Priyanshu Thakur, a 9th grade Student from Mumbai based St Annes School, won the Artist Category of Pogo Amazing Kids Award (PAKA) 2013. Priyanshu is known as one of the youngest Clay Artist who is fond of Clay sculpturing, sketching and painting since the age of five.
Interacting with AnimationXpress.com, Priyanshu Thakur, Pogo Amazing Kids Award (PAKA) 2013 Winner, shares his artistic journey and the importance of clay Sculpturing.
As a kid, Priyanshu loved playing with clay and tried to make a clay Ganesha. While making this sculpture, it was his mother who realized his talent and started teaching him how to make better sculptures. Clay sculpters made by Indian Artist Laxma, Goud’s texture clay work and Ceramist Dominique Allain’s Raku sculptures have been a source of inspiration to continue his clay art for several years.
While Making Clay Sculptures, Priyanshu uses different material like stone ware clay, terracotta clay, paper mache clay, stone, wood, fibers, bronze, etc.
Highlighting about the unique features of Clay art “ Clay empowers me to work with joy and it helps the artist to be anybody: child, alien, animal, king, queen, Farmer & Shoes, as Sculptures , as it can represent human feelings” Further adds.
He uses natural textures like leaves, jute, leather, cracks, and mattresses according to the theme. Adding glaze colours, raku colours helps in bringing outspecial effects to the metallic look of his sculptures, through the firing sculpturing method. Sharing about what moods does his Clay sculptures depict? He says, “Through Clay art, I can depict happiness, excitement, caring, curiosity, unity, sorrow with humanistic expressions.”
“The most challenging aspect of Clay Art is that the sculptures don’t attain cracks or break after baking it in the kiln” Priyanshu highlights
Most of his clay sculptures have been displayed at several platforms which include Nehru Center Art gallery, Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2010 – 2012, Lavasa Art festival, Prakrit Art Gallery (Chennai), Artist Center Art Gallery etc. He has even hosted many Sculpture demo workshop at these Art Festivals. In Februaury 2014, Priyanshu Thakur will be presenting his Clay Suptures at the Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2014.
“I am very thankful to my Mother- Kawita Thakur, Geeta Castelino Ma’am (Kala Ghoda Association), Nena Rege Ma’am (Nehru Centre Art gallery), Meena Dadha ma’am (Prakrit Art gallery Chennai), Brinda Miller Ma’am , Tarana ma’am (Gallery Art & Soul) and Siddhart Kak who has helped and encouraged me to become a successful child artist and played a major role to help me win the Pogo Amazing Kids Award 2013.”, he concludes