My maternal grandmother was a traditional potter - never had the opportunity to see her working - but due to traditional belief I understood she worked alone. Looking at this wonderful grandmother I keep imagining my late grandmother working in her little hut -
this reminds me of some of the process my gran used to do back in Southern Africa. She was born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was a potter for her entire life, even after she moved to Durban in 1967. She still does pottery at age 76 and enjoys doing it. Right now she is in lockdown due to contracting covid-19, but she is making pots and bowls with a smile on her face, and I enjoy hearing her singing as she works. She is doing well and is recovering fast. Blessings to each and every one of you from a South African Brit. I may visit West Africa some day and learn about the culture of a different part of the continent on which I was born.
The stories she can tell us and the lessons she can teach us must be extraordinary, if you have any, write them down and cherish that strong lady, your grandmother 🥰🥰🥰
Africans are the only people who have a word for art. I loved this video and the narration of the videographer. Anything you make you ought to be able to use it. Alrighty now.
Your descriptions were short and to the point. The rest of the time not only did I enjoy watching the many techniques but I really loved listening to the background sounds, children, birds, chickens, goats, insects, etc. Thank you immensely for sharing.
privileged of jealousy, just could not say its truly amazing to see how these people master the art, they free you are not that the difference, they could say the same i am privileged to be free without jealousy.
I am glad you liked it. I have been working on this for well over 40 years, and I enjoy sharing it with others. you might enjoy going to Africa sometime and visiting with African potters.
Do you think Europeans reached the space age because people were respectful of them living in squalor? Or do you think pressure to be better aided in that? I mean Europeans abolished slavery before any other peoples, centuries before. In (north) Africa slavery is still ongoing as it always has in places like Tunisia and Libya. My peoples caught up to the Europeans because we were ashamed that we were so primitive compared to them. Shame is an important emotion and has a very important societal function.
This is nothing to be ashamed of. My parents and grandparents were taught to be ashamed of their African ancestry. They wanted to pass that shame on to me . Thank you James Brown for Say it Loud , I’m Back and I’m Proud. The Japanese revere their folk artists . We should too. I wish I could make pots like this.
Chris eyes got watery while watching this documentary. I cannot explain why but this documentary inspired me. These artists, potters or ceramicist, all of the above, are working with such simple materials, yet they are creating such amazing pieces of functional art. Thank you for this amazing documentary, not everyday I get to watch such an amazing documentary.
You were on my thesis committee at Iowa. I think of you often and what you taught me. Thanks so much for this. I am a professor in WA and will be showing this to my students. Thanks it is GREAT! Chuck lives out here too...
I'm amazed by the clean and symmetrical round shape they create. I started ceramics and it's so hard to get things clean symmetric if you handbuild them. They make it look so easy
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. I'm a Potter living in New-Jersey, and I really needed to see these beautiful inspirational and innovative Artist Potters. I'm always one of the only women of color in class and it really is fantastic to see other black women potters. Now I don't feel bad when I break sacred pottery "rules". A Testament to doing your own thing and making it your own. I would love to see these women in person. You were blessed!
I was always very interested and inspired to learn pottery. Especially the African and South Carolina techniques. I especially want to make the sacred face jugs. I've been learning about David Drake and the Africans of the slave ship "Wanderer".
Oh my - this was SUCH a pleasure to watch. The way they form the pots, with such fluidity and ease, gorgeous. I loved watching the whole process from the digging of the clay to the firing of the pots. There is nothing more beautiful than the earthy simplicity of an expertly crafted vessel. I'm enchanted!
Well done Christopher Roy.The world is round. As a Ghanaian citizen,it has taken me many decades to see how these pots are made on youtube. My curiosity over many years has been satisfied. Bravo!
I am very happy to share with you. It's amazing isn't it how simple the technique seems, and yet how much skill it really takes. These are very creative people, and it is wonderful that they are very hospitable as well. I have enjoyed pottery making In Africa for many years, and feel very lucky that I've been able to see so many African potters at work.
I bought a few pots last time i was in Africa with my family and they are some of my most treasured pieces. The lady wouldn't accept the money i offered to pay for the pots, apparently this was too much for it, which i found incredibly righteous given the fact that she definitely seemed to have use for some cash and it was not at all an extravagant sum of money i was offering. But my kids didn't agree with the price we paid for the pots and so we bought some cakes from a vendor in the city along with some house appliances and other goods and brought them to the lady and her kids. I believe that exchange is better than money and those pots were worth far more than a few coins, given the amount of work they require. We have visited the lady 3 times ever since, and her business is going steady and our kids are good friends now. The mother and father have started sending the kids to school, which made me very happy and i hope that when they are of age, i can help the kids apply to some school here in Switzerland and later on support their parents who have been sweating blood to provide for them. This is a magnificent documentary. Africa is a magnificent continent, and China is now ruining whatever is left of it. As of hundreds of years of colonialism wasn't enough.
China just wants a piece of what the Europeans have been stealing from the lands & people since the 1500' hundreds and continue to this day. Where do you think your expensive swedish chocolate comes from, the cacao trees of Africa and while your companies get Rich, the African farmers grow poor.Save your money and your pity for Africa, just get out and tell your people to Stop destroying Africa.
Thank you for this window into African pottery. Using a short description then allowing the viewer to see, hear and fully experience the making of clay is fantastic. This video is easily broken into segments which helps when attempting to emulate the technique. I homeschool my daughter; we will be using this in several subjects. It is also such a great way to show the role of children in the family and community. This video is such a wonderful teaching aid; we will be sharing a link to this video to other Homeschooling families.
I sincerely hope that you will use some of my other videos about Africa to homeschool your children. They may become fascinated by Africa and someday plan to travel there.
Incredible. This teaches us that the finest "art" in the world is made by simple, yet vastly advanced people out of neccesity. My hat is off to these women!
