Ruby Jagrut is an artist on a mission. She is working to revive the imperiled art of painting using vegetable dyes and other natural colours. She says, "A few years back, some gallerists told me that I should switch to other media like acrylic and oils to be saleable but my passion led me to continue to paint on silk or canvas with natural colours. Today, I am happy to say that 70 per cent of the paintings at my exhibitions in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Goa have sold for good prices, and I am being approached to teach and revive the eco-friendly dying tradition of extracting natural colours by international organisations as well’’.
Ruby was always inclined to the arts, and used to make charcoal drawings from her school days. "Unusual media always attracted me. Not many children get into charcoal as a medium and I also did sketches using tar," she recalls, "however, my family did not think a career could be made in fine arts and so I did not train to become an artist. Instead I studied psychology at the St Xavier's College in Ahmedabad and post-graduated in mass media communication from Bhavan's College in the city. But, being attracted to the arts, I opted to work on public relations and communications at the Kanoria Centre for Arts."
As luck would have it, Ruby, while working with this arts institute, attended a workshop by Toofan Rafai on vegetable dyes. "I tried to extract colours at home for painting but was not successful. After spoiling some canvases, I went to meet Toofan at his house in Ahmedabad. He was moved by the efforts I had made to continue the skills learnt at the workshop, and agreed to be my guru. That is how I launched myself seriously into the world of art in the mid-1990s," she explains. The majority of natural colours are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves and wood—and other organic sources. Vegetable-dyed textiles found in Egyptian pyramids show how fast these colours are. "At museums in India I have seen beautiful natural colour paintings from medieval times. It is exciting to extract colours from pomegranates, onion peels, jaggery, turmeric and alum, watching fruits and vegetables unfurl a spectrum of colours when you know how to use them. It was amazing to see the result on canvas."
But pursuing the art posed many challenges. "You require patience and effort to extract organic colour from vegetables, the reason artists prefer quick solutions like buying a tube of acrylic colour or chemical dyes. Secondly, you do not always get exactly the same shade when you extract from natural materials, and have to work with the hue you get. Thirdly, most gallery owners and art dealers advised me to paint in popular media like oils and acrylic which are more acceptable. Some even did not select me for their group shows because they looked down on self-taught artists without a fine arts degree."
Ruby says she was fortunate in marrying architect Jagrut Patel who encouraged her in her creative pursuits. She exhibited her paintings at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Ahmedabad, in 1999, and was encouraged by the response from the arts fraternity and media. "After this, I had the opportunity to exhibit at a women’s artist show in The Art Chambers, Goa 2006, where also I was satisfied with the sale of my painting to the family of a Swiss diplomat," she says, "after this, I also exhibited my natural dye paintings at the Art Desh Gallery in Mumbai, which saw an audience of veteran award winning artists and theatre personalities’’. Following this, she has held solo shows in Ahmedabad and Mumbai. "As people began to appreciate my natural colour paintings, I have been invited to exhibit at many group shows too," says Ruby, "my paintings are in the collections of many architects, corporate houses, banks and collectors from India, besides Gunjan Hazarika in London, Pia Stuart in Switzerland and other collections abroad. I have also held workshops on vegetable dye extraction and application for weavers and artisans, including one for a group of women from Canada during their visit to Ahmedabad."
During her exhibition in May 2011 at Amdavad ni Gufa Gallery, some Korean architects liked her work and she was recommended to Heyri Cultural Art Village in South Korea to share her expertise in vegetable dyes. "Korea has a history of natural dyes like India, so it was exciting being there. The participants were amazed to see dyes being extracted from vegetables and other organic sources," she smiles, adding, "Having seen the international interest in vegetable dyed paintings, I am contemplating the idea of holding exhibitions overseas in future."
