Zen and The Art of Model Making - The Story of Philip Reed

[Music] [Music] I remember member gerald cooper the headmaster at wimbledon art school it was a very renowned painter as well he did flower paintings in the style of the Dutch masters and you wouldn't tell them apart every Monday morning we used to have to take in work that we've done over the week and put it up on a board and we get a pretty stiff criticism from from from Gerald Cooper and we'd be sitting there and he'd wander in one day he just stood and looked at us for a while everything went quiet and they said I'm going to tell you the secret to happiness get up every morning and paint a flower before breakfast but they carried on with the criticism looking back on that it was like a Zen koan which would direct you in a certain way and it influenced me all through my life that is what he loved to do so the first thing he did in the morning was that which he loved to do the thing you absolutely love doing that you're on this earth to do you do first and you get give it priority because it is incredibly valuable one day in the early seventies I was walking down Sutton High Street after an evenings teaching and I passed a shop that had a made-up wooden kid of a ship model and I was so taken with it I really wanted to buy one and build it but I couldn't afford it and besides which it wasn't that brilliant and I knew that then but what I saw took me back to childhood and the models that I'd seen in the National Maritime Museum I think the real pivotal change that really type me into model-making was one day when I was delivering a model to the parkour gallery that I had I'd recently built for them I said to Bertram Newberry who was the proprietor at the time I would love to have seen a McNary model these were the most beautiful miniature models I think anybody could ever come across and Bertram levy said hang on a minute I've got one out the back he fetched it through to the gallery and he said he and he handed it to me so I had it in my hands this tiny model and that was my road to Damascus moment I came away in a daze and I knew I had to build a miniature model I started building a little tiny model of the frigate Palace and Napoleonic ship and that was my first attempt at building a miniature model and I realized I was home that was where I had to go so that is when it all started and I haven't let go since [Music] I think of them as three-dimensional paintings when you look at it you sense seeing the ship like this or being a border ship like this I have a feeling of what it was like [Music] it's the moving through time history imagination and new problems to solve that is one of the things that keeps me going working in the way that I do it for me becomes an art form a way to move around in my mind through the world see other places other times other eras and bring that to life I do not see that just having to stay in one place is a restriction on life it's more having to stay in one place in your head that is a restriction on life there does come a point I one is taking things too ridiculous ends that's early days of obsession of starting the first model that I ever built and a most incredible thrill that I discovered something that suited me so much that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing it model making is ultimately less to do with the final product than the journey and there are of course many times when little is achieved there is frustrating research that we carried out and dead times when nothing seems to move forward but then there are many others when the work just flows and you enter a very quiet space time passes effortlessly everything happens I was always very worried that I was going to burn out with the model-making but I haven't I go back to it I miss it I go through very dark times sometimes a recent model I've been building every day has been a struggle it's difficult I need focus the work is very fine I don't want to be there but if you keep going you discover something new and suddenly it's as if the sun's come out and I'm loving what I'm doing again [Music] the ships have been the one thing that's glued my life together since then if you like put it that way and I've never lost sight of it and I almost definitely say I haven't got up one morning without looking at working on or reading about ship models or ships but I suppose the only path to locking together the enthusiasm the information the research and the industry in Finnish models is a total obsession with what you're doing it's it's it's a collection of the things that I started out at the age of 13 studying art is what my life has been about studying and practicing art in its various forms and verse just happened to be the one that suited me and I was very lucky enough to discover it [Music] there are moments of excitement and pleasure when when you start to see it come together and if you can get the the tone the color of everything to blend together did give just the finish and the life that you want to a model that that final stage working through it there's the joy model-making opened many doors for me in many ways engaging in creative work can be I believe at its best a mystical experience we put a stamp on our work that comes from I don't know where I don't know what is behind the creation of art it's something innate in man there are a lot of things that we really will never ever understand and I think that is the sort of profound or one of the profound mysteries in human life creative work an art [Music] I have lived in what people would call near poverty and an electrician once said to me I wouldn't get out of bed for what you earn in a mo in a month [Music] but I consider myself a very very rich man in the life that I've had because of the things I've discovered the things I've enjoyed it's a searching process that we do trying to find our way in this life and if we're lucky we find it and I think in a way that goes back to get up every morning and paint a flower before breakfast and I got to find that something that feeds you [Music] you

Channel: barney hayter

Views: 184,582

Keywords: Model making, Documentary

Id: 1pxSrLTSZ3Q

Length: 14min 59sec (899 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 20 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Speedbird100]

It’s fantastic. I’m acquainted with Mr. Reed in real life and he is a true gentleman.

[u/NorthernEel]

I came across this short documentary by accident last year and it's a shame it has this little views. It is an extended interview with Philip Reed in which he goes into what modelbuilding means to him and I think the way in he describes the 'vibe' of modelmaking is beautiful:

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There are of course many times when little is achieved. There is frustrating research to be carried out and dead times where nothing seems to move forward. But then there are many others when the work just flows. And you enter a very quite space. Time passes effortlessly. Everything happens.

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I find his views very relatable and think you will enjoy it a lot as well!

[u/[deleted]]

Thanks for posting this.

I'm now watching the other Phillip Reed videos that channel has.

Utterly remarkable.

[u/Toomaj_2nuh]

Thanks for sharing. I am unfamiliar with his work. Excited to check it out!

[u/vfxart]

Excellent share, have only seen this a few times, and each is more than worth the 15 min runtime... inspiring.

[u/[deleted]]

I've watched this a few times on YouTube. He is a true craftsman.