Fine Arts

Penny and the KidVision VPK Kids make music at a Sam Ash Music Store. They play instruments, participate in a drum circle, and dance like crazy with a D.J.  Join us!  Let's rock 'n' roll!

In this Spark video produced by KQED, hear the taiko drumming of Grand Master Seiichi Tanaka and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. This art form is being performed in San Jose's Japantown as the Taiko Dojo troop seek to keep this musical form and piece of Japanese heritage alive.

Wayne Thiebaud is one of America's most recognizable and critically acclaimed visual artists. His careful studies of everyday objects, figures and landscapes have come to be part of the art world vernacular. In this Spark video produced by KQED, Thiebaud prepares for a traveling retrospective of his work and reflects on a career that has spanned over seven decades. Original air date: March 2009.

Check out the entire collection of KQED SPARK videos here! 

Watch Ruth Asawa as she and her family assemble an expansive retrospective of her wire sculpture work for the reopening of Golden Gate Park's de Young Museum in October 2005. In preparation for this exhibition, Asawa's daughter, Aiko Cuneo, has been busily collecting her mother's work as well as selecting a variety of drawings and preparatory works. Original air date: May 2005. 

Check out the entire collection of KQED SPARK videos here! 

Jim Denevan makes land art, temporary sculptures on the sandy beaches. Using only a stick and a rake, the drawings exist for a few hours before they are erased by the incoming tides. One has to view the drawings from 150 feet up or more in order to see them in their entirety. In this Spark video produced by KQED, Denevan composes two sand works and talks about his meditations and his process. Original air date: May 2005.

Check out the entire collection of KQED SPARK videos here! 

In this Spark video produced by KQED, join Don Ed Hardy, one of the world's best-known tattoo artists, as he reflects on his journey from art studio to tattoo parlor and back again. Hardy is internationally recognized as a pioneer in tattooing, having been among the first to cross Western and Japanese tattoo styles. For Hardy, painting and tattooing are not separate activities; rather, they inform one another. With all his artwork, Hardy attempts to create a world of mystery, humor and weird beauty that eludes categorization. 

Actress Ashley Austin Morris (Francine Carruthers) interviews her new co-star, Carly Rose Sonnenclar (Gilda Flip), about her experiences on the show. Sonnenclar discusses, among other things, her favorite aspects of her character, her favorite costume, and her favorite book.

Paul the Gorilla grants actor Coy Stewart (Marcus) an (in-character) interview. Paul the Gorilla talks about his favorite things on set, the hardest part of being on the show, his favorite character on the show, and his favorite books and movies.

Actor Ricky Smith (Keith) interviews his Electric Company co-star, Chris Sullivan (Shock) about his experiences working on the show, and his favorite book and movie, among other things.

This performance combines Han and minority ethnic Chinese traditions. The first two songs and dances are from the Han tradition, while the others are from minority traditions. The costumes are from the Uyghur people, who live mainly in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northeastern China. This resource is part of the Beauty of Jasmine collection.

Chen Zhou, a gu zheng soloist and teacher in Louisville, Kentucky, performs "Spring on Snowy Mountain," a work by contemporary Chinese composer Shang-E Fan. Fan's works for zheng are so highly regarded that they have been adopted into the official examination repertoire for zheng music in China. This resource is part of the Beauty of Jasmine collection.

Watch Imani Dance and Drum Company perform a harvest dance from West Africa in this video from the Dance Arts Toolkit series. Host David Thurmond introduces the dance and discusses the contributions of African Americans to dance in America. He also explains “isolations” in dance.

Learn about addition and subtraction in this fun clip from the Odd Squad. Otto's favorite band has a new song, "Take Away Four."

Cheryl Pan, a dancer from China, talks about the Chinese fan dance and shows a variety of fans used in Chinese dances in this video from the Dance Arts Toolkit series.

Cheryl Pan, a dancer from China, talks about the Chinese fan dance and shows a variety of fans used in Chinese dances in this video from the Dance Arts Toolkit series.