KET - Documentary features life, work of artist Tuska

Documentary features life, work of artist Tuska

For Release: 2008-06-30 11:52:00

The life of late artist John Tuska — as well as an investigation into the creative process through the eyes of people who knew him — is presented in John Tuska: Non Basta Una Vita, airing Sunday, July 13 at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET1 and Friday, July 25 at 10:30/9:30 p.m. CT on KET2.

Non Basta Una Vita is a documentary about inspiration, that moment of illumination when the artist and the art evolves to a higher level, says producer Arthur Rouse. “Tuska himself said, ‘The things of the visual world are not made by material or technique alone; the human element must be present. One hand, one brain — the human expression and the ability to reason — combine with the material and process to form the born object.’”

Tuska’s life in art was a series of implausible changes. He grew up a coal miner’s son in Yukon, Penn., but then moved to New York City and attended the Manhattan High School of Music and Art. After graduating as an accomplished ceramics artist from renowned New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University at the height of the historic “New York School” art explosion, he moved to Kentucky and became a professor of ceramics at the University of Kentucky. While preparing for a sabbatical to Japan in the late 1960s, he changed his destination to Rome at the urging of his wife, Miriam, and this trip proved pivotal in his evolution as an artist, renewing his passion for the human figure and changing his work forever.

Tuska’s art communicates a passionate longing for clearly understanding life and everything around him, says Rouse. With an undeniable passion for the human body, mind and soul, Tuska filled every piece of work with a spirit of constant learning, eagerly responding to all he took in.

John Tuska: Non Basta Una Vita is produced by Rouse and Kiley Lane. This film is supported by the KET Fund for Independent Production (KFIP). More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.

Contact: Ellen Soileau

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