Gurgaon takes up terracotta to get that earthy look

Going by the number of people who have joined the first ever terracotta workshop in the city, it can be safely said that terracotta pottery is the new fad among the residents of Gurgaon. The workshop has been organized by “Get alive, Gurgaon!” and has attracted a large number of residents who have showing keen interest in learning the intricate process of making terracotta pottery.While terracotta is a beautiful art, it is difficult and requires a lot of detailing.
This includes pinching, coiling, slab-work, loading, firing/burning, kiln opening and waxing.
Namita Anand, organizer of the workshop, said, “These eight days of the workshop is a perfect opportunity for anyone and everyone in the city who wants to explore terracotta pottery art form and master it. It is intensely absorbing,wildly creative and immensely soothing.” Rekha Agarwal is the instructor for whom clay-making started as a hobby. She said: “I fell in love with it the moment I first touched it.”
She has been part of the ceramic world for the last 18 years and believes that there is a career option in this art form, which is fairly new in India, hence not established.
“In fact people are coming forward to collect the ceramic works and fund it as well”, she added.
Terracotta is the beautiful red earthenware clay which looks stunning even when not glazed. It dates thousands of years back to the Indus Valley civilization.
A form of clay art, terracotta works are orange-red-brownish in colour. The past excavations of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa had revealed that the terracotta works of that era mainly had ritualistic aspects attached as many deity figures were cut out/ sculpted using the same.
At the workshop, the terracotta clay is being provided by the instructor. It is the normal clay which Rekha says has natural richness in colour and texture. The clay is mostly imported from local riverside in Bahadurgarh in Haryana. Other challenge to terracotta making is the “firing process”.
The clay being used at the workshop is fired at 700 degrees celsius in the special ovens used for firing clay.
The temperature, depending on the nature of clay is increased, for example porcelain (imported from China), is fired at 1300 degrees celsius. However, the weight of pot poses another challenge for the participants.
“It is a very technical field which is time consuming and requires a minimum of three months for the wheel work. Hand work is much faster.” Ekta Nath from Suncity in Sector 54 is attending the course. She said: “It is a very nice experience and, given an opportunity, I would like to continue with it.”
Another participant, Priya Gandhi, said it’s a good learning experience. “Before this, we never knew about the terracotta or for that matter even clay art.”
The organizers are overwhelmed with the response they have got from the residents of Gurgaon. The members at the workshop are now insisting on a weekend pottery course. The city people are indeed enjoying this art form, which though dates thousands of years back in the national history, has been embraced only recently.