Lewis & Clark videos show how art merges with history

A Cape Girardeau native dreamed up and wrote a new pair of videos that look at how the explorations of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark have inspired artists.

Titled "Inspiring Journey: Lewis and Clark Through the Eyes of the Artist," the first video includes numerous works of art that depict the exploration that opened the American West. The second video focuses on how artists, particularly Montanan Ron Ukrainetz, go about creating historical art.

"It's a great way for an educational video to show how art and history come together," says writer Kathleen Williams.

Williams is the daughter of Pat and Ed Williams of Cape Girardeau and graduated from Central High School in 1976. She now lives in Tucson, Ariz., where she is the publishing and seminar coordinator for an art and cultural education publisher called Crizmac.

The two videos are available packaged together for the educational market. But they are being sold separately for the retail market, which primarily will include interpretive centers, gift shops, and art galleries.

"This was a departure for us for sure," Williams said in an interview from her office Wednesday.

"We've always been in the educational market, but budgets across the country for education are bleak, and there is a huge interest in Lewis and Clark beyond school kids."

Big story to tell

The difficulty in making the videos, Williams said, was trying to distill a story that took 2 1/2 years into 30 minutes. "I kept wanting to put things in. In one day he found the great falls, shot a buffalo, was attacked by a bear and had to jump in the river," she said, referring to Lewis. "This guy lived more in one day than some people do in a lifetime."

These videos present a unique view of Lewis and Clark at a time when the bicentennial has produced an avalanche of information about the explorers.

"Everybody is popping up with something or other, "Williams said. "It's amazing that one event inspired so much."

The videos are scheduled to be shown from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 31 at Grace Cafe in Cape Girardeau.

For more information about the videos, call (800) 913-8555.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182