Nuagaon village on the outskirts of the Capital City, which was once famous as the terracotta village of Khurda district, was home to hundreds of potters a decade back. Now, there are just five families left who are carrying on with their ancestors’ vocation. The rest have migrated to Bhubaneswar to work either as daily labourers or auto drivers.
At Kumbharsahi in Old Town area of Bhubaneswar, there is just one traditional potter left who is practising the craft as a seasonal job. For a maximum period of the year, he also works as a daily wager.
The age-old traditional pottery is slowly dying. In the Capital City and villages nearby, there are just a handful of traditional potters left who are practising the art form. Not only has the number of craftsmen drastically come down, beauty of the earthen craft today stands eclipsed by enamel paints and ornamentation. Besides, methods of producing pottery and firing techniques have changed.
In a bid to breathe in new life into this dying art form, the Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi is organising a week-long workshop-cum-exhibition on traditional pottery at its regional centre in Bhubaneswar.
With an aim of reviving this ancient craft, remnants of which have been found in excavations at Sishupalgarh, Banga and Golbai within Khurda district, the Akademi has brought potters from Bhubaneswar and five villages nearby to train them on retaining the artistic value of pottery and terracotta.
Ten traditional potters - Sanjay Parida and Prakash Muduli from Kakudia village; Basudev Muduli and Jagannath Muduli from Narada village in Balipatana; Santosh Muduli, Gadadhar Rana, Bhaskar Muduli, Pavana Nanda Muduli and Sudai Muduli from Nuagaon village; and Sanjay Kumar Muduli from Kumbhar Sahi in Old Town area - have been roped in for the workshop-cum-exhibition. These potters are apparently, the last few men in this dying industry here.
Guided by painter Shovan and Prithvi Raj Singhdeo, an eminent ceramic artist from Kalahandi, the potters are being given lessons in ancient styles of pot making, use of traditional firing techniques, glazing and colouring. Red clay, procured by the artists especially from Cuttack, is being used in the workshop. Traditional potter’s wheels and smoking kiln have been set up on the premises of the Akademi for training purpose.
“Today all the terracotta and pottery products are heavily embellished to increase their saleability. Natural dyes have been replaced by enamel paints and unnecessary ornamentation added to beautify them. Little do the artists realise that the beauty of pottery and terracotta lies in its originality,” says Singhdeo, who has previously worked on reviving pottery trends of Indus valley civilisation with traditional potters of Kutch, Gujarat.
At the workshop, the potters are preparing products like ‘palama’, ‘pitha handi’, ‘urli’, ‘kodhao handi’, ‘diya’, ‘chaura’, modern terracotta furniture for landscaping and lamps, which are being smoked in the kiln and glazed. “We are also teaching them techniques to colour the pottery and terracotta using natural dyes generated from vegetables, flowers and stones,” says Shovan, pointing at a terracotta horse that is usually offered to the Goddess Tarini at Ghatagaon.
Potters, on the other hand, feel the market for their traditional products has come down with the advent of steel and aluminium utensils. As a result, they are being forced to adopt new contemporary designs and bright colours. “Though the cost in preparing a pot is over `50, we have to sell it within `30,” says Sanjay, the potter from Kumbhar Sahi.
As the demand has fallen, cost of raw materials has risen sharply. “We buy the red clay from Cuttack at `800 per sack and stock it for a year. Wood was available in plenty in forests 10 years back. Now, forests have been cleared and we are forced to even buy wood for firing,” informs Santosh from Nuagaon, adding that financial support from the State Government is very essential to keep the art form alive.
All the products that they have created in the workshop will be exhibited at the Akademi on Saturday. The workshop-cum-exhibition is a part of the 60th year celebrations of the Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi.