The next installment of the Emmy nominated and Peabody Award-winning documentary series Craft in America premieres nationwide on PBS primetime on Monday October 17, 2011 at 10pm. This Family episode explores the creative home environments and personal dynamics of four families of craft artists and asks: Is talent inherited? What’s it like to live in a household where objects are made by hand?

In this episode, President Jimmy Carter shares stories of learning techniques from Ed Moulthrop, a fellow Georgian who was known as “the father of modern woodturning.” Ed was an architect who found a passion for creating beautiful large-scale turned wood objects. He singlehandedly raised national awareness of woodturning as an art while inventing tools used by woodcrafters for generations to come. His works can be found in the personal collections of Ted Turner, Jack Nicklaus, Nelson Mandela (a gift from Hillary Clinton), Paul Simon and Steven Spielberg. Philip Moulthrop followed a career path similar to his father’s. After a tour in Vietnam, he trained as a lawyer, but found greater satisfaction in making uniquely patterned wood bowls. Matt Moulthrop apprenticed with his father and grandfather and continues the family tradition, using modern techniques to bring out the innate beauty of the wood, believing that “each tree has a story to tell.”

For more about Craft in America:

craftinamerica.org
pbs.org/craftinamerica
facebook.com/craftinamerica