A wonderful documentary that I watched from beginning to end. I sculpted in clay for many years but told myself that I could not make pots because I did not have a wheel!!!! Sure is humbling to see the marvelously creative works these women make. Thanks so much for this.
What a spectacular video, the women featured in this video are with no exaggeration, absolutely amazing. It is a shame to those who buy the pots from these women, and sell them for such incredibly marked up prices. The prices paid for these pots should be fair and reasonable and reflect the amount of effort required by the families and individuals who collect the clay and work so hard to create such marvellous pieces of work
I am very happy you like it. I try hard to communicate my love of art and how it is made to others like you. My current undergraduate class on African art has 240 students.
Thank you Christopher for your research and sharing this film! These African craftsmen are real masters and pots shown in the movie are true pieces of art! I very much enjoyed watching. Cheers!
Many, many thanks for presenting a fascinating variety of traditional potters and hand-building techniques. It is not hard to imagine this level of sophistication extending thousands of years into the past.
This is such a great video. thank you for posting it to UA-cam. Great to see there are over a million people who are interested in this. It gives me hope.
Thank you so much. This is the first time I have seen African pottery. It's a human treasure. I watched, Philippine, Japan, and India made pottery and it led me to your channel. What a delight! Thank you.
As a potter of the modern age. I am so impressed with the beauty and form created using such simple measures. Measures that could only be the work of art that these are by the hands of skilled artists.
The skills of those women are incredible! I enjoyed the information narrated and the collection of the samples of pottery from different regions. Excellent documentary!
This is a beautiful documentary. It was so wonderful that that African lady was willing to live her country and travel around the world and show her craft and secrets
Karmanade i think they are reffering to that fact that while this may not seem inpressive to thoose of the same craft, he/she is not and finds it quite incredible
Thank you so much Christopher for sharing your experiences. As an African American potter (way too dependent on fancy tools, gadgets and machinery), it is good -- and humbling -- to see these very basic, rural pottery traditions. Makes me shut the whining when I don't feel like wedging or get frustrated at the imperfect function of my foot pedal!!
Not afraid of work indeed. Good spirit and good work ethic but! If they simply made wheels this would be far faster. I know I am pushing pragmatism while disregarding the spirit of craft and the human touch, but it is simple mechanisms that can propel people into affluence and abundance
How long a go when your people change to a point you make yourself a judge of others people culture maybe you to go and learn real history how the West explore from the African people for so many years and still going on till this day so I suggest to you go and educate yourself in everywhere you go there's good and bad
Everytime I watched this make me miss my grandmother so much ; I thank God I had the opportunity to see her doing stuff like that she was 101 year old miss her so much Yimnere from kaya Namsiquie I can't wait to go back ... there is so much land there for me and family waiting for me I left there since I was little... with God grace I will be there one day.
It took me 2 days to make a bowl in poetry class and I didn’t have children or grandchildren to take care of.😔 They are amazing and hard working people!
Pottery is one branch of civilization in its evolution. What a site, beautiful hands are at tireless work. Video creator took considerable time and interest to present the best. Thank you.
Thank you. I am very pleased that you like it. There has been an amazing revolution in filmography in the past decade, so that amateurs/ scholars can make very good video of what is happening in Africa. Earlier we had to have a film crew costing thousands, but now we can carry a good quality camera in our pocket.
Thanks for this beautiful documentary. After seeing this, I had tears in my eyes, thinking at the blessed lives we have and still taking them for granted. Talent does not need the walls of modernism around it. Every piece these ladies made was with pure conviction and the results were amazing. I'm about to start my pottery journey soon and this was the exact needed inspiration. Thank you.
I especially liked the remark about low firing pots for reasons of cooking vs high firing pots which may crack under cooking... This displays the perfect understanding of their medium, clay - and how it transcends art as a spectacle to functional art.
This was the most hypnotic thing I've ever seen. I just want to go to Africa now and sit there with my mouth hanging open staring at these artists work. But then I'd get jealous and want to play with the clay too. And probably get so frustrated....
Thank you for this informative video, very humbling for me,a ceramist, to see how much and yet how little has changed in hand-formed ceramics. That they can do so much with so little is very inspiring..
I can't believe I watched the whole video showing different but unique techniques of making hand made pottery. This is truly an amazing art totally done with the hands only and some simple tools. I remember a long time ago making a bear-shaped cookie jar. Of course it did come from a mold. I partly hand shaped it, glazed it, fired it and then put some finishing touches on it with some paint. I really had fun doing this. I can see this old fashion method of making pottery fun too. Thanks for making this video.
Until the end where he bashed Western society and propagandized 3rd world cultures as being more evolved that the West, lmfao! Postmodernism is a sickness and this guy is definitely sick!
@@stephencarlsbad what are you defending? It is not attacking western society just because we like to know how to do things. It seems that every time we turn around it is an assault on western society. What is the problem? Why do you insist on western values? They are not working.
I especially appreciate the point you made at 18:03 that the pottery in this region makes a "thump" when tapped instead of a "ring", because it is fired at a lower temperature so it can be used for cooking. I did not know that high-temperature-fired pottery would shatter over a fire, and I had wondered what was necessary to make a ceramic suitable for cooking! Thanks so much for this remarkable video, and thanks to these skilled artisans for sharing their knowledge.
Thank you so much for making and sharing this amazing artwork! I wish this type of documentary is on the television instead of the superficial reality shows we have these days. Especially when people in the west are not aware of these beautiful traditions that exist in Africa.
Thank you... This is such a wonderful documentary! Your appreciation for these peoples age old skills impresses me to such great extent, thanks again for that too... I am from the southern part of India (from Tamil Nadu) and do share a similar skillful ancestry, yet my people are mostly unaware of the great talents their grand-grand-grand-people had! I wish someone make a documentary like this for us too... Warm Regards, Vijay
***** I would love to film in Tamil Nadu. I went there two years ago with the group of twenty students, and I tried very hard to find potters to film, but the person who is leading the group was from North India and couldn't even speak Tamil. He became angry at me when I ask repeatedly to visit potter. perhaps someone else will film pottery making in Tamil Nadu.
