Reviews of films, videos on Carolina pottery and Maine Native American basket.

Hard Work ****Video Librarian, March/April 2005 (Volume 20, Issue 2) “Women get paid less than men, but rent costs the same, and our laundry and clothing cost more.” Although it might sound contemporary, this complaint comes from a 19th-century worker. In 1888, Flora Haines was hired by Maine’s new Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics to hand out surveys to over 600 working women, and while some of the resulting comments may sound surprising to modern ears (one worker is unhappy not getting 10 hours a day--i.e., enough hours to make ends meet), most complaints accurately reflect the miseries of doing repetitive work in uncomfortable postures, in unsafe and unsanitary buildings, for the typical 10 hours a day, six days a week. Filmmaker Jim Sharkey's Hard Work examines the history of women working outside the home/off the farm in the late 19th century through the survey responses, exploring tensions between natives and foreign workers, between women who worked to eat and girls who worked for “pin money,” and even between adults and cheaper child labor. It’s a rare treasure to find so many working women’s first-person accounts from this era, combined with photos--all from Maine archives--that have not been widely seen before. While centered on Maine (and to a lesser extent, the National Historic Park at Lowell, MA), the wealth of information related to women working in early industrial America is of national interest (and should not be relegated to some local history ghetto). Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (R. Reagan)

Educational Media Reviews Online, June 2005. Highly Recommended

A government agency report hardly sounds like the subject of a scintillating documentary and yet Hard Work “To Make Both Ends Meet”: Maine Women’s Voices, 1888 is just that. In 1888, the Maine State Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics conducted a survey of women in the state’s workforce. An open-ended question allowed women to respond with their suggestions on how their working conditions could be improved. Hard Work presents their answers as well as providing an engrossing picture of Maine’s 19th century industrial climate.

The film is organized loosely into sections covering various aspects of working life including living arrangements, wage structure, child labor, immigrants, and working conditions. The original comments are accompanied by still photographs from the time period. A Maine historian provides an overview of the factors that gave rise to the influx of women into the workforce as well as giving viewers a clearer contextual picture of each of the facets addressed. She also recounts the results of the report.

The real power of the documentary comes from the responses of the women in question. Their answers are often thoughtful, articulate, surprisingly astute, and sometimes even applicable to modern working life. Some of the issues that concerned the workers might have come from a contemporary worker; women were worried about water quality, workplace safety, health and fire hazards, salary inequity, and even immigration controls. The historian explains early on that the report was a document of tremendous richness of details and it is easy to see why. Hard Work brings to life opinions and attitudes that are all too often grossly simplified.

If there is a fault with Hard Work, it is the sometimes overly long photographic montages accompanied by musical pieces. However, the documentary's superior content compensates for this comparatively minor issue. It could be used with a wide range of audiences and for a variety of subjects. Hard Work is highly recommended.

Penobscot Basket Maker - Reviewed by Carol Toner, Maine Studies, University of Maine, 2003.

In his latest film, “Penobscot Basket Maker”, filmmaker Jim Sharkey has produced a beautiful documentary that weaves together the life and artistry of Indian Island’s renowned basket maker, Barbara Francis. Displaying his skills in both filming and editing, Sharkey presents Francis’s work and her story with great sensitivity and insight.

Barbara Francis’s baskets have won honors at nationally recognized Indian art shows, including Best of Show at the Lawrence Indian Art Show (1999) and 1st Place in the 81^st Annual Santa Fe Indian Market (2002). Displayed in many museums and galleries, her baskets are remarkable pieces of art that reflect the long history of Penobscot basket making. As Sharkey’s film illustrates, her baskets also reflect Francis’s own history.

Born and raised on Indian Island, Barbara Francis left home as a teenager only to face poverty and racism. When she returned to the Island - alone, pregnant, and destitute - two older Penobscot women offered to take her in. They taught her to make baskets, and at the same time they taught her about her heritage. These women, and later her grandmother and other women, shared their skills with Barbara, passing along the distinctive Penobscot basket styles. While basket making became her life’s work, it also brought her a deeper appreciation for Penobscot history and culture.

Barbara narrates her life story while weaving her baskets, stopping to explain the fine points of basketry - choosing just the right pieces of brown ash, alternating light and dark shades of ash, weaving in a few rows of sweet grass to make the basket unique, and finally working in the fancy porcupine weave. Although the baskets appear empty, she explains, they are full of history, tradition, culture and spirituality. She points out the “circle of life’ created by the weave in the bottom of the basket. Just as her elders taught her how to make baskets, she is teaching the next generation. It is her contribution to preserving the Penobscot Nation’s culture.

