{"id":869,"date":"2015-03-25T21:26:34","date_gmt":"2015-03-25T15:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=869"},"modified":"2015-06-10T10:04:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-10T04:34:50","slug":"a-project-with-ektara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=869","title":{"rendered":"A Project With Ektara"},"content":{"rendered":"

My work on the\u00a0Elements<\/a>\u00a0project really whetted my appetite for more exploration in creating temporary, collaborative sculpture\u00a0in which the viewer\u2019s participation becomes an integral part of the work. \u00a0I began developing ideas for new projects while observing preparations at Kumartuli for Saraswati Puja<\/a>. \u00a0Then after returning from my trip to\u00a0Molela and Nathdwara<\/a>, I searched Kolkata for potential venues and partners.<\/p>\n

Curator and social entrepreneur\u00a0Nandita Palchoudhuri<\/a>\u00a0connected me with charitable organization\u00a0Ek Tara<\/a>, located in the Kolkata neighborhood of Topsia. \u00a0Thanks Nandita!!!<\/p>\n

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Ek Tara\u00a0provides opportunities for education and vocational training for more than 500 children and women who reside in the Topsia and Tiljala area.<\/p>\n

For our March 2015\u00a0project together, I created a four foot tall head in straw and bamboo. \u00a0In an exciting two-day workshop, fifty Ek Tara students gleefully and tenderly covered the\u00a0large head form with imagery in clay.<\/p>\n

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Working with fifty children on a project takes tremendous organization! \u00a0Not only were the wonderful Ek Tara \u00a0instructors and helpers on hand to smooth the process, but Fulbright-Nehru Student Scholar Julie Schofield<\/a>‘s assistance\u00a0was invaluable to me, as she entertained the children who were waiting to take their turn in working on the sculpture.<\/p>\n

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Fulbright-Nehru Scholar Julie Schofield with Ek Tara children<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sculpture\u2019s title, Lucky Indian Forest<\/em>, comes from the children. They had been asked to bring forth ideas for a title as they worked to build up the image-laden surface of animal figures and traditional designs, using clay press molds I created for them, and traditional sandesh molds from Kalighat.<\/p>\n

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What a great project! \u00a0 Children and adults alike were enthusiastic and happy. The camaraderie was fantastic. \u00a0I hope to do many more projects like this one.<\/p>\n

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“Lucky Indian Forest<\/em>” Named by the children of Ek Tara<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Children covering the straw and bamboo head with clay imagery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"11140070_437727089717708_3322213086772158226_n\"
“Lucky Indian Forest” at Gallery Sanskriti in April 2015. \u00a0 Ambica Beri, gallerist, in center, \u00a0Anita Kanoi, Ek Tara trustee, on right.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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My work on the\u00a0Elements\u00a0project really whetted my appetite for more exploration in creating temporary, collaborative sculpture\u00a0in which the viewer\u2019s participation becomes an integral part of the work. \u00a0I began developing ideas for new projects while observing preparations at Kumartuli for Saraswati Puja. \u00a0Then after returning from my trip to\u00a0Molela and Nathdwara, I searched Kolkata for … Continue reading A Project With Ektara<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,118,25,99,14,116,26,77,9,120,24,21,119,17,98,117,100],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ambica-beri","tag-anita-kanoi","tag-calcutta","tag-clay-and-straw-sculpture","tag-httpwww-cynthiasiegel-com","tag-ek-tara","tag-fulbright-nehru","tag-gallery-sanskriti","tag-india","tag-julie-schofield","tag-kolkata","tag-kumartuli","tag-nandita-palchoudhuri","tag-sculpture","tag-terracruda","tag-topsia","tag-unfired-clay-sculpture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":979,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions\/979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}