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>> This time on "Artbeat
Nation," a photographer captures
an underwater world.
>> Women underwater aren't
comfortable but when necessity
reach the surface they have to
deal with a whole new level of
reality.
>> An artist offers a new
perspective.
When do you ever get to see the
bottom of a rock this big and
see it in the middle of the blue
sky?
>> An author whose book first
inspired "Downton Abbey," it's a
snapshot of English mobility.
>> The center of power in
England is really out in the
country.
>> And a painter who loses
himself in his work.
>> It's something you get lost
in.
It's almost a dance with a
painting and a rhythm that you
have.
>> It's all ahead on this
edition "Artbeat Nation."
>> Funding for "Artbeat Nation"
is made possible by
contributions to eight from
viewers like.
Thank you.
Whether on land or in the water,
photographer Rhea Pappas looks
to capture the strength and
beauty in her subjects.
In her underwater serious,
Pappas explores feminine
vulnerability and power.
>> Are you flattening those
flowers?
>> I know, it's cool.
>> It will look like a Lily.
So there is my mom, Mary Jane,
she's my model and my mother, I
love her.
>> I have never done anything
like there before.
I am excited.
I am a little nervous about it.
I don't know.
We'll see how it goes.
>> Whether she likes how she
looks in it, I think everybody
else does.
[Laughter]
>> I am Rhea Pappas, there is my
coffee.
>> Coffee is really good.
For you and in your tummy.
I'm really excited to shoot
today.
I'm a photographer.
Onset.
And offset.
The time of day is very early,
so it's 8:25, and the reason we
have to shoot this early is
because the sun comes up, and
then makes -- I use a pool that
has all windows.
And so the sun comes in, and
hits the water at a very
unnecessary, harsh, and
unfavorable light.
I've been working on this
specific underwater project for
a good year, year and a half.
I've been moving away from just
experimenting with the water,
and just having fun with it, and
like the awe of the first
experience, kind of lasted a
while for me because it's a cool
first experience.
It doesn't really leave that
was.
I think I am moving now towards
more interesting ideas and more
conceptual ideas.
My new body work is more about
releasing energy.
How the body moves under water
and exploring under water.
And what that means to be a
woman under water.
And that's been the new way my
project has been going.
>> I think it's kind cool that
you are using an older model
anyway.
I think that there are not
enough older models that too
many people focus on being
youthful and our society is so
orient towards thin, and young,
and gorgeous.
I'm a little ripe and older.
>> Oh, man.
The only thing that comes to
mind is Greek.
My mom is a Greek woman.
It's -- my mom is a very
playful, intelligent, talented
Greek woman.
>> When she invited me to do it,
I just thought, I was a little
hesitant, you know, being my age
and being in the water and being
filmed and everything.
And being a little
self-conscious, but, you know, I
am just going to throw that out
the window and just let it all
happen.
>> The main reason for the
portrait is to talk about
confidence and being a woman,
and how you deal with society.
When women are under water, they
are comfortable.
And they can feel free to be
themselves.
But when they reach the surface
they have to deal with a whole
new level of reality.
And they have to be strong and
hard, and I mean, I think that
-- I got a lot of that from.
When you own your own and you
have to go through a lot to do
so.
We come from a strong woman
family.
>> Yeah, I think that's right.
>> Where is your car?
>> Right in front of the ramp.
>> Ok.
>> I got the keys.
>> Glad you got the keys.
>> Oh, it smells like a pool.
>> Yes, it does.
It's kind of fun to play with
her.
She's such a good
portrait-taker, so it's a start
of the whole thing.
>> Do you want to get wet all
the way up to here?
>> Ok.
>> Are you feeling warm enough?
>> I'm fine.
>> Ok.
>> For me to put myself in my
model's place is huge and to
realize that they are very
vulnerable the minute start
shooting them.
>> Let me help you get
comfortable.
You are going to scoot down,
don't worry.
>> It's hard for me to hear.
>> Don't hear.
>> You are asking them to do
something out of their element
they don't generally do, and you
need to let them know that they
are in good hands.
The portrait I want to do is
exactly what we were talking
about earlier, your face and
eyes, I want to talk about
coming to the surface and being
a strong, powerful woman.
>> Got it.
>> Whether that's hard or that's
soft or beautiful, make sure not
to get water on your face.