Jim Sharkey has captured the remarkable beauty of the baskets and Barbara’s philosophical musings while also providing something of the larger historical context through many still photos of Indian Island. His occasional use of Hawk Henries’ exquisite Native American flute sound provides a lovely musical accompaniment. It is Sharkey’s attention to fine detail that elevates this film. For example he focuses on the persistent sound of pounding as Barbara’s husband Marty prepare the ash, and then on the humming sound created as Barbara quickly braids sweet grass stretched on the back of a chair. Like the baskets themselves, the film is a carefully crafted piece that will help preserve the art of Penobscot basket making.

Video Librarian 2003

An arts and crafts biographical profile of Native American basket maker Barbara Francis - a member of the Penobscot tribe, born and raised on Indian Isle, Maine - Penobscot Basket Maker tells the story of a woman who left the island as a teenager, but came back at the age of 20, alone and pregnant, and was taken in by Alberta Nicola and Violet Frances Shay, two basket makers who taught her their secrets, as well as helped her discover more about her Penobscot heritage. Backed by a pleasant soundtrack of Native American music, Barbara's tale is literally interwoven with her work, as she shares her personal history while weaving baskets, offering viewers a close-up look at the detail that goes into even the simplest of designs. While presenting an engaging peek into a community where tradition still flourishes, and providing beautiful examples of the artist's work, the film's compelling center remains Barbara's story, who today combats rheumatoid arthritis - a heartbreaking condition for an artist who works with her hands. *** - Recommended. Video Librarian 2003.

Viewer comments on Penobscot Basket Maker:

Your video of Barbara is a joy. It was great to see how the baskets were made from start to finish. Thank you again for your work on this outstanding video. Viewer comments from California.

Barbara Francis' story is quite amazing and she truly is an inspiration. You have done a masterful job of capturing her, her art, and her history on film. Thank you so much! Viewer comments from Ohio.

The quality and clarity of the film was far beyond my expectations! It is by far one of the best produced documentaries of its type. Viewer comments from Maine.

The Fourteenth Shop - Video Librarian, August 2002 ***

Award for Creative Excellence - 2002 International Film and Video Festival, Redondo Beach, California.

Seagrove, North Carolina has long been a center for handmade pottery, thanks to clay-rich native soil that has attracted generations of potters. Unlike the old-time masters profiled in Crawdad Slip: The Luck Family Potters; New Life: The Cole Family Potters; and Melvin, this documentary focuses on a family of "newcomers" to the area - mere thirty-year residents. Al and Milly McCanless, who bought a farm in 1973 as idealistic back-to-the-earth urban hippies and then utterly failed at farming, moved into pottery almost by chance. Today, their Dover Pottery (the "fourteenth shop" in the area), which first specialized in exquisitely painted majolica-like pottery, has branched out into the "crystalline" ware which features crystal patterns in the glaze. As with previous titles in filmmaker Jim Sharkey's series, The Fourteenth Shop interweaves biographical information with scenes of the potters at work, set to homemade music. Cubicle-bound artisans can only dream of this life. Recommended for public libraries and especially for regional collections. (R. Reagan).

Melvin - Library Journal, November 15, 2001

Melvin Owens, of M.L. Owens Pottery in Seagrove, NC, is 83 years old and has been turning pottery for 70 years. This program lets Owens tell his story as he works in the shop (turning pots, preparing clay, and chopping wood for the kiln), plays his guitar and sings, and goes about daily activities. Adding their perspectives are several of his eight children and one of his grand-daughters who work with him or in other pottery businesses. Owens Pottery, according to his son Vernon, is the oldest continuous pottery manufacturer in North Carolina, having been started in 1895 by Owens's father. Vernon tells of his father's desperately hard childhood - Owens's father died when he was six - and his efforts to make a living with his pottery. Producer Sharkey skillfully mixes voiceovers of Melvin and Vernon, glimpses of the past through family photos, and comments from other family members to craft a portrait of a determined, hardworking man who has enjoyed his life and his craft. This program is an unforgettable portrait of a person who, although viewing his work as a livelihood rather than as an art, had a significant influence on North Carolina folk pottery. Sharkey's original music and Owen's songs form the score for this excellent production. Recommended for public library collections, especially those in the region and those with an emphasis on crafts.
Melody Moxley, Rowan County Library, Salisbury, NC.

