Auroville International Potters’ Market begins from Jan. 24

Discover the creations of 17 ceramic artists at the Auroville International Potters’ Market, showcasing a wide range of ceramic art.

The 7th edition of the Auroville International Potters’ Market — from January 24 to 26 — will showcase the creations of 17 ceramic artists in the region.

The expo scheduled at the Visitor Center in Auroville will feature a whole ceramic range, from functional everyday tableware to contemporary collectors’ pieces, according to the organisers.

The products will also reflect the constant reinventing and pushing of boundaries going on in the contemporary artistic medium where material, craft, earth, science and chemistry meet in a creative process.

Most Auroville artists have a hands-on approach, building everything up from scratch. Some start by making their own clay, building their firing oven or kiln, mixing glazes and adding pigments. The potter’s market will affors visitors a chance to experience first hand this complex ancient art, learn a thing or two about the process and witness the artistic range. They can also meet the artists and take home some souvenirs of this dynamic studio craft.

Apart from the exhibition of premier works, the other activities of the potter’s market include demonstrations of various aspects of the artistic process, a clay workshop for children and a raffle of works by participating artists.

Around the mid-1970s, Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith founded the Golden Bridge Pottery, an institution that would cradle many of the best known ceramic artists not only from Auroville, Puducherry and across India.

Ray’s and Deborah’s mentoring deepened their knowledge until they developed their own artistic expression. One important influence in India was Delhi’s Gurjaran Singh, who bolstered pottery as a studio art in the 1950s, and visited Golden Bridge Pottery in erstwhile Pondicherry in the 1980’s. For many contemporary artists, he remains a reference point.