Terracotta exhibits at the Visual Arts Gallery

The first question first-time visitors to our house usually ask is: where did you get that from? That is a plate, made of plain terracotta, which has our names on it. It’s a perfect example of what the material can be fashioned into — a simple tool, both functional and elegant.

A friend had got the name plate made-to-order on one of her frequent trips out of Delhi, leaving me intrigued as to how it was done. Now I can, at a fabulous exhibition which is showing over a 100 potters. ‘Maati, An Exhibition of Contemporary Terracotta’ gives you a delightful sweep of objects and objet-d-arts made out of the humble ‘kumhar ki mitti’ — terracotta is what’s used to make your gharas, suraahis, flower pots, and diyas.

It’s been organised by the Delhi Blue Pottery Trust ( yeah, that very same place where we all fetched up, when we wanted to learn how to throw a pot, and bore back our first vase with pride: I still have mine!), and the exhibits are imbued with the free spirit of its founder, now-deceased-but-sadly-missed Gursharan ‘Daddyji’ Singh. It’s now run by son Mansimran Singh, who’s ‘Mini’ to everyone, and carries on the pioneering work of his father.

The potters have come from all over the world — Australia, France, England, and for the first time, Turkey and Indonesia: these are studio potters who’ve been invited to work with terracotta, and they bring to their pieces a cultural sensibility all their own, as well as a wonderful global feel.

Specially eye-catching is the work from Indonesia, based on the theme of Ramayan: there are face-masks, with finely etched portraits of Ram and Sita. And Dashamukha aka Ravan. See the potters at work. Attend lectures, slide-shows. Or simply wander around, looking.

I come away elated. Clay, mud, earth — the most elemental of things — make me that way.

Maati, An Exploration of Contemporary Terracotta, at the Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center, Ph: 011-43663333, Timings 10 am to 8 pm. On till Feb 27.