Radhika and Shalan bring together a pottery and painting exhibition – Stillness in Motion(details below).
Shalan Dere, a business management professional turned potter is the proud owner of Potters Place, a pottery studio in Mahim. She also conducts regular pottery classes. Shalan, 68 years of age will showcase simple wheel thrown forms in unique shades of colours. With great likeness for aesthetic sensibility, she brings various forms of clay to life.
Radhika Bawa is a painter and an art connoisseur who creates magic with her paintbrush and has participated in numerous shows. Radhika will showcase a series of paintings of horses in acrylic and water colors as a medium to express her understanding of the physical form. Radhika has great love for art and was also Shalan's student and attended her pottery classes.
Here is our conversation with the creative ladies -
Tell us a bit about yourselves.
Radhika - I am a management graduate, a businesswoman, a marathoner and an artist besides being a wife and mother. I have always explored the arts in some form or the other since childhood and over the last 5-6 years, have taken up painting with great gusto.
I work with different media such as watercolors, acrylic, charcoal, oils. Watercolors is a favourite.
Shalan - I am a business management graduate, a mother, and now a grandmother. Over thirty years I managed a small scale industry, balancing life between being a wife, a mother and an executive at work. Looking back, I did enjoy this phase, and then suddenly out of the blue I decided to take a pottery workshop, may be because I loved the art,[I used to visit art exhibitions, whenever I could but with no intention of making it a way of life.
The clay did some magic and before I knew, potter’s wheel entered my home.
I would end up working on the wheel every night. As there were no studios in the city to fire my work, I drove up to Karjat every weekend to glaze and fire my work. After 2 years of this madness I realised that clay has become a part of my life. I ended up putting up my own studio, slowly winding up the rest of my activities and became a potter.
What motivated you to put up - 'Stillness in Motion' and what was the inspiration behind the theme of the exhibition?
Radhika - Shalan and I really met by chance! Almost 10 years ago, I got interested in ceramics and that’s when I did a short workshop with Shalan. That was the beginning of a wonderful friendship! Through the years, we realized that our approach to art was similar - one of disciplined, sincere work and effort. Our aesthetic sense matched! That’s how we thought of collaborating.
The idea that struck us was that both of us were essentially creating stillness out of motion and stillness inspite of motion. The motion of a potter’s wheel or that of horses is as if frozen in the finished piece of art. Hence the name!
So the show is our attempt at bringing together two opposing ideas – “stillness” and “motion” to viewers in a colorful way!
I am showcasing a series of horses in vibrant color. The idea is to convey an emotion and capture a mood through color and texture.
Shalan - To work with Radhika on this show happened because our wave length matched well. We have lots in common and that makes it enjoyable to be together.
The theme actually came through effortlessly. I loved her colourful horses and knew exactly how my pottery can match those pieces. Form and colour were the elements to play with and that is what we have attempted here.
How can one the pursue love of art through pottery and paintings?
Love of art is love of creation. When you want to create something you are trying to translate your thoughts, your vision in that piece. Clay actually helps as it responds to every touch, changing shapes, guiding you through your vision.
In pottery the potter is at a mercy of the elements like water and fire. Lots of things are unpredictable and beyond your control. But this also creates a challenge making the journey very enjoyable in spite of the agony, as Ecstasy does follow.
The whole movement towards better work-life balance has brought out creativity in people. Whether it is a few hours a week or few minutes a day, one can always make place for it if one wants to. There are so many on-line resources that one has access to these days – whether in the form of instructional videos / blogs / DIY projects that there’s really no reason why some one cannot do it!
Shalan, being a management professional, what made you take pottery?
I think creativity is part of our existence. Even when I was working as a management professional, my work did involve imagination and creativity to achieve the objectives. But the serenity that I felt while working with clay made me a potter. I can get completely lost when I am with clay and that experience changed my life.
How is pottery looked at as a form of art in India?
Long way to go yet, but the process of accepting clay as an art medium has started. However, we do need to get more people in this fold as for majority, art is synonymous only with painting.
A message to all SHEROES out there.
Radhika - Express yourself! You will be surprised at how liberating it is!
Shalan - Follow your heart and happiness will walk in.
Venue: Bajaj Art Gallery, Bajaj Bhavan, Jamnalal Bajaj Road, Nariman Point, Mumbai - 400021
Contact Number: 9773095005/ 9820329807
Email: shalandere@gmail.com
Date: 6th to 11th October 2014.
Time: 11am- 7pm