The corkscrews

June 8^th 2009 - Karachi

I was looking out the kitchen window this morning, drinking green tea, observing the neighbours roof where an electrician was fixing some connections. My mind was occupied with mundane thoughts; domestic in nature, washing the bathroom tiles, cleaning the kitchen cabinets, when suddenly my eyes wandered to the left and fixed themselves on the two corkscrews hanging off a hook, looking a bit rusty if I may say so.  It has been eight months, since they were last used. That's a pretty long time sitting idle for the once most used kitchen appliance. Just a few more weeks in hibernation…

Have you ever been in a situation where you just can't find a corkscrew? I sure have, since that day I placed many corkscrews in several parts of my kitchen, so in times of dire need anyone could find one if they opened a drawer or two. There was one time when a friend and I waited for two hours trying to locate one, desperate and thirsty – old school that we are, never realized that it was a twist off. Two hours of irritation, distress, searching and some angry phone calls later, we examined the bottle, twisted off the cap and poured ourselves a much-needed drink. I don't like twist offs. It's like eating steak on a plastic plate. Which reminds me of my ceramics teacher Barry Bartlett who told us once, don't bother cooking great food if you won't serve it in a good pot, just go buy a microwave dinner instead.

And so there are three most important corkscrews in my kitchen. One a light blue one taken from my mother's kitchen when moving into my own house, the second was handed down to me along with a great wine, by my 9^th street neighbour; who I share some great memories with.  It was used and had an electric blue film wrapped around its metal self when I first saw it, it now has very little of that film left. And the third one is a sturdy stainless steel corkscrew given to me by a friend who found religion and lost himself in it, and had no need for a corkscrew anymore.

The corkscrews came with their own memories, and are now being marked with the patina of mine.

Raania Azam Khan Durrani

Articles: URBAN COMFORT, The news international, 26th May 2009

interior URBAN COMFORT When artistic minds collide the after effects are usually amazing. This house is one such example where the fusion of a designer and a filmmaker has resulted in sheer inventive bliss... By Raania. A.K.Durrani Photography by Naqeeb-ur-Rehman Maleeha Choudhary is a fashionista in the true sense. She dresses sharp, contemporary, and stylish and always looks comfortable. Her husband Nasir is artistic, cool and casual. Both of them have a home which truly reflects their styles, and their love for urban comfort. The house is located in a quiet residential street off a very busy Karachi main road. Despite being so near the city traffic the home is sheltered by the street and surrounding houses, which gives it the much loved cosiness and calm. The house which is contractor erected, was designed by the couple themselves, with some assistance from a friend Natasha Ghani. Built in 2006, this house occupies nearly five hundred square yards. It contains two bedrooms, two offices, four bathrooms, one powder room, a large kitchen, one open lounge and dining area and one large basement space, which really is the centre-point of the house. Maleeha is the head designer for her line of clothing 'Daaman'. She earlier worked as a buyer and consultant for a women's clothing store in Karachi. Her own line of clothing is modern, straightforward, and aesthetic, and is becoming very popular amongst the ladies. Maleeha maintains an office and display space for her clothing at her home. Nasir primarily a filmmaker owns and manages 'Periscope' which is a production house specialising mainly in corporate films and documentaries. Nasir's office is also in the house. With both of them working out of the house, the abode has become a multi-faceted space, which almost has a simultaneous occupancy, a double function, and changed personality from day to night. The main door opening up into a small foyer space leads one into the open lounge and dining area and the powder room to the left. This open plan is welcoming and spacious. Beyond the dining area is the kitchen, which is large and minimal, the counter spaces are a chef's delight. The lounge is a sunken space with cosy seating and colourful artwork. The greenery and water feature outside complements the cool blues and greens of this room. Beyond the lounge area on the right is a glass door leading out to the plants, which, surrounds the master bedroom. This creates an illusion of split-levels and is a fantastic solution for bringing the outdoors indoor and utilising space at its best. They do feel that if ever they were to redo the house, they would try to close in the lounge space, as cost effective cooling in the summer becomes a problem. Both Maleeha and Nasir speak of their bedroom and basement as their favourite spaces in the house. A staircase parallel to the living space leads down in the basement. The basement again is open spacious and not typically basement like. It is well lit and decorated with exciting pop art images. The pool table is the main feature of this room and is quite a treat for the guests at their parties. The couple does most of their evening entertainment here in the basement. On one end of the room is a cosy sitting, similar to the lounge upstairs; restful seating, bright soft furnishing, complimented by a mix of contemporary and tropical art and accessories. Maleeha thanks IKEA for a lot of the accessories and interior accents of the house. Neither one of them believes in a formal entertainment space, so there is no drawing room type space in this house. As a result of that all guest usually feel a sense of belonging and warmth when visiting this house, the hosts and the spaces are relaxed and most convivial. Along the open space are the rest of the rooms, the doors opening up into the centre of the basement. Maleeha and Nasir both wanted a warm and comfortable house that would be young, trendy and truly contemporary in design; and most importantly one, which, would fit within a budget. With much hard work, contemplation, decision - making and efficient execution, they succeeded. Their home is a multi-function design that is effective for creative work and good living for these two young active and motivated people.   (Raania A. K Durrani is an artist and educator lives and works in Karachi,www.raania.blogspot.com)

Articles: Wonderwomen, The news international 12 May 2009

Wonder-women

You Magazine, The news international 12 May 2009

By Raania Azam Khan Durrani

During my few years of association with the arts in Pakistan, I have come across several inspiring women artists and exciting art works. In the past few years there has been rapid growth and boom within the visual arts. As an artist and art educator I see a positive shift in the general perception towards art as an academic and career pursuit. Pakistani art is now making its presence felt internationally. Pakistani artists are reaching out, and through the help of artist collectives and galleries they are getting a chance to exhibit worldwide. Every week in the major cities, Karachi and Lahore, there are two to three art exhibit openings. We often see new galleries inaugurated and artists featured. The press supports these artists and mostly all exhibit openings, are well attended by the public and featured by the print media and television. The visual arts are being celebrated and to be an artist is now more glamorous than ever.

Away from this hype, glamour and often clamour and glare, are some women artists who are working away mysteriously, producing work that is sensitive, direct, relevant and contemporary. I am privileged to have had an insight into some of these multi-faceted and sophisticated women's lives and works, which are both stirring and captivating.

 

Samina Raza

She is a self taught and exceptionally skilled artist. Her paintings, mostly watercolour and mixed media represent life, dreams, stories, fantasies and realities. The colours are extremely fresh and almost alive. The drawings so detailed and resolved. Samina's work truly represents her great history and her eclectic choices. Her many years of work as an art teacher and illustrator for children's books reflects in her work, as each piece contains some playfulness, and a riddle like quality. The work is approachable, direct andcommunicative. Samina has exhibited her artwork nationally for several years, in group and solo shows, her latest ork will be on exhibit in Karachi this summer. Samina Raza, artist and mother, began her career in Lahore; she now lives and paints in her wonderfully colourful and dollhouse like home and studio in Karachi.

(SEE IMAGE) 

Ghania Badar

She is womanly and proud, and loves clay. She is fascinated by her pottery wheel, and like most of us clay artists, is tied and most loyal to her medium. She often spends her days working away in her studio at home, and managing her home and kids simultaneously. Ghania's work is ambitious, with limited ceramic resources she aims to produce the conceptually driven work, which delivers the modern art feel in form and finish. I had the chance to show with her once in Lahore at the Al-Hamra Arts Council where she displayed her table piece, colourful, full of form, detailed and narrative. She recently displayed her work addressing the issue of honour killing, at the National Art Gallery in Islamabad. Ghania Badar, artist, mother and homemaker lives and pots up in the hills of Islamabad.

Fizza Saleem

Sensitive, playful and kind, Fizza has explored a variety of mediums and themes during her seven year career. She has trained at the NCA in Lahore and also at the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture in Karachi. Her drawingsand paintings are enchanting and childlike. Dorothy's magic shoes in the Wizard of Oz inspire Fizza's current work, and through her work she explores a child's world. She has shown nationally in group and solo shows, her latest work is on exhibit in Karachi in May 2009. Fizza Saleem, artist, mother and homemaker lives and works in Karachi.

