Adorning your walls with wall hangings and paintings is all fine but if you’re looking for some classy remodelling, terracotta art is the way to go! Wall murals bring a natural, warm feeling to your home adding an elegant appeal to it. Shashi Bagchi a prominent terracotta artist from the city divulges on the aesthetics of this art and what makes it contemporary.
The best thing about getting a mural done in terracotta, would be the fact that the material is completely eco friendly. “Terracotta murals make for a very rustic interior and it is an ethnic art form. People who love earthy stuff in their courtyards or home will love this,” she says. An advertising professional earlier, Shashi took her love for pottery into business and supports several potters to develop it. She says, “I decided to work for the upliftment of potters who are of an older generation and I adopted a few of them to help me with my work when I started up,” she says.
Shashi Bagchi
The process for making a mural is quite labour intensive. The baking and cooling process is the most vital part of getting the mural done right and it takes an average of 15 days to complete, depending on the type and design. “Murals are priced by the square feet. When it is being designed, it is made an inch longer than it is supposed to be as the piece shrinks as when it dries up. I begin by roughly drawing out the design, working on it directly, adding details allowing it to slowly dry. It’s cut into pieces to begin the baking process and once that is done, it is mounted on the wall with screws,” she says.
The interesting element here is that designing for terracotta art has grown from being just about nature depictions or mythological themes. Shashi tells that abstract art is a popular request these days, “The design factor of the terracotta art industry is what makes it so popular and lets it have a contemporary feel,” she says.
A common taboo with buying terracotta is the fear that the ornament or pot may break soon, but there is a way to figure out if you’re purchasing the right stuff. “Tap the pot with a metal object like a bangle or nail lightly, and if you hear a tingling, sharp sound it has been made well. If it makes a muffled hollow sound, it may be under-baked,” says Shashi. If it does break, it will simply disintegrate and go back to being mud.” Unlike cement or plastic, clay is porous allowing excess water in the pot to drain out and hold in only what moisture is required for the plant and the roots of the plant get air to breathe as well,” she says in conclusion.
