Twisting Tradition: Medieval Cats, Dead Dad Pots and the Ceramics of Vicky Lindo & Bill Brookes

Video Description

Step inside the side-by-side studios of Vicky Lindo and Bill Brookes, two ceramic artists who reinvent traditional Devonshire pottery to combine a childlike love of animals, with powerful personal history. Finding out about her father's death several years after it happened, Lindo, her sisters and mum kept a diary filled with photos, newspaper cuttings, handwritten notes and memories, piecing together his life and death. They called this the 'Dead Dad Book', and it inspired Vicky to make a deeply personal series of pots recounting different elements of his story. Watch as the earthenware pieces are slip-cast (liquid clay carefully poured into a plaster mould) by Brookes, and then delivered to Lindo next door where she painstakingly applies the rich decoration and narrative using the technique of sgraffito (scratching through the surface layer of colour, revealing the white clay underneath). 00:00 Inside the Studio 00:42 Vicky Lindo's love of animals 02:08 'Dead Dad Book' – diary 02:57 'Wexford People' pot documenting Lindo's father's death 04:50 Slip casting the earthenware pot 06:50 Working together – Vicky and Bill 07:28 Demoulding the pot 09:30 Evolution of the making process 11:45 'Dead Dad Book' series – pots 14:31 Sgraffito technique 15:30 North Devon slipware Subscribe for more making videos @vamuseum Find out more about 'Dead Dad Book' by Vicky Lindo and Bill Brookes: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/dead-dad-book-ceramics See more artist studio films: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLe2ihXndm5jvi9aGiwAM8GSj4cm7qokcY&si=CzWdYCAMg795SG4c