Nurayah Sheikh Nabi

She is vibrant, feminine, spontaneous and headstrong. So is her work. Her art, which mostly consists of printmaking and drawings, is rich and substantial. Her concepts stemming from the self, the woman, are depicted in the strong marks of her tools. Nurayah's use of the female body in her work is moving, and her skill does justice to the forms. She says about her work, "The fascination of a single line in a circular movement which takes on varying forms or tentacles just on their own, recurring symbols that signify the self in isolation and the self as part of a whole. Stages of life and evolution of self have been constant in my work. This constant back and forth makes my work evolve." Nurayah has exhibited her work nationally at several shows; Nurayah artist, educator, mother and homemaker, belongs to Karachi, but currently lives in Lahore, where she first found art and love.

Aliya Yousuf

Aliya is quiet, pensive and straightforward, works diligently with clay. A medium she hasgrown to love over the years. Trained primarily as a miniaturist, Aliya now focuses on her ceramic sculpture. Her works are detailed, fine and full of form. Her recent works are a series of hand built clay forms, standing precariously and delicately on probe like limbs. Aliya initially worked with low-fired red clay, but has now moved to high-fired clays and is constantly challenging her ceramic skill and knowledge and experimenting with many types of treatments and firings. Aliya has shown in several group shows nationally, and is now working towards a solo exhibit. This summer Aliya will be showing new work in a two-person show in Karachi. Aliya Yousuf artist, educator and dedicated mother lives and works in Karachi.

Sarah Bakhtiyar

Young and positive, this girl has been showing her work since 2005. She is a painter in the true sense. The first solo show, which I curated, consisted of paintings more than fifteen feet in width or height, the show also contained a 30-foot wall mural as the major piece of the show. She uses colours and energy in abundance, sometimes layering with paint, sometimes searching and at times discovering. Her earlier works defined her as an action painter. Even though Sarah began working at a smaller scale recently, the work has no less energy or action. She addresses the space in her paintings as if searching for a solution. Her work truly develops visually and conceptually during the process of being worked upon. Her works are open ended, colourful, moving and growing each day that she works in her studio. She has exhibited her paintings and murals nationally and internationally in solo and group shows. Her new body of work will be on display in Karachi this autumn. Sarah Bakhtiyar an artist, teacher, curator and new homemaker; works and lives in Karachi.

 

Saba Iqbal

She is brutally honest, humourous, and to the point, makes lesser work but each art work delivers a bigger message each time. She is a meticulous person, possessing an even more meticulous artistic skill. Saba is primarily a sculptor and knows her materials inside out. Her works consisting of wood and metal reliefs are detailed, narrative and yet to the point. Her sharp tools and her vivid thoughts mark her works. Her drawings, which often are the precursors to many of her final works, are as scrupulous. Saba's work reflects her thought, without question. The work is not diplomatic and neither is it offensive. She finds humour in the gravest of situations, yet is able to deliver her thought with adequate depth and reason. Saba has shown in group shows nationally, and has a number of furniture design and commissioned projects to her name. Her latest work is inspired by the aboriginal history of Australia. An artist in the true sense, Saba belongs to Karachi, mind, body and soul, but is currently spending time in Australia.

(Author Raania A. K Durrani clay artist and educator lives and works in Karachi www.raania.blogspot.com)

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/may2009-weekly/you-12-05-2009/index.html#1

CONTEMPORARY VISUAL CULTURE BY ALLISON WHITE

Return to Features ON LOCATION Karachi: Cultural Safe Haven By Allison White An ethnically diverse metropolis of 15 million, the port city of Karachi lies on Pakistan's southern coast. Geographically and socially removed from the northwestern tribal areas that Western commentators call "the most dangerous place in the world" because of its reputation as a hotbed of militant fundamentalism, Karachi is the country's financial capital. The city breeds a steely, enterprising spirit that has fueled the development of its artistic community and a local art market driven by young collectors from Karachi's new upper class. Pragmatic yet innovative, the contemporary art produced here reflects the cosmopolitanism of its artists and the experimental agendas of the city's local arts organizations, most notably the nonprofit Vasl and the progressive Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS). During the last couple of years, new art spaces and commercial ventures such as Koel Gallery, initiated by textile artist Noorjehan Bilgrami, and Gandhara-Art, sprung up almost on a weekly basis in the affluent neighborhoods of Clifton and Defence Housing Authority. The global economic instability that now threatens many of these fledgling galleries felt remote at a recent opening for young photographer Izdeyar Setna, a member of what the English-language newspaper Dawn dubbed the "Karachi fraternity" of leading photographers. By the middle of the evening, the buoyant crowd at the ten-year-old Canvas Gallery had snapped up three-quarters of Setna's impressionistic, double-exposed photographic portraits of women. In late March, Sameera Raja, the owner of Canvas, moved the gallery to join others in Clifton. What Pakistan's largest city lacks is a major museum. With the attention and resources of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party devoted to maintaining law and order in the Northwest Frontier, the government has few residual resources for the arts. Pakistan's first national art museum, the National Art Gallery (NAG) opened in Islamabad—700 miles northeast of Karachi—in late 2007 after decades of planning. But a museum in far-off Islamabad has little impact on Karachiites. Canvas Gallery's Sameera Raja believes that private citizens need to do more to support the arts: "We are a country of rich people and poor government, so the people need to take ownership." Karachi's artists aren't waiting for a government-sponsored museum. Instead they are launching their own initiatives with entrepreneurial zeal, fulfilling a crucial role by integrating global art-making practices into the local scene. The artists' collective Vasl, Urdu for "to come together" or "a meeting point," was founded in 2001 by a band of artists including painters Anwar Saeed, Naiza Khan and sculptor Khalil Chishtee. In December 2008, Vasl partnered with British filmmakers Karen Mirza and Brad Butler on The Museum of Non Participation, a London-Karachi project commissioned by UK-based nonprofit Artangel that questions, in the words of Vasl coordinator Auj Khan, "the systems of modernity underlying the cities as well as systems of making art." In Karachi, this exploration included a food vendor who used a newsletter created by Mirza and Butler to wrap up naan bread for takeout customers. The artists also painted bilingual English-Urdu signs on walls throughout the city that read "The Museum of Non Participation," an appropriation of the graffiti typically used by political parties and businesses. The expansion of Karachi's art community has been supported by the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, founded in 1989 by a group of now-established artists and designers including architects Arshad and Shahid Abdulla, sculptor Shahid Sajjad and textile artist Shehnaz Ismail. Despite the very real implications of Pakistan's unpredictable political and economic environment, the arts are rapidly attracting interest in Karachi as a viable career path. IVS ceramics professor Raania Azam Khan Durrani, who is in her mid-twenties, ran one of Karachi's first alternative, interdisciplinary art spaces, the Commune Artist Colony from 2005 until it closed in 2008. In her own characterization of Karachi's art, Durrani cites the artistic possibilities borne from Karachi's freedom from tradition, allowing artists to experiment with materials, interrogate the boundaries of art and craft, and incorporate the motifs that shape daily experience in the frenetic city. Fellow IVS faculty member Adeela Suleman works with housewares like stainless-steel drain covers, kitchen tongs and tea kettles, which she morphs into sculptures resembling human forms or fashions into colorful helmets—a nod to Karachi's massive contingent of motorcycle riders. According to artist and professor Durriya Kazi, who established the visual studies department at the University of Karachi in 1999: "There is a social and cultural divide among artists as much as there is in Pakistani society. Art schools to a large extent shrink this divide." Unlike IVS, many of the students who study fine art at the University of Karachi come from low-income families, but through the two schools and Vasl, artists from both sides show together. Kazi's former student Abdullah Qamar recently started the Dhaba Art Movement; he and fellow artists organize art activities in the roadside tea stalls, or dhabas, where most of Pakistan's citizens have cheap meals, an effort to bring art to poorer areas. As a relatively safe haven from the fundamentalist violence plaguing northern Pakistan, Karachi is a place where contentious cultural issues can still be investigated. In late January, the London nonprofit gallery Green Cardamom brought their three-city exhibition "Lines of Control," supported by the Rangoonwala Trust, to the Karachi's VM Gallery. Work by Karachi natives Bani Abidi and Roohi Ahmed was shown alongside that of Indian filmmaker Amar Kanwar and multimedia artist Nalini Malani, addressing the controversial legacy of India's 1947 Partition. In March, however, Pakistan's evolving political turmoil gripped Karachiites as lawyers led non-violent demonstrations demanding the re-instatement of the supreme court chief justice ousted by former president Pervez Musharraf. Seen as part of a larger anti-government corruption effort, the protests and chief justice Chaudhry's eventual re-instatement electrified the art community, inspiring hope for political change. Abroad, Karachi's artists are earning growing recognition. Representation of contemporary Pakistani art has been dominated over the past decade by the neo-Mughal miniature painting movement based in Lahore at the National College of Arts, among whose most notable graduates are painters Shazia Sikander, Imran Qureshi and Aisha Khalid. In "Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan," which opens in August at New York's Asia Society, curator Salima Hashmi will include IVS graduate Huma Mulji, now based in Lahore, whose sculptures with taxidermy animals—a camel shoved into a suitcase, a water buffalo stuffed into a drainpipe—are metaphors for development gone awry. Hashmi has also picked IVS faculty member Naiza Khan, known for her layered abstractions and metal sculptures of women's garments. As Karachi's art community steps onto the international stage, it challenges perceptions that Pakistani art is limited to one location, one medium or one history.     home | subscribe | where to find | back issues | advertising | links | about us | contact |
© Copyright 2008 Art Asia Pacific Publishing, LLC.

