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Rating: 
Summary: Chattering Boredom
Review: I bought this "American Collection" based on the European series which aired on PBS. The European experience I enjoyed, but this American jaunt was a journey to Tedium. This is a travelogue about cities and museums with some art tossed in to justify to whole production. Sister Wendy chatters endlessly about her opinions, her living quarters, and more items than I wanted or cared to hear about. The whole project is too ambitious for the time frame of six hours. For example, Vermeer painted only 34 paintings that exist today. One museum visted has 5 hanging. Wow! A chance to view 5 of the 34, but Sister Wendy blew buy the first 4, and went on endlessly about the 5th one. The time would have been better spent by viewing each for a few moments, whereby I could have done a freeze frame. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: This Sucks
Review: I bought this "American Collection" based on the European series which aired on PBS. The European experience I enjoyed, but this American jaunt was a journey to Tedium. This is a travelogue about cities and museums with some art tossed in to justify to whole production. Sister Wendy chatters endlessly about her opinions, her living quarters, and more items than I wanted or cared to hear about. The whole project is too ambitious for the time frame of six hours. For example, Vermeer painted only 34 paintings that exist today. One museum visted has 5 hanging. Wow! A chance to view 5 of the 34, but Sister Wendy blew buy the first 4, and went on endlessly about the 5th one. The time would have been better spent by viewing each for a few moments, whereby I could have done a freeze frame. Save your money.
Rating:
Summary: Chattering Boredom
Review: I bought this "American Collection" based on the European series which aired on PBS. The European experience I enjoyed, but this American jaunt was a journey to Tedium. This is a travelogue about cities and museums with some art tossed in to justify to whole production. Sister Wendy chatters endlessly about her opinions, her living quarters, and more items than I wanted or cared to hear about. The whole project is too ambitious for the time frame of six hours. For example, Vermeer painted only 34 paintings that exist today. One museum visted has 5 hanging. Wow! A chance to view 5 of the 34, but Sister Wendy blew buy the first 4, and went on endlessly about the 5th one. The time would have been better spent by viewing each for a few moments, whereby I could have done a freeze frame. Save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Sister Wendy's passion for art ignites it in others
Review: My local PBS station had a Sister Wendy "marathon" on New Year's Day, showing the entire American Collection; I was both captivated and inspired. Had museums been open, I would have dashed to San Francisco to take in some art. Also, the program made me want to visit museums she toured.In an interview with Bill Moyers (also available on video) that followed the American Collection, Oxford-educated Sister Wendy emphasized that her mission is to help people embrace art by making it accessible. (Even Moyers admitted to being intimidated by the thought that he might not evaluate a work of art correctly,i.e., according to how art critics see it.) Sister Wendy mentions in the Moyers interview that she possesses an immense library of scholarly works on art. She feels her in-depth study of these books justifies her definite opinions about art. Whether you agree or disagree with Sister Wendy's assessment of what a work of art is expressing, you won't be able to deny that her passion is inspiring. Sister Wendy's credibility was, for me, increased when Moyers asked her what she thought of Andres Serrano's "Piss-Christ," a work in which a replica of Christ was immersed in a container of urine. She didn't dismiss the work as something created merely to shock, rather she thought the artist meant to represent the irreverence with which most people treat Christ and his teachings. She qualified her judgment by stating that she considered it a rather mediocre work because it didn't challenge the viewer: people had an immediate and visceral reaction that didn't require consideration or time to form. Finally, in a society that seemingly hasn't moved beyond an adolescent attitude toward sex, Sister Wendy's perspective that human sexuality is a gift from God and an aspect of ourselves to be celebrated is refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: Sister Wendy's passion for art ignites it in others
