Clay, Wood, Fire, Spirit: The Pottery of Richard Bresnahan

Sat. Nov. 11 at 10 p.m., Tue. Nov. 14 at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., and Fri. Nov. 17 at 4:30 p.m. CT on NETV2 (formerly EduCable) CLAY, WOOD, FIRE, SPIRIT: THE POTTERY OF RICHARD BRESNAHAN, a one-hour show, is a lyrical and thought-provoking portrait of a visionary artist. One of the most renowned potters in the nation and author of a recent one-man exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Bresnahan's work epitomizes the melding of art and nature. His technique and aesthetic are governed by the world that surrounds him.

More than 20 years ago, Bresnahan traveled to Japan to apprentice with Nakazato Takashi, a 13th generation potter and son of Nakazato Muan the 12th, a National Living Treasure. The experience changed Bresnahan's life. He found himself immersed in a culture that revered the processes of creation as much as the creation itself. "I cleaned, I swept, I hauled clay," he says of his first year in Japan. "I did everything but make pottery." After a four-year Japanese apprenticeship, Bresnahan was declared a Master Potter, the only Westerner in 13 generations of Nakazato pottery making to achieve this distinction. He returned to the United States in 1979 to apply his skills as artist-in-residence at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

Using ancient Pacific Rim techniques, locally derived materials and his own designs, Bresnahan's pottery is literally rooted in the soil of Minnesota. "He doesn't buy his clay off the shelf, like most potters," says John Whitehead, producer of CLAY, WOOD, FIRE, SPIRIT, "he digs it from the ground." A few years ago a county road crew unearthed a deposit of clay perfect for his pottery. Bresnahan was right behind them to cart it off to the studio. For the price of the hauling, St. John's had enough clay to sustain a pottery studio for 300 years. Clay, Wood, Fire, Spirit is a chronicle of Bresnahan's work and philosophy. It mixes shots of Bresnahan, spade in hand, digging for clay, with interviews and with images of Bresnahan doing what he does best--throwing pots using a Japanese-style kick wheel. The program also details the inaugural firing of the Johanna kiln, the largest wood-fired kiln in North America, in which a crew of 30 potters, led by Bresnahan, worked around the clock for 10 days to fire more than 8,000 pieces of pottery.

Two ideas animate Bresnahan's artistic vision: a Japanese notion of generational continuity and a Western commitment to environmental sustainability. Says Whitehead, "Richard is a great potter but what I found exciting were his ideas. I see him as a conceptual artist. Digging his own clay, making glazes from organic material, using a wood-fired kiln--it's all part of an over-arching philosophy of sustainability. So while this is a show about a potter, on another level its about our relationship to the land."

Bresnahan sums up his approach in one of the program's closing scenes. He gestures to one of his teapots and says "I'm not so concerned about the object, the end product. I'm more concerned with all the relationships that surround this, that go into making it--relationships with people, family and, finally, the object's relationship to the planet. And if you pay attention to all that stuff, these (teapots) turn out great!"