I met Nehal amid the curious wonderland of her studio. I kinda got lost in the shelves full of pottery. Vases and kettles, tea bowls and plates. Works in progress and figments of imagination fighting for shelf space! What a wonderful place! And now WonkyWorks is kicked to have some works of Nehal on permanent display at the Gallery. At WonkyWorks, we believe that surrounding ourselves with beautiful objects and experiences helps us to become what we truly are by cultivating our thoughts and beliefs. This gives way to internal peace and harmony, resulting in an ever expanding bubble of righteousness, goodwill and pure beauty. And Nehal’s work, fits right at home. At present we have vessels and lights, bowls and an quirky set of tea bowls and cups.
A little more about Nehal …
“My introduction to art was through a graduation in Graphic Design that I did at the M.S.University, Baroda. For a design student, pottery was an optional subject done fleetingly as an elective. It is ever since, that clay has lured me towards itself. My trips to the pottery department are some of the most memorable happy moments. The desire to play with a medium that allowed me to touch, feel, mould and model, appealed to my senses.
An elective at college gradually turned into an obsession and now a full hearted profession. Guidance from teachers like Mrs. Jyotsna Bhatt and self taught practice wasn’t enough to perfect the skill. This led to eight months of experimenting on my own at the Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahemdabad, while waiting for a seat at Golden Bridge Pottery. In 1997, I joined Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith, to do their intensive course in (wheel thrown) functional ware production at Pondicherry.
It was on this course that we learnt not only pottery skills, but many priceless lessons of life. The days and nights spent there, sealed my bond with clay. From there on I knew, whatever the odds there was no turning back.
A number of phases come and pass through my process of working. Applied arts, functional pottery, sculpture, writing, drawing – yet, every sojourn only brings me back to clay with renewed energy; like an affair meant to last a lifetime.”
Come and see her work along with other Art at the WonkyWorks Gallery. Fri-Sat-Sun, 4-7pm.
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– Ekta
WonkyWorks 