Githika Ajai is all smiles as she shows off a paper weight she has made with clay. For Githika and her elder sister Gowri Ajai, both students of L’ecole Chempaka, it was a weekend well spent at a pottery-making workshop organised by Weavers Village. “I had seen pottery-making at Mitraniketan during a field trip from our school. I wanted to pick up the skill and finally, I got the chance to do a little bit of it,” exults Gowri.
A participant at the pottery-making class at Weavers Village
Over 30 people, in different age groups, had registered for a two-day workshop. The sessions were a dream-come-true for many of the participants. “It has been in my bucket list for some time and I had tried it once in Chennai,” says Divas Sadasivan, a techie. Neethu Babu, an artist, adds that she had also been searching for a place to learn pottery.
M. Sivan and Suja S. leading pottery-making session at Weavers Village
Leading the workshop was M. Sivan, a national-award winning artisan, and his wife, Sudha S. Sivan introduced participants to the history of pottery, different stages of preparing the clay and the potter’s wheel. The keen learners got a feel of the clay before Sivan took them through the process of making paper weight, jugs and pots. “It is wonderful to see people, especially youngsters, showing interest in pottery-making,” says Sivan, an employee of Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi, Thozhukkal.
Learning the technique
The participants take time to get used to the wheel and the technique of shaping the product gently with their fingers. “It looks easy when you see others do it. But it isn’t! You have to have a lot of patience,” quips Reny Thomas, an employee with Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology. Accompanying her was her daughter Jovita Joy and her nephews, Tanmay Vinod and Vinay Vinod.
Pottery-making session at Weavers Village
Amongst the participants were well-known artists N.N. Rimzon and Usha Ramachandran. “I have made sculpture using clay, but I have never worked on the potter’s wheel. It will take some time to master the skill. I want to work with ceramics and this was a step first towards that,” says Usha, holding up her clay-smeared hands with glee. Along with Usha were her daughter Rajani Ramachandran and Rajani’s son Rehan Vijayarajan.
Rimzon too had been looking forward to work with ceramics and was waiting to learn the use of the wheel. “It would be nice if there were classes in making ceramic ware,” Rimzon says.
Buoyed by the response, Weavers Village is planning monthly sessions in pottery-making soon. “We never expected so many people for the classes. When we had demonstrated pottery-making at a literary event in the city, many people had evinced interest in learning it. That’s how we thought of this workshop. Now that we have got a whole lot of people who want to learn it, we have decided to hold regular classes,” says Sobha Viswanath, founder of Weavers Village. Contact: 0471-4013939