Wow, this was fascinating. I followed a few links after searching on how to make my own potters wheel. After sitting and watching this film in its entirety (at 5am!) I don't think I will bother making a wheel for a while. I'd half dreamt up/remembered from primary school the coil technique, but thought it would be too laborious. Clearly I was wrong! Those women are amazingly skilled. Thank you for such an informative, well made and properly inspirational film.
I first watched this video in 2016 and most recently again this morning. It is important to note every tool they use exists as a Kemetic (Ancient Egypt) artifact ... the adze, the mortar and pestle, the grinding board, even the hand-held shaping hammer. Also the ability to produce dark/black pottery at will and red elements by changing the heat. Finally the use of the pottery for storing wine and beer for storage and cooking are all the same. So, in terms African history this is not new. It is a living example of exactly what would be seen in predynastic through dynastic Kemet (Ancient Egypt). Now, a part II should be a focus on how Africans use clay for the construction of houses which too is a link to the classic past.
Please, some of these people predate Egypt. Egypt is not the be all and end all of Africa. There are many other types of people in Africa other than Egyptians. The Nok people of Nigeria are the oldest living group of people in the world along with the San people of southern Africa both of whose art was not shown in this video. The Nok people are the kings and queens of terracotta world over and invented it the notion of pottery.. before any concept of Egypt. It would have been nice of him to show Nok clay pots also.
Considering the "Egyptians" were Greek, they did proceed the Ptolemy Era. However, Kemet is about 4,000 years older, at minimum, than the start of the Ptolemy Era. The oldest of the pottery is found in Nubia/Upper Egypt and what is MOST probably is migrations from the Nile Valley to other parts of Africa. So, Nok and the Remetch would have the same ancestry. Because Africans moved around the continent carrying their practices with them. It wouldn't be restricted to Nok and most likey 6,000 years ago from our time the Nok weren't Nok yet. Indigenous Southern Africans, including San ethnic groups, were making milk-based paint some 49,000 years before present as per the Villa et. al. 2015 study. That same paint would be used by Remetch some 40,000 years later because Africans moved around the continent. The Remetch were as African as Nok and San if not inclusive of the same and many more African ethnic groups of today. So when Africans today exhibit tools, pottery, linguistic, cultural, genetic, etc. similarities to Kemet today it is because Africans from Kemet dispersed into the rest of Africa with the arrival of foreign conquests.
you know who created these nonsense Kemet ideology and theory? IT WAS WHITE PEOPLE, LITERALLY A WHITE PSEUDO PROFESSOR. Why should black people believe all these nonsense...instead you should ask the real people that live over there in Africa and Egypt, non some random white American dude!
@@deidramcintyre Egyptian are greek? Nonsense there were no Greek dynasty before the time of Alexander the great and the people that live in egypt at that time look the same as the coptic people that exist in egypt right now. Just go to egypt and look at their tombs paintings! Look at the mummy of king tut and ramses ii....they don't look sub saharan african at all. You can literally test the DNA of acinet egyptian today because there are so many mummies
Christopher, thank you so much. your point of view is illuminating. there are many south American native potter skills that are never recognised and brought to light... only the most curious and restless people go after those people and their magnificent art and culture. i felt like you are one of these people and this video gave me so much inspiration and hope. thank you and thanks and blessings to the african artists.
8 років тому+4
This is so satisfying to watch. Thank you for sharing this experience.
The western world will remain blindfolded to the high tech of African innovations by their ego-complex mind. Thanks for this good eye opening job. Stay bless man and take goodcare of yourself.
These Wonderful People have very good Skills Learned over a lifetime of Hands on Apprenticeship. Something not really done anymore in the USA. Very nicely produced Documentary. Thanks for the upload.
I’d like to thank you for the wealth of knowledge you have provided us for many years . When I was a young girl I always wanted to travel to Africa and see it the way you did . Over the last couple of years I have been able to make my dreams a reality .Videos like yours enabled me to have a prior education I needed for each country I chose to visit so that I could become culturally immersed.As an African-American I am truly grateful that you inspired someone like me to be able to go back to my roots.
What a beautiful people and beautiful African potteries. And what a honest, decent man to narrate this peice of gem. He truly 'well said' in the last sentence of his film. Thank you for this film.
Amazing chance to see how they create such beautiful pottery without machines. Thank you for making this film and sharing the artist.It's truly incredible to see how precise each piece is made.
i love this video .. watching for the second time .... these pots are beautiful i am living in Bulgaria now and hope to oneday be making pots and other earthen creation :) this is so expiring .. thankyou so much for creating this video and sharing with us all .. just beautiful ...
It is my great pleasure. If you want to see more you should fly to West Africa. It is very easy to do and not terribly expensive, and if you make the right arrangements you can go out into rural villages and watch potters at work. These people are extremely friendly and hospitable. They are very flattered when white people shown interest in their work.
This what you are bringing to youtube is so great sir. I really appreciate what you have done here. Thank you so much for creating this. These people are amazing and I have huge respect for this.
WIth such an intimate process, beauty is unavoidable!! But, in saying that, I'm not trying to take anything away from these potter's skills. Thanks for sharing this film, Doug!!
What a wonderful documentary, thank you, and made so much better than any other by the absence of the ghastly, ubiquitous background music that seems to accompany everything these days. This alone, makes this documentary stand out. Over and above this, the content fascinating and very informative. How ingenious and full of skill these people are.
JereBuck: Thank you very much for your kind words. A colleague of mine made a video of Zulu pottery with lots of background music, even when artists were speaking on-screen, When I told her that she might drop the music her own teacher scolded me. I appreciate your kind words.
