BENGALURU: Around 40 artists from the country will be here in Bengaluru moulding clay into artwork and getting their hands dirty, in a first of its kind pottery event in the city.
Along with local potters, those from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Puducherry will display their works at the Chitra Kala Parishath starting today until August 28.
The event is organised by Sampooran Santhe Nature Bazaar and the Studio Potters’ Market. Nalini Tyagarajan, a potter and one of the members from the organising team says, “We will present a collection of handmade contemporary ceramics and studio pottery. These pieces are made by the artists themselves and can be used in our daily lives. The artists' community shall also get together and connect using this platform.”
Tyagarajan informs that ceramics is picking up big time in India - both, the interest and appreciation, but laments that the overall, awareness of handmade pottery is lacking.
Shilpy Gupta, a city-based potter says it is the most time consuming work, she has ever done and adds that the brush work and the detail is the most rewarding and enriching part of the process.
She says, "The unpredictability that the firing process brings to the physical and emotional investment in each piece is the most challenging part of the work. Hence, once the work turns out the way I had envisioned it, it is all the more satisfying."
Through her terracotta and stoneware clay works, she hopes to elevate pottery from a craft to an art form.
Aruna Uppal, a graduate from The Kalakshethra College of Fine Arts, Chennai and once a bharatnatyam dancer, is also part of the event. She says that she tunes her expressions to manage the twists and curves of clay. She mostly works with stoneware.
She explains how taking up pottery as a profession has challenges of its own.
“Finding a help who is skilled enough to handle the work and to pay the help where business is not guaranteed is a challenge. Space is a big challenge for me as my studio -- Clay Rack -- is operated out of a corner from my balcony,” she says.
At the event, visitors can work with clay at the market and even try their hand at the potter’s wheel. The clay will be made available for children to sculpt and to make. Artists Megha Mehta and Archana Ramchandran will hold clay workshops for children on August 20, 25, 27 and 28 at 4pm at the venue. Registration will be on the spot.