Remember your earthen piggy bank when you were in primary school or the diya (lamp) you lit on Divali? The use of pottery in the Indian household may seem to have declined but there is a revived interest of young generation in learning the art.Mixing, wedging and trimming the clay, giving it a shape, then throwing it on a wheel and finally letting it dry seems fascinating and relaxing to the Gen Now.
The increasing inclination of netizens towards pottery as gauged on social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut speaks about the popularity of the art among the youth.
Facebook and Orkut users have formed groups like ‘Pottery’, ‘Pottery in India’, ‘I love pottery’, ‘Pottery treasure’, ‘Pottery snape’ and ‘revival of ancient pottery’ to discuss aspects, the art of pottery and places about learning the art.
According to Kanica Soni, a member of one such group of pottery lovers in India, it is the most relaxing thing you can imagine...Getting messy at first seems yuck but eventually I think it gets to a very basic side of us and it feels good.
“I am surprised to see how more and more youth are curious and interested in pottery. Whenever I use the net I find young people enquiring about how and where to learn pottery,” says Dharmendra Bhanj of Mohenjodaro Antiques and Treasures, an NGO promoting selected ceramics, sculptures, jewellery and antique replicas.
“Pottery brings your creative side to the fore. It is a therapeutic hobby. Your likes and dislikes are shown in pottery...It reflects everything you feel,” says Sapna Gurukar, who is the creator of ‘Pottery in India’ group on Facebook.
Sapna Gurukar, who now owns a pottery studio of her own in a small village, 15 km from Sakleshpur, where she also lives says, “I remember how I was eager to locate places where I could find clay and other pottery stuff and failed to find. It was then that I decided to form a group for pottery lovers.”
Swapnil Peelnekar, a 31-year-old, who is member and creator of a pottery group on Orkut says, “We share knowledge, views among each other. I use this medium to let the youth know that I tutor the art...I have children as young as five-year-old and even married people coming to me.” Sapna Goel, a 20-year-old pottery teacher says, “I don’t work on a traditional wheel but on an electronic one. Students above the age of 18 come to me to learn the art. It is just too fascinating to see deformed clay turn into something with a shape.”
Goel, a BA sophomore studying 3D-animation course says she learnt the art of pottery as a recreational activity but fell in love with it and decided to teach people.
“Definitely there are many people interested in learning pottery; people want the earth connection now more than ever. But the problem is that the potters are not around or near the people who want to learn. They are either in the outskirts or in less visited places,” says Dharmendra.
Pottery comes in varied forms in India like Bankura pottery of West Bengal, Kagzi pottery, Blue pottery, Roadside pottery and high-end ceramic pottery. Porcelain, terracotta and ceramic are the three broad types of available pottery.
National award-winning potter Harkishan says, “It is great that young students, artists are becoming interested in the art. Colleges like NID, NIFT, Kala Centre and College of Arts have training centres to learn pottery. The art should live forever.”
Harkishan, a resident of Haryana but based in Delhi since 1976, won a state award for contribution in pottery in 1987 and a National award in 1999. In 2008, the Handicraft Board, R K Puram, New Delhi, gave him the job of training 10 young students interested in the art for a period of 6 months.
“It is nice that young, educated class is turning to pottery. The people generally do not understand pottery…it is an art and not a commercial item,” he says.
Lined up in rows and columns, the earthen pots, matkas, diyas, surahi, boxes, show pieces give certain rawness to the shop in the Hauz Rani area of South Delhi, which is filled with a strong fragrance of mud and earth.
Raghuvansh, a 37-year-old potter in the shop says, “I have been in the business for almost a decade now…it is high end ceramic that sells more. Nowadays, even some educated people are trying their hand in pottery.”
“Pottery is actually limited to a particular caste — the Kumhars. They lack resources and proper training. We are trying to bridge the gap between the people who want to learn and the potters by making pottery more fashionable and bringing in the CSR factor into it,” says Dharmendra.
— PTI