This is so beautiful and the pottery are really charming , I do hope this art form survives the atrocious situations in most african countries today and for which we are mostly responsible in the west. , china is not helping either
This is AMAZING, we live a luxury in tools and they use hands and stone to do the seemingly impossible...thank you so much for sharing. RESPECT to all of these unknown amazing artists!!!!❤
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. I learnt some skills from it that I can use in my DIY projects. I loved witnessing the ladies using their hands so much. I am also a big proponent of using your hands when making things rather than always assuming you need an expensive tool.
Thank you very much. I enjoy sharing. You could help me by telling everyone you know. As you can tell I enjoy doing this sort of work. My classes at the University of Iowa are enormously large. My online summer school class has 300 students enrolled. But I enjoy reaching a wider audience with these videos, and so I appreciate your comments and I appreciate any help you can give me by spreading the word.
Congratulations on the video and to all those pottery makers ! Mostly women! love the description on the meaning of the word "art". For me art is something we PERFORM and makes us TRANSFORM
Thank you Professor Roy for sharing this document of ancient techniques. That is very instructive on how beautiful creation can be made by anyone with very few energy and money.
I really like this! Some key information on how long it takes to fire their pots, and how they know when the fireing is finished. I have tried to fire my work like this, but without much success. I do wonder about the clay itself, and if anyone knows the mineral content?
I have exactly same questions :) And hope answers can be found, maybe we should dig in some materials about ancestry pottery techniques of lands where we live (about firing process i know for example that Veneds or as you wish peoples of Slavic lands was use same techniques of firing, and i think that some archaeologist can provide answers about methods of firing, and those methods can be more accurate to clay from my earth because times is modern but same clay are sleeping under ground) :)
On You Tube, I just watched 2 seasons of the Great Pottery Throw Down from the UK. It was a contest for amateur potters. In one episode of the 2nd season, they pit fired their pots overnight. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the time, but I’m guessing about 8 hours. I no longer create ceramics, but, as an artist, I watched out of curiosity for the creative ideas and techniques. But made me want to get my hands muddy again. I think there were about 16 episodes, total, before it was cancelled, each about 1 hr.
Thanks for the excellent documentary. It's absolutely amazing, how you have put all the relevant information together, the techniques used and questioned our understanding of Art. Love it and thanks for sharing.
My maternal grandmother was a traditional potter - never had the opportunity to see her working - but due to traditional belief I understood she worked alone. Looking at this wonderful grandmother I keep imagining my late grandmother working in her little hut -
this reminds me of some of the process my gran used to do back in Southern Africa. She was born in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and was a potter for her entire life, even after she moved to Durban in 1967. She still does pottery at age 76 and enjoys doing it.
Right now she is in lockdown due to contracting covid-19, but she is making pots and bowls with a smile on her face, and I enjoy hearing her singing as she works. She is doing well and is recovering fast.
Blessings to each and every one of you from a South African Brit. I may visit West Africa some day and learn about the culture of a different part of the continent on which I was born.
Wishing your gran makes a full recovery
Hope your gran is recovered and doing well. You are so blessed to have her. God Bless
May she recovers quickly
The stories she can tell us and the lessons she can teach us must be extraordinary, if you have any, write them down and cherish that strong lady, your grandmother 🥰🥰🥰
Africans are the only people who have a word for art. I loved this video and the narration of the videographer. Anything you make you ought to be able to use it. Alrighty now.
I'm pretty sure we have a word for art.... its art.....
@@samlucas9233 I am pretty sure 99% of languages have a word for it.
Your descriptions were short and to the point. The rest of the time not only did I enjoy watching the many techniques but I really loved listening to the background sounds, children, birds, chickens, goats, insects, etc.
Thank you immensely for sharing.
:) me to..it was like music ..
Thankyou for a learned, traditional, historucal,archeological based record.
Many thanks.....very educational and entertaining.
Nice cover photo !
The little kids practicing in the background.....
I feel privileged to have access to videos like this, truly amazing
Null object
True. How wonderful.
Absolutely
null object please Subscribe to Jim Nduruchi
privileged of jealousy, just could not say its truly amazing to see how these people master the art, they free you are not that the difference, they could say the same i am privileged to be free without jealousy.
I am glad you liked it. I have been working on this for well over 40 years, and I enjoy sharing it with others. you might enjoy going to Africa sometime and visiting with African potters.
Christopher Roy hello
thank you for such a respectful approach and documentary to the skill of a people often misrepresented, thank you for sharing the skills of my people
Yes, it definitely doesn't take away from their culture or who they are as people. It's just How's Its Made but in a different country :)
You should be so proud! I know I would be so proud to have anyone of those pots being used in my house.
Do you think Europeans reached the space age because people were respectful of them living in squalor? Or do you think pressure to be better aided in that? I mean Europeans abolished slavery before any other peoples, centuries before. In (north) Africa slavery is still ongoing as it always has in places like Tunisia and Libya. My peoples caught up to the Europeans because we were ashamed that we were so primitive compared to them. Shame is an important emotion and has a very important societal function.
This is nothing to be ashamed of. My parents and grandparents were taught to be ashamed of their African ancestry. They wanted to pass that shame on to me . Thank you James Brown for Say it Loud , I’m Back and I’m Proud. The Japanese revere their folk artists . We should too. I wish I could make pots like this.
Black ! blasted autocorrect !
Chris eyes got watery while watching this documentary. I cannot explain why but this documentary inspired me. These artists, potters or ceramicist, all of the above, are working with such simple materials, yet they are creating such amazing pieces of functional art. Thank you for this amazing documentary, not everyday I get to watch such an amazing documentary.
You were on my thesis committee at Iowa. I think of you often and what you taught me. Thanks so much for this. I am a professor in WA and will be showing this to my students. Thanks it is GREAT! Chuck lives out here too...
