Emery Blagdon DVD

With pliers in hand, Nebraska artist Emery Blagdon fashioned pieces of wire into patterns and attached foil, beads, ribbons and an infinite array of everyday cast-off items. He hung the creations he called his “pretties” in his rural Nebraska shed, creating an environment he believed could generate natural energy from the earth and help people attain better health.

“Emery Blagdon & His Healing Machine” examines the complexity of Blagdon’s life and work through interviews with his family, friends and art experts. It includes Bladgon’s home movies shot on his 8mm film camera, news reports from the KNOP (North Platte, Neb.) television archives and photographs of Blagdon and his work shot by a pair of British professional photographers who toured Nebraska in 1979.

With Blagdon’s masterpieces now owned by the John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wis., he is known by art collectors as a man with boundless visionary creativity -- an artist of great significance.

“Emery Blagdon & His Healing Machine” is a 30-minute production of NET Television. The production was made possible, in part, by the H. Lee and Carol Gendler Charitable Fund, Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Arts Council and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, NebraskaLand National Bank, Carl and Janet Eskridge, Nan Schweiger and Lamont Richards, and the Jerry Johnston Memorial Fund.