Pottery, one of our oldest art forms, is in dire need of revitalisation. If we wish to see it as a progressive contemporary medium in our art milieu then it has to be owned by discerning artists, institutions, umbrella structures and philanthropic bodies who are willing to address it’s challenging issues and endow it with an identity. Bringing celebrity spotlight to the ceramic genre each time she visits Karachi, the dynamic and hugely accomplished Sheherezade Alam recently exhibited ‘207 vessels’, 1985-2011 at Koel Gallery. The range and quality of the show reaffirms her pioneering stature as a 21st century ceramist who draws inspiration from the iconic artisans of Mehargarh and Harappa. Deeply traditional yet entirely contemporary she traverses this chasm with the ease and sureness of a seasoned potter.

As Pakistan’s first female studio potter Alam uses clay to preserve heritage and connects with herself. Recollecting the ’70s, she speaks of the challenge of being a solitary student of ceramics at the National Collage of Arts (NCA) who, on principal Shakir Ali’s behest, interned at the Shahdara Pottery Development Centre, which was her first hands-on exposure to all methods of production and firing.

For her final year thesis, ‘Artist/designer in industry’, she sourced vernacular forms of countries like China, Japan, Scandinavia, Britain, Greece, Italy, Iran and Turkey. On a postgraduate scholarship to the West Surrey College of Art and Design at Farnham, UK, she worked alongside master potters like Takeshi Yasuda, David Firth, Sebastain Blackie and Henry Hammond. The decade of the ’90s was a ‘great leap forward’ at all levels of learning. She experimented with porcelain, high fired stoneware glazes such as Tenmokku, Chun, Copper reds in gas reduction and wood firing techniques.

Another 10 years in the Arcadia Pottery Studio in Toronto, Canada, where studio facilities and availability of a variety of clays and glazes enabling advanced learning and experimentation was characterised by intense production. Collaborating with photographer Richard Seck, she came forth with the ‘Subhanullah’ series.

In 2000, she established Laal, an artists’ collective whose mission is to bring cultural and heritage education to young children. In 2004 her low temperature red glazed ‘Laali’ series, a tribute to Russian school children killed in Beslan, Russia, was exhibited in Toronto, Lahore and Karachi to much acclaim. The ‘Re-emergence’ series in 2005 was followed by the unglazed, ‘White on white’ collection of pots.

Returning to Pakistan in 2007 to look after her ailing parents, Alam also processing her grief and pain, after losing her older daughter Jahanara and husband in a tragedy had remarked, “I gave them back to the earth—now they live in my heart.” The Indian Express reported, ‘When Alam embraced clay a long time after the tragedy, she watched the process of pots in the kiln differently’. She states, “I noticed that when they were subjectd to that brutal temperature, they were purified. My soul was purified. My daughter’s favourite colour was red, I wore red for the whole year.” By 2008 the Indus Valley Ustad/Shahgird workshop, ‘Earth, water, fire, air’ had evolved where she and Nawaz Bhai, a master potter from Harappa, shared their expertise with deserving students.

Wood firing is an exciting and labour intensive commitment and Alam along with teaching also did a residency at the IVS ceramics department in order to avail the newly installed high fired wood kiln, the only one of its kind in Pakistan. In 2009 the Jahan-i-Jahanara Centre for Traditional Arts for children was established because she believes children “can create magic, believe in it and are larger than life.”

At Koel, a palette of heartwrenching reds, soothing aquas, sandy hues and deep sienna’s ribboned with flaming oranges and yellow’s grace her pots and platters which have the rhythmic poise and symmetry of a master potters craftsmanship. Possessing an instinctive feel for all things traditional she surrounds her vessels with an aura of ceremonial ritual, decorum and eye pleasing presentations. A storyteller, much like the original Sheherezade, she, too, is capable of passionate discourse regarding her work. Her ‘Ek dafa ka zikr hai’ performance at the ASNA triennial exhibition is a case in point.

This talent to project her work advantageously brings the essential context to her clay odyssey—by rekindling historical and traditional continuity she amplifies the viewing experience and enchants the viewer.

Here, she answers questions about her oneness with clay.

What is the equation between inspiration and arduous process in your art considering the high level of perfection you bring to your craft?

I hope inspiration here means love, (chaahat), because once you are inspired, the hard work becomes the only way to achieve what one is wanting, Shakir Sahib used to say there is no shortcut to hard work.

What are the essentials that enable a ceramic object to acquire a personality?

I imagine that one is always reflecting oneself in one’s work. It is crucial for an artisan to know the material used, each kind and quality of clay will influence not only the shape, but the whole process from drying to decorating onto the firing stage. The personality or the aesthetics comes from knowing what draws you to a certain shape and how you can achieve the desired glaze effect, by endless experimentation, trial and error, the fascination of earth, fire, water, air and alchemy itself.

Define the role of tradition in contemporary ceramics? Without tradition we become rootless, knowing our cultural history and our 9,000-year-old inheritance gives us confidence, identity, we then belong… without knowing our past our traditions we are like living humans without memory.

Lack of suitable infrastructure and working facilities continue to hamper the growth of contemporary ceramics in Pakistan.

What advice would you give to young ceramists here who are keen to pursue their craft? When what you do is a matter of do or die, your passion, your love and respect for clay becomes confirmed, then all conditions become a challenge worth taking on. You have to become clay soft and malleable yet tough and unrelenting. Lastly, shedding the ego and all arrogance is the beginning of becoming one with clay.