Jan Cannon has made five films to date. In 2006 he completed “RADICALLY simple,” a film about the work of Jim Merkel, the author of “Radical Simplicity.” Bill McKibben writes of the film: “Jim Merkel is a fascinating figure—a kind of pied piper for a challenging but deeply seductive way of living. This film will stick in your mind and in your heart.”
Next he made a film for the Vermont Earth Institute, a statewide non-profit that educates and supports Vermonters in reducing consumption and adopting environmentally sustainable practices.
In 2007 he made the film “Marching for Action on Climate Change” which features Bill McKibben, who organized and led the five-day march across Vermont to raise public awareness about global warming.
In 2008 Cannon made “His Own Master: the Art of William Accorsi,” which documents Accorsi at work in his studio as he reflects on a lifetime of art making.
Also in 2008 he made “Health and the Hive: A Beekeeper’s Journey,” which explores the importance of honeybees in our lives and follows Todd Hardie, of Honey Garden Apiaries, as tends his bees, makes plant medicines and interacts with farmers, horticulturalists, queen breeders and many others. Topics addressed in the film include pollination, queen breeding, disease control, bee venom therapy, organic agriculture and honey-based plant medicine.
In addition to these films Cannon has also done projects for the Center for Whole Communities, Vermont Suzuki Violins and The Young Writer’s Project.
Jan Cannon began his film career in South Florida in the early 1970s working on feature, commercial, documentary and industrial films as a cameraperson and editor.
In 1981 he moved to Boston, where he worked for several years as a video editor at Cinemagraphics/Video One and WGBH.
While in Boston he discovered pottery and left filmmaking to become a studio artist for the next twenty years. During that period he studied ceramics at the Radcliffe Pottery Studio in Somerville, MA, and traveled extensively throughout Asia studying ceramics in China, Korea, Japan and Thailand. He was an artist-in-residence in Calhoun College at Yale University and director of the ceramics program at Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1993 he established his pottery studio in Vermont where he has served on the board of directors for the Vermont Crafts Council, The Ferrisburgh Artisan’s Guild and the Shelburne Art Center. In 2005 he returned to making films.
