Portraits in Creativity

In beautiful and evocative videos, Gael Towey & Co. Short Films document artists and their inspirations, revealing the courage and curiosity that propel the creative act.

Elizabeth Eakins

“Living with sheep is a really wonderful experience . . . It is a beautiful piece of music when the light is dropping, you are moving through the grass,  through space with these animals, they know where they are going. They’re teaching us. . .thats what it is really all about” From Elizabeth’s early days in New York as a weaver to her farm in the Flint Hills of Kansas that she shares with her husband Jerry, her handwoven rugs have always been inspired by the colors, textures and rhythms of nature. 

 

World Monuments Fund

From China's Forbidden City to the oldest solar observatory in the Americas, World Monuments Fund has built a distinguished record of preserving the world's great cultural heritage and attained a legacy of success at more than 600 sites in 100 countries. This short film celebrates their accomplishments. 

 

Maira Kalman: My Favorite Things

Selections from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

This short film follows one of our great visual storytellers, Maira Kalman, as she curates her exhibition “Selects.” The reopening of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum features this collection – an exploration of life, love, joy and loss. With humor, insight and honesty she has chosen objects that chronicle memories, dreams and reflections.

The film traces the story behind one of the exhibition’s highlights: Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch, restored to tick again for the first time in 150 years. It’s an extraordinary opportunity, Maira observes, to “connect us to history, dreaming and the future.”


Rosanne Cash: The River and the Thread

“Songwriting is one of the only places in which I can time travel,” says Rosanne Cash. In an intimate portrait, she reveals her deepest influences: close family, her musical heritage, and the deep, dark, and mystical South. This short film traces Rosanne’s latest album The River and the Thread from its genesis to its recording to the road. We see her creative process, witness her emotional connections, and feel the power of her stories.


Maira Kalman

“Everyone is eccentric,” Maira Kalman says. “You just have to find it.” With her characteristic humor, tender observations of our human foibles, and gorgeous sense of color, she asks, “Who are we? How are we documenting ourselves? Is this a dream? Are we in costume?” In partnership with The Met, MoMA and The Guggenheim, Maira explores these essential questions through painting, publication and performance.


Gabriella Kiss

Enchanted with the gesture of the human hand, and the gestures of nature, Gabriella Kiss creates jewelry that reconnects us to the wonders of the forest and its floor. Her discoveries are our treasures.


Alabama Chanin

Using local cotton, local talent and local traditions, Natalie Chanin has brought Alabama to Haute Couture. Natalie’s story and her artistry is bound up in the landscape and the legends of the region along the Tennessee River.


Sheila Berger

New York-based painter and sculptor Sheila Berger follows an odyssey that begins with a bird's nest found at her childhood home in St. Louis. Using encaustic, plaster and steel examines nurturing and explores the fragility of nature.