This is an archive article published on August 30, 2018

Play with Clay

India’s first Ceramics Triennale, that begins in Jaipur tomorrow, will showcase exhibits by over 35 Indian and 12 international artists.

5 min readAug 30, 2018 12:05 AM IST

Adil Writer’s ‘A Deserted Barcode’

FOR OVER a decade, Indian ceramic artists have been breaking ground around the world, it’s high time to break a bit of ground at home,” says Ray Meeker. One of India’s foremost ceramic artists, Meeker has played an important role in popularising the medium in India. In 1971, when he established Golden Bridge Pottery in Puducherry with wife and fellow artist Deborah Smith, it was the first workshop to produce glazed handmade stoneware in the region. Now, more than 40 years later, he is part of another initiative that proposes to put the spotlight on the medium that holds historical importance in India but is also one that has been battling a bias in the White Cube.

On August 31, the doors will open for India’s first Ceramics Triennale. To be held at Jawahar Kala Kendra (JKK) in Jaipur, in collaboration with the Contemporary Clay Foundation, the three-month long event will befitting be titled “Breaking Ground” and will boast a line-up that includes exhibits by over 35 Indian and 12 international artists, symposiums, film screenings and workshops. “In a country like India, where ceramics and clay have always been considered as artisanal craft, the Ceramics Triennale will increase visibility and allow ceramics to be appreciated as an art form in its own right,” says Pooja Sood, director general, JKK.

A work by Detroit-based Jessika Edgar

While the event will see the launch of Meeker’s book Building with Fire, it will also have on display his exhibit Rio Stela. America First!. Cast in stone, the work commemorates the US position on climate change at the Rio conference in 1992 and the current policies of the US administration. It will add to the

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series of environmental pieces by Meeker, a project that he began in 1969, as an undergraduate in ceramics at the University of Southern California. “But every time I try to walk away from the issue, it just gets bigger,” says Meeker. Korean artist Jae Joon will also emphasise the need for harmony between human beings and nature in his stoneware clay and red art clay work, Guardian of Nature – Gatekeeper. German artist Danijela Pivaševic-Tenner will interact with local communities to collect objects of daily use and install them in a room where liquid terracotta clay will be poured over them, adding new layers.

Rahul Kumar and Chetnaa’s TerraGeometrix

The international biggies to catch at the triennale include Geneva-based Jacques Kaufmann, who will base his architecturally scaled work — made with brick, bamboo, fired local red clay, mirrors — on Iranian architect Nader Khalili’s book Ceramic Houses. Detroit-based Jessika Edgar will “draw from media imagery especially related to gender, beauty, and material desire” for her work Let’s All Be Ethereal and Transcend. Japanese artist Saturo Hoshino’s installation Beginning Form – Spiral ’18, “emerges from a collision of clay and hand”. It will reflect his belief that his “interaction with clay is collaborative, and not an imposition of his own will”.

For several other artists the perception of their work will be based on how the audience interacts with them not through mere viewing but also participation. So Élodie Alexandre will invite viewers to use their smartphones or tablets to scan her installation Post-partum to uncover the intimate stories that share her personal experiences relating to childbirth and post-partum depression. In Not Everyone Will Dance in the Rain, Shalini Dam invites people to walk across her work in clay, where optical illusions animate the surface and the images change. In architect-artist Vishnu Thozhur Kolleri’s work the viewer is the performer who can play instruments and add elements to the artist’s pre-recorded interactions playing on a loop. Meanwhile, British artist Jo Ayre and Warli artists Ramesh and Rasika Hengadi will collaborate on-site to design a new work.

Medium Matters

Talking art: On September 1, 10 am to noon, a discussion on “Clay and Community”, followed by a discussion on “Locating a language and practice” and “Material matters”.

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On screen: Films by Keith Brymer Jones, Rajula Shah and Tan Hongyu will be screened from 4.45 pm to 6.45 pm on September 1.

Pen drive: Ray Meeker’s book Building with Fire will release at the event. A book on ceramist Kripal Singh Shekhawat will also be released, and a retrospective celebrating his work will be held.

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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