>> And I feel like they need to
know that I'm there, and with
the best intentions.
>> I think we're good.
>> Let's go and take this out of
your hair.
>> You are done with that?
>> I love the scarf.
I love her hair.
I love her facial expression.
You never know until you get it
on the computer.
Really.
You don't.
>> So this is my ad-700, it's an
aquatica camera housing it,
basically houses my d700 from
nikon.
When I bought this I put it on a
pedestal, and I thought all
hails.
This is a beautiful dome.
Love this dome.
She's having a ball right now.
I go underwater with my models,
so that's the difficulty of
timing.
Like if I don't go down at the
right time, am I going to catch
them?
Especially if you have surface
photographs like the one next to
me with the bubbles hitting the
water.
If she jump in the water and if
I wasn't down there and ready
for her and focused, I would
have never caught it.
>> We're going to start with
simple moves.
Geometric.
I'm ready now.
>> People aren't used to being
under water in clothing, let
alone being under water with a
dress that sticks to your legs.
There are definitely things
about experimentation with that,
that was a little nerve-racking.
>> It's beautiful but your face
looks like a little bit of pain.
>> If you are comfortable in
water the bottom line is the
person is comfortable with
opening their eyes and going
under it's a huge thing because
if they are free to do that,
they are so much more free to
let go of the way they work on
the surface and start doing
things they have never done
under water.
>> This too, you're hold
something tension in your jaw.
If you are old school like I am,
you know.
>> Maybe.
>> We set up the shot, they
really wanted the bubbles.
>> I could do another one like
that.
>> I bet you could.
>> Scarf, and then dive
underneath it.
>> I think initially why I
started with clothing is because
it's unusual under water.
>> Ok, readied?
Get set.
>> I'm really a woman
photographer.
I like shooting women
beautifully.
For me, I thought dresses would
be the first place to do it.
They flow well.
They are fun.
They are expressive under water,
especially if you have got all
these crazy things going on.
>> It's amazing what the fabric
does underneath the water, how
it restricts my movement.
>> We are going to get yourself
oriented but we don't talk about
the movement.
>> Ok.
>> So maybe what we do is we put
the scarf around you.
>> I think at the bottom of my
photography soul I want people
to express their emotion, to use
their emotion, to work through
them and feel them when they
look at my work.
>> Is that hard to do?
>> This is a workout.
>> People used to come to me and
see my book and say, I thank you
for doing this.
And that was really wonderful.
Whether this is as dramatic as
that was, that they do, they
have that reaction.
And they leave either feeling
like they want that in their
living room or they have gotten
something from it.
>> To see more her work, visit
rheapappas.com.
>>> Michael Heizer set his eye
on a boulder, and he did not
stop until the stone was on
display at the Los Angeles
county museum of art.
Michael Heizer envision this
hard work after 1968, working in
the desert in the west, as he
was doing most of his artwork of
that scale in the desert.
He tried to move a huge stone
above a cut so there would be
this relationship between a
negative space and a positive
forum, a line.
And a pyramid.
And at that time he broke the
Crain trying.
He called me and he said, you
know, I found it.
I found the grave rock, and the
sculpture that goes with the big
rock is levitated mass.
I can't move it to Nevada where
my studio is but I could get it
to L.A.
Do you want it.
I knew when Michael was
proposing this work, I knew the
history, and I knew it would be
a, a blockbuster, so to speak,
it would be a great work of art,
and I was interested in, if you
will, engaging the outside here
of Los Angeles county museum of
art.
We live in L.A., and the museum
can be outside, as well as
inside.
This rock is four or five times
larger than the one that he
planned in 1968, but this time
he had the museum as partner.
I said of course I want it.
I did imagine a large MONOLITHic
piece of granite moving down
wilshire boulevard, and I
thought what a great image is
that.
The ancient stone moving down
the boulevard of the modern
city.
I did not have any idea what a
big deal it would be, that it
would take four years of
planning.
That the carrier that was built
would be 300 feet long with 200
WHEELS.
And that we would have to
negotiate with four counties and
30 cities and hundreds people to
get it moved.
There was a lot of engineering
that went into the negative
form.
A beautiful concrete line that
lets you walk underneath the
rock.
It's a square, from this side
it's a peer applied from the
other side.
It's a mountain from that side.
