As the cameras readied to roll, Donna Granata took the stage.
"If you'd like to enjoy a candy, please unwrap it now," she told the audience at Ventura's Laurel Theatre. "The microphones pick up everything." The crowd sat quietly in the darkened room. This was not just another interview with a local artist, it was the start of a new documentary series and a dream come true for Granata.
For years, the tireless arts educator and archivist crammed every available surface in her Casitas Springs home with clippings, files, audio recordings and videotapes of Ventura County artists. The lives of the famous ceramist Beatrice Wood, the great photojournalist Horace Bristol and the world-class painter John Nava have all been chronicled by Granata.
And yet she has yearned for a bigger audience, one with which to share her exuberance over these nationally renowned but often locally anonymous artists.
Combining this vision with the video and editing expertise of students from the Ventura Adult Continuing Education Technology Development Center, Granata recently finished the first of six documentaries on local artists, which is airing on cable access stations throughout the county.
She begins with a 90-minute interview of the artist before a live audience at the Laurel Theatre. Technicians record the dialogue, then splice in other video showing the artist at work and snapshots from the artist's youth. Music is also added to the half-hour program.
"The first one is just awesome," said Granata, as she prepared backstage for an interview with Ojai artist Christine Brennan, known for the whimsical, moody and occasionally bizarre characters she paints. "People will be blown away to know how many world-class folks we have here."
As founder and executive director of the arts education and advocacy group Focus on the Masters, Granata has been doing live interviews of artists since 1995. These form a part of the biographies she creates as education and research tools.
"I always knew TV would be our ultimate goal. The stories are so good, but ask local people if they know [the late] Beatrice Wood or Horace Bristol, and they never heard of them," said Granata, a former painter who is now an accomplished photographer. "This got my head spinning. It made we realize how important it is to get the story out, that's what makes this so critical."