CV 2009

Raania Azam Khan Durrani

PH: +92-300-8283894

47/1, 13^th street, Khayaban-e-Mujahid, Phase 5, DHA, Karachi, Pakistan

raania.durrani@gmail.com   

www.raania.blogspot.com

 

 

CAREER & EDUCATION HISTORY

 

2001 - 2009   Exhibiting Artist – Visual art & Ceramics (2003-current) –National & International shows www.raania.blogspot.com   Faculty of Ceramics (2003-current) – Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture – www.indusvalley.edu.pk - Karachi   Project coordinator (2008-current) – Friendship International INGO (Pakistan Office) - Karachi   Coordinator Workshops & Exhibitions (2005-2008) - Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture – www.indusvalley.edu.pk - Karachi   Founder/Director & Exhibition Curator  (2005 – 2008) – Commune Artist Colony (creative gathering space for artists)  - Karachi   Ceramic Studio Assistant for artist workshops at Bennington College (2001-2003) – Artists: Barry Bartlett/Arnie Zimmerman/Jeff Oestriech– www.bennington.edu - Bennington VT, USA   Writer (2002) – The News – English newspaper - Karachi   Key Achievements: Participating Artist (2004): Sutra International Artist Workshop, Bhaktapur, Nepal Participating Artist (2008): Goshogowara International woodfire festival – www.makigama.org - Aomori, Japan   Key Skills and professional strengths: §  Experienced art curator, administrator and educator §  Experienced in writing: Creative and documentative §  Skilled clay artist, teacher & art studio manager   Education: §  Bennington College, Vermont, USA - B.A Liberal Arts: Visual Art & Writing (2003)

 

Exhibitions featuring my Art Work Usdan Gallery, Bennington VT, USA September 2001 President's Gallery, Bennington VT, USA March 2002 Usdan Gallery, Bennington VT, USA May 2003 Nugha Mikha, Sutra International Artist Workshop, Open day exhibit, Bhaktapur Nepal June 2004 Commune Artist Colony, Karachi – Opening Exhibit December 2005 Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture February 2006 Tale of the Tile, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi June 2006 ASNA Clay Triennial, Arts Council Karachi November 2006 Clay Clan, Al-Hamra Arts Council, Lahore February 2007 Eve, Hamail Gallery, Lahore 2007 Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture February 2007 Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture February 2008 GIWFF Exhibition, Kanayama Gallery, Aomori, Japan July 2008 Solo show, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, September 2008 Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture February 2009 Group Show, Gulmohar Art Gallery, Karachi, February 2009 Group Show, The elephant warehouse, Karachi, March 2009 (Images of art work available on blog: www.raania.blogspot.com )

 

Curatorial projects Some of the significant curatorial projects on my portfolio include: Performance by Bikram Ghosh (Calcutta based percussionist) 1999, VT, USA Performance by Bikram Ghosh and Veena Chandra (NY based sitar player) 2000, VT, USA Performance by Humayun Ferzad Khan (Afghan musician trained by Ustaad Vilayat Ali Khan) 2002, VT, USA Music Workshop conducted by Bikram Ghosh 2003 VT, USA Solo show by Sarah Bakhtiyar 2006 KHI, PK Solo Show by Fareen Butt 2006 KHI, PK Performance by Overload featuring pappu Sain 2006 KHI, PK Solo Show by Abdul Jabbar Gull 2006 KHI, PK Solo show by Sarah Bakhtiyar 2007 KHI, PK Solo Show by Adeela Suleman 2007 (Karachi based sculptor) KHI, PK Group Show by VASL Taaza Tareen residency artists 2007 KHI, PK Group Show by Fine Art Students of the Indus Valley School (Painting, printmaking and sculpture) 2007 KHI, PK Conceptualized and curated the 'Night Café at Miskeen Gali' Mural Project (Public Art by students) 2007 KHI, PK Photography and Video works by Shalalae Jamil and Nurjahan Akhlaq 2008, KHI, PK

 

OBJECTIVE

My education and work history has lead me to explore several aspects of art; art making, art administration, curatorship, documentation and education. I wish to work in environments conducive to intellectual growth, social and cultural progress and most importantly peace and acceptance. I wish to create exciting solutions and constructive platforms for art promotion and appreciation. As a writer I always prefer to express details capturing the essence of the moment being described. Similarly my clay art is also detailed in concept and form, constructed with mostly locally abundant material and highly experimented upon in the making and firing process.

 

REFERENCES

References are available on request.

March 14th 2009

12 days waiting for the rain by Raania A. K Durrani (2004)

(Re-edited March 2008)

Day 1

" I wonder what is in her mind but in my mind...I find only you "

Sunset in Karachi breaks my heart. As evening approaches, your quiet city, which lives in my heart, is being taken over by the loud sounds and bright lights of Karachi. The gloomy mauve of the city evening brings me down. As the sun drops down into the ocean, my heart sinks into the endless thoughts of you.

Day 2

Tonight the air in Karachi is humid and warm. I lie in my bed thinking of what the air is like where you are.

I think of the dark crowded night when we were dressed in white and tiny flames were lit around us. It was the funeral of a lion. I had to climb up some stairs so I could see what was happening beyond the crowd of mourners.

To feel is my strength – to generalize and be numb is my weakness.

Day 3

Many things come between many people and many people between many things. It is natural. Interruptions are real. To withstand these interruptions of reality, we must choose to be real first.

Day4

Our geographical distance is enough to make us suffer; must we also always consider our political boundaries?

Day5

I saw the mountains again. The sudden bends on the curved roads. I met the fair people who enjoy clean air on the higher altitudes. I am traveling once more.

Day 6

Rain is not the same everywhere. I saw the first rains of the monsoon season in another country. I recall running across the tiny street and climbing up the small stairs and then finally finding a dry spot under the door of a huge Temple. I remember the heavy raindrops falling into my coffee cup- diluting the rich, hot liquid into a watery, cold, light and almost dreamlike concoction. I can almost hear the sound of your voice, which sang near me. The pink kite paper, the drenched red bricks, and the many colourful flowers of the small garden – they all added to the scene. They all enjoyed the beat of the rain and the sugar in your sound.

Today I sit in a place away from you, and away from my own home – I hear the continuous raindrops hitting the parked car, which I sit in alone, waiting for the others. It is evening, and the storm was short, but the rainfall seems to be never-ending, No one is with me but the memories of your voice and the smell of the abundant red bricks of your village. I see lush green hills around me. I see absolute organization and planning. I see this gorgeous land coexisting with impressive urbanization. What I do not see is the colourful clothes of the street children. I cannot smell the oil lamps of the temple. I cannot hear the bell, which was rung a hundred times at dawn and dusk.

