Auroville is known to be a good place for ceramic artists \u2013 we have about 15, each with their unique style. While many learnt in and around Auroville, Saraswati was already a ceramic artist before landing in Auroville, and was not planning to continue that work. \u201cI came 16 years back from Russia. When I came, at that moment I wanted to change my life completely and I didn\u2019t plan to continue ceramics in Auroville. I thought from reading the brochures that Auroville would tell me what to do.\u201d Although she worked in different places in Auroville, she eventually realised that she needed to do what was right for her, and was called back to clay.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being a ceramic artist in Auroville is not necessarily an easy journey, and finding a place and a kiln was a challenge. \u201cTo start anything new here is hard. The idea that you come, nobody knows you but is happy to help you\u2026 It is not yet there. Every potter is also struggling with their own work.\u201d More than that, she felt there was a bit of a bias against artists: \u201cThis perception that artists are not dedicated enough to the community because they are dedicated to their art, that was definitely there\u2026 Maybe it has changed a bit over the years, but when I came I hesitated to say that I was an artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the years, her sense of what it means to be an artist in Auroville has changed. \u201cNow I see it differently \u2013 I don\u2019t need to think about how what I do relates to Auroville because I know that I am inside the core of Auroville, breathing its aims and ideals. I think if there would not be Mother\u2019s push I would never manage all of this, to get all of this together. Maybe it\u2019s not very modest to say, but I know that electrical sparkle, bzzz<\/em>, of connection of a higher force. Without that I normally can\u2019t manage anything. It\u2019s like Wifi but a bit higher (laughs<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Balancing Act<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Saraswati has two big projects to juggle: one is the White Peacock Studio, where she teaches children in her clay class. The other one is her Have Fun Pottery, where she makes her objects and art \u2013 sometimes on order, sometimes as inspiration strikes. \u201cThese projects are completely different, only the material is in common. At the White Peacock, we are working with the kids after school, so a lot of it is about entertaining them. Every time I come with a new task and we survive somehow (laughs). Here in my own pottery, I go with my own ideas. I have to balance between the two, because one gets my battery charged and the other is more\u2026 draining, so to say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working with the kids might be a bit challenging, but Saraswati sees it as a way for her to contribute to the community. \u201cI believe that everyone is supposed to contribute to Auroville. And since I can\u2019t make myself very commercially efficient, I think this is the best that the community can get from me. It brings me a good feeling that I am part of the community \u2013 that I am working for it. And what matters to me is that sometimes I go for a class and something small and bright comes out of a child\u2019s hands, and it makes me so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Art on Order<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rest of her time she spends in the Have Fun Pottery, where she works on two different types of pieces. \u201cWhatever you see here that is practical, that you can use, it\u2019s commercial \u2013 those go by the dozen. And whatever looks more strange to you, that is my art (laughs). If I could choose, I would do only art, but I know the time has not come yet.\u201d For her art, exhibitions are the best platform: \u201cOften when we have exhibitions in India, that\u2019s how people come to know about me. But it\u2019s completely on pause right now due to the Corona situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the journey to be commercially viable is to tailor work to the customer. \u201cSometimes I don\u2019t feel great when I take an order. Usually it squeezes me a bit. It\u2019s much easier for me to offer something I already made and see who likes it, than to be completely in a structure. That\u2019s why retail in shops is nice \u2013the shop helps you find that person who likes it.\u201d For her tailored stuff, she has started to draw a line of what people can ask of her. \u201cSometimes people just send me a picture from Pinterest and say: \u2018Go make it.\u2019 It\u2019s out of the blue sky, it\u2019s probably someone else\u2019s life work. It was too painful to do that, so I have closed that window now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seeking to Bring Light<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked what inspires her art, the answer is: nearly everything. \u201cIn the middle of work inspiration comes, one work pulls the tail for the next. I try something and I know I need to do it better next time. But my first inspirations were interiors of my home and kitchen \u2013 at some point I made everything in miniature. Now everything can inspire me or become a new texture, or become part of the next structure, or God knows what.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The red thread in her work seems a certain innocence or sincerity, which comes from how her ideas about art have developed over the years. \u201cI don\u2019t think too much about it anymore, but before I was sure that if I invite people for exhibitions I don\u2019t want to put them in trouble \u2013 I want to relieve them, give them joy, with my instruments. I don\u2019t want to increase troubles in this planet. For me, art has to make something better, if possible. If not possible, just don\u2019t make it \u2013 if you can\u2019t bring any light, then sit, meditate, eat, drink, do something else!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy aim is to bring light, this is how I understand the aim of art. It\u2019s not necessary that joy and fun have to be on this superficial level, it can be deep also. But there has to be light in it. There has to be an answer, not only heavy questions. I think so. Because artists are supposed to develop their strings towards a higher knowledge and intuition. If they really connect with the right forces, they can bring something good down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/adventure.auroville.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Prod-DSC_0715.jpg\")
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