Tag Archives: unfired clay sculpture

Beauty and Chaos

October 11, 2014 Cynthia 1 Comment

“Beauty and Chaos” – one way to describe that which is Durga Puja!

We heard this phrase first from photographer Dev Nayak, when Stan and I met him while undergoing some serious “pandal-hopping” with Partha Dey in South Kolkata. Dev’s actually comment was, “Beauty and chaos, in India you can’t have one without the other!”

It’s Monday evening, the day before Durga Puja celebrations are in full force for the next five days. Even so, as the evening progresses, the streets began to swell with people eager to preview this year’s creations. Pandals (the name for the structures that are build to house the Durga Puja sculptures) are everywhere, in the numerous parks, jutting out into the street, tucked into every possible nook and cranny.

This most spectacular of spectacles could be likened to a combination of Disney World, Las Vegas, and Burning Man (sans nudity). We saw everything from the grandest commercial extravaganzas to tiny, lovingly heartfelt private family shrines (the truth: these are my faves). The estimate that I’d heard several times was upwards of 15000 Durga images in Kolkata alone! Most pandals are sponsored by clubs and other local community organizations, with some sponsorship from local businesses.

The biggest, most elaborate pandals usually have snagged big corporate sponsorships, are themed, and often have renowned artists and designers at their organizational helms. The planning for next year’s big-budget pandals begins almost immediately after the prior year’s celebrations! There are also many sponsored pandal contests, with celebrities and other prominent personages as their judges. At the heart of each pandal, somewhere within, often underneath a plethora of clothing, hair, props, and other decorations, are the clay, straw, and bamboo figures that brought me to Kolkata.

Enough chatter for the moment, yes? Time to show you some pics!

Enter into a giant lotus with whirling imagery

Durga looms above it all

Insanely crafted, metal leaf-covered Buddhist temple-inspired pandal

A glimpse of a golden Durga inside

Below is a pandal dedicated to late Bollywood actress Suchitra Sen, who died earlier this year.

A smaller, but charming pandal with figurative columns

I’ve been enjoying the chandeliers of each pandal – they are often over the top!

Community-sponsored pandal

Walkway towards family puja pandal of a very sweet and welcoming retired doctor.

His Durga pandal is below.

And below is an example of some of the fabulously creative decorated walkways intended to entice viewers towards a pandal

More Durga Puja tomorrow……

Mahalaya

September 24, 2014 Cynthia 3 Comments

The countdown to Durga Puja is well underway by Mahalaya, which is observed seven days before (September 23rd for 2014). It’s on Mahalaya that preparations for Durga Puja reach their final stages, and it’s believed that on this day Durga, the goddess of supreme power, descends to earth. One older custom still observed by some is the painting of Durga’s eyes on this day, as a symbol of her invocation and impending presence.

On Mahalaya, my husband Stan and I paid an early morning visit to the Shovabazar Rajbari. Dilipda’s Durga sculptural tableauxl had been painted and dressed, but final details, such as hair and weapons or instruments that the gods and goddess hold in their hands, have not yet been added. While we were there, we encountered Sri Krishna Deb, the community organizer for the Shovabazar’s pandal presentation. Sri Deb graciously invited us to attend the community’s Mahalaya celebrations that evening!

When we returned in the evening, the celebration was getting underway with a beautiful ceremony in which many small oil-filled clay dishes were lit.

After the lamps were lit, Sri Deb rang the puja bell. Far in the distance (center of the photograph) you can see a priest sitting on the ground and performing the evening’s rites.

Then began a lovely musical program including members throughout the Shovabazar community, beginning with the youngest members, and progressing to the most accomplished dancers and musicians.

Invoking Durga through dance!

Vishwakarma, the Divine Architect

September 17, 2014 Cynthia Leave a comment

It’s September 17th as well as my fourth visit to the Shovabazar — now Durga Puja is less than two weeks away! Dilipda’s sculpture has fully dried, been painted with a white undercoat, and now the application of color on the figures, as well as additional painted imagery, has begun.

Heading out to other workshops of Kumartuli, I again saw images in every stage of creation, from straw and bamboo beginnings to the the finishing stages of paint, clothing, jewels, and other accessories.

Today is also Vishwakarma Day. Vishwakarma is the god of engineering and tools, He’s also called the divine architect or divine carpenter, and his day of reverence is observed in a number of Indian states, including West Bengal, by engineers, architects, mechanics, artisans, craftspeople, factory workers, etc. His devotees pray for success, increased productivity and for the smooth workings of their machinery/technical processes; many also worship the tools of their respective crafts.

The Mahabharata, one of the two great Sanskrit epic poems of ancient India, describes Vishwakarma as wearing a crown and loads of gold jewelry, and holding a water-pot, a book, a noose and craftsman’s tools in his four hands.

As I moved through Kumartuli today, I saw many shrines with statues and pictures of Vishwakarma. A few examples follow.

I also enjoyed seeing the shrine below, which was created by the engineers and mechanics working at the United States Consulate.

Kumartuli – the second and third visits

September 16, 2014 Cynthia 2 Comments

With great excitement, I returned to Kolkata at the end of the first week of September, specifically to observe Dilipda and his assistants in the next stages of work on their Durga Puja sculptures at the Shovabazar Rajbari.

In the above photo, Dilipda’s assistant, Netal Pal, is adding the second layer of smooth clay to this roughed-out form of Ganesha. You might remember from an earlier post that this Durga Puja tableaux of images had been started about a month ago, and had been given several weeks to slowly dry.

