City-based sculptor exhibits creations

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 15

To mark the significance of terracotta sculpture art, a city-based sculptor Basudev Biswas organised an exhibition at the Virsa-Vihar Hall. Basudev displayed various creations that were beautifully carved out by young sculpture artistes.

Throwing more light on the terracotta art, Basudev said, “We make sculpts from a fairly coarse, porous type of clay, shape them and then put them on fire until all the sculptures become hard.”

Last month, during the summer vacations at schools and colleges, he initiated an effort to inculcate a different hobby among youths. Students of various age groups participated in the workshop and learned the basic techniques of terracotta sculpture making.

Basudev said, students had engraved different characters and portrayals on clay and a mixture made from black soil and fullers earth. He added, once the sculptures were carved out, they were heated at 600-700 degree temperature and children were amused to see how the black soil was transformed into red coloured statues. One of the young artists Anubhav Kumar said earlier he was not aware of the sculpture making, but after this workshop he learnt how imagination could be transformed into real creations. During the exhibition as well, Basudev introduced visitors to this art form.

He said, “In fine art, the word Terracotta (baked earth) is most commonly used to describe a type of sculpture, unglazed ceramic art, or decorative architecture, made from a coarse, porous clay, which is noted for its versatility, cheapness and durability.”

Unfolding some facts on sculptures, he said, a lot of experiments had been introduced in field clay modelling and mettle casting art, hence one could also consider this art form as a career option. Moreover, small bronze sculpture, pottery, terracotta murals and terracotta relief were other related art forms to explore.