Clay people of the coromandel coast 

 - XIX  IV  October 
 - Mumbai    2015 
 - 42-45 
<br/><br/> Ashwini Bhat recalls Nick Schwartz’s studio in Comptche, California. “I took a piece of feldspar that Nick gave me and smashed it into the damp clay. When I fired it, it cracked as I had hoped, but did not fall apart. It held the rock at the centre. There is always that element of luck!” That’s the thing about ceramic art. It constantly oscillates between preparedness and chance, fragility and firmness, uncertainty and realization, action and surrender.  A circle of committed institutions and individuals have taken ceramics forward as an art form in South India – as a field, it has yet to achieve the prominence of painting and sculpture. Artistic objects for utility continue to dominate the perception about ceramics in the mainstream. In 1971, Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith founded Golden Bridge Pottery in Puducherry, introducing a raw and unconventional aesthetic in tableware and pottery. Over 40 years, ceramic enthusiasts have been drawn here to learn from their expertise. In Chennai, Rathi Jafer, Director at InKo Centre, found that many practitioners of the arts suffered because of a lack of institutional infrastructure. Encountering the well-established ceramic scene of Korea, she visited the Biennale in Gwangju and Incheon in 2006 and found India was highly under-represented. Jafer felt the need to create spaces to practice, share, experiment and grow, allowing for the exchange of processes and techniques. Beginning with Earth Synergy in 2007-08 with 67 Korean and Indian artists, InKo Centre has cemented relationships with Arts Council Korea, Dakshinachitra, Lalit Kala Akademi and Kalakshetra for numerous workshops, residencies and exhibitions. Earth Matters in 2012 brought together 6 Indian and 6 Korean ceramic artists. Chennai ceramicist Gukanraj was the coordinator at Kalakshetra, which provided a wood-firing kiln and space. Lalit Kala Akademi took charge of selecting artists. At the end of the first residency, Korean artist Jae Joon Lee contributed towards a wood-firing kiln at Dakshinachitra, now managed by S. Potrarasan. Earth Matters 2 and Ceramic Connect in 2015 continued with this mandate. 
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>ARCHITECTURE GENERAL (AR-GEN)
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Index Terms: </label>STONEWARE;SANGHA OF SHY MONKS;WOOD FIRED STONEWARE;GOLDEN BRIDGE POTTERY-PUDUCHERRY