National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
This film is part of Free
Ted
Potter Ted sells his work in London, to keep the wolf from the door, but practises his art at Felin Wen, his home-cum-studio at Pontrug, Gwynedd.
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Overview
Potter Ted Chapman has found a balanced way of living at Felin Wen, his home-cum-studio at Pontrug, Gwynedd, where his work and life are an integrated whole. As he says, he has cut himself free, as far as possible, from doing things he doesn’t like doing, leaving him time to wander the hills of Snowdonia, “ a kind of worship for me” that he hopes “soaks in through my brain and comes out through my hands”. It is possible that Ted’s wife is similarly uplifted by the washing and ironing.
The subject of this first film made by artist/film-maker Roger Coward presented himself when Roger’s wife inadvertently knocked down his wall when she was learning to drive. Further damage ensued in the Chelsea studio during filming, when a number of pots were cracked by a falling tripod. Despite this, the studio owner was very complimentary about the film after its screening on 22/10/1967 in BBC 1’s ‘Contrasts’ series. Indeed, it was well received across the globe, copies being bought by the National Film Board of Canada and the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation, and The British Council distributed it to e.g. South Africa, Spain, Italy, Chile, Mexico and Brazil.
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