BENGALURU: Sushma Anand, a potter from Kochi, will be showcasing her artworks at the Studio Potters’ Market Bengaluru being held at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat today. Clay is a passion for this art and design teacher.
She prefers to go with the mood and the utility when she works. She says, “Every work I do is very different from the previous one. You can’t define my work with one word.”
She likes to experiment with clay. She tries to make her love for the medium, evident in her work. “A lump of clay can be turned into something so amazing, be it utilitarian pots, murals or sculptures,” she adds.
While pursuing fine arts, clay and glass were her only options. She recalls, “The fact that there were not many options to learn glass blowing in India was what made me take up clay. But since I was a child I knew that I would like to work with my hands. Clay to me is meditation.”
Life of a potter can be challenging. Apart from finding raw materials, she says balancing life and work is the biggest challenge. “I am a teacher, mother of two, wife and potter.”
Sushma says pottery has been in India for many centuries but has only extended beyond communities in the recent time. “What you find most commonly around is terracotta. Slowly but steadily ceramic has been coming to the forefront. Severa l cities have started appreciating potter as an art and are investing in it, but that is a niche lot and there are still so many out there who need to be educated about pottery and that art can be used daily like a coffee mug or a bowl.” Handmade products go through lengthy process of production.