Magical alchemy at Mandala Pottery

The pieces have just come out of the kiln – stacked around the wisdom tree on the circular slab, the glazes pop and ping, cooling in the afternoon breeze. An azure Krishna emerges out of a bark print slab frozen mid-sway with his flute. Multiple globular pots with mysterious openings have gathered in a group, their grey, lavender and blue glazes bearing a black calligraphic upstroke of a bamboo brush. In their identical singularity, one is reminded of Russian nested dolls… A group that should not be separated... Their makers step around silently examining and communing softly. Anamika, Chinmayi, Adil Writer and Krishnamoorthy, ceramists at the Mandala Pottery in Auroville.

Started in 1995 by the German Chinmayi, Mandala over the years has welcomed the Dutch Anamika, Krishnamoorthy from the neighbouring village of Kottakarai, and Mumbai born-and-bred Adil. They are each artists with unique voices encompassing diverse expressions. Chinmayi, whose works carry an upward aspiration, literally reaching towards the heights, Anamika with her quieter forms, inward-seeking and contemplative, Krishnamoorthy with a grounded presence honed from years of traditional pottery skills and Adil, who boldly traipses through clay creating works that loudly express spontaneity and a raw dynamism.

In the atmosphere of camaraderie and confluence, their voices mix and mingle. Works often reveal mutual influences, and styles dialog with one another. On many occasions, the quartet create installations together, like the recent ceramic room divider commissioned by the architect couple Renu and Sharukh Mistry for a client’s home in the Kodai Hills. A series of curvaceous slabs and ribs glazed front and back in greens, blues and browns hang seductively on steelo cables, strung much like a beaded curtain. “When there is a strong breeze, they double up as wind chimes,” quips Adil. He mentions an increasing appreciation and utilization of architectural ceramics by a small but growing tribe of architects, especially the Mistrys. “It is because that they have been creatively interpreting and incorporating our pieces into their designs, that we are able to do something like this. For this house in Kodai, they commissioned several works from us,” informs Adil. He points out to a ceramic fish mosaic for the children’s bathroom, which the team has unanimously named ‘Hot lips’, “because of these big pouty red lips from a red stain we discovered in Delhi!” It helps Mandala that Renu and Sharukh can envision placements for these individual pieces in their architectural practice (Inside Outside Volume # ). The fact that they happen to be Adil’s aunt and uncle, and great fans of his work, has also helped!

When all that limits is one’s imagination, there are no boundaries. And the only questions that remain are how free one wants to be; and how free can one allow oneself to be. Each of the four artists from Mandala exercises this freedom differently. Krishnamoorthy is the quiet presence in the team. His works reveal a solidity, symmetry and wholeness. More focussed on functional ware like tea pots, his style has only recently started to “become more free and flowing” in the words of his comrades… probably unavoidable in the Mandala setting?

Adil’s works exemplify a fearlessness to explore. For example, in his recent works, the written text has made its appearance, scribbled on thrown or slabbed textured clay. Bowls, panels, platters bearing prose, poetry, ruminations, lyrics, mantras in Sanskrit… be it from Bono, Pink Floyd, Ferry, …or the Upanishads or Sri Aurobindo, no one is spared. Here he quotes Alan Caiger-Smith who spoke thus about his Gypsy bowls, “From a sheet of paper, a short reflective poem can easily be read too fast, but in this form you have to take the bowl in your hands and turn it around, slowly, sensually, taking in the words, which gives them space and time.”

Perspective and depth are the focus of Anamika’s current path. It has led her to explore visual and tactile qualities of form. Bronze framed panels that enclose ceramic tiles studded with a series of half cups create a dimensionality much like the surf-fringed waves that break on Auroville’s Repos beach. Another installation shows the rough and tumble of bowls spilling in a gurgle of harmony. She confesses to indulging her playful inner child, especially “having fun with treating ceramic slabs as painterly canvases.” Into these evocative coloured and textured surfaces, she incorporates glass tiles sandwiching 24 carat gold-foil tiles created from technology that developed out of the Matrimandir, Auroville’s gold-disked central splendour. The effect is breathtaking.