Below, Dilipda’s other assistant, Bishonal Pal, works on adding the second clay layer to the Durga form that is central to the entire tableaux, or .

When I returned the next afternoon, Netal Pal was sitting on the floor with a chunk of clay from which he was modeling the hands and feet for all of the figures.

Then — Netal and Bishonal began to add the hands and feet to each figure, ending with Durga’s ten hands — and for me a magical energy filled the Rajbari. I felt an intense need to stay and observe until Durga’s final hand was attached and secured to her tenth wrist.

Ganesha (above), now fully detailed and needing just one more hand!

Bishonal Pal works on Lakshmi and Netal Pal works on Kartik.

Netal Pal works on Durga’s hands

In the above photo, Dilipda is working on refining the details of the images. His images are structured in what several people have referred to as the “traditional” style. However, regardless of the style in which the figures are rendered, most Durga Puja sculpture groupings have the following images (I’m listing them in bold from left to right): Ganesha; Lakshmi; Durga; below Durga is her Lion, who along with Durga, is attacking Mahishasura, the Buffalo Demon; Saraswati, and Kartik. Often Mahishasura will be emerging from a buffalo form (he is after all, half man and half buffalo). Below is a photo of another Kumartuli work-in-process where the buffalo imagery is more apparent (under Mahishasura but not painted white).

Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati and Kartik also have puja celebrations specifically dedicated to them at some point during the year. The timings for when the festivals take place are based on the positioning of the sun and moon, and not on a specific calendar date. Timings are available for past, present and future years from websites such as http://www.drikpanchang.com/ .

Often referred to as Durga’s children:
Ganesha is the god of beginnings, good fortune, and the removal of obstacles;
Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, love and prosperity;
Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music, and the creative arts;
Kartik is the god of war.

Kumartuli – the first visit

August 22, 2014 Cynthia 4 Comments

On the morning of my second day in India, I had the great fortune to make my first trip to Kumartuli, which is a neighborhood of image-makers that is located slightly north of the center of Kolkata. Leading the way was the delightful Partha Dey, a Kolkata native and visual artist who was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Iowa a few years ago.

Our first stop was at the Shovabazar Rajbari (raj=king, bari=house) to meet Dilipda, a friend of Partha’s and the well-known sculptor who was currently in the process of creating the Durga sculptural tableaux for the annual Shovabazar Rajbari’s Durga Puja celebrations. He had already created his figures through the first stage of rough clay and straw formation, so we made arrangements for me to come back when Dilipda would begin his next stage of work.

Next we wandered through the main area of Kumartuli, with narrow streets such as this one,

lined with the workshops of many image-makers. Some workshops are tiny spaces, some are so narrow that we marveled at how the sculptors can gain any sort of perspective on the figures as they work! Look at the size of some these sculptures!

In the time before I left for India, I had been concerned that I was arriving so close to the date of the celebrations that all of the images being made for Durga Puja would be so far underway that I would miss the chance to witness the whole process. Happily, these concerns were unfounded! Images were in every state of progress.

The foundation of each image is built using split bamboo as a support structure, to which basic forms of straw wrapped with jute are added to make the rough figure. Then a first layer of clay mixed with straw for strength, is added to the straw figure. Once this dries, a second layer of smooth clay (in Kumartuli, this clay is taken from the banks of the Hooghly river) is added to the image to allow for more refinement and detailing. The photo below depicts this difference between clay/straw and smooth clay layers in two Ganesha images.

Workshops are everywhere, in houses, shops, street side, and even right next to the train tracks.

So at this point, some may ask, ”Who is Durga?” And, “Why is all of this work being done on her behalf?”

As described by Nilima Chitgopekar in The Book of Durga, “Myths associated with her (Durga’s) origin name her as Shakti—the female manifestation of cosmic energy—created by the fusion of the fierce energies of all the male gods and stronger than their combined strength. She is the scourge of demons, as she is protectress of the realms of gods and humans. Her anger is terrifying, her lust for victory in war overwhelming, on the battlefield she is merciless, even savage. Yet she may just as easily transform into the consort of Shiva, daughter of the mountains, sister of the gods, or mother of her four children and of all mankind.”

I’m excited to learn more in the coming weeks before Durga Puja.

Hello!

July 9, 2014 Cynthia 2 Comments

Welcome to the Dusty Clay Diaries.

My name is Cynthia Siegel, and I’m currently writing this blog from Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

So what’s the fuss about? In the fall of 2011, I participated in an artist’s residency at Sanskriti Kendra in Delhi, India. Through the Sanskriti Foundation’s Museum of Terracotta, I was introduced to a vast diversity of traditional Indian techniques and processes in working with clay. I became extremely interested in the clay sculptural traditions in which the completed artworks are intentionally left unfired. Often these works are made collaboratively in conjunction with religious festivals, and at the ending ceremonies they are submerged into a nearby river. The sculptures are intended to commemorate the cyclicality of life, to promote healing, to absorb negative energies, and/or to refresh the family or village community life.

These traditions are different than anything I have experienced before, and as a contemporary figurative sculptor, I felt myself drawn to the ethereal, fragile nature of these sculptural processes, and to the idea that after completion, these works are honored, appreciated, and subsequently restored to the earth. There is an enormous amount of creative labor expended to create these works, combined with the expectation of the works’ impermanence.

I became so curious about this image-making process that I applied for, and received, the Fulbright-Nehru Award that is funding this fabulous opportunity to live in India, in which I can learn about the image-makers of West Bengal, as well as create my own artwork and become involved in Kolkata’s contemporary arts scene.

My adventures continue…..

the DUSTY CLAY DIARIES