The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of two documentaries – “Cavedigger” and “The 100 Years Show” – starting at 7 p.m. Friday, July 6, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
Both films are shorter than usual Friday Film Series documentary runtimes, so the Friends of the Visual Arts film committee members elected to combine the two screenings.
Using nothing but hand tools, artist Ra Paulette obsessively digs cathedral-like, “eighth-wonder-of-the-world” art caves in the sandstone cliffs of northern New Mexico. Each creation takes him years to complete, and each is a masterwork. But patrons who have commissioned caves have cut off nearly all of his projects due to artistic differences, according to information at cavediggerdocumentary.com. Fed up, Paulette has chosen to forego commissions altogether and create a massive 10-year project … his Magnum Opus.
Jeffrey Karoff directs this Oscar-nominated, 39-minute documentary short.
Directed, produced and filmed by Alison Klayman, “The 100 Years Show” is the story of Cuban-American artist Carmen Herrera, who, even at 100-plus years, sketched by the window of her New York City apartment every morning. She produced disciplined, radiant works in straight lines and shapes in just two colors, but the art world ignored her for decades. Her story is just one example of many great artists whose accomplishments were overlooked because of their gender, ethnicity or nationality. She was a pioneering abstract painter in the ’40s and ’50s but only recently found the recognition that eluded her for most of her career. “The 100 Years Show” demonstrates the power of artistic vision to sustain itself, according to information at the100yearsshow.com.
“The 100 Years Show” is a six-time winner for Best Documentary Short film. Runtime is 30 minutes.
These screenings are part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and are sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, Brad Maule, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and Main Street Nacogdoches.
The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.
