Counting Steps to Infinity: In the Studio with Brent Nakamoto
In the Studio is an artist documentary series highlighting the Pittsburgh region’s creative scene.
In 2023, we began a series of artist documentaries highlighting the Pittsburgh region’s creative scene. The series—titled In the Studio—takes inspiration from the films that Michael and Christian Blackwood made in the 1960s and 1970s about New York City artists, where studio process and artist-led discussion dominate the films.
The first film, Point of Beginning, documented Zoë Welsh’s studio practice and featured the creation of a large painting—the 86” x 64” Red River. The second film, Flower to the Mind, highlighted letterpress collaborations between Meshwork Press and Bright Archives’ David Bernabo.
Now, in 2025, we’re proud to announce Counting Steps to Infinity: In the Studio with Brent Nakamoto. The film documents artist Brent Nakamoto's studio practice, as it relates to his Almost Perfect Press, a micro-publisher specializing in hand-bound, small-batch publications featuring emerging writers and artists.
To make this film, we spent two three-hour days in Brent’s studio, filming the making of a notebook and a hand-bound publication. Later, Brent stopped by the Bright Archives studio to record a voice over, and we visited Brent at a book fair, camera in hand. With the filming phase completed, we began editing the footage, composing and recording an original music score for the film, and putting it all together. A premiere was held at Bottom Feeder Books, a bookstore and hub for art events in Pittsburgh, on August 30, 2025, and now the film is available to view on YouTube.
In the Studio is an ongoing documentary series and the next film is already underway. Stay tuned!
Counting Steps to Infinity is a co-production between Bright Archives and Ongoing Box.
Stills from Counting Steps to Infinity, 2025.
