Pottery Ladies (4 Parts)

Synopsis

1: Describes the career of Charlotte Rhead who came from a famous family of designers and who perfected the technique of tube-lining. Mary Harper recalls her working days as a painter for Charlotte Rhead.
2: Looks at the work of Clarice Cliff. Highlights the role of the art school system in the potteries with particular reference to the Burslem School of Art, Stoke-on-Trent. A reunion was held for the women who worked with Clarice Cliff, many of whom had not met since their working days in the 1920s and 1930s.
3: Continues the life of Clarice Cliff and those who worked for her, including Peggy Davies who later became famous for her work as a modeller of Royal Doulton figures.
4: Susie Cooper still works as a design consultant for Wedgewood. Many years ago she set up her own factory to produce ware with a fitness for function, in which shape and decoration grew logically from each other. She also adapted and developed new techniques for decoration such as aerographing and graffito.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Film; Video; Film. 16mm. sd. col. 4 x 26 min. Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 4 x 26 min.

Technical information

Black-and-white / Sound

Year of production

1985

Availability

Hire

Uses

Students of ceramics and design history.*

Subjects

Art; Design

Keywords

ceramics; Cliff, Carice; Cooper, Susie; Davies, Peggy; manufacturing industries; porcelain; pottery; Rhead, Charlotte

Credits

Director

Jenny Wilkes

Producer

Elizabeth Taylor Mead

Contributor

Jo Gable

Distribution Formats

Type

Film

Format

16mm

Production Company

Name

Metropolis Pictures

Sponsor

Name

Arts Council of Great Britain

Phone

020 7973 6455

Fax

020 7973 6581

Address

London
SW1P 3NG

Name

Channel Four Television

Phone

071-396 4444

Address

LONDON
SW1P 2TX

Distributor

Name

Arts on Film Archive, University of Westminster

Notes

Arts on Film Archive offers on-line access to a large range of films on art produced in the United Kingdom since the 1950s, and is a unique record of British and international post-war art, as well as of documentary film-making in the UK. In its first phase, the archive offers a complete database and an on-line video streaming of all 450 films made by the film department of Arts Council England between 1953 and 1998 and several films produced till 2003 by the dance Department of ACE. The collection is only available streamed to ac.uk domain addresses.