About - Pottery Studio - BHU Ceramics
About Nausheen
I have always been fascinated by handcrafts. My clay journey started with taking a weekly class with Vinod Dubey in Mumbai 2009. In 2011 I moved to Pondicherry to study at Golden bridge pottery with Ray Meekar and Deborah Smith. Right away I was consumed by all facets of pottery - the making of clay, handbuilding, throwing, and the firing. The environment was very nurturing, inspiring, and a constant learning happened. I continued my training for the next two years. Subsequently, I worked at Mandala pottery in Auroville for 5 years. This helped me to get practical experience of working at a pottery. 2019 saw the setting up of my studio, Bhu Ceramics.
Resident artist Golden Bridge Pottery, 2012-13
Residency at JSW, Hampi, 2016
Residency in Gimhea Clayarch Museum, 2015
Worked at Mandala Pottery, Auroville 2014-18
Own studio, Bhu Ceramics since 2019
Bhu in Sanskrit means “to be”.
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form"_ as stated in the Heart Sutra really resonates with me, and I find that the material in my hands (clay) always drives and shapes what emerges through me in the creative process.
Although my training was in ceramic tableware, for the first ten years, I was largely engaged in sculptural work and exhibitions - wood firing, anagama firings and soda firing
On setting up my studio, the sheer practicality of doing this, somehow I found it more interesting to make things that we use daily. Also, at that time I was setting up my home in Auroville and so I needed very specific pottery. I found myself attempting things i had not made before. Water filter was needed at studio and then at home. I keep making things that would be great to use around the kitchen. There is joy in repeating forms. Big bowls offers such interpretations. Along with the functional, sculptural work continues, in a rather renewed manner.
For me, there is a joy in repeating forms, but also each piece has the possibility for a new interpretation. So the functionality and creative process get woven together beautifully, lending a newness and freshness. Along with the functional, sculptural work continues, in a rather renewed manner.
Now I gas fire to cone 10 in my mid sized, home built kiln. I make stoneware which is strong and durable. There is a preference to work on my Japanese style kickwheel. The rhythm is modulated with the emerging form. There is also an electric wheel mostly used by students. I continue to make my clay and glazes.
Unlike production pottery where the forms must necessarily remains identical and numerous, being a studio potter, I have had the freedom to make limited series of works and allow variations to emerge spontaneously. This makes each piece I craft unique, intimate and one of a kind.