And from this side, it almost
has a figural quality of it to
an ancient sculpture.
It's not levitation in the sense
that it's, you know some magical
levitation.
When do you get to see the
bottom of a rock this big and in
the middle of the blue sky?
Countless people have said to
me, I was really skeptical.
But, I went there, and I saw it,
and it works, so that's the most
heart-warming, and there is
something great about even the,
the bit of controversy.
You are moving a rock?
Why are you moving a rock in the
21st Century?
Isn't that something that was
done in Egypt, not today?
So, to see it in this
supermodern setting with
engineering, and with the blue
sky.
We have a great sky, almost
every other day, a great, blue
sky, and there is not a day that
passes that I don't see someone
taking the famous picture where
you are holding the rock in your
hands, and I think that there is
something about, even, I always
say, art is not just a given,
it's made, and it's made by the
artist, but by the public.
Who takes ownership of an object
or an image and says, that's a
great thing, that belongs to us,
meaning it belongs to humanity.
>> Author Carol Wallace's book
to Mary Anne English Lord,
inspired "Downton Abbey" creator
Julian Fellowes to shape the
character of Cora crawly, the
book tells of the American
heiress who married into British
nobility around the turn of the
20th century, next Wallace
give us insight into the reality
of Cora crawley's world.
>> There is a difference between
being an English purist and an
American heiress.
One of the obvious ones is being
married, itself, which would
have been somewhat different in
the U.S.
But, one of the most difficult
things for an American girl to
get used to is the fact that she
was no longer the center of
attention.
The English society that looked
so glamorous and so enticing
from outside is, actually, very,
very male center.
So, there is often something you
get, you get a little idea that,
that some of these American
heiresses were a bit spoiled.
They were accustomed to being
very much the star of the show.
And that persists right up
through the wedding.
And then, sometimes things fell
off the cliff because in
England, your husband is the
star of the show, and
particularly if you married a
peer, he is definitely the
center of attention, and, as his
wife, take position that is
certainly important.
You are, after all, now a
purist, but, you are one of his,
I don't want to say belongings,
but you are part of his life,
sort of like his mother.
And his house.
And his dog.
You are part of his comfortable
world.
And you do have a role as a
peeress.
You must be his housekeeper, you
entertain for him, you, when I
say housekeeper, what I mean is
executive of the very big house.
And much of your life as an
English peeress is spent in the
country rather than in the city,
that's another shock for the
American heiress because many of
these heiresses, although they
have spent time in the country
say at Newport or in the
Berkshires, are profoundly urban
people.
And Newport and the Berkshires
are really only suburban in
nature.
The center of power in England
is really out in the country,
and the London season occurs
during the spring and summer,
and everyone comes up to town
during that time because the
crops have not yet been brought
in, and you can't hunt yet, so
it's the, the time when you are
doing nothing in the country,
and then you go back to the
country and you are spending
nine months of the year out in
big house in the center of the,
of a big estate, and you're
running this enormous house.
The Butler reports to you.
The housekeeper reports to you,
and you have to manage,
sometimes a very large cast of
servants.
And it's boring.
You are out there alone.
You have all these lovely worth
dresses.
They are very pretty, you want
to wear them.
There's nowhere to go.
You might get in a carriage and
go call on your neighbors for
tea, but, that could take an
hour to get to the nearest
neighbor's house.
You are, of course, expected to
produce heirs right away, chop,
chop, no delay on that, and
ideally, you are producing boys.
One to inherit.
And an extra just in case.
And as many more as you can.
If you only have girls, you keep
churning out those babies until
you get a boy.
And you do see sometimes, when
you look at the genealogy you
see one, two, three, four, five
girls, and then suddenly the
son, and all I can think of is
that's when the woman goes,
thank God.
I can stop now.
And but, even only one boy is
kind of risky because, of
course, the girls can't inherit
the house and they can't inherit
the title and they can't inherit
the money.
>> Finally, we meet Tim Collom,
an artist who paints familiar
places in a new way.
Rob Stewart takes us inside Tim
Collom's to show how he uses
color and texture to create
scenes that look more like a
memory than a painting.
>> And he lab called an art
phenom and you are watching him
at work.
Tim Collom, good to see you.
>> Good to see you, Rob.
>> We are here in your studio,
and it is amazing.
These creations are stunning,
tell me about them.
