A half-hour documentary, Marguerite: From the Bauhaus to Pond Farm focuses on one of America’s most talented mid-Century ceramicists—a feminist and environmentalist in her time—and founder of Pond Farm, the annual summer gathering that trained a generation of American artists in Sonoma County, California.
The film tells Marguerite’s backstory and how she rose to prominence at the Bauhaus. Born in France, Marguerite studied with renowned architect Walter Gropius at the Weimar Bauhaus in Germany.
Characterized by its approach to design that combined aesthetics and utility, the Bauhaus was one of the most influential art schools of the 20th Century. Through talent and hard work, Marguerite was the first woman to earn the designation of “Master Potter” in pre-World War II Europe. With the rise of Nazism, she joined a community of talented Jewish artists that fled to America, eventually landing in California, where she joined an experimental artist community along the Russian River in Guerneville. It was a vibrant, yet fleeting collective that disbanded after two years. However, Marguerite remained in Sonoma County, where for three decades she shared her expertise with hundreds of eager American artists. She passed away in 1985.
Marguerite: From the Bauhaus to Pond Farm is centered around the story of Pond Farm, the school Marguerite operated from a remote location above Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. Every summer for six weeks, she drilled students in exacting ceramics techniques that she learned at the Bauhaus. Students came from across the country, many returned year after year. Her students included famed sculptors like Robert Arneson, who aptly described Marguerite as “the grande dame of potters.” Once students mastered her techniques, Marguerite encouraged artistic exploration. She often wove art history, philosophy and literature into her daily lectures to inspire students to do more than simply make art; she asked that they develop their intellectual and artistic imaginations as well.
The film shares the visual beauty of the Austin Creek State Recreation Area, the rugged chaparral and oak woodlands that surround the Pond Farm compound.
Marguerite used this environment as an important teaching tool. She showed students that the natural world was rich with forms and colors that could inform their art. In this way, Pond Farm was not simply a ceramics school, but a holistic study of seeing, thinking and living with the world around us.
Marguerite is the central character in the film. Although she passed away in 1985, she lives on in a vast collection of archival film footage, photographs, and works of art. In addition to these visual elements, the documentary includes interviews with some of Pond Farm’s most accomplished students and instructors. These artists serve as the principal narrators for our story, recounting key moments in Marguerite’s life.
Running Time: 26 minutes
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Language: English
Country of origin: United States
Director: David Washburn
Official website