Amidst the chaos of this rain- the chaos of this rat race, and the clamour of the status conscious women – I realize I do not fit. I do not belong to this new city, I do not know these rain drops, and I do not own this car.

Day 7

Still no rain here. The monsoon has still not arrived, no rain here at home. The happy faces of the smiling children are with me. In lie in bed clad in white covered with layers of white bed linen. I look out the window. I want to go out but I cannot move. Through the window I see some sky- I see the coconut trees and their leaves shimmering in the 5 'o' clock sun. They are dancing in the salty sea air. The longer I look at these green blades, the longer I wish to continue looking at them.

Day 8

They say it rained last night. I was asleep. When I woke up this morning, I saw no signs of any rainfall. There was no smell of the soil and the leaves did not look any greener. Maybe it is all in my mind. Maybe the leaves this morning were a hundred times brighter. Perhaps the dust had settled and the soil was damp. Maybe the air smelled more of the land than of the sea. I would like to believe that. I would like to wake up tomorrow and experience all the above without thinking so hard about it. When I was with you I could see so much. I think of that morning when the leaves were the brightest, the soil of your fertile land was most fragrant. My senses were so alive. I wish to have that morning back. I wish to walk through the heavy afternoon rain. I wish for the sound of those innumerable raindrops to engulf my mind. Maybe it's not the rain that I wait for.

 Day 9

The breeze was priceless tonight.

 Day 10

It begins to drizzle as I sit out here on the steps. The dogs and I enjoy the very scarce but electrifying droplets. I enthusiastically believe that this is rain, when in reality it just a light mist. The breeze is taking the clouds away, I think. I realize that the breeze in my city is unmatched. Leaves of the 'badaam' tree are restlessly moving in all directions. The birds are returning to the trees, they are very loud in the evening; I wonder what it is that they discuss. Usually the moment before the rain is heavy, silent, melancholy and unbearable – but it is just a moment. Today that moment is too long. The breeze continues.

One lonely brown leaf falls to the ground. I look at how different the coconut tree is to the 'badaam' tree. They stand together but their moves are not the same. I hear the voices of some men quietly speaking in the house next door. They are speaking a language that I do not understand. Our homes stand together but our language is not the same. The mist is gone- there is no electrifying spray. Why does it not rain where I am now?

 Day 11

It has been more than two months since I saw the first rain of the monsoon. Been so long since the large raindrop diluted my coffee and your magical sound filled my ear. Yet I am afraid of what it will be like once it does rain. Will my longing end? Is it the monsoon I long for or it something other than just that? August is near its end. Karachi becomes dustier, dirtier, filthier- day by day. We make the money in Sindh and it is invested upcountry. Political chaos, urban decay, over population – all seem to be issues of just Karachi. Sindh suffers.

Friday once was a time when the family got together. The women prepared lunch at home and waited for the men and boys to return from 'Jumma' prayers at the mosque. It was a happy day, a day which we spent with our grandparents when we were young. Now Fridays are difficult days. Friday prayer time is a weekly high alert for terrorist activity. Bombs and bomb scares are common. Guards with Kalashnikovs examine the worshippers prior to entering the mosques. Killing machines have made their way into the places of worship. While praying men think of which one of them has a bomb tied to his chest.

Friday afternoons the air is filled with sounds of the ' Qutba' from different mosques, the once calming sound that I associated with brotherhood and camaraderie, is now a sound that I pray passes without being accompanied by blasts. My Karachi seems unfamiliar to me, as if it is no longer mine. The dark gray clouds are back, and evening in Karachi is heavier than ever.

 Day 12

I lie alone in the darkness of my room. The light of one tiny torch aids my vision and my ability to write. What makes a distance colossal is the different names of the two places. My dark room has transformed itself into a colourless concrete cube. I see nothing, nothing at all.

Revisiting the sketchbook: 1

Looking back at older, attempted or unfinished work is a wonderfully exciting process. These are some older works which I have done in the past few years. The box drawing was done in 2004 while working towards the Annapurna installation in Nepal. It is around the same time that I made the small liquid glass paintings. I have always been inspired by surfaces and layers, and looking through the liquid glass is a dream like and watery experience. The drawings on the box represented brains, thoughts, people and interactions. They were really almost details of the mind, its complications and its beauty. I made many objects and touched many concepts during the past few years, building structures, altered pots, fabric and object casting, tiny kiln god icons and more. In early 2008 I started working on a body titled initially " thin layers of fat clay". I made many of these objects as a precursor to the work i would be doing in Japan and then later showing in Karachi in September 2008. The work in Japan moved from these forms to others, I showed an amalgam of these works in September. The images of the two forms are works done in in Karachi in May 2008. I hope to continue with this movement and refine and resolve this particular body in the future, as I relate to it most. It is current, direct and relevant for me. It visually described the intent and history of its making. 

6th March 2009: Trying to recall & interpret my dream.

Today like most other days, I woke up early and may have procrastinated in bed for near five minutes before stepping out and beginning the day. The day actually began around 5 am, when I sensed dawn approaching through the sheer white curtains of my bedroom. Instantly my hand reached for my eye patch, pink on the outside, boldly stating ' Leave me alone' in thick black letters. Once on my eyes, it was dark again and my sleep got deeper.

I had a strangely detailed and fearful dream earlier in the night. I kept thinking of it all night in my sleep. I am sure I have had similar dreams before, some very close to this one. I dreamt of sitting on a hill by the beach with three others. One my husband and the other two a prominent artist and her theatrical husband, both intellectual and sophisticated. As we sipped white wine under the cloudy afternoon sky, lost in a deep conversation about the arts…we happened to look down the hill and noticed that the large expanse of sea…was now barren. More than half of the sea from shore to sky was void of water. Now there was just debris, black rocks, sand and an awful silence. It is a disastrous idea just to even think of it now.

At the surreal sight of this, I leapt and began to run away from the hill. I kept saying, ' the sea has gone back, now it will return, we must run'. But no one except me ran. No one was afraid of the strange and frightfully weird sight.  I ran and ran and reach a small room, which looked boat like. Inside were many small children crying, screaming and scurrying about in fear, and one nurse like woman trying to taking care.

I had been correct. The sea was coming back, and with fierceness like never before. The room began to shake and was enveloped by high, strong, dark waves. Saving the children was the task at hand, on my mind though was my husband and the others who still had not returned. But I knew they were fine and on their way.  I repeated loudly over and over again ' the sea has gone back now it will return…' The children and two of us were drenched and panicking, the sound of the waves was deafening and the sky was a mouse like dark and curious colour. The dream ended there, but many other short insignificant dreams followed. I know I have had dreams like this one before.

At 9am I ate breakfast; a drink of fruit and yogurt, with toast and some marmalade. I now had the crossword before me to finish.

 I had forgotten about the dream, up until now. It is late afternoon and I am writing eagerly, hoping not to forget details as the reality of this day consumes my mind.

Raania. 

A wood-firer in Karachi by Raania A. K Durrani

2008 has been a year of investigation, exploration and realization.

As a student at Bennington College Vermont, USA, being part of a wood firing crew was the most exhilarating experience ever. I remember my first time; after completing the night shift with a crew as young, energetic and enthusiastic as myself, we sat at the dining hall porch overlooking the 'end of the world' eating breakfast. Our eyes swollen, faces smeared with black soot, heat exhausted and clueless about how we actually got to temperature...there was a silence at the table. It was early morning in Vermont, it had been a long night. We needed to sleep, bodies needed to be washed and rested, but there was something on our minds, something that kept us lingering at the breakfast table . And then someone said it...' I would do it all over again..right now'.  

After every intense wood firing when I bathe and go to bed, I know I will see flames in my dreams. It happens every time. My teacher,  Barry Bartlett told me once if you want to learn to fire a kiln, fire a wood kiln. What he forgot to mention was once you fire wood you don't want to fire anything else.

