Watch Behind the Scenes

An artist uses many different techniques and specifics in their art. There are also many different types of artists in the world. Many of these techniques and specifics are often taken for granted and seen as common sense and not taught to young children. A few of these specifics are the line, texture, framing, color and the repetitious pattern. Magicians Penn and Teller along with multiple foundations such as the Endowment for the arts, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Bingham Trust to just name a few decided that children needed to know these things in order to help them not only understand artists but also encourage the artists within them.

Penn and Teller hosted this ten part miniseries called Behind the Scenes in order to teach children about these techniques and specifics that artists use to create their art. They looked into multiple mediums of art such as drawing, painting, as well as music and theater. In fact, they even delved into William Shakespeare's play The Tempest to show how an actor, a playwright, and a director set a scene. There were also guest artists such as The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and the great Bobby McFGerrin.

Behind the Scenes is a series that ran for 15 seasons (23 episodes) between December 26, 1991 and on L Studio