Artland USA

Take a look at the more unusual side of America's artistic life with this revealing road series. From painting elephants to 'Carhenge' - Stonehenge made of cars, from the Toilet Seat Museum to the Rothko chapel, Artland USA  is a true insight into the idiosyncrasies of American art culture.

A hugely enjoyable art road movie series, Artland is as much fun to watch as it evidently was to make. Hosts Charlie Luxton and Mame McCutchin drive a 35-foot Winnebago across the United States. Journeying from San Diego, California to Portland, Maine, they visit artists and museums, architecture and Americana, much of which has to be seen to be believed.

Artland USA Season 2

Part 1: Key West, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia
We're on the road again in Artland USA Series 2, spinning across the bridges and causeways from Key West to Atlanta where we meet young hip artists and witness the world’s largest oil painting.

Part 2: Atlanta, Georgia to Houston, Texas
Week two and we're surrounded by outsider art; John Milkovisch's extraordinary Beer Can House, W.C. Rice’s Cross Garden and Joseph Zoettel's homage to all things sacred, the Ave Maria Grotto. Did we mention the Art Car Parade?

Part 3: Houston, Texas to Dallas, Texas
This episode is all about Texas: from the sublime Rothko Chapel in Houston to the exquisite beauty of the Byzantine Fresco Museum. There's also space for the alternative side of the state: San Antonio's Toilet Seat Museum, the Cathedral of Junk -- and how could we even dream of leaving Texas without visiting the tiny town of Art?

Part 4: Dallas, Texas to Denver, Colorado
Where is the only skyscraper built by Frank Lloyd Wright? Answer: Bartlesville, Oklahoma. And there are contemporary architectural gems to look at as well: Stephen Holl’s spectacular new Bloch Building and Daniel Liebskind’s dramatic extension to the Denver Art Museum.

Part 5: Denver, Colorado to Napa Valley, California
The monumental Salt Lake City Temple is our first major stop on this leg of the journey but there are other architectural wonders too, including Moshe Safdie’s distinguished public library and the acoustically brilliant Salt Lake Tabernacle. Finally the RV heads across the Rockies and eases in amongst the cool vines of the Napa Valley where a chilled glass or two await us.

Part 6: Napa Valley, California to Crater Lake National Park, Oregon
This week features some of the most exciting new buildings in the United States; the new de Young Museum designed by Herzog and De Meuron, and Morphosis' cutting edge San Francisco Federal Building. We also visit two iconic structures in the Bay Area: Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Part 7: Crater Lake, Oregon to Vancouver, Canada
As we travel through Washington, we meet master glass craftsman Dale Chihuly. But there are other art-forms to appreciate too: the sculptures of Anthony Caro, Richard Serra and Louise Bourgeois at the Olympic Sculpture Park, and later in Vancouver, the paintings of Emily Carr.

Part 8: Vancouver, Canada to Anchorage, Alaska
The last week of Artland USA, Series 2 involves a long, long drive, but the road is littered with cultural curiosities: body-painting, chainsaw sculpture, robot design and some of the world’s most spectacular scenery. We’ve timed our visit to Canada to coincide with the massive Calgary Stampede.

Artland USA Season 1

Part 1: San Diego, California to Las Vegas, Nevada
Highlights of the first leg include visiting the Salk Institute, designed by Louis Kahn, a trip to a sculpture garden by Niki de Saint Phalle and meeting superstar artist Jason Rhoades in the desert. We also follow the enthusiastic hosts as they visit modernist houses in Palm Springs and meet the world's oldest chimpanzee, Cheeta, who paints abstract canvases in his spare time. Yes, really.

Part 2: Las Vegas, Nevada to Marfa, Texas
The hosting couple travel to the art town of Marfa. Along the way they stop at Michael Heizer's earthwork Double Negative, checking out "nose art" on airforce planes near Tucson in Arizona while in a brush of luxury and to their great surprise, they also discover a Prada store in the desert; of course it turns out to be an art installation.

Part 3: Marfa, Texas to Denver, Colorado
This part takes in the extraordinary Donald Judd Chinati Foundation in Marfa. Luxton and McCutchin discover classic Cadillacs buried near Amarillo (the artwork Cadillac Ranch) as well as the visionary architecture of The USAF Academy Chapel and Daniel Liebskind's extension to the Denver Art Museum.

Part 4: Denver, Colorado to Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Great Plains offer Carhenge at Alliance, Nebraska (a Stonehenge-esque arrangement, but made from cars) and the world's largest easel. In part 4 of Artsland USA Series 1, the hosting couple join photographer Alec Soth as he makes a photograph while they tour the General Mills Art Collection.

Part 5: Minneapolis, Minnesota to Chicago, Illinois
In this part of the series, Luxton and McCutchin travel through the prairies and forests of the mid-West, from Minnesota to Illinois. Along the way, they take in St John's Abbey outside Minneapolis, which was designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer, the feat of engineering that is the St Louis Memorial Arch, and the public art of sculptor Richard Serra.

Part 6: Chicago, Illinois to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
This episode's riches include an extraordinary collection of modern architecture in the tiny mid-west town of Columbus, Indiana, and the world's largest ball of paint. The pair also meet acclaimed modern artist Ann Hamilton, as well as Andy Warhol's brother in Pittsburgh.

Part 7: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Shelter Island, New York
Episode 7 of Artland USA Series 1 takes the scenic route, as it deviates to Canada, in order to take in some of Toronto's finest new architecture. Firstly, however, Luxton and McCutchin meet Surapa the painting elephant, who lives at Buffalo Zoo.

Part 8: Boston, Massachusetts to Vinalhaven, Maine
The final week of Artland USA begins in Boston with some stunning architecture on the MIT campus and with the nearby Museum of Bad Art. We encounter the Shakers and smart public art both in the libraries of Portland, Maine and in the public transit system of Montreal.

Part 9: The artists
Part 9 of the series revisits some of the artists that Luxton and McCutchin have visited en route during the series, from seeing the work of great American photographer Ansel Adams in Arizona to the Pop artist Robert Indiana on the island of Vinalhaven.

Part 10: The artists
Part 10 goes back over some of the more interesting architecture that the couple have encountered over the series, such as St John's Abbey outside Minneapolis, designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer or the United States Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, whose visionary aluminium, glass and steel multi-faith chapel was the brainchild of designer-architect Walter A. Netsch Jr.

Part 11: The collections
Part 11 examines some of the art collections that Charlie Luxton and Mame McCutchin have discovered on their epic journey, from the internationally-important galleries to the quirky private enterprises.

Part 12: Only in America
In part 12, McCutchin and Luxton look back at all of the quirky and strange aspects of the trip that were among the most memorable people and places that they encountered, from desert art installations to artistic animals that really do have to be seen to be believed...