Chinmayi connects with thrown forms, particularly bottles and vases. Her work-space is quiet. The only sounds that permeate are from rustling leaves (“or Phillipp hammering above, making the roof for Adil’s new atelier!” ) She is at the wheel tenderly pulling the long body of a bottle, then stretching its fluted neck even higher. The form is complete – tall and delicate. She stands up to reach its mouth to gives it her breath. She blows in slowly, and a tentative bellow echoes back from its depths and the body expands imperceptibly. A few more puffs, and the form suddenly comes alive… She taps lightly, pausing to listen to a resonant note. Satisfied, she shifts gear. With a smooth river stone, she begins the arduous process of burnishing… Behind her on the shelf, a sentry of bottles stands in elegant stillness. Their surfaces display varied treatments – smoke-fired, bubble glazed, in monotonal blacks or blurry colours.

All the potters from Mandala except Krishnamoorthy participated in the recent Peace and Harmony Show in New Delhi, India’s first juried international pottery exhibition. The foursome are following this with a Mandala exhibition at Anuradha Ravindranathan’s Gallery Twentyfive in New Delhi, in the first week of October. All this exposure and publicity has created a sudden interest and demand for their works. Adil for example, cannot keep up with the demand for his mixed-media mirrors framed with polished driftwood, tree-roots and ceramic tiles. This has raised the philosophical dilemma faced by all artists who also become commercially successful – how to remain small yet simultaneously meet the needs of the growing market place? Says Anamika, “Currently we only supply to a few outlets around the country – mainly to Naturally Auroville at Chennai, Dhoop in Mumbai, and Goodness Gracious in New Delhi.” Adds Chinmayi, “Of course it is in the gallery environment that we can showcase our one-of-a-kind pieces that are our personal favourites. But I think it is a healthy mixture to do both production ware along with creative pieces, because to be creative all the time can be very taxing.” Adil mentions that Mandala has begun outsourcing some of its more common designs through local potters in the surrounding villages. “We supply the models, with our specifications and design. The wares come back bisqued, …it saves us the bother of employing three to four potters full time, and encourages a healthy liason with the local potteries.” He adds that this practice is not viewed favourably amongst some circles, but counteracts their attitude with, “We do the finishing, glazing, and firing. So the product remains ours.”

Do the Indian customers have specific dislikes or preferences? “What doesn’t sell easily are the smoke-fired pottery that Anamika and I enjoy much,” says Chinmayi. “A few discerning customers of course pick these up.” Several stunning pieces bear testimony to her statement. “It is these pieces that have consumed the most time than the traditional glazed ware,” she adds. With their surfaces burnished into a tight glisten, smoke patterns resembling clouds, mountains and mist float above. The colours are also more muted – oranges, greys, blacks, and browns (Inside Outside July 2001). “Yes, Indians generally love colour,” says Chinmayi. “We Auroville potters had a reputation of favouring dull coloured glazes, but lately our palette has exploded with vibrant shades.” She explains how customers are now taken by surprise, reacting positively to this change. “Purple, turquoise, blues, greens, oranges, and jewelled crackle glazes are all very popular.”

Shanthi, a guest at Auroville from New York city walks in with her American friend Seth. They have an appointment with Adil to check out the freshly unloaded batch from the kiln. She is hunting for a wedding gift for a distant cousin in Kerala, while Seth is looking for bowls. Shanthi zones in at once on a set of tall mugs in lavender and turquoise. She picks one up, immediately commenting on its warmth, cradling and caressing it. Seth has spotted two bowls glazed a subtle lilac, glowing with a mother of pearl quality. Adil shares the story of its serendipitous discovery, its recipe coming out of the blue when he was recently stuck in bed for a month with a damaged leg and an impatient mind… “Now my fellow potters want me to go have another accident!”

October 2003

PRIYA SUNDARAVALLI, AUROVILLE TODAY, SURRENDER, AUROVILLE 605101, T.N.