Local pottery and art studio Saffron Collective Studios was given the opportunity to showcase local talent in the area in a big way.
Nicole Snider, the owner of the studio, was contacted in the spring of 2015 by the set director of the film The Revenant to create 30-32 pieces of pottery to be used as props in the film.
According to IMDb, an Amazon company, The Revenant, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, is about “a frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s (who) fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.”
“(The set director) was very keen on (using) anybody local – he had a lot of local artisans doing weaving and that kind of stuff as well,” Snider said.
Snider and her team of 10 volunteers from her studio were given a rushed deadline of three weeks to complete the pottery. Since the movie is set in the early 1800s, the group had to research what type of pottery existed in that era and what it was used for.
“We made bowls, vases, and mostly utilitarian vessels that would hold grain. It was interesting to learn about – I hadn’t learned about North American or native American pottery before this.”
What proved to be the most challenging part of the experience was accepting the pottery was not meant to look perfect.
“The pottery used then was very primitive and very rustic – it wasn’t fancy or perfect. Which is an interesting concept when you’re working with art because (normally) you try and get it as perfect as you can.”
Snider was happy to see the effect the project had on the group.
“A lot of the people were kind of newer to pottery, and for their pieces to be part of a movie was really encouraging for them as individuals. It was also inspiring to replicate things that I had never made before.”
The film studio purchased the pieces outright from the Saffron Collective Studios so Snider isn’t sure exactly what will happen to them now that filming is done.
“I did see the movie on the weekend and it looked like a lot of them were broken on purpose, which is a shame, but at least they were in the movie,” Snider said with a laugh.
After Snider and the group finished their pieces for The Revenant, they approached Rhonda Neilson, the set director at the time for Lewis and Clark, an in-the-works TV mini-series about the first American expedition across the western portion of the United States, to see if they would like any pottery as well.
An agreement was struck and the group created another 35 pieces similar to the first batch to be used in the mini-series. The series has temporarily delayed production but is expected to resume filming in spring of 2016.
The Revenant is currently playing in theatres. For more information about the plot and cast of the movie, visit imdb.com.
For more information about the Saffron Collective Studios, visit saffron-collective-studios.com
