Near Houston, a neighborhood takes pride in a strange new structure called the Funnel Tunnel. Fine arts photographer JoAnn O’Hare shares her secrets on what makes a great photographer. Curator Simon Kelly takes us on a tour of the Max Beckmann gallery at the Saint Louis Art Museum and we talk with the creative minds behind the new stage adaptation of The Jungle Book.

We visit the “Sight Unseen art exhibit where you can look and touch all of the art installations. Travel with artist Phyllis Shafer of South Lake Tahoe, California as she ventures outdoors to paint the rocky landscapes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. World Champion ice sculptor Tajana Raukar takes us into her chilly creative space to see how her beautiful ice sculptures are made. Lastly Connie Richards and Olivia Midnight of Worthington, Ohio are the teenage hosts behind the blog, "Kids Interview Bands. with video help from their dads, they've interviewed more than 100 musicians from bands like The Pixies, Imagine Dragons and Garbage.

Visit artist Tia Flores and her unique Calabaza art that is influenced by her cultural heritage and the vast beauty of the Nevada desert. Travel to St. Louis and talk to artist Barry Leibman who creates abstract works of art layered with oil paint and a variety of other materials. Giselle Bellas makes her mark in the world of opera and talks about how she’s launching her career in new directions. And, David Rogers’ Big Bugs have landed at the Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus for summer (2015)!

We check in with the Houston Symphony, which is welcoming their new music director, Andres Orozco-Estrada. Bruce Lowney explains the inspiration for his New Mexico landscapes combined with mythological overtones. We see how artist Noah Deledda spends his days, pushing dents and geometric shapes into aluminum cans. And we meet up with artist Dorothy Tanner at her Denver studio.

Jaden Christopher-Meunch is a Senior at West Orange High School in Winter Garden, Florida. He uses his talent for playing the clarinet to perform both classical and jazz music. Mary Giles has been working with textiles for more than 30 years. Rooted in the traditions of basket making, her work combines traditional and non-traditional materials and found objects. Woody Gwyn travels miles to paint expansive landscapes.
Soundsuit creator Nick Cave, a former student of the Cranbrook Academy of Arts in Michigan heads back to the academy with a project that includes Detroit public school
students.

Pairing instruments with education to keep kids engaged and excited in Los Angeles, California. Rick Brunner has turned his love of nature and the beauty of natural wood into a thriving career as a sculptor. A new play at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater about Marquette basketball coach McGuire's life and wisdom, written by his friend and broadcast partner Dick Enberg, stars Marquette alumnus Anthony Crivello. Wolfgang Parker is a fixture in the Columbus, Ohio music scene. He also writes and illustrates books for young readers including a recently-released book in his "Crime Cats" series, which features an 8-year-old superhero.

In this episode of Art Connection we visit an exhibit in Houston that highlights contemporary Arab photography. Artist Amy Kollar Anderson depicts narratives about obsession, duality, and containment in order to explore the differences between being in and out of control. Pamela Glose is a Central Florida artist who is constantly inspired by the bright colors she finds in nature around her. And author Nikki Giovanni’s book takes us on a journey into her past and provides insights into the people, places, and events that have shaped her.

We sit down with internationally known designer Tim Harding makes large-scale textiles out of colorful Chinese silks and other vibrant materials. Travel to the Dayton Art Institute to see how the Curator of Collections is continually changing up their permanent collection. Painter Candice Alexander has discovered that Louisiana residents love her pieces of art featuring crawfish, the Fleur de Lis, migratory birds and the Brown Pelican. Lastly, the Ghana Fantasy Coffins at Houston's National Museum of Funeral History show the relationship between art and the afterlife.

Through his imagining of the life of medieval visionary Hildegard von Bingen, playwright Tim Slover has posited the notion of a personal experience of the divine against the practicalities of sustaining a religious community. We visit The Screening Room, an exhibition space in Miami’s hip Wynwood neighborhood. Carola Bravo, an artist known for immersive, site-specific installations challenges the viewer's idea of time and space. A prodigy pianist from Uzbekistan, Behzod is the first artist in-residence at Park University’s International Center for Music in Kansas City, Missouri. The National Bottle Museum, located in Ballston Spa, New York, strives to preserve the history of our nation’s first major industry: bottle making.