I'm amazed by the clean and symmetrical round shape they create. I started ceramics and it's so hard to get things clean symmetric if you handbuild them. They make it look so easy
Thank you so much for this wonderful video. I'm a Potter living in New-Jersey,
and I really needed to see these beautiful inspirational and innovative Artist Potters.
I'm always one of the only women of color in class and it really is fantastic to see other black women potters. Now I don't feel bad when I break sacred pottery "rules". A Testament to doing your own thing and making it your own. I would love to see these women in person. You were blessed!
Marie Sheairs please Subscribe to my Channel
Hi i am indian potter
I was always very interested and inspired to learn pottery. Especially the African and South Carolina techniques. I especially want to make the sacred face jugs. I've been learning about David Drake and the Africans of the slave ship "Wanderer".
Oh my - this was SUCH a pleasure to watch. The way they form the pots, with such fluidity and ease, gorgeous. I loved watching the whole process from the digging of the clay to the firing of the pots. There is nothing more beautiful than the earthy simplicity of an expertly crafted vessel. I'm enchanted!
Well done Christopher Roy.The world is round. As a Ghanaian citizen,it has taken me many decades to see how these pots are made on youtube. My curiosity over many years has been satisfied. Bravo!
I am very happy to share with you. It's amazing isn't it how simple the technique seems, and yet how much skill it really takes. These are very creative people, and it is wonderful that they are very hospitable as well. I have enjoyed pottery making In Africa for many years, and feel very lucky that I've been able to see so many African potters at work.
obed tetteh hello
i followed a trail of videos to get here and i don’t regret watching the whole thing
Want to start something with no money and limited resources, just creativity and determination. Ask an African!
this sounds pretty ominous lol
I bought a few pots last time i was in Africa with my family and they are some of my most treasured pieces.
The lady wouldn't accept the money i offered to pay for the pots, apparently this was too much for it, which i found incredibly righteous given the fact that she definitely seemed to have use for some cash and it was not at all an extravagant sum of money i was offering.
But my kids didn't agree with the price we paid for the pots and so we bought some cakes from a vendor in the city along with some house appliances and other goods and brought them to the lady and her kids. I believe that exchange is better than money and those pots were worth far more than a few coins, given the amount of work they require.
We have visited the lady 3 times ever since, and her business is going steady and our kids are good friends now. The mother and father have started sending the kids to school, which made me very happy and i hope that when they are of age, i can help the kids apply to some school here in Switzerland and later on support their parents who have been sweating blood to provide for them.
This is a magnificent documentary.
Africa is a magnificent continent, and China is now ruining whatever is left of it. As of hundreds of years of colonialism wasn't enough.
Salm1848 it’s a common attitude with rich white people.
Max Designs most socialist leaders are rich white people...
China just wants a piece of what the Europeans have been stealing from the lands & people since the 1500' hundreds and continue to this day. Where do you think your expensive swedish chocolate comes from, the cacao trees of Africa and while your companies get Rich, the African farmers grow poor.Save your money and your pity for Africa, just get out and tell your people to Stop destroying Africa.
Thank you for this window into African pottery. Using a short description then allowing the viewer to see, hear and fully experience the making of clay is fantastic.
This video is easily broken into segments which helps when attempting to emulate the technique.
I homeschool my daughter; we will be using this in several subjects. It is also such a great way to show the role of children in the family and community. This video is such a wonderful teaching aid; we will be sharing a link to this video to other Homeschooling families.
Artesa em geral artesanato em geral artesanato em geral artesanatos artesanato em pvc artesanartesanatoato pvc
I sincerely hope that you will use some of my other videos about Africa to homeschool your children. They may become fascinated by Africa and someday plan to travel there.
Incredible.
This teaches us that the finest "art" in the world is made by simple, yet vastly advanced people out of neccesity.
My hat is off to these women!
Yes they are vastly advanced. Maybe in another 10,000 years the will invent the table. Excellent work.
@@aculasabacca stfu
@@childrenareinnocent2317 LMAO
@@aculasabacca including you.
@@tmaclee2737 LMFAO
A wonderful documentary that I watched from beginning to end. I sculpted in clay for many years but told myself that I could not make pots because I did not have a wheel!!!! Sure is humbling to see the marvelously creative works these women make. Thanks so much for this.
What a spectacular video, the women featured in this video are with no exaggeration, absolutely amazing.
It is a shame to those who buy the pots from these women, and sell them for such incredibly marked up prices.
The prices paid for these pots should be fair and reasonable and reflect the amount of effort required by the families and individuals who collect the clay and work so hard to create such marvellous pieces of work
Fresh Impact Co. Please Subscribe to my Channel
Our things are priceless .
You statement doesn't reflect any reality. They set the price they'll accept, unless they are forced labor against their will.
This is the single most fascinating thing I've ever watched. Thank you for sharing it.
I am very happy you like it. I try hard to communicate my love of art and how it is made to others like you. My current undergraduate class on African art has 240 students.
Africans the first Arch-i-techs Speechless! No tools such details. Age-time-and wisdom
Thank you
Christopher for your research and sharing this film! These African craftsmen are real masters and pots shown in the movie are true pieces of art! I very much enjoyed watching. Cheers!
one of the best things on UA-cam. amazing skills, creating beautiful and useful objects.
Many, many thanks for presenting a fascinating variety of traditional potters and hand-building techniques. It is not hard to imagine this level of sophistication extending thousands of years into the past.
My pleasure. I enjoy sharing what I learn with you.
Its been a true education to someone who has never known much about techniques of pottery making
every individual piece is made with hard work and is an individual potter's creative expression...
Fatima Naqvi hello
This is such a great video. thank you for posting it to UA-cam. Great to see there are over a million people who are interested in this. It gives me hope.
“African potters understand as fully as western potters do…”
What a fn amazing revelation, Christopher!
Yeah, that made me laugh! Does Chris have any idea how long they've been making pottery in Africa?
