Los Angeles, CA - Nominations for the 29th Annual News and Documentary Emmy® Awards were announced by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Craft in America, a filmed journey to the history, artists, and techniques of our nation’s rich craft culture, received two nominations, for Music (Laura Karpman, series composer) and Cinematography (Peter Pilafian, Director of Photography, Landscape episode).
These prestigious nominations add weight to the project’s recent Peabody Award for this series that has, for the first time, exposed audiences to the handmade arts, which are experiencing a renaissance in America’s popular culture. New episodes will air in primetime, nationwide on PBS in 2009, presented by KCET, the Los Angeles PBS affiliate.
Craft in America is the result of a decade-long passion of Carol Sauvion, the project’s co-executive producer. Joining her were Kyra Thompson (co-executive producer and writer) and Jacoba Atlas, former PBS vp-programming, and currently president of Creative Visions Productions.
“I wanted to do a series to make people more aware of craft, which, while all around us, seems to be hiding in plain sight,” Sauvion said.
A subject like the handmade might not have garnered award attention had it not been for the exquisite production value of the series, shot in HD by some of America’s finest documentary filmmakers, among them directors Nigel Noble, Dan Seeger, and Hilary Birmingham; and cinematographers Don Lenzer, Peter Pilafian, Allen Palmer, and Steven Poster.
With two wins and five previous nominations, Pilafian’s work on the Landscape episode features his sensitive exploration of the natural and political environments in artists’ lives – from ‘urban flora’ growing in Philadelphia sidewalk cracks to the mythical world of Mexican folk art.
“I was able to go beyond the normal constraints of documentary cinematography. I was fortunate to have both the tools and the crew to bring life to the director’s vision. It was the kind of wonderful, artistic and creative opportunity that has become all too rare these days.”
Four-time Emmy winning Laura Karpman’s nominated musical score weaves the artists and their handmade objects together beautifully with the themes of the episodes: Memory, Landscape, and Community. Whether through orchestral threads or simple guitar notes, she adds depth and meaning to moments of inspiration as well as moments of repose. Her concert music has been performed at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center, and The Tanglewood Music Festival.
Ancillary projects that expand upon the series include the book, Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects, authored by Jo Lauria and Steve Fenton and published by Random House; Craft in America: Expanding Traditions, a national traveling museum exhibition of craft objects; and craftinamerica.org, an expansive website including biographies and video clips of hundreds of craft artists.
The News & Documentary Emmy® Awards will be presented on Monday, September 22 at a ceremony at the Time Warner Center in New York City. For more information about the Emmy Awards, visit www.emmyonline.org.