Review: My local PBS station had a Sister Wendy "marathon" on New Year's Day, showing the entire American Collection; I was both captivated and inspired. Had museums been open, I would have dashed to San Francisco to take in some art. Also, the program made me want to visit museums she toured. In an interview with Bill Moyers (also available on video) that followed the American Collection, Oxford-educated Sister Wendy emphasized that her mission is to help people embrace art by making it accessible. (Even Moyers admitted to being intimidated by the thought that he might not evaluate a work of art correctly,i.e., according to how art critics see it.) Sister Wendy mentions in the Moyers interview that she possesses an immense library of scholarly works on art. She feels her in-depth study of these books justifies her definite opinions about art. Whether you agree or disagree with Sister Wendy's assessment of what a work of art is expressing, you won't be able to deny that her passion is inspiring. Sister Wendy's credibility was, for me, increased when Moyers asked her what she thought of Andres Serrano's "Piss-Christ," a work in which a replica of Christ was immersed in a container of urine. She didn't dismiss the work as something created merely to shock, rather she thought the artist meant to represent the irreverence with which most people treat Christ and his teachings. She qualified her judgment by stating that she considered it a rather mediocre work because it didn't challenge the viewer: people had an immediate and visceral reaction that didn't require consideration or time to form. Finally, in a society that seemingly hasn't moved beyond an adolescent attitude toward sex, Sister Wendy's perspective that human sexuality is a gift from God and an aspect of ourselves to be celebrated is refreshing.
Rating:
Summary: Thank You, Sister Wendy!!
Review: Sister Wendy Beckett has done for art appreciation and art history what the late Carl Sagan did for the science of astronomy: she has taken a subject that most people would like to know more about, but fear is beyond their ability to understand, and made it accessible and entertaining. She has wrested art from the hands of intellectuals and elitists and given it back to the people, to whom it has always rightfully belonged. Some people appear to resent this. The rest of us should stand up and cheer.
In this charming series, Sister Wendy visits six of the United States' most renowned art museums and shares with her viewers some of their masterpieces. Her opinions, sometimes whimsical, sometimes wistful and sometimes reverent, are delivered with great passion and enthusiasm. This open love of her subject matter is infectious and draws the viewer to her and to the art works she so clearly loves. This is what makes her so effective as a guide and teacher.
Sister Wendy also makes a wonderfully evocative use of language, at one point, during a discussion of Grant Wood's "American Gothic" she describes the woman's hair as having been "...scraped back in a bun." This captured the woman's hairstyle with such economy and vividness that I, in my mind's eye, could see her combing her hair into a repressed little bun. Except for that one tendril, which Sister Wendy also points out to her viewers.
Like all those who view a work of art, Sister Wendy brings her own, unique perspective to each work she has chosen to discuss. Nowhere is this more powerfully shown than in her discussion of the Kinbell's "An Exiled Emperor on Okinoshima." While most people would perceive the solitary figure on the Japanese screen as lonely and isolated, Sister Wendy, who spends most of her time alone in silent contemplation and prayer, at first sees a kindred spirit. This leads her to identify with the Emperor in ways most people would never dream of and she shares her unique perspective with us. And we are richer, not just for seeing the screen and hearing her interpretation, but also for having been given this tiny scrap of insight into a life most of us can't even imagine.
Through her books and television series, Sister Wendy has given us something she seems to greatly admire about the United States: Freedom. The freedom to look at a work of art and interpret and enjoy it through our own particular lens, our own perspective. By showing and telling us how she understands and appreciates art, Sister Wendy invites us to take the liberty to do likewise.
Thank you, Sister Wendy!
Rating:
Summary: Sister Wendy is a pilar of greatness. A sublime view of art.
Review: Sister Wendy is a fantastic resource for art. She imbues passion and depth beyond any art professor or historian I have ever seen. These tapes will leave you with a sense of wonder and make even the hardest time feel chipper.
Rating:
Summary: This Sucks
Review: This is a complete waste of time. The information that is given is completly useless and not worth the amount of time it takes to sit through this, not to mention the amount of money you are about to spend. And don't even think of using it as a teacing utensial, all but the most driven students will surely fall asleep, and the ones that do stay awake will curse you as a teacher for years to come.
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