Thank you so much. This is the first time I have seen African pottery. It's a human treasure. I watched, Philippine, Japan, and India made pottery and it led me to your channel. What a delight! Thank you.
My pleasure. I enjoy making these videos. HAve you looked at other videos on my channel?
As a potter of the modern age. I am so impressed with the beauty and form created using such simple measures. Measures that could only be the work of art that these are by the hands of skilled artists.
The skills of those women are incredible! I enjoyed the information narrated and the collection of the samples of pottery from different regions. Excellent documentary!
When I started watching this documentary I thought, I'll watch a bit. One hour later... One hour was not enough.
This is a beautiful documentary.
It was so wonderful that that African lady was willing to live her country and travel around the world and show her craft and secrets
Im not by any means an artist or pottery maker but this amazes me.
You don't have to be something to be amazed... I worded that weird because i'm lazy and don't want to change it.
Karmanade i think they are reffering to that fact that while this may not seem inpressive to thoose of the same craft, he/she is not and finds it quite incredible
Thank you so much Christopher for sharing your experiences. As an African American potter (way too dependent on fancy tools, gadgets and machinery), it is good -- and humbling -- to see these very basic, rural pottery traditions. Makes me shut the whining when I don't feel like wedging or get frustrated at the imperfect function of my foot pedal!!
Soy de Mexico y si quiere uno comprar si se las envian
Muchas gracias saludos hermoso trabajo en barro
African woman is not afraid of work, beautiful people.
What about men? (Gordon's wife)
Not afraid of work indeed.
Good spirit and good work ethic but! If they simply made wheels this would be far faster.
I know I am pushing pragmatism while disregarding the spirit of craft and the human touch, but it is simple mechanisms that can propel people into affluence and abundance
Unlike their lazy men.
life is tough for women in Africa and west Africa is tough and cruel for children
How long a go when your people change to a point you make yourself a judge of others people culture maybe you to go and learn real history how the West explore from the African people for so many years and still going on till this day so I suggest to you go and educate yourself in everywhere you go there's good and bad
Everytime I watched this make me miss my grandmother so much ; I thank God I had the opportunity to see her doing stuff like that she was 101 year old miss her so much Yimnere from kaya Namsiquie I can't wait to go back ... there is so much land there for me and family waiting for me I left there since I was little... with God grace I will be there one day.
It took me 2 days to make a bowl in poetry class and I didn’t have children or grandchildren to take care of.😔 They are amazing and hard working people!
Pottery is one branch of civilization in its evolution. What a site, beautiful hands are at tireless work. Video creator took considerable time and interest to present the best. Thank you.
I wish i cud make a living playing with clay all day :) that would be truly amaizing. Thanks for shareing
These women are real artists and their pots are truly art. Every one of them is unique and precious.
Thank you. I am very pleased that you like it. There has been an amazing revolution in filmography in the past decade, so that amateurs/ scholars can make very good video of what is happening in Africa. Earlier we had to have a film crew costing thousands, but now we can carry a good quality camera in our pocket.
Thanks for this beautiful documentary. After seeing this, I had tears in my eyes, thinking at the blessed lives we have and still taking them for granted. Talent does not need the walls of modernism around it. Every piece these ladies made was with pure conviction and the results were amazing. I'm about to start my pottery journey soon and this was the exact needed inspiration. Thank you.
I especially liked the remark about low firing pots for reasons of cooking vs high firing pots which may crack under cooking... This displays the perfect understanding of their medium, clay - and how it transcends art as a spectacle to functional art.
It also demonstrates that the guy who made and narrated the video knows what he is talking about.
@@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768 he definitely is very educated in pottery and was very attentive to his African mentors
This is great video that opens the door for many ceramic artists today!
This was the most hypnotic thing I've ever seen. I just want to go to Africa now and sit there with my mouth hanging open staring at these artists work. But then I'd get jealous and want to play with the clay too. And probably get so frustrated....
Wait, I'd get frustrated cuz I'd suck, I mean. Not cuz of them at all. (I'd also want to play with the goats in the background.)
Hehehe
I never comment videos or anything on the internet, but this was absolutely brilliant. Wonderfully executed with respect and accurency. Loved it!
Thank you for this informative video, very humbling for me,a ceramist, to see how much and yet how little has changed in hand-formed ceramics. That they can do so much with so little is very inspiring..
I can't believe I watched the whole video showing different but unique techniques of making hand made pottery. This is truly an amazing art totally done with the hands only and some simple tools. I remember a long time ago making a bear-shaped cookie jar. Of course it did come from a mold. I partly hand shaped it, glazed it, fired it and then put some finishing touches on it with some paint. I really had fun doing this. I can see this old fashion method of making pottery fun too. Thanks for making this video.
Wow! So much beauty created from so few resources is simply amazing.
Just goes to show you that you can make amazing pottery without fancy tools. Thanks for this video and commentary!
WOW! So beautiful! 😮 I love how organic their processes are! That's why their pottery is so off the charts Amazing! 😮💞
What a fascinating film. I'm in awe of their skill and the beauty of the pots. Thank-you so much for sharing it with us.
I will treasure this video with my heart, and soul. Praise Allah, and thank you for posting.
AMAZING THANK YOU! The sounds in the background... goats, children, chickens, birds, people.... wow. Beautiful
What an amazing movie was that!
No
Until the end where he bashed Western society and propagandized 3rd world cultures as being more evolved that the West, lmfao! Postmodernism is a sickness and this guy is definitely sick!
ua-cam.com/video/WmymAWuRXi8/v-deo.html
@@stephencarlsbad what are you defending? It is not attacking western society just because we like to know how to do things.
It seems that every time we turn around it is an assault on western society. What is the problem?
Why do you insist on western values? They are not working.
@@stephencarlsbad yes!