Cake artist Tennille Finnegan Saldivar discusses all the preparation, technique, and creativity that go into her cake masterpieces. We meet Ted White, the “Song Peddler of Florida, who travels around with his unique piano contraption. National Heritage Fellow of Santa Fe, Ramon Jose Lopez, shares how his rich heritage influences his artwork. And we travel to Las Vegas to meet teen film and television actor Sean Kyle who recounts his life-altering tale of surviving a rare form of cancer.

Seventh generation Chimayo New Mexican weaver Irvin Trujillo shares the practices of his forefathers, while finding ways to carry the art of weaving into the modern age. “Bass Structures: The Mark of Sound is a multi-dimensional art, music, and science experience that showcases the visual state of sound pioneered by artistic partners Emmanuel Fritz and Collin Schipper. Photographer Sarah Beth Ernhart captures the personalities of her client’s four-legged friends. And ceramicist and craftswoman Rachel Sevier incorporates natural beauty into her creations, transforming clay into detailed works of art.

Theater director, Stephen Svoboda, interprets the human condition through his unique mental lens and transforms the world we live in by using art. We meet Sacramento, California artist Kevin Mount whose art not only inspires him, but everyone around him. We visit our nation’s capital and attend the first annual Uprising Festival. And we go inside the Jewish Museum Milwaukee and see how they re-create the designs of an individual who perished in the Holocaust.

In collaboration with the Rodger and Hammerstein Estate, a Florida theater and Broadway director create new orchestrations for the wartime classic South Pacific. Tarissa Tiberti, Executive Director of Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art discusses the Gallery’s current landmark exhibit of Andy Warhol’s work called “Warhol Out West. A converted diesel bus becomes a mobile artist residency program called The Cargo Space. And we meet critically acclaimed film director David Lynch, and we learn how his background in painting informs his illustrious career in cinema.

Alonzo Williams Jr. is a street photographer from Houston who relishes any opportunity to meet new people and learn their stories. Artist Cannupa Hanska Luger use of animals in his artwork believes it helps us reflect on ourselves and the human race as a whole. Illustrator John Martel, crafts work with stunning detail and today his work can even be seen in a Hollywood film. And we visit “The Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit that was build 50 years ago, but is still relevant today.

See how parent, Jack Little, gets creative with Legos by designing a new Lego project that commemorates one of the most important events in railroad history, thereby blending art and design with history. Wisconsin artists and architect Harry Wirth shares his philosophy of simplicity that has encompassed is life. We take a look inside the Aspen Music Festival and School in Aspen, Colorado where student and violinist Usha Kapoor studies and preforms. And we visit master weaver Porfirio Guiterrez as he expresses his appreciation for an art that’s not only beautiful, but historically significant.

Jim Stevens has been creating art for over 30 years when in 1993 an old war injury, thought to be benign, left him legally blind. From then life became a series of re-discovery and methods of art. We meet a speed painter that makes his act more dynamic than simply painting. Sculptor Lawrence Schloss observes the world around him and shapes it into his abstract Judaic sculptures. And author Kimberly Willis Holt helps to inspire the next generation of great writers.

Take a unique look at some iconic Wisconsin breweries with Wisconsin based photographer, Paul Bialas. Installation artist, Jonathan Latiano, creates works that lunge out of the floor or emerge from the ground and play with temporary themes. We visit the Harley-Davidson Museum for its 110th anniversary celebration and we chat with Mark Simon, an innovative storyboard artist.

Visit Phoenix’s Desert Botanical Garden, which features the stunning blown-glass artwork of Dale Chihuly. Painter and illustrator Joseph Watson discusses how he believes creating works that entertain and put forth a positive message is the highest form of art. Musician Myles Harlan shares how he found the oboe and The Orlando Philharmonic teams up with local schools to give the third, fourth and fifth graders a taste of classical music.

Join us as we visit Troy, New York, home to the Art Center of the Capital Region. This Art Center has provided a vibrate space for artist and community members to explore their creativity. We take a look at international fashion designer Anna Cohen’s new collection of sustainable apparel. We stop by Gotham City FX, a full service costume, prop, and special effects shop to see how the talented team creates impressive pieces of art. And painter Judy Curducci discusses how she found inspiration in her subjects’ body language and how that helps capture the true essence of the people she observes.

Ceramic artist, Gary Dudley, takes his memories, turns them into sculpture and then casts them in bronze. Abstract artist, Jason Rolf, draws inspiration from his surroundings and then challenges his viewers to navigate through his work. Rawhide braiding is dying out, but Tim George is a master of the craft and we take a look at this highly detailed oriented work and we discover the limits in the time sensitive art of glass blowing with Steven Monser.