virtual AVAM

(30 minutes) In 1956, Tressa Prisbrey began construction of her now-famous bottle village. Her first building was just a small structure to house her collection of 17,000 commemorative pencils. The result of 25 years of work is 15 buildings which now make up the glittering visionary environment. In this film, Grandma Prisbrey is captured at 84, a vivacious guide to her brilliant houses crammed with objects scavenged from the county dump. At her wittiest, she sings, jokes with her older sister, and combs through the dump. The movie is produced & directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf and has been called by American Visionary Art Museum founder and director Rebecca Hoffberger as "the finest film ever made on any visionary artist." On August 20, 2020, the museum hosted a virtual screening followed by a Q&A with Allie Light, moderated by Rebecca Hoffberger. To view the post-film Q&A visit https://youtu.be/-sIknls4uCQ "Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey” is produced & directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf. Light-Saraf Films, San Francisco 1982. The film, and The Visions of Paradise series of which it is a part, is the generous gift of Allie Light to the American Visionary Art Museum. To view the other films in the series, visit https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7IzWuVD2YXAEx2b3tp_xH5GdIw_ODOPt

The American Visionary Art Museum hosted a virtual screening of "Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey," on August 20, 2020, followed by a Q&A with its filmmaker Allie Light, moderated by museum founder and director Rebecca Hoffberger. This is just the Q&A portion. To view the full 30-minute film, visit https://youtu.be/inOvmkF1fLA "Grandma's Bottle Village: The Art of Tressa Prisbrey” is produced & directed by Allie Light and Irving Saraf. Light-Saraf Films, San Francisco 1982. The film, and The Visions of Paradise series of which it is a part, is the generous gift of Allie Light to the American Visionary Art Museum.

Calvin Black was a folk artist who lived in California's Mojave Desert and created more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. He also built the "Bird Cage Theater," where the dolls perform and sing in voices recorded by the artist. The film works on two levels. One is the documentation of the artist's legacy and commentary on women: grotesque female figures moving in the desert wind and the theater with its frozen "actresses," protected by his widow from a world she views as hostile. The other is the re-creation of the artist's vision through the magic of film, as the camera enables the dolls to move and sing and brings theater to life as the artist imagined it. This is part of the Visions of Paradise series by Light-Saraf Films, composed of five 30-minute films that each portray the life and work of an American folk artist. The series is the generous gift of Light-Saraf to the American Visionary Art Museum.