Mary Potter, Peckerwood, WV

I backed into this four-part video documentary about a rural artist, her work, and the creation of an iron chair, and in fact the episodes sat unwatched in my FireAnt queue for months.

This is not a portrait of an outsider hillbilly artist, nor does Potter engage in capital-a Art. She creates because it is what she does, inseparable from who she is, embedded in the objects and environment around her. She evokes for me memories of Christa's grandmother Edith in her garden, or of her aunt Jean making batch after batch of cookies and hard tack at holiday time, or of the new "angry pillow" Mom made for Ben this week.

The rhythm of the editing matches its subject, so set aside a half-hour to tag along as Potter collects wood in the forest, buys a case of beer for her alcoholic blacksmith, and gives a tour of her basement gallery (where "the cats pee").

Hosted on Deep Maps, a thematic exploration by videoblogger Will Luers (Taylor Street Studio) of video encounters with place.