All the works in my recent exhibit in Karachi were wood-fired. Each pot, each object is a document of a firing. I see my pots as a documentation of my investigation and learning. I have been lucky to fire thrice in Karachi in 2008 and also to have experienced great kilns and fired with fantastic partners at Kanayama Pottery, Japan during the summer of 2008. The pots are an evidence of the long firings, the ash deposits, the thermal shocks, the charcoal inclusions and the constant mental and physical investment in the process.

In my quiet moments with my work, I look at small cracks and thick ash deposits on the work and it transports me back to the firings. How we stoked, what we were thinking of ...that time, that space and that energy. The charcoal which marked the porcelain making it pink, the ash in the Olsen Kiln in Japan which dripped like thick lava, the earthquake that night at the Olsen kiln and the memory of the mountain trembling.

It is a process that touches a few and marks them for life. Just like the timeless existence of a fired pottery shard, which is an evidence of its journey, the making and the fire; a wood firers story and lifestyle is the evidence of his or her lifelong commitment to the fire.

Pakistan being rich in pottery tradition, with an unmatched history of Neolithic civilizations and pottery craft – is still very far from supporting contemporary ceramic pursuit and appreciation.  With minimal infrastructure there are still some very committed artists who strive to work with clay as their premier medium of expression. Out of these only very few wood fire. In Karachi, the urban metropolis of a population nearly more than 16 million there is only one known high fire wood kiln, which also was built recently by an Indian potter Kristine Michael.

This kiln is housed in a major art institution which manages a fully functioning ceramics studio, that unfortunately caters to a handful of students per year, due to lack of interest and enrollment in the ceramics programme.  Students during their stay are enthusiastic about firing wood but so far no one has been able to continue studio practice after graduation, mainly due to studio facilities available to young graduates support groups and most of all kiln availability. There are no communal studios present with kilns. Artists like myself are unable to construct wood kilns due to the nature of the city, its planning, monetary and geographical restrictions. During my association with the institution I have seen many ceramic graduates, changing professions or medium and altogether abandoning their craft. Perhaps until enough people get together to acquire a space, and are dedicated to this craft- the situation will not improve.

As a result of this the audience really ends up not developing an appreciation or understanding for wood fired pottery. Karachi has a thriving arts community where each week major art opening and events take place. The attendance to these visual art showings is reassuring and promises a bright future for Pakistani art.  Ceramic exhibits often well attended as well, lack an educated and appreciative audience. There are only a handful of people in the audience who are mainly artists themselves that understand the process, the labour and the aesthetic of wood fired pottery and ceramics. The majority of the audience seeks out, appreciate and purchase ceramics which I categorize as commercial, brightly glazed, formed with a machine like precision, and definitely lacking soul. The maker's touch and evidence of the process in not appreciated.

In a recent solo exhibit of my wood fired works at a premier gallery in Karachi, I was overwhelmed by the response, yet amazed by the lack of knowledge and understanding a majority of the well traveled audience had. I must admit that there has not been a single solo exhibit of wood-fired works prior to mine before and perhaps my impatience with the audience is invalid.

At the exhibit itself I handed out write ups explaining the works and the process involved. Following the exhibit many write ups and interviews contained detailed accounts of the mental, physically and mystical elements of the process and my intent. I only hope that soon enough more opportunities for showcasing wood fired pottery will arise.

As an exhibiting artist, committed to the medium, I still do not own a kiln. Working in Karachi during these times, adds a nomadic element to all my concepts and works. In the past six years of being in Karachi I have worked as an art educator teaching ceramics and making work as I go along. Fortunately, I have figured out ways to fire my pots so far, but it has always been an unsettling and risky operations. Transporting green-ware, working under pressure and massive time restrictions, institutional red tape; gives the work a young, hurried, unfinished and curious personality, which visually leaves questions for the viewers and myself to answer.

My growth as a wood firer and potter I feel is stunted at times because of the conditions prevalent in the city. Yet it poses many questions, opportunities to vouch for my craft and a struggle, which will eventually result in good for the ceramic arts in Pakistan.

 

Raania Azam Khan Durrani graduated from Bennington College VT, USA  in 2003. She has since then been working as a clay artist and educator in her hometown Karachi, Pakistan where she is living with her husband. Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she has traveled abroad for artist residencies. Raania can be reached via email or through her blog.

www.raania.blogspot.com

Raania.durrani@gmail.com

 

 

Asian Ceramic Network - Online exhibition 2008

From the beginning of the 21st century, the world culture and arts had moved their focus on Asia, with numerous major ceramic events held around in Korea, China and Japan. The contemporary ceramics had been led by America and Europe, nevertheless, Asian ceramics had been playing an significant role in the world ceramic history.  As the arts genre, it is the time now when Asian ceramic should once again plays its leading role in the world ceramic culture.  For this purpose, the Asia Ceramic Network was launched in 2005 in Korea. Beyond our surprise, however, with the establishment of this Culture-oriented Network first time ever in such a large geographic and multi-cultural scale, we revealed to the world not only a rich history of ceramic in a several Asian countries that were once “neglected” to the modern ceramic world, like Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, India etc. but also a deeper understanding of the underlining culture of its origin that has led and developed the ceramic arts into its unique contemporary forms that are anxious to be shown to the ceramic world.

2008 4th ACN Cyber & Catalog Exhibition
www.koca21.net
48 artists from 12 countries
China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
(We have members from 13 countries Included Indonesia)

The snowing cold winter in Korean was marvelous to artists from South-East Asia, and to artists from Central Asia the tropical fruits in the Buddhist country Thailand and Moslem country Malaysia were certainly a pleasant memory.  With the relations we have built up through the Network, many of us share an affinity connection of the unique “Eastern scent” without much explanation. ACN has provided ceramic artists from Asia truly remarkable experiences that will continue to encourage and aspire each of us.

I would like to share with you all a piece of good news that a Taiwan artist, Mr. YungHsu Hsu, has just won the Grand Prix at the 2008 International Ceramics Festival, Mino, Japan.  Once, a member artist stated: “We expect our juniors can learn the world contemporary ceramic in Asia and grow up in Asia”; with my sincere wishes to all of our dearest members, I would like to keep these words deeply to my heart.

Rayyan Durrani : Exploring and Absorbing

Rayyan's photography in my opinion is a reflection his curiosity towards his subject, and of the way he experiences cultures, faces and spaces. The strongest being portraits and scapes. The compositions are narrative and very direct. The images have a story to tell and each one making the viewer curious about the next.

Rayyan's art can be seen on http://rayyandurrani.deviantart.com/

CLAY IS VAST

Ceramics is a multi - layered, multi faceted art form & such is clay as a material. I often wonder why viewers, students and even artists do not see this. Why is it that the works and styles of different clay artists, potters and makers are compared as one. During a heated discussion with some clay artists - we all questioned this dilemma we often face and came to a conclusion.  The curators, painters, sculptors and others in the Pakistani art community, specifically, need to challenge their thoughts and try to understand the simple fact that just like painting has several forms such as ; miniature, abstract, action, etc - so does ceramics. I found the following lecture interesting and informative. Below are some extracts. To read the full lecture please follow the link : http://ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu/perkins%5Flect%5Fseries/greenhalgh/

EXTRACTS: 

Social Complexity and the Historiography of Ceramic
Paul Greenhalgh

Fourth Annual Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture
Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art
at Alfred University
October 14, 2001