I especially appreciate the point you made at 18:03 that the pottery in this region makes a "thump" when tapped instead of a "ring", because it is fired at a lower temperature so it can be used for cooking. I did not know that high-temperature-fired pottery would shatter over a fire, and I had wondered what was necessary to make a ceramic suitable for cooking! Thanks so much for this remarkable video, and thanks to these skilled artisans for sharing their knowledge.
I am happy you enjoyed it. Perhaps "simplicity, admiration and respect" are why I have 240 undergraduates in my Monday/Wednesday class.
The donkey 🐴 manure doesn't leave a smell in the pottery? I love how they fire with natural materials though? 💕
Thank you so much for making and sharing this amazing artwork! I wish this type of documentary is on the television instead of the superficial reality shows we have these days. Especially when people in the west are not aware of these beautiful traditions that exist in Africa.
Thank you... This is such a wonderful documentary! Your appreciation for these peoples age old skills impresses me to such great extent, thanks again for that too... I am from the southern part of India (from Tamil Nadu) and do share a similar skillful ancestry, yet my people are mostly unaware of the great talents their grand-grand-grand-people had! I wish someone make a documentary like this for us too...
Warm Regards,
Vijay
***** I would love to film in Tamil Nadu. I went there two years ago with the group of twenty students, and I tried very hard to find potters to film, but the person who is leading the group was from North India and couldn't even speak Tamil. He became angry at me when I ask repeatedly to visit potter. perhaps someone else will film pottery making in Tamil Nadu.
@@ChristopherRoyJamesCook1768
I am from tamilnadu potter family
Next time please visit tamil nadu i intro the Potter's family thank you
Absolutely amazing - all these techniques! Thanks for documenting these material cultural gems!
this had me mesmerized, very fascinating
Ben Nyatanga Proper original human being there just being a human and doing human things! Rare that you see that in todays world.
Wow, this was fascinating. I followed a few links after searching on how to make my own potters wheel. After sitting and watching this film in its entirety (at 5am!) I don't think I will bother making a wheel for a while. I'd half dreamt up/remembered from primary school the coil technique, but thought it would be too laborious. Clearly I was wrong! Those women are amazingly skilled. Thank you for such an informative, well made and properly inspirational film.
Excellent video. Very informative and fascinating!
We may work differently around the globe, but the tools stay the same and the basic forming methods are still in use. Enjoyed this video very much!
I first watched this video in 2016 and most recently again this morning. It is important to note every tool they use exists as a Kemetic (Ancient Egypt) artifact ... the adze, the mortar and pestle, the grinding board, even the hand-held shaping hammer. Also the ability to produce dark/black pottery at will and red elements by changing the heat. Finally the use of the pottery for storing wine and beer for storage and cooking are all the same. So, in terms African history this is not new. It is a living example of exactly what would be seen in predynastic through dynastic Kemet (Ancient Egypt). Now, a part II should be a focus on how Africans use clay for the construction of houses which too is a link to the classic past.
Please, some of these people predate Egypt. Egypt is not the be all and end all of Africa. There are many other types of people in Africa other than Egyptians. The Nok people of Nigeria are the oldest living group of people in the world along with the San people of southern Africa both of whose art was not shown in this video. The Nok people are the kings and queens of terracotta world over and invented it the notion of pottery.. before any concept of Egypt. It would have been nice of him to show Nok clay pots also.
Considering the "Egyptians" were Greek, they did proceed the Ptolemy Era. However, Kemet is about 4,000 years older, at minimum, than the start of the Ptolemy Era. The oldest of the pottery is found in Nubia/Upper Egypt and what is MOST probably is migrations from the Nile Valley to other parts of Africa. So, Nok and the Remetch would have the same ancestry. Because Africans moved around the continent carrying their practices with them. It wouldn't be restricted to Nok and most likey 6,000 years ago from our time the Nok weren't Nok yet. Indigenous Southern Africans, including San ethnic groups, were making milk-based paint some 49,000 years before present as per the Villa et. al. 2015 study. That same paint would be used by Remetch some 40,000 years later because Africans moved around the continent. The Remetch were as African as Nok and San if not inclusive of the same and many more African ethnic groups of today. So when Africans today exhibit tools, pottery, linguistic, cultural, genetic, etc. similarities to Kemet today it is because Africans from Kemet dispersed into the rest of Africa with the arrival of foreign conquests.
you know who created these nonsense Kemet ideology and theory? IT WAS WHITE PEOPLE, LITERALLY A WHITE PSEUDO PROFESSOR. Why should black people believe all these nonsense...instead you should ask the real people that live over there in Africa and Egypt, non some random white American dude!
@@deidramcintyre Egyptian are greek? Nonsense there were no Greek dynasty before the time of Alexander the great and the people that live in egypt at that time look the same as the coptic people that exist in egypt right now. Just go to egypt and look at their tombs paintings! Look at the mummy of king tut and ramses ii....they don't look sub saharan african at all. You can literally test the DNA of acinet egyptian today because there are so many mummies
@@wewenang5167 Typo on my part. I will fix it. I meant "weren't" not "were."
Christopher, thank you so much. your point of view is illuminating. there are many south American native potter skills that are never recognised and brought to light... only the most curious and restless people go after those people and their magnificent art and culture. i felt like you are one of these people and this video gave me so much inspiration and hope. thank you and thanks and blessings to the african artists.
This is so satisfying to watch. Thank you for sharing this experience.
The western world will remain blindfolded to the high tech of African innovations by their ego-complex mind. Thanks for this good eye opening job. Stay bless man and take goodcare of yourself.
I love this video:Art: is cultural, traditional part of human generations everywhere world.
These Wonderful People have very good Skills Learned over a lifetime of Hands on Apprenticeship. Something not really done anymore in the USA. Very nicely produced Documentary. Thanks for the upload.
