Embryo: The Art Of Lost Wax Casting

Sculptor Katherine Michaels is the narrator and artist for this unusual documentary about the art of lost wax casting. Beginning with shots of swans gliding upon a lake, we follow the artist as she goes through the intricate process of creating a hollow bronze sculpture with a swan embedded in bas relief. The art dates back some 5,000 years when metallurgy had its beginnings and alchemy (the vainly pursued art of turning metal into gold) were more in the line of mystical arts than science or pseudoscience. Watching Michaels go through the numerous and demanding steps of her art is a fascinating experience. Although she explains the general drift of what she's doing, and the camera follows each of the steps involving wax, foam, plaster, and molten metal, this is not a how-to video. Working with molten metal is not your everyday experience, let alone arc welding, metal sanding, and the specialized kiln work that Michaels does along the way. Although it takes two people to transport the pots of liquid metal to the molds, everything else is done by the artist herself. The program is accompanied by a lovely flute soundtrack by Native American Flutist R. Carlos Nakai. This is an excellent documentary about an incredibly taxing and complicated art form. It's sure to amaze many viewers. Highly recommended. (Available from: Telelore Video Publishing, P.O. Box 10794, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.)