•	Ceramic has no historiography because it has too many histories.
•	Ceramic has no history because it has too much past.
•	Ceramic survives. Eventually it becomes the only thing the means anything in a culture.
•	Ceramic is forced to constantly wear the past in the present but has rarely managed to wear the future in the present.
•	Ceramic appears nowhere in 'The Story of Art' because it appears everywhere in life.
•	Ceramic is not modernist, but has been deeply concerned with modernity.
•	Modernity has been a phased development over several centuries. The phase we have just completed was not particularly conducive to ceramic practice. The next one will be.
•	Ceramic is a discreet set of stories within the History of Ornamentation. Modernity is not a simple matter in relation to ceramics. If we sit down and list the total number of things that influence the appearance of a piece of ceramic we realize that we are dealing with a plural discourse. That is to say, the number of sources and influences coming to bear on the perception of ceramic, both from the production and the consumption end, mean that it is a priori open to multifarious interpretation; it will never have singular or pure meanings. It will always have boundaries that leak, it will impinge on other spheres and will be impinged upon as a matter of course. It is part of its condition. Virtually without effort we can list sixteen factors which contribute to the visual condition of any ceramic object: 1 The maker's personal background (her or his personality, family heritage, sexual preferences, physiology) 2 The maker's social background (her or his ethnicity, nation, religion, geographic region) 3 The technical proficiency of the maker (her or his ability to exploit the material) 4 The consumer's personal background (her or his personality, family heritage, sexual preferences, physiology) 5 The consumer's social background (her or his ethnicity, nation, religion, geographic region) 6 The role of the object (it's function) 7 The history of the specific individual objects (where it has been, who bought it, how it was used) 8 The class of the object within the genre of ceramics (it's status in relation to other ceramic idioms and objects) 9 The technical state of the medium (the contemporary condition of the technology and chemistry of ceramic) 10 The condition of the marketplace 11 Current general political and social trends 12 The history of ceramics 13 The material itself 14 The history of other genres that relate to ceramics 15 Current general styles and trends 16 The social hierarchy of the arts

SCULPTURE 2008

Sculptural works by Raania A. K Durrani 2008
Medium: Found materials in workshop
Photos by Ciprian Ariciu

REVIEW: Earth, Fire, Water & Air - IVS Gallery November 2008

Sunday, November 16, 2008
By our correspondent

Karachi



Clay is the medium that lets a person get his hands into the earth – literally. It was this very philosophy and the feel of the 'Mitti' that got Sheherzad-e-Alam into clay and ceramic arts. This was shown in an exhibition of clay works titled 'Earth Fire Water Air'.

She, along with a few other Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture faculty members got together to make clay art. The exhibition featured works of Sheherzad, Sohail Abdullah, Raania Durrani, Rabia Tehmina Shoaib, Ambreen Hameed, Faraz A. Mateen, and Aaliya Yousuf, along with the works of Master Potter, Mohammad Nawaz from Harappa and the works of children of various schools.

The series of workshops titled 'Ustaad Shagird Workshops' saw Sheherzad and Nawaz come to Karachi and work in October and November to impart their knowledge to young, old, new and experienced artists. Sheherzad worked with schools of Citizen Foundation in Machharr Colony, Grammar Schools of Lahore and Karachi with children of the age groups 10 to 12 and of 15 to17.

Sheherzad was of the view that until and unless the children get their hands into the mud and clay they will not form a bond or connection with the soil and will remain disjointed with the land. In addition to that clay is the medium in which much of our culture has been preserved and the new generation needs to remember this culture.

Sheherzad-e-Alam's ceramic pottery was simple yet elegant. She used some Sindhi inspiration in her forms. However, there was one piece that stood out of the rest — a broad based cylinder of sorts which had a couple of the visitors in debate as who wanted to buy the piece more, and who got it booked first.

Raani Durrani's work followed her characteristic wood fired pottery, similar to her recent exhibit of works baked in the kilns of Japan. This time her pottery though was much more conventional. Sohail Abdullah crafted some conceptual pieces. Making some canteen like vessels. In addition to that he made smooth rock like objects with small oil pools to serve for lamps – radiating the section of the hall with his dancing flames.

Master Potter Nawaz had recreated many of the objects in Harappa Museum for the audiences here to experience the traditional arts. He recreated chess boards, clay models of bull carts, houses, figurines and pots, along with ornaments such as bangles and necklaces. 

Among the visitors, Shalale Jamil, a photo artist was enthralled by the pottery. Sculptor Abdul Jabbar Gul too loved the work of Sheherzad . Artist Akbar Ali too loved the work on display.

Earth, Water, Fire & Air

The IVS Gallery cordially invites you to explore 

Pakistan's Living Legacy of Clay: Earth Fire Water Air – an offering of 51 shagirds of clay.

This large scale group exhibit of ceramic works opens tomorrow, Friday the 14th of November at the IVS gallery. It is a very exciting show and contains a collection of clay works by Sheherezade Alam's students, IVS faculty members, Sohail Abdullah,

Raania A.K Durrani, master potters of Harrappa and Sheherezade Alam herself. Please join us tomorrow for the opening at 6 pm, followed by live music by Sindhi music maestros.

Press Preview : Friday Nov 14th , 4p.m. - 6p.m.

Opening reception : Friday, Nov 14, 2008 at 6:00 pm.

Exhibition Venue : IVS Gallery , Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture

Karachi, Pakistan

The exhibition will remain open till November 21, 2008.

Gallery Timings: 10:30 am – 7pm daily

UAN: 111-111-487

For Peace ~ 2008

Firing the wood kiln earlier this week. Firers included; Abeer Asim, Aliya Yousuf, Fraz Mateen, Sohail Abdullah, Fareen Mehdi, students and myself. 

Contained secrets...

What are the intangible secrets in vessels? What is within us? We are vessels, what are our secrets? Is it the realization of the neolithic civilization that we are a part of yet we have forgotten? Or is it the desire for acceptance and the nearly utopian belief that one day there will be peace? Is it something about ourselves that we wish to be surprised with...

My workshop with Sheherezade's students was a fantastic knowledge sharing experience for me. The one hour quick workshop was earlier this evening, and we addressed the idea of secrets within disguised vessels, the photos will explain what we did. The students were a group of teenagers and aspiring art teachers. The workshop was conducted in Urdu and was a high energy hands on experience.

STRATA - "land-marks" 2008

Works from the John Kiln, Japan 2008

Personal reflection on reveiw : Clay Feats 20th sep 2008

My response to the extract mentioned below:

 

Clay Feats' by Dawn - Gallery edition, September 20th 2008

"Our hands are of potters; our flesh is clay,
We are not history; we are the spirit of the living person."
The above couplet by Durrani, printed on the invitation card, is evidence of her abhorrence for the modern studio ceramist's art to be associated with the ancient pottery of this land — Moenjodaro, Harappa and Mehergarh. It remains debatable whether it is possible for the ceramists' work to stay rooted in its respective traditions, yet not be associated with the historical and spiritual context of the pottery of the region.

 

I in no way wish to undermine the great history of clay and ceramics of our ancestors. I feel with the writings in my artist statement I am addressing the audience in pakistan specifically, reminding them that ceramics is a living art form and contemporary potters & crafts people must be supported. The majority of the Pakistani audience is  limited in thier understanding of clay, for most, is as an ancient art existing in the ruins of a neolithic civilization. Clay is forgotten and so are contemporary clay artists and crafts people. Very few people today invest in ceramic education or ceramic art as a pursuit. My aim is to create an audience, an aware and sensitive audience who looks beyond the prehistoric context, and who  appreciates ceramic art as an alive and exuberant art form of this country. As an educator and artist I feel it is my responsibility to address this issue and work towards building a better support system for clay artists in Pakistan. Once again I wish to clarify that heritage is to be proud of, but not to be dwelled upon so much that it stunts ones creative and mental growth. We all; artists, students and the audience,  must look beyond and allow contemporary pakistani ceramics to enter the wonderful and exciting arena of mainstream international clay art. Thank you to the press and critics who are committed in allowing us outreach and a platform for creative discussion. Thank you

Raania Azam Khan Durrani

 

PRESS: 'CLAY FEATS' - Dawn Newspaper :Gallery

Welcome to DAWN, Pakistan's most widely circulated English language newspaper
September 20, 2008
DAWN - Gallery
CERAMICS & SCULPTURE: Clay Feats

Potters such as Raania Durrani trust the pyrotechnic abilities of wood and, despite the time consuming and labour-intensive process, prefer wood-firing to any other process, writes Rumana Husain
“After every wood-firing I see flames even in my dreams”, says Raania Azam Khan Durrani, the visual artist/ceramist who recently had a solo show of wood-fired pottery and sculptural ceramics (September 9 to 16) at the Canvas Gallery, Karachi.
One of Durrani’s teachers at Bennington College, Vermont, USA — where she studied visual art — had once said to her that if she wanted to learn to fire a kiln, she must fire a wood kiln. “What he forgot to mention was that once you fire wood you don’t want to fire anything else,” she says, without a tinge of regret in her voice.
A day before the opening of her show, after all the work had been put up… she was reliving the creation and firing of each piece. The exhibit, titled ‘Mountains, moonlight and goddesses’ contained ceramics produced this year in Karachi as well as at Aomori, Japan. According to her, she loves to create pots, but she loves it even more to fire them with wood.
This summer, Durrani participated in the Goshogawara International Woodfire Festival in Japan, for which 15 ceramists from 12 countries were selected and invited to work in an Artist-in-Residence programme. These artists, as well as ceramists from Japan exchanged techniques and ideas about ceramic art and the wood-firing process. Durrani is the first ceramist from Pakistan to have been invited to this annual event.
The wood used in the kiln at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVSAA), where Durrani currently teaches ceramics, is mainly keekar, found abundantly around Karachi. Soft woods including scraps, veneers and fruit-crate material are also used. The woods used for firings in Japan include apple and hiba. The firing cycles there range from 2 – 5 days (48 to 60 hours) and the pieces are fired up to 1,250 C and above.

