Heart, Head and Hand

A fascinating short documentary about the work of Australian ceramist and teacher Peter Rushforth (1920-2015), directed by Peter Weir ("Gallipoli", "Witness"). At the time of filming Rushfort was retired but he still managed to create works and teach young pottery students who came to his aid and wanted to learn to craft with a great master who had plenty of admiration for the Japanese techniques - some of which he learned during World War II when he was prisoner of war.

The film follows him through his working process, as locals also share stories about his daily life and how inspiring he was. The whole creative process of producing objects, vases and pots is all presented in a very detailed way and beautifully captured by Weir's regular cinematographer John Seale. Molding the clay, shaping it until become something else, concrete, the whole patience waiting for its conclusion then moving to painting to whatever art or forms come to mind, masterful works of art. And also a tradition that was in its dying days in some ways due to other methods inclusion and the lack of new generations of new ceramists. Yet he kept going producing more and more works.

Rushfort doesn't talk much about himself or his past, but whenever he says something to say about his craft he says in unique, positive and beautiful way, sharing his thoughts about the oriental culture in developing amazing techniques with the objects and many of those techniques Rushfort was a pioneer in making it.

I don't know much about the technical aspects of the working process of ceramists neither can make comparison with other artists, but I had a good time experiencing this project, a complete overlooked film by the great Peter Weir. 8/10.