Clay lessons for life

Clay lessons for life
Rahul Kumar

Let go. These were the first words we heard in the workshop conducted by British ceramist Sandy Brown, this month, at Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi. It was organised by the Delhi Blue Pottery, in association with the British Council. The four-day workshop was a very enlightening experience for us 20 potters participating. It was a workshop of `creativity in clay'; much more than that actually. It was an experience of freedom.

In the very first project, we were given a lump of clay. After a two-minute meditation we were supposed to spend half an hour touching the clay, feeling it, without bothering about the end result. The idea was to discover the tactical quality of clay -- to feel empowered. For the first few moments I was a little uneasy -- probably because I had never had an experience of `letting go'. But a little later it started happening. I was not sure of what I was doing. But I was enjoying it. I made textures on the clay, impression of my fingers; an overall feeling of having fun with the clay. I had been working in clay for almost six years now. But I had never really sat down to `feel' the clay -- letting my hands work, without my brain interfering. Some people, though, confessed that they were not really able to detach their `thinking'. They were consciously and deliberately working on the clay. Someone made a smiling mountain and another one made a dry leaf. Another friend made a woman in chains. Maybe it wasshe, herself, tied up in so many activities: not feeling liberated, she explained. The final result showed us what we had in our sub-conscious minds.

One of the other projects was to make something `tallest in the world'. An equal quantity of clay was given to all and two hours to finish. Again, the end result was a reflection of each one's personality. A participant made a structure -- not very tall, but the tallest! She made waves at the bottom, representing the sea, and a man on the top. The man had his hands up in the air and held an unfinished flat piece of clay. She explained that the man was holding the clouds. The structure she made could really be the `tallest' one, because it had the sea at the bottom and one could reach the sky sitting on it. I was myself not sure about how tall a piece I would be able to make. But I thought, Sandy never defined `the world'. I could always define my own universe. So, I made a few small minarets and attempted making a tall one. Sandy says it is important to work freely to be able to be creative. But it is more important to accept what you have done. And probably what is more difficult is to value it.

Another exercise was to work in groups of ten: ``Make anything. But the only requirement is to say yes to anything that a group member says.'' A collective effort, where we all had totally different ideas. One of the groups made a well-fortified castle. Outside the fort was a village. It had huts, a potter making pots, a bullock cart and also a post-box. It had a pool with fish, a jungle with animals. Someone suggested having the sun and clouds over the village.

While Sandy works on her pots, she likes to leave the flow of the clay untouched. She says the sensuous character of the clay should not be smoothened out. it is important to let the pot evolve itself. The pots that she likes the most are the ones in which the process of their making is visible -- even the accidents that might have happened while making the pot should be obvious. As a first lesson to her students in England, she asks them to feel the clay with eyes closed. This helps them to concentrate on the character of the clay and to discover the relationship they have with it. She says it is important to remain connected with your creation -- consider it to be a part of you. It was a life lesson too, to trust our instincts and value the `now'.