>> Thank you very much.
>> It is a late-night release
for me.
You can express on camera with
tons of color and texture and
get as much paint on a canvas as
possible.
>> This has exploded for you.
>> Yeah.
>> Has it exceeded your wildest
imagination that you are
becoming a household name for
your art?
>> Yeah, you know, to me, the
reactions that I get are more
and more where I get surprised,
and honestly it's one of those
things where, you know, I give
somebody a painting or surprise
them or something like that, and
I think that for me, that's the
best thing, is their smile, and
yeah, it's a little hard to get
used to.
It's a little uncomfortable at
times because people are
starting to get to know my work
a bit more, and but for me, it's
the same thing, and it's me late
night in a garage and really, or
in the studio and just,
basically, you know, working
away.
>> And we have some legends in
northern California that are
known all around the world for
their artistic work.
And you have been compared to
them.
>> Yeah, those are the things
that make me go, woe.
>> I have interviewed them, and
I see the caliber work.
>> Yeah, it's one of those
things that I'm really fortunate
where I live, Rob, and the thing
is, is that I'm around people
like thiebaud and kondos and
thalkey and forny and all these
people in northern California,
and I am just fortunate to grow
up in their playground.
So that's for me one of those
things that I have gotten a
chance to see their art first
hand and talk to them, and
highly influenced by them.
I take a lot of their style and
each one of them and put it
together.
>> You left one name out of
that, collom.
[Laughter]
>> That's so hard.
That's hard for me to talk
about, absolutely.
>> You said something when we
started that I picked up on, and
you said that sort of a late
night release for you.
And I was sitting here watching
you paint.
And I felt such peace.
>> There is, there is.
It's an incredible amount of
peace.
It's something you get lost n
it's almost a dance with a
painting and a rhythm that you
have.
And it's something for me that
it takes me to another place, so
a lot of times I'm painting, I
am painting somewhere that I
want to be or painting somebody,
somewhere that, you know, I've
been before.
And that's one of those things
for me that it's quiet at times
when I don't have music
blasting, but sometimes, you
to 1:00 in the
morning, there is no phone calls
or interruptions, and it's just
me and a canvas and some paint.
>> And what is it about these
paintings that you think people
are connecting with so much.
>> You know, that's a great
question, and I think a lot of
it is that people can relate to
it, and I think that they are
positive, and they are upbeat
and bright, and I use a lot of
texture.
And they are not so define and
they are not so, I would say, so
detailed that people get
overwhelmed.
It's a simple picture that
people look at, even though, as
far as recreating some of the
pictures, it's probably tougher
to do, but, at the same time,
it's, it's where people have
been.
And a lot of people have been
there.
And in these places, or they can
relate to it, and they want
something that brighten up a
room.
And I deal with a lot of
perspectives.
>> It's interesting you paint
from memory.
>> Yeah, I do.
Memory is a big part.
I try to stay away from
photography in general because I
think in a way, it dilutes what
you can do.
And, you know, for me, it's one
of those things where I stay
away from it, and a lot of
memories come from a feel of
where you've been, so it could
be an atmosphere.
It's something that you have
been at in the coast and you
feel the cold, and then I use a
lot of blues and purples, and it
transitions into a painting.
>> And it transitions into an
energy.
When we open the door here to
your studio, and I saw all of
the color and the size.
>> Right.
>> And small or large.
>> Right.
>> I felt happy.
>> Right.
Well, and that's what I love.
I love the ability to give art
to people or people buying my
art or whatever it is, and
especially with the charity
aspect, too.
Where I can raise money, and
it's a positive outlet.
People want something in their
house that they know that there
is a lot of poverty coming --
there is a lot of positivity
coming from it.
I want to give back as much as I
can and do whatever possible to
share what's going on in my mind
as far as the art is concerned.
It is a pleasure and I am
grateful for where I'm at right
now.
>> And I am grateful to be here
with you, as well, good to see
you.
Thank you, Tim Collom here, and
in his Sacramento studio.
>>> For the latest on Tim Collom
and to follow his work visit
Timcollomgallery.com.
>>> For more arts and culture,
visit azpbs.org/artbeat where
you will find featured videos
and information on the Arizona
art scene.
Funding for "Artbeat Nation" was
made possible by contributions
to eight from viewers like you.
Thank you.