Crafts exhibition: Creativity recycled: painted pots with sprinkle on top

Despite ornamentation, the works are mediocre at best.

ISLAMABAD:

To showcase their artsy side, a family trio put up an exhibition of painted clay pots at the Rawalpindi Arts Council on Tuesday. “This is something we have inherited from our forefathers,” said a proud Batool Qureshi.

“This is a process, we know a lot about the craft, but want to explore it further,” she added as her brother Qasim Ali Qureshi and sister-in-law Zubaria Qureshi nodded in union. General Secretary Ladies Wing Rawalpindi MNA Seema Jillani inaugurated the session.

With a total of 150 pieces on display, the gallery offered much to view. Clay pots were adorned in bright colours with paint, jute strings and glitter. Some had artificial flowers and charcoal sketches to add variety.

Moreover, jute strings were pressed together onto cardboard to form objects and creatures such as a large tortoise that hung painted with green and yellow.

While effort on the family’s part is worth appreciating, one can’t help pointing out the very obvious. To paint readymade vases and sprinkling glitter is no feat. Even for amateurs, the artwork was quite average. Similarly sketching a red racing car and framing it up would probably look better in a motor vehicles book shop. As one visitor aptly observed, “My little brother is 13, he sketches the same car we see here.”

What defines good artists is the ability to create the extraordinary even from the ordinary, he added. There’s a need to promote talent, instead of focusing on formulaic artwork that will perhaps only succeed in pulling a crowd on the first day. The exhibition continues till May 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 9^th, 2012.