Renewing an art form: Pottery inspired by ancient cultures on display

Exhibit at Color Art Gallery features 71 pieces of pottery by Sheherzade Alam.


Sonia Malik November 29, 2012

LAHORE:


Gold leaf, inks, acrylic pigments and glazing are some of the materials Sheherzade Alam has applied to handmade pottery pieces in the last 25 years.


Seventy one pottery pieces decorated by the artist went on display at the Color Art Gallery in Gulberg 2. The exhibition, her first in Lahore for over a decade, will run till December 8.

A set of clayware made in 1996 is smothered in a heat-resistant granular paste which took 17 years to set. A small pot painted in light neon blue and glazed with gold leaf is “as recent as last week,” said Alam.

Alam, 64, said she was fascinated by ancient clayware from excavations in almost every part of the world.

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“I have examined the clayware of every culture: Greek, Chinese, Egyptian, Harappan and Mohenjodaro,” she said. “The bulbous female figure, prominent in the clayware of many ancient cultures was the starting point for my work…it is considered a symbol of fertility.”

Alam, who has a number of international exhibitions to her credit, said her work had a strong local connection.

“I believe I am a Harrappan. I prefer colours that reflect Pakistani culture, especially the domes and minarets I saw as a Lahori,” she said. “If someone asked me to create a traditional Japanese bowl, I could not, as it is not me.”

Event curator Zara David said she admired some of Alam’s recent works.

The display consists of a wide variety of pottery sets. Nine pieces each are displayed on three shelves. Another nine-piece set forms a single installation. Two wooden planks, each carrying seven to nine pieces, also form a single installation. About 35 individual pieces are on display. Most of the works are recent.

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Alam said she liked to use a variety of textures in her works. Some have a metallic feel, some are inked to add richness to the texture, some are coated in thick granular paint.

Alam said these pieces were first displayed at the Koel Art Gallery in Karachi at the beginning of the year. They were then taken for display at the National Art Gallery in Islamabad in May and June.

The exhibit was titled “207 vessels” at the Koel Art Gallery. At the Color Art Gallery it was titled after Rumi’s words: “I am the vessel. I am the vessel maker. I am the clay of the vessel.”

Sheherzade Alam

In her notes for the show, Koel Gallery owner Noel Bilgrami said, “Sheherezade’s forms are fluid… They encapsulate the essence of ‘time’ as it spans across the Indus Valley Civilisation, through ancient cultures and the Islamic period to the island of extremely refined sensibilities, Japan.”

Yale University professor Sara Suleri Goodyear described Alam as “as a postmodern master of that traditionally magical object – the potter’s wheel.”

The prices range from Rs10,000 to Rs80,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2012.

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