African pottery

A fascinating and long video showing pottery being formed and fired in various locations in Africa. The techniques they use include concave mold, convex mold, coiling, direct pull, and hammer and anvil.


Rob Gonsalves - magic realism

Rob Gonsalves is a Canadian painter who describes his style as magic realism, and which perhaps incorporates the surreal style of René Magritte with the perspective of M. C. Escher. His work uses a lot of repetitive patterns that morph from one form to another to create an illusion. In this short documentary he talks some more about his work.

A sculptural space in willow

Laura Ellen Bacon creates sculptural spaces from willow. In this video she is working on an installation that fills the old kitchen of Barrington Court, in Somerset, England. She discusses her work and talks about the materials that she uses with her supplier, Musgrove Willows.

Ceramic artists, Sally and Neil MacDonell

Sally and Neil MacDonell share a ceramics studio in Bath, UK, but work independently. In this slideshow presentation they discuss their studio, working techniques and inspiration.

Drywall sculpture

Bernie Mitchell demonstrates how he transforms empty wall space by adding some relief sculpture to it.


The making of a ceramic wall mural

I was delighted to discover this series of videos made by an artist who works in my home town of Wells, Somerset, England. Philippa Threlfall of Black Dog of Wells has been making relief murals in ceramic since the 1960s. In 2009 she accepted a commission for a mural to go on the wall of a new supermarket, and decided to document its creation in film and photographs. There are a total of 28 short video clips, text and photos which explain the making of the mural.
Putting the panels up on the new Waitrose store wall

Wooden shovels

This is a trailer for a documentary, "The Last Shovel Maker" featuring  Harvey Ward, age 87, as he makes a wooden shovel using traditional tools.

Shovels like this would have been used for moving dangerous materials like gunpowder which could be ignited by a spark from a metal shovel, or grains which were believed to be bruised by metal.


You can watch the full film at Folkstreams. (10 minutes)

Spoon carving in London

This interesting news item from the BBC about "Barn the Spoon" is worth a watch.  Barnaby Carder used to live and work in the woods, whittling spoons from trees, but managed to earn enough money to be able to open a store in Hackney, where he spends his days working in the window where passers by can see him in action. 

The man who makes his living whittling wooden spoons

Ring turning

Christian Werner of Seiffen, Germany is a master ring turner. It may not be obvious at first glance what this is, and although the commentary is in German, just watch and be amazed!

Ceramic artist Enric Mestre

Spanish ceramicist Enric Mestre creates slab constructed abstract sculptures. This video documentary shows the construction of one of his architecturally inspired pieces (be patient with the rather long introduction - it does get better).

Read more about Enric Mestre.