“Our hands are of potters; our flesh is clay,

We are not history; we are the spirit of the living person.”

The above couplet by Durrani, printed on the invitation card, is evidence of her abhorrence for the modern studio ceramist’s art to be associated with the ancient pottery of this land — Moenjodaro, Harappa and Mehergarh. It remains debatable whether it is possible for the ceramists’ work to stay rooted in its respective traditions, yet not be associated with the historical and spiritual context of the pottery of the region.
Durrani’s exciting Kanayama Pottery experience in Japan, of which her “pots are evidence of the long firings, the ash deposits, the thermal shocks, the charcoal inclusions and the constant mental and physical investment in the process” enabled her to understand why potters around the world look towards Japan with respect and admiration: for its long clay continuum, the variety of ceramics and the way pottery is bound firmly with Japanese cultural traditions, for example the tea ceremony.
No one can dispute that nearly everything we know about our ancient ancestors is learned from their clay artefacts. From the Jomon pottery, ca. 10,000 B.C. from Japan to our own region (ca. 3,000 B.C.) where potters’ wheels were set into pits driven by kicked flywheels.
Potters such as Durrani trust the pyrotechnic abilities of wood and, despite the time consuming and labour-intensive process, prefer wood-firing to any other process (other potters use natural gas or electric kilns). The clays used by her are self-composed stoneware, porcelain, Kanayama clay and the world-famous Shigaraki clay. The Shigaraki Valley is replete with high-quality clay deposits — a feat of geology which has made it a sought-after place in the world of ceramics.
At the ‘Mountains, moonlight and goddesses’ show, the numerous pieces on display were all fired at high temperatures, with glazes that are either the result of the clays, the glaze materials, wood-ash deposits or the artist’s control of the firing process. “Wood-fired ceramics are more durable too,” Raania explained. “It is an ancient tradition of aesthetically high value because of the ‘yohan’ factor (the term means literally ‘marked by the flame’). This term opens up a world of possibilities which can happen inside a kiln because of the unusual fire path, and each pot can have its individual organic mark.
In the Korean tradition of wood-firing, which is of major importance to firers around the world, woo- fired pots are considered spiritual and most near to God as they are pots created with the most natural elements: earth, fire, nature (wood), air and human energy.”
The pieces were kept along the gallery walls on long benches, pedestals and shelves. A large number of these were small pots, bowls, ‘glasses’, vases and boxes. There were some slightly larger sculptural pieces, including pots, bowls, two-handled jars and jugs, the largest being a tall vase with a ribbed midriff that probably measured a foot and a half. It had sweeping incisions on its surface where the sitting ash had melted, colouring the vase in an amber-gold hue in some places. However, there were some other pieces that were aesthetically more striking than this piece.
Most of them had no applied glaze — merely decorated with fly-ash and marks from coals. A medium-sized pair of bowls with aquamarine insides, some of the glaze cascading on the outer surface and some leaving spots on the natural ash glaze, was in my opinion, one of her best pieces. Although numbered individually, the two pieces appeared as a pair — almost like a large egg cut into half and displayed side by side.
Four rectangular plates with steely-grey natural-ash-glaze and brown, rusty-orange inscriptions left by organic material, had an appealing colour and texture. According to the ceramist, coal is inserted into the kiln several times during the firing process in such a way that it falls onto the plates or pots, burning directly into them. The few glossy white porcelain pots on show also had these marks as evidence. Porcelain pieces are high-fired vitreous clay bodies containing kaolin, silica and fluxes. Durrani’s pieces were pure white with shades of a peachy colour, giving them a sophisticated look. The rawness of some of the other pieces had a more earthy appeal.
Amongst the sculptural ceramics, there was a group kept on the floor in one corner of the gallery that had a visual link with the outdoors. The organic forms that wore no slips and only a few decorations worked well whereas one or two pieces looked deliberate and overworked, losing spontaneity and flair.
In the words of John Baymore, Durrani’s fellow potter in Japan, “It is a symbiotic relationship... the potter and the forces of nature. In this pattern of working, many pieces are lost so that many others are born with gifts of rare, quiet beauty to be enjoyed by those open to its magical visual effects.”
Perhaps Durrani, the promising young ceramist passionately committed to her art — and craft — will foster a more exploratory approach to her work, while continuing to share her skill with clay as a medium and her deep understanding of wood-firing as a process with her students. Thus a substantial body of work — both long lasting as well as ephemeral — may emerge, to be admired and prized increasingly with time…

POTTERY SALE!!!

The pots are mostly wood fired, glazed and unglazed : teabowls, bowls,
pots and sculptural pieces; at very good prices. All the pots have
been crafted and fired with great love and care by myself, some of the
pots were made in Japan and others in Karachi. If you are interested
in coming on saturday and if you have any questions about pots/prices
or if you wish to reserve a specific pot, please email or call.

DATE: Saturday, 20th September, 2008
TIME: 9pm - 11pm

VENUE:
47/1, 13th street,
Khayaban-e-Mujahid,
Phase 5, DHA
Karachi

PH: 0300-8283894
EMAIL: raania.durrani@gmail.com

WFC An International Collection of Wood-fired and Sculptural Ceramics

http://woodfiredceramics.net/gallery/2104868_y3Zsc/1/369989442_s8G8v/Medium

PRESS: reviews and articles about my recent work

FIRE & CLAY
The News International, Sep 10 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
By our correspondent
Karachi




Raania Azam Khan Durrani’s solo show of wood fired ceramic work “Mountains, moonlight and goddess” that opened at the Canvas Art Gallery here on Tuesday baffles, and wows. The work, for which she journeyed to the land of the rising sun, Japan, to Aomori Prefecture, in the Thoku region. The region hosts traditional industries of farming, foresting and fishing. It boasts traditional Japanese wood fired kilns that burn at the high temperatures of over 1250 degrees Celsius. There is a range of wood burnt in these kilns, the apple wood, hiba wood and various other soft woods all that lend their own texture and leave their mark on anything that is baked in that kiln.

The mental and physical process that Raania has managed to bring into her work gives her work a different feel to the pottery that we see around us everyday. Her work is not just pottery, its sculptural ceramics, thus apart from the conventional vases and cups there is a host of conceptual and some abstract ceramic works. In fact these conceptual works which are like small, large pieces of decorative pieces or paperweights.

Wood firing provides the opportunity for the burning ash and scent of the wood to be absorbed into the clay to add to the texture surface of the piece. The wood is stoked and blown the ash that blows over on to the clay, it glazes the piece. Also the clay used too makes a difference in the outcome. The clays used by Raania were porcelain, self-composed stone wares, Shigaraki and Kanayama clays.

A teacher at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVSAA), a majority of the visitors were either students or faculty members of the IVSAA. While the students attempted to grasp some light off the different elements of creation utilised by Raania, some of which she learnt in Japan, the teachers scrutinised her work with all technical and aesthetic angles.

Sara Mehmood, a Second Year Ceramics student at the IVSAA commented that “her pieces have an almost different energy emanating, a different feel that is visible from the work that we are doing here”.

