The Aesthetics in a Pottery Barn

I think clay pots make very interesting subjects for a camera, and a visit to a pottery barn is sheer delight to anyone looking to workout their cameras, and capture the play of light and shadow!

This pottery place we went to last weekend was tucked up cosy below the Nandi Hills, off Bangalore -a small shed framed by hills on all sides. Mounds of clay/mud welcomed us as we entered the dimly lit barn with old wooden doors and windows, light streaming in through them and cracks in the tiles on the roof, and walls speaking of several years of hard work.

Unclean... yet beautiful

The potter invited us to try the pottery wheel ourselves. I guess making a pot yourself is a nice heady combination of several feelings - the squishy feeling of clay between your fingers shaping something, the fact that a simple movement of a few fingers could change its shape, and the hope of things to come.. like your own creation to take back home.

The potter giving his finishing touches to the pot our friend made

The fresh piece

There were finished pots of all shapes and sizes lined up to dry.

And it never is an easy day for this potter. The clay doesn't come smooth, it has to be stood over, stamped, rolled over, stamped over and over again until the required consistency is reached before he gets to work on it. He enthusiastically showed it all - proud of how he earns his livelihood (and of course the prospect of earning a few bucks from these visitors).

The kiln outside the barn, decorated with yellow and red flowers, see them?

Artistic, is the symmetry and earthy colors of a pottery barn, isn't it? The tour gave me a sense of how potters give expression to the abstract, and nudged awake all my aesthetic senses in the process!

Linking this story to Barn Charm.