Melvin - Video Librarian, January 2001

Offers an authentic, homespun slice of life unknown to most Americans, and is well worth considering for regional and oral history collections.

New Life - Video Librarian, June 2000. *** 1/2

Garrison Keillor has said that some of the most popular guests on A Prairie Home Companion are cute old folks and Southerners. Combine the two and you've got sisters Celia and Neolia (an Indian name meaning New Life, we are told) Cole, who here tell the story of the pottery business started by their father in 1927, carried on by their father and them through the years, and now continuing with the assistance of Neolia's grandson. As with the Luck Family (see review of Crawdad Slip: The Luck Family Potters of Seagrove, North Carolina in VL-3/00), the Coles started their pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina. However, in 1934, Mr. Cole moved the business to Sanford, NC to take advantage of the trade along Number One Highway (U.S. Highway One). As with the companion title previously reviewed, this tape will find a wide and welcoming audience ranging from pottery artisans to people interested in regional folkways, to those who just like learning about interesting real people. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Reagan)

New Life - Library Journal. June 2001

A.R. Cole began building a barn in 1927 and asked his wife if it should be for tobacco or pottery. She did not have a preference and realized it was to be for pottery when the rafters were too short for tobacco. Thus continued the Cole family tradition begun in the 1600s in Staffordshire, England. Neolia (who was born on the day in 1927 when A.R. fired his first batch of pottery) and Celia, his daughters, continue the tradition today with Neolia's grandson, Kenneth, at their shop in Sanford, NC. Filmmaker Sharkey has created an engaging and enlightening video about pottery making, family, and the daily life of these people for whom pottery is a lifelong tradition. The video includes the pottery-making process - grinding clay, turning and drying pots, and unloading the kiln - along with comments from the potters. The photography is excellent, with an intimate feel as each artisan is shown turning pots; original and traditional music and shots of local scenery enhance the sense of place. Highly recommended for public library collections, especially those in the region and those with an emphasis on crafts. (Melody Moxley)

Crawdad Slip - Video Librarian, April 2000. *** 1/2

"Slip" is a kind of pottery glaze made from fine clay thinned with water. Sid Luck, a fifth generation potter, calls his favorite kind of slip "crawdad slip," since he discovered the clay at a stream where his boys were looking for crawdads one day. Sid, his father Jim, and his son Jason are interviewed here, each imparting their perspectives on their craft. Jim had to make pottery during the Depression to help bring in money; Sid enjoyed the craft, but until the tourist boom hit Pinehurst, NC, pottery was not a way to support a family; Jason likes fashioning the classic, old-time utility pieces, not boutique items, but he is studying computer engineering and isn't interested in staying in his sleepy North Carolina town. Modern pressures figure large in each man's story, whether it was Jim's handmade crockery competing against factory-produced products, Sid's wanting to use local clay even though purchased clay is much cheaper, or Jason's desire to live somewhere more appealing to a 20-year-old. More than a look at a time-honored craft, this interesting documentary, with its family photos, crockery artifacts, and sweet old-time music, is a pleasure in itself. Recommended, especially for senior centers and public libraries. Aud: P. (R. Reagan)

Crawdad Slip - BOOKLIST, October 2000

Simply but astutely narrated by fifth-generation potter Sid Luck, this program lovingly describes the family's pottery heritage, which dates back to the mid-eighteenth century. Live-action footage of the host creating beautiful pottery in his studio mixes with vintage photographs, newspaper articles, and on-camera commentary from artists, apprentices, and others. The great variety of camera shots and enthusiastic bluegrass background music superbly blend with narration and visuals. Color and sound resolution is bell clear. Viewers not only learn about a family legacy but gain an appreciation for the pottery process while discovering a few simple pottery techniques. Although somewhat regional in scope, this program will appeal to anyone who has ever aspired to "throw a pot." For larger public library and community college collections. (James Scholtz)

Viewer Comments:

"They are great, exactly what I'd expect and more. Having traveled in the Seagrove area in 1976, I experienced some great personalities. These videos confirmed the greatness of these people and their commitment to clay".
New Mexico Viewer

"It has been over ten years since I visited Seagrove and your video has given me the desire to travel down the highway south and west to enjoy "Jugtown" once more. Thank you".
North Carolina Viewer

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