Ceramic Sculptures IV

Our second set of sculptures are also made and baked. No damages so far. I am posting a few pictures of the same...

The fish is a handbuilt piece by Pushpa. More textures are to be given on the surface.

This is my piece. I made the center on the wheel and everything else was handbuilt. I am quite pleased with the texture on the surface.

We are hoping that we get the glazes right....

Ceramic Sculptures III

The sculptures have come out of the klin unbroken :) . Taking the piece out of the klin is like waiting for a test result. The heart beats overtime and tension levels shoot up....But the joy on seeing the piece unbroken more than compensates for all the trouble!

These are the pieces out of the klin....

I tried arranging them one behind the other. I think this arrangement looks good.Now I should decide on the colors for glazing. Glazing is always the most tricky part. It decides the final look of the piece. It can spoil the appearance of a good piece and at the same time, make an ugly piece look beautiful. I hope this time the glazing comes out right....

Ceramic Sculptures II

The first two sculptures are made and have gone into the oven for baking. We are keeping our fingers crossed for them to emerge unbroken. Breakage is a major problem for any ceramic artist. It is heart breaking to see a piece emerge from the oven broken beyond repair....We have had quite a few such experiences in the past...Hope it doesn't happen this time.

In the meanwhile we have decided on the second sculpture also. We are planning to include some portions made on the wheel. This will give us an opportunity to test our pottery making skills after a long gap... I think pottery making is like cycling or swimming. Once you learn the technique, you will not forget it.

The basic figure sketches look like this:

The center will be wheel-made in the first picture, with flaps on both sides. Pushpa is planning to make the second picture which will be a fish on a wheel and she is planning to give some texures both on the wheel and the fish..

Will come back with more pics in the next post...

Ceramic Sculptures - Part 1

Here are a few of the images of the work done last week..
The clay is flattened ready to be moulded onto desired shape. This is the first step in the process.

One piece by Pushpa is made of hollow circles later to be assembled into a sculpture. Here is the basic work done.

My sculpture is made of strips of clay:

These strips have been later assembled into an abstract form thus:

I am planning to make one more similar sculpture and place them at different angles.

Will come back with more pictures in the next blog.

Ceramic once agaiin

After our ceramic exhibitions in 2007, we found it difficult to continue our work on ceramics due to the constraint of space and klin facilities. We diverged into calligraphy and abstract painting which was equally creative and fulfilling. But last two weeks have been hectic with ceramic work!! We have re entered the world of ceramics, thanks to the exhibition/competition being organised by the Art department of Sharjah. Our alma mater, the Sharjah Art Institute invited us to participate in the competition which is proposed to be held in November.

We are competing in three catagories - ceramics, sculpture and calligraphy.

We initially thought november is in the distant future and we would have plenty of time to plan and create some larger pieces, but as usual time just flies as every little preparation process is time consuming.

We prepared a few sketches and went to the institute for discussion with the teachers. We were in for good surprises. The new kneading machine (pic below)is a dream come true. No more kneading and then groaning with pain in the arm later. The machine gives out clay kneaded just to the right consistancy! The raku oven is yet another addition which we would love to try. We were like two kids who just had a visit from santa :)












we will now be blogging about our entries to the competition and the process of creating them in the next few posts. Hope to get your views on these pieces.

Hindi Calligraphy

The hindi alphabet is very curvy and this makes it a calligrapher's delight. I experimented with hindi calligraphy in a few of my paintings and I was quite satisfied with the results.

My first attempt at hindi calligraphy was this picture. The words in the painting read 'Shanthi, shanthi, shanthi' which in english translates to 'let there be peace, peace, peace'.

This was followed by many more paintings where I experimented with hindi typography. I tried to create two different fonts of the alphabet one with soft flowing lines and the other more angular. This one is all curvy and twined called the Perinneal Vine

The second one a more angular attempt at writing the words depiciting the seven notes of Indian music called Sapta Swar.

The final painting of this post is an inspiration form an arabic calligraphy painting I came across in a magazine. It was a lovely maze created by alphabets. I wanted to try if the hindi alphabets would look as lovely if depicted in such a style and the outcome is this painting which I have named Maze.

Traditional Calligraphy

Arabic calligraphy is an art form developed over centuries. Many styles have evolved over the years and the art has emerged in its abstract contemporary form also. Though contemporary calligraphy looks great, it requires considerable mastery over the traditional forms. It takes a long time and lot of minute work to get the entire piece correct. This is a piece where I have tried to imitate arabic calligraphy style in the Indian alphabet.

Arabic calligraphy involves a lot of grammer or rules as to how a letter must be placed or how much space has to be in between two lines and so on. The deewani style followed in this picture is more flexible in the form of the alphabet.