Tuesday 19 Mar 2024

Moulding dreams

Architect and sculpture artist Anuradha Guglani talks about the techniques of sand sculpting, her love for working on the human form, and why she thinks she was born in Africa in her previous life

CHRISTINE MACHADO | FEBRUARY 18, 2018, 05:57 PM IST



Anuradha Guglani had never worked with clay her whole life before she was asked to make a sculpture as part of her entrance exam to Fine Arts college. So she didn’t expect anything when the dean of the college called her in for a special meeting.  

“He informed me that I had topped the sculpture exam and advised me to take up the sculpting line,” she recalls. Guglani however was hesitant. “I didn’t think I could work with clay, keep my nails short and all that,” she says smiling. Despite her initial reluctance, she enrolled in the six month course anyway but it was architecture that drew her in more and so she decided to focus on that instead. Post her graduation, however, she went over to Auroville and worked with clay there. And the love only deepened.

In the process she found the material that felt more special to her- wood. “I love the colour, the texture and the naturalness. I especially prefer drift wood which is available on the beaches. This has been worked on by salt water and thus is strong enough to work with because you can’t work with wood unless it has aged,” she says. Being actively involved in cycling and trekking, she often collects materials from the woods for her works too.  

“Wood sculpting can be done with as many as 20 tools or just two. I usually work with just one chisel and mallet. Of course other chisels can help you with different shapes and cuts and make you life easier all around but I find the whole process of shifting between tools very distracting as it disturbs the rhythm of thought,” she says. In fact, she states, she has been gifted with plenty of sculpting tool sets over the years. “But I’m still stuck with my old chisel and mallet only,” she says chuckling. Sometimes, as an artist, you know what the final result is and then begin to work towards it. Often though, you have to be open to going with the flow owing to the limitation of the material, she says. “For instance, suddenly you will find a knot in the wood which prevents you from carving the way you want to. One shouldn’t fight it. You just have to work around it and something new arises,” she says.

The human form in particular intrigues her and often finds a place in her work. “Even when I used to take on interior designing projects earlier, I always somehow used to add a human figure in the design,” she observes, adding that she has no idea why she is so fascinated with this. “Maybe I was born in Africa in my past life because their masks and all it’s intricacies comes very naturally to me. And I believe that what comes naturally to you is what you are. Once you find that thing you should move in that direction because that is you,” she says.  

However, she has yet to have a proper exhibition of the many works which dot her house. “People often ask me how can you live with all these strange figures around you,” she says laughing.  

And although of late, architecture has taken precedence, Guglani, who also is a guest lecturer at Goa College of Architecture, is looking to get back to her sculpting in full swing. And her upcoming sand sculpting workshop on February 18, she says comes at the right time.

The workshop will be organised for kids by YUVA at Miramar beach on the occasion of Shiva Jayanti.

“The workshop will be themed around fort building and the aim is to parallel it with the fort making competition in Maharashtra. In fact post this workshp, YUVA is looking at taking it to a competitive level,” says Guglani, adding that almost 70 kids have signed for the workshop.

One of the main things that she has noticed about how people treat sand is that they don’t understand the composition of the material. “Sand is an absorbant material. It absorbs moisture, the particles glue to each other and naturally drain off all the excess water. And in the process it compacts itself. It doesn’t require any glues. With just water and sand one can make miracles. It’s all about how it is handled,” she explains. 

Often, she says, people tend to treat sand like clay. “Sand and clay are two very different materials. While clay is a very sticky material, sand is very powerdery. When you work with clay, you first have to get the proper composition and then start working with it. You can’t add too much water as this will cause holes and break the strength of clay thereby weakening the structure. With sand however you have to continuously compact it with water to stop it from disintegrating,” she states.

Also, people often make a bucket of sand and then overturn it to make a tower like structure, which she says can cause problems. “If this is not done carefully, it shakes within and cracks develop,” she says.

There are two ways of sculpting with sand, she says- scoop out or add on. “You first build a vague form of what want and then you either add on to it and shape or you scoop out and shape,” she explains, adding that she will be demonstrating both these techinques at the workshop.

So as long as you regularly moisten the surfaces of the structure, it will remain hard. “Now you also get special sprays that can be used to seal the surface. These are used by professionals when they have exhibitions that extend for two to three months,” she says. “The beauty of sand is that it comes from nowhere and it foes to nowhere. Sand scultures are done without adding any external chemicals. So it is an eco- friendly way of creating dreams.

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