Eclectic artist Mark Dion and his work are being showcased not only at Fort Worth’s Amon Carter Museum of American Art but also a new documentary airing on KERA at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Dion, a historian and artist with the soul of an explorer, is the star of the documentary, “The Perilous Texas Adventures of Mark Dion,” which follows the artist over a span of about two years as he collects items to use in his installations.
“Mark is attracted to all things unique and obscure,” says documentary director Erik Clapp of Fort Worth-based film company EC Films.
Dion, followed by a film crew of just two members, retraced the footsteps of four explorers that traversed through Texas landscape in the mid-19th century. The four travelers — watercolorist Sarah Ann Lillie Hardinge, ornithologist and artist John James Audubon, botanist Charles Wright, and architect Frederick Law Olmsted — documented their journeys through literature and art.
Dion’s travels brought him to the Gulf Coast, West Texas, King Ranch and Austin, and San Antonio. At each spot, he’d collect items that most would not give a second glance to, using them for the paintings, works on paper, and other pieces that would eventually debut at the Carter Museum.
“Mark has this remarkable talent for collecting the most obscure and random items and then organizing them into these beautiful, cohesive pieces,” says Clapp. “I am glad that I had the opportunity to document his process.”
Work on the film began in 2017, when Maggie Adler, the Carter’s curator of paintings, sculpture, and works on paper, approached Clapp about the project. Having worked with the museum in the past on “Thread,” highlighting Gabriel Dawe’s “Plexus no. 34” installation, Clapp became intrigued with the prospect of working with another artist.
“I enjoy observing and documenting different artist’s processes,” says Clapp. “I like to take their processes and see if I can adapt them in a way that can be incorporated in my medium of art: filmmaking.”
According to Clapp, learning to film in Dion’s work style and conditions proved to be an exciting challenge. Trekking across rough terrain with video and audio equipment operated by only two people is a difficult task alone, but add Dion’s frenetic pace to the mix, and the crew members had to learn to adapt fast.
“The whole time we are running around with our handheld equipment trying to catch Mark, because when Mark starts working, he just goes and doesn’t look back,” says Clapp.
According to Clapp, the effort was well worth the result.
“I think people who watch the documentary will learn to look at the landscape, especially in Texas, differently. I think they will start to notice things that they never paid much mind to before,” says Clapp.
In addition to Tuesday’s KERA premiere, “The Perilous Texas Adventures of Mark Dion” will air again on Friday at 11 p.m. and April 28 at 11 p.m. The film will also be available on Amazon Prime in May.
