23 February,2017 07:19 AM IST | | Hrisha Das
It's an exciting time for aspiring sculptors. Artist Durga Gawde will take beginners through the motions of how to mould steel into intriguing sculptures, through dialogue and demonstration
Durga Gawde at her workshop
It's an exciting time for aspiring sculptors. Artist Durga Gawde will take beginners through the motions of how to mould steel into intriguing sculptures, through dialogue and demonstration. "Participants can create whatever they wish to. I will guide them through the process and help them think outside the box," she says.
Gawde was exposed to art as a child, thanks to her parents who were involved in creative pursuits; her father being an artist and while her mother worked as an art administrator. As a 19-year-old she turned to sculpture during her summer courses at the Rhode Island School of Design in America. "I realised that the joy I got from working with my hands was unparalleled. I decide to transfer to the department of sculpture, despite being accepted into the department of photography," she recalls.
From that point on, things fell into place, "On my first day of class, we were introduced to steel and I had a connection with it that was deeper than understanding the material through instruction," she says. Gawde's ideas are inspired by marine biology, microscopy and what she calls as "selfish human intervention." It is the complex relationship between the natural world and our manmade one that motivates her.
Gawde works with steel, bronze, aluminium, and presents her ideas in ways that are unexpected and imaginative:"They end up taking a form that is alien yet familiar, and is highly gestural, which is due to my drawing practice that goes hand-in-hand with my sculpture making."
The artist is currently working on several projects, including one that explores the relationship between marine life and human interventions, and a charcoal figure drawing series that dissects gender and androgyny.