Thanks very much. As you can tell I don't like popular, contemporary, ignorant, platitudes and stereotypes of Africa.
thanks for this
Christopher Roy please Subscribe to Jim Nduruchi
cinnamon sparkles please Subscribe to Jim Nduruchi
@@irenedavo3768 who is Jim Nduruchi
I’d like to thank you for the wealth of knowledge you have provided us for many years . When I was a young girl I always wanted to travel to Africa and see it the way you did . Over the last couple of years I have been able to make my dreams a reality .Videos like yours enabled me to have a prior education I needed for each country I chose to visit so that I could become culturally immersed.As an African-American I am truly grateful that you inspired someone like me to be able to go back to my roots.
What a beautiful people and beautiful African potteries. And what a honest, decent man to narrate this peice of gem. He truly 'well said' in the last sentence of his film. Thank you for this film.
I love it when people make suggestions that I have never thought of. Congratulations! Come study here at the University of Iowa.
Amazing chance to see how they create such beautiful pottery without machines. Thank you for making this film and sharing the artist.It's truly incredible to see how precise each piece is made.
+Sherry Richardson Dear Sherry: It is my pleasure to share it with you.
i love this video .. watching for the second time .... these pots are beautiful i am living in Bulgaria now and hope to oneday be making pots and other earthen creation :) this is so expiring .. thankyou so much for creating this video and sharing with us all .. just beautiful ...
It is my great pleasure. If you want to see more you should fly to West Africa. It is very easy to do and not terribly expensive, and if you make the right arrangements you can go out into rural villages and watch potters at work. These people are extremely friendly and hospitable. They are very flattered when white people shown interest in their work.
This what you are bringing to youtube is so great sir. I really appreciate what you have done here. Thank you so much for creating this. These people are amazing and I have huge respect for this.
I don't think am enough qualified to comment on their hard work and lifestyle.. 🙏🙏🙏
This lady is amazing!!! I want to meet her some day!!! I think her artristry is amazing!!! More videos please!!!!
Thank you for sharing this extra ordinary film. It has made a deep impression on me. Thank you.
+zigydk It is my great pleasure. We in Iowa believe in sharing, especially sharing knowledge.
Don't know how many times i found myself around this movie.
Thank you !
And bless mother Africa..
quite extraordinary, such beautiful pottery, amazing skills and a lovely, honestly shot film, thank you
WIth such an intimate process, beauty is unavoidable!! But, in saying that, I'm not trying to take anything away from these potter's skills. Thanks for sharing this film, Doug!!
What a wonderful documentary, thank you, and made so much better than any other by the absence of the ghastly, ubiquitous background music that seems to accompany everything these days. This alone, makes this documentary stand out. Over and above this, the content fascinating and very informative. How ingenious and full of skill these people are.
JereBuck: Thank you very much for your kind words. A colleague of mine made a video of Zulu pottery with lots of background music, even when artists were speaking on-screen, When I told her that she might drop the music her own teacher scolded me. I appreciate your kind words.
great education and inspiration. excellent video. thank you!
Awesome documentary and a tribute to African handcrafts. Thank you Sir.
This is so beautiful and the pottery are really charming , I do hope this art form survives the atrocious situations in most african countries today and for which we are mostly responsible in the west. , china is not helping either
This is AMAZING, we live a luxury in tools and they use hands and stone to do the seemingly impossible...thank you so much for sharing. RESPECT to all of these unknown amazing artists!!!!❤
Спасибо! Очень интересно. Такое умиротворение и простота!
I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary. I learnt some skills from it that I can use in my DIY projects. I loved witnessing the ladies using their hands so much. I am also a big proponent of using your hands when making things rather than always assuming you need an expensive tool.
Loved this and all the sounds of life around them :)
You have to respect de dedication, the craftsmanship, the camaraderie and above all, how humble all these women are.
Many thanks for you beautiful video. Yes it's art, in it's very essence.
+Pablo Ricardo de Tarragon Thank you for your kind comments.
Thank you very much. I enjoy sharing. You could help me by telling
everyone you know. As you can tell I enjoy doing this sort of work. My
classes at the University of Iowa are enormously large. My online summer
school class has 300 students enrolled. But I enjoy reaching a wider
audience with these videos, and so I appreciate your comments and I
appreciate any help you can give me by spreading the word.
Congratulations on the video and to all those pottery makers ! Mostly women! love the description on the meaning of the word "art". For me art is something we PERFORM and makes us TRANSFORM
Lots of brilliant innovations. I was really impressed!
Thank you Professor Roy for sharing this document of ancient techniques. That is very instructive on how beautiful creation can be made by anyone with very few energy and money.
I really like this!
Some key information on how long it takes to fire their pots, and how they know when the fireing is finished.
I have tried to fire my work like this, but without much success.
I do wonder about the clay itself, and if anyone knows the mineral content?
I have exactly same questions :) And hope answers can be found, maybe we should dig in some materials about ancestry pottery techniques of lands where we live (about firing process i know for example that Veneds or as you wish peoples of Slavic lands was use same techniques of firing, and i think that some archaeologist can provide answers about methods of firing, and those methods can be more accurate to clay from my earth because times is modern but same clay are sleeping under ground) :)
On You Tube, I just watched 2 seasons of the Great Pottery Throw Down from the UK. It was a contest for amateur potters. In one episode of the 2nd season, they pit fired their pots overnight. I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the time, but I’m guessing about 8 hours. I no longer create ceramics, but, as an artist, I watched out of curiosity for the creative ideas and techniques. But made me want to get my hands muddy again. I think there were about 16 episodes, total, before it was cancelled, each about 1 hr.
Thanks for the excellent documentary. It's absolutely amazing, how you have put all the relevant information together, the techniques used and questioned our understanding of Art. Love it and thanks for sharing.
Maria Kafando's technique is very smart
+chris genson It is very clever and very interesting. It would be wonderful to learn how such innovations came about.
I imagine it saves her quite a bit of time compared to the other ladies methods. I would love to go and see it first hand.