics affected designers' creations as well as the styles we wore. The book is called "Fifty Years of Fashion: New Look to Now" (Yale University). Steele is Chief Curator at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

Photojournalists Horst Faas and Tim Page They've compiled and edited a book of photographs by photojournalists who lost their lives covering war in Indochina and Vietnam from the 50's to the mid 70's. The book is titled "Requiem" (Random House). It features 135 different photographers including Robert Capa, Larry Burrows, and Sean Flynn. Horst Faas was an Associated Press photographer in Vietnam and Tim Page worked in Laos and Vietnam for United Press International and "Paris-Match." They were both wounded in Vietnam.

Photojournalist Max Aguilera-Hellweg has a new collection of photographs taken in the operating room. Her images capture the inside of the human body as surgeons perform procedures like removal of brain tumors, a radical mastectomy, heart surgery and more. Her book is "The Sacred Heart: An Atlas of the Body Seen Through Invasive Surgery." (Bulfinch Press Book)

Sister Wendy Beckett is a member of the Notre Dame order, a teaching order of nuns and a celebrity. In 1980 she began the serious study of art, and since has written a number of books on the subject and hosted the popular PBS series "Sister Wendy's Odyssey" and "Sister Wendy's Grand Tour." This week PBS begins airing her newest 10-part series, "Sister Wendy's Story of Painting." There's a companion book (published by DK Publishing)

The sport of boxing has been in the news since boxer Mike Tyson bit the ear of his opponent, Evander Holyfield. Photographer Larry Fink has captured many images of boxing which have been collected in his book, "Boxing" (Powerhouse Books). And sports writer Bert Sugar has written numerous works on sports and has served as senior vice-president of "The Ring" magazine, a magazine on boxing. He wrote the essay included in Fink's book. They'll talk about the often maligned sport. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Artist William Christenberry is known for his portrayal of the American South in his work. He has spent 35 years rendering images of the architecture and the landscape of his birthplace, rural Alabama, in drawings, sculptures, and photographs. His art deals with Southern heritage with both affection and aversion.