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I had no prior exposure to studio pottery when I arrived, by fortuitous chance, at the Andretta Pottery in the spring of 1989. Set in the foothills of the magnificent Dhauladhar ranges of the Himalayas, the one-month I spent there had enough impact for me to ignore my recently acquired architectural degree, and head south to work with Ray Meeker at the Golden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry.
Most of my early training was at this pottery, being instructed in the art of wheel thrown repetitive functional ware. Alongside this instruction was an equally important absorbing via observation of the rhythms and rituals of clay making, production throwing, glazing and firing at the Golden Bridge Pottery.
In 1990 I started assisting Ray on his “Fired Earth” house project. Houses were constructed with mud bricks, in self-supporting shapes of domes and catenary vaults. These were filled with unfired bricks and some high-end decorative terracotta products. The structures were then fired, like giant kilns. After the firing some of the wares (such as terracotta flooring tiles) were used to finish the space, now functioning as a house. Other products were sold to offset the cost of making and firing the house.These projects were an intense learning ground about the intrinsic nature of clay and fire.
In my early years of practicing as an artist in New Delhi I did not have access to a high temperature kiln, and consequently I worked exclusively in terracotta, which in India is the village potters material.
I made mostly murals and decorative work for the garden. Among the more interesting commissions
I got at this time was to make a set of 5 life-size human figures in terracotta,to be placed in a “prayer” garden at a cancer hospice.
During my residency at the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, USA I became aware of the Indian-ness of my sources of inspiration for the first time. I used this time away from home to start thinking about the kind of “pots” that I wanted to make. India has no indigenous tradition of glazed pottery making, and many of the current set of studio potters are happy to
work broadly within the “Leach / Hamada” school of functional stoneware and aesthetics. Subsequent residencies in Wales, England and at the Northern
Clay Center in Minneapolis, USA were invaluable in contributing to my way
of thinking and growth as an artist. A month spent with renowned British potter Sandy Brown while in England on the Charles Wallace fellowship was instrumental not just in “letting go” of preconceptions but also in giving me the confidence to accept and embrace my own individual way of thinking and creating. While I still enjoy making some functional work, functionality no longer dictates the way I approach the making process. Increasingly, I now
feel the necessity to use the material for a deeper exploration of personal
ideas and imagery.
| EDUCATION |
| 1983-88 |
1983-88 B.Arch., School of Planning and Architecture, New
Delhi |
| 1989 |
Trained in ceramics with Mansimran Singh, Andretta,
Himachal Pradesh |
| 1990- 93 |
Training in ceramics, Golden Bridge Pottery, Pondicherry
under Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith |
| 1998 |
Post-experience program, Centre for Ceramics, University
of Wales Institute, Cardiff, U.K., for a period of three
months |
| 1998 |
Apprenticeships with British potters Alan Caiger-Smith in Aldermaston and Sandy Brown in Bideford, U.K. |
| LECTURES/TEACHING |
| 2004-05 |
Introductory course in ceramics, Global Arts Village, New
Delhi |
| 2004 |
"Indian Ceramics – Four Scenarios", slide lecture, Gallery,
Nature Morte New Delhi |
| 2002 |
“Ceramics in India: From Tradition To Modernity”, slide lecture
presented at University of New Mexico, Albuquerque;
Universityof Minnesota, Minneapolis; Northern Clay Center,
Minneapolis and Clay Art Center,New York State |
| 2000 |
“Creativity through Clay”, a two-day workshop conducted at
National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi |
| 1998 |
"Working in Clay", slide lecture, Blas & Knada, Stockholm,
Sweden |
| 1998 |
“Introduction to wheel-throwing”, one week course conducted
at the Anderson Ranch Arts Centre, Colorado, U.S.A
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| 1994-96 |
Taught an introductory course in pottery, Habitat School of
Architecture, New Delhi.
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