Casting clay

Ray Meeker has finally quit firing houses to throw pots. Platters and vases, to be precise. And also kettles he has designed five for the ...

Ray Meeker has finally quit firing houses to throw pots. Platters and vases, to be precise. And also kettles he has designed five for the Tea Potter8217;s Party, at the Kala Ghoda Festival. Till that begins 8212; on February 1 8212; Meeker, famous for Golden Bridge Pottery the school he runs with wife Deborah Smith in Pondicherry can be seen hanging around at Cymroza Gallery for his second solo show, mopping the place clean himself.

quot;Giving a gap of four years following my first solo show in 1996, in New Delhi, I am ready to come back every year,quot; says Meeker, convinced that after three decades of being in India he can now give more time to his own clay work. Which means he will not be free for his fired building experiments. Nrityagram8217;s domed shrine, fired in situ and clad with sculpted terracotta tiles, commissioned by the late Protima Gauri, and a house near Auroville, Pondicherry, will probably be Meeker8217;s last.

The first question fanatics have asked is: Why not both?8217;. quot;It was just not possible,quot; says thepotter, explaining why he left baked houses for the potter8217;s wheel.

quot;There are also people who, for the last 30 years, when I came to India after Deborah, also a trained potter, have been waiting for me to shift,quot; Meeker lets on. quot;Though I will still have the school we set up in 1971 to look after, I will certainly have more time for handmade functional and non-functional stoneware that I learned at the ceramics department of the University of South California.quot;

A place to which he owes the beginning of a decorative process.

A choreography of brush work on stoneware platters and vases 8212; which form a major part of his ongoing exhibition. Swinging strokes of brown and white slip, splatters of hot wax that will resist anything that comes after.

Everything is revealed through the thin ash glaze of the final fired masterpiece, with lithe fish swimming through most of the surface, defying parameters. quot;I have been interested in fish for years. Not as a symbol, it8217;s not as if the Christian era is coming toan end, but as form and motion,quot; says Meeker. One of his sketch books wherever Meeker goes he carries one to sketch objects that interest him has a pair of wavy fish depicted on a jar by a Mohenjodaro potter. He sketched it in New Delhi during a show in 1997.

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quot;It8217;s as if the Mohenjodaro potter got me painting fish again. And then I recalled the totem pole and started stacking wet clay cylinders, closed at both the ends, air-filled. The result are fish-like vases.quot;

Besides fish, there8217;s a platter on the entrance wall of the gallery painted to give an impression of warriors on horse-like mosquitoes. quot;That8217;s the beauty of abstracts. It gives away something of the psychology of the viewer,quot; he says, not revealing what exactly he had in mind while painting this platter, or others. A couple of them are his favourites. quot;I love making platters as such. It8217;s nice to work on a flat surface and after working on their broad circus they turn out to be paintings in their own right.quot; With platters, Meeker has pushedpottery beyond its functionality.

quot;For, they serve generous portions of energy and not biryani.quot; So, he is confident with forms. But slips, glazes? quot;No. I know what I am looking for, but it takes time to rediscover the process.quot;

Perennial Earth, Quickening Fire, at Cymroza Gallery, B Desai Road. Till February 12. Time: 10.00 am to 6.00 pm.