Artline

The desire to be surrounded by beautiful things has led people the world over to develop their creative skills. Anju Goyal, a topper in S...

The desire to be surrounded by beautiful things has led people the world over to develop their creative skills. Anju Goyal, a topper in Sociology could have pursued academics, but for her, following her creative urges has been far more enriching and satisfying. For years now, she has been honing her skills, developing new techniques and motifs for her creations. For the past couple of years, one area in which she has been consistently working has been on terracotta. Every year just before the festival season, Anju holds an exhibition of her creations for the people of the City Beautiful, and exhibits her latest collection.

Full of initiative and drive, Anju took up a number of short art and craft courses ever since she finished school. A diligent worker, Anju’s seriousness has reaped her a rich harvest. As her beaming and supportive mother-in-law said, “I think Anju has been extremely wise and sensible”.

All vacations and spare time was spent in the happy pursuit of creative impulses. Painting has been her forte, and Anju paints on fabric, working on household linen, fabricates fancy gift wrappers and bags, and has even evolved many new looks on terracotta surfaces.

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The craft of the potter dates back to antiquity in the civilizations across the world. The potter with his simple articles of unpolished earthenware done in nature colours of terracotta, brown, grey or red livens up the home. Anju found terracotta a wonderful medium to work on. Not only was terracotta becoming more and more popular, but is also more affordable. So picking up interesting shapes, which she turns into lamps, containers, she also gets special shapes done by the local potters, to suit her own ideas.

She uses more than a dozen finishes to get a variety of effects. From the antique, oxidised, candle terrametal, wood ceramics, marble, rope nozzle spray and leaf effect, she has also developed a matt finish. From the auspicious images of Ganesha to decorative containers, lamps and pots, Anju has catered to a large cross section of tastes. “Each time I try and add something new to my earlier collection, since the people are always on the look out for something new.” Anju gets her inspirations from her surroundings. “Even if I am watching a movie I am always paying more attention to the designs on the fabric, and the interiors. I never copy, I may get an idea from something I see, but then I develop the idea, and create my own designs”.

Anju first does a coating of primer, then lets the pot dry. For the metallic and terra metallic look she prefers to do a coat of black paint over which she then paints. She keeps changing the proportion of turpentine, glue, and varnish for each technique. “All the objects are waterproof”.

For her exhibition which opened on the 4th of October as a pre-Diwali offering, she had an elegant range of hand painted linen.

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“I have used ten types of shading in hand painting.” She uses a number brush which makes the line work delicate and the shading extremely subtle. Her designs range from the floral to animals at play for the children’s range. She also uses screen printing and block printing techniques. Anju is also using metallic colours in screen printing to get a decorative effect. “This has been particularly effective in bedcovers”.

Bursting with ideas and creativity, Anju wants to open a one-stop boutique where she wants to keep hand made unique gift items which will be personal and easily affordable.