The Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has decided to pay a unique tribute to Mahatma Gandhi’s as part of the year-long 150th birthday anniversary celebration. Befitting Bapu’s vision of empowering villagers. Towards this, the KVIC will install in New Delhi a large wall mural of Bapu symbolising the cultural integrity and unity of the nation.
Inaugurating a two-day workshop-cum-training programme ‘Technology for Modern Pottery’ at Bishampur village of Sewapuri in Varanasi district, KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said that in a joint effort of highly skilled 150 potters from all over the country, the KVIC will install 150 square meters (15 meters long by 10 meters wide) wall mural, using ‘chai kulhads’.
“While Each chai kulhad will be one pixel of the entire image, small terracotta parts will come together to form the entire image. This mural will become a finite entity formed by a simple unit of larger generality. The e KVIC will showcase it in some prominent place in New Delhi,” he said.
Saxena further said the KVIC has already started identifying 150 potters from different parts of the country to produce the chai kulhads for this very purpose.
“The selected potters will produce the chai kulhads in stipulated size, shape and finish them as India has a great pottery tradition and different parts of the country has diversified techniques of production of clay articles. An Ahmedabad-based firm the Clay Club that specialises in terracotta and ceramic products, will design the artwork and will manage the production by engaging with the identified potters,” he said.
To make the life of mural weather proof, these kullads will be glazed and baked in high temperature at Gujarat’s Morbi, which is world famous for terracotta and glazed clay articles. The KVIC has so far in this financial year distributed 4,700 electric potter wheels in different parts of the country and plans to distribute additional 7,000 electric potter wheels by March 31 next year.