Sheherezade Alam, a senior clay craftswoman who is about to begin her residency at the IVSAA said that the works include not only the colours, natural fire flashing, ash deposits and glaze of the woods from being fired for a couple of days in the kilns, they also include the religious traditions of ceramics in Japan and the Japanese aesthetics that fused with the culture of Pakistan, the native culture of Raania.

However, for the French Consul General, Pierre Seillan, “some pieces are special, some not”.

The exhibition will continue till the 16th of September at the Canvas Art Gallery. Ramazan timings are 10 am to 5 pm.

MORE LINKS TO REVIEWS/ ARTICLES ABOUT THIS SHOW:

http://www.topix.com/jp/tohoku/2008/09/mountain-moonlight-and-goddesses

Solo Exhibit 9th - 16th September 2008

 

The show opened yesterday at Canvas gallery, I am happy to had a good turnout and positive feedback. There were many questions about the process and technique, which I am always happy to answer. The show is on until the 16th of September, and I hope that people who were unable to make it to the opening can attend during the week. I plan to spend time in the gallery this week with students and have discussion groups regarding materials and processes employed in the work on display. I hope that the show can add the general ceramic awareness effort which a handful of us existing pakistani potters & clay artist are sincerely making. It is a fact that there is very little knowledge and ineterest in ceramics as an art form and academic pursuit. I hope that by frequent public art events and workshops we are able to generate awareness is the community, more interests, more students, more potters, more materials, more kilns, more shows.... Life will be good!

*The pictures in this post are of the work (images by Kohi Marri) , and some of the show,.

About wood and firers: 8th September 2008

It is fascinating and reassuring to meet other firers and to relate to
what they think and feel. It is difficult to sometimes convey that
magic and feeling to a non-firer, and when attempted it is impossible
to know whether they understand it or not. Below is a passage by John
Baymore, who is a knowledgable potter and firer, but also a very happy
soul. John and I spent a month working in the studio together this
summer ( more like he was working and I was learning!) Thanks John.

'On woodfiring' , by John Baymore
(www.johnbaymore.com)

Woodfiring is a seductive, magical procedure that allows the potter to
directly influence the surface of the pieces during the time the ware
is subject to the immense heat of the firing. Woodfiring is about
constant involvement and decisions; choice of wood species, age since
cutting, rhythm and timing of stokes, amount of air, size of pieces,
and the location they are tossed within the chamber. These all
directly influence the final outcome. No other heat source keeps the
potter so intimately involved in this final, crucial phase of the
production of ceramic pieces.

The mark of the wood fire is distinct, persistent, and cannot be
achieved in any other way. Wood provides more than just heat. Volatile
resins in the wood produce long sinuous flames that play through the
stacking of ware, leaving behind scorches and fused ash deposits. The
potter, in stacking the kiln, has chosen where to leave channels in
the kiln to promote this flow and how to position the pieces to
interact with it. The flame caresses the forms, enhancing the shapes
as it flows around them like water through a rock-strewn stream bed.
In the raging inferno there is a gentle quality, as the flame caresses
the pots.

On glazed wares woodfiring imparts subtle localized changes as wood
ash floating with the draft fuses into the melting glass. As the kiln
is stoked it creates bursts of flame that ebb and flow like the tide,
creating subtle layering of color and depth within the glaze. Colors
blush from one tone to another, and surfaces go from matt to gloss to
semi-matt. These glazed pieces provide endless hours of discovery as
they are lived with and used.

It is on unglazed surfaces that the wood fuel is perhaps at it's best.
The raw clay is highly receptive to woodfire's marks, and the natural
earth qualities of the clay mesh perfectly with the primal effects of
the flame and ash. The primeval elements of the ancients, "Earth,
Water, Air, and Fire", are clearly present. Unglazed pieces decorated
with flyash and marks from coals are undeniably born of the earth.....
geologic, metamorphic, natural. Yet in their form, they are clearly
manipulated and controlled by high human touch and vision.

Because of the myriad variables, the woodfiring process is fraught
with difficulties. Many things can go wrong. Yet in the very nature of
this risk, there is the possibility of serendipitous event! Those who
fire with wood accept both this risk and embrace this opportunity to
work as a partner and collaborator with the fire, rather than trying
to impose their total will over it.

It is a symbiotic relationship..... the potter and the forces of
nature. In this pattern of working, many pieces are lost so that many
others are born with gifts of rare, quiet beauty to be enjoyed by
those open to it's magical visual effects.
By John Baymore.

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More on firing and firers, some inspiring thoughts:


Yu Fujiwara, a Japanese Bizen potter, speaks to the transcendental essence of firing with wood: Around the clock the pine wood must be fed before Bizen is born... One feels like fainting and becomes dizzy before it is over. All the more for this hard work a burning desire to fight arises within me, challenging me to make better, always more desirable Bizen ware. How splendid the beauty of Bizen ware is, forever imprinted with the fire's markings, the madly dancing flames of the fire, which have burned so intensely for such a long time... Once man has developed a passion for Bizen ware, he is stunned by the thought that he has become a drug addict. Is there any other pottery than Bizen which drives man to such a degree of madness?

"wood firing is a dynamic eclecticism rivaling anarchy.... Perhaps one of its greatest assets...is its capacity to produce ceramics that have never been seen before, because the process owes so much to the unique combination of material, process, and human imagination - conjoined by fire...." by jack Troy

Pots and thoughts: 2008

September 7 2008

 

It has been a year of investigation, exploration and realization.

 

As a student being part of a wood firing crew was the most exhilarating experience ever. I remember my first time; after completing the night shift with a crew as young, energetic and enthusiastic as myself, we sat at the dining hall porch overlooking the 'end of the world' eating breakfast. Our eyes swollen, faces smeared with black soot, heat exhausted and clueless about how we actually got to temperature...there was a silence at the table. It was early morning in Vermont, it had been a long night..we needed to sleep, bodies needed to be washed and rested, but there was something on our minds, something that kept us lingering at the breakfast table..and then someone said it...' I would do it all over again..right now'.

 

After every intense wood firing when I  bathe and go to bed, I know I will see flames in my dreams. It happens every time. My teacher told me once if you want to learn to fire a kiln, fire  a wood kiln. What he forgot to mention was once you fire wood you don't want to fire anything else.

 

All the works on exhibit in my upcoming show are wood-fired this year. Each pot, each object is a document of a firing. I see my pots as a documentation of my investigation and learning. I have been lucky to fire thrice in Karachi this year and also to have experienced great kilns and fired with fantastic partners at Kanayama Pottery, Japan during the summer. The pots are an evidence of the long firings, the ash deposits, the thermal shocks, the charcoal inclusions and the constant mental and physical investment in the process.

 

In my quiet moments with my work as a set up the gallery space, I look at small cracks and thick ash deposits on the work and it transports me back to the firings. How we stoked, what we were thinking of ...that time, that space..that energy. The charcoal which marked the porcelain making it pink, the ash in the Olsen which dripped like thick lava, the earthquake that night at the Olsen kiln and the memory of the mountain trembling.

 

These pots, are in fact an outcome, a document, an evidence of the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Solo Show at CANVAS GALLERY, Karachi, September 2008

Mountains, moonlight and Godesses:
Solo show of wood-fired pottery and sculptural ceramics by Raania Azam
Khan Durrani

9th September 2008 - 16th September 2008
SHOW OPENS: 9th September, 2008, 5pm - 8.30 pm
CANVAS GALLERY, Karachi, Pakistan

The exhibit contains functional pottery and sculptural ceramics
produced in 2008, in Karachi and Aomori, Japan. Clays used are self
composed stonewares, porcelain, Shigaraki clay and Kanayama clay.
Works have been fired in four different wood-kilns; IVS wood kiln
Karachi, Olsen Cross-fire kiln Japan, Haikaburi Kiln Japan and John
Kiln Japan. Wood used for firings include; apple, hiba wood,
keekar and various soft woods.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aromatic wood; burns loudly in the kiln on the mountain,

The earth trembles on this moonlit night, we stay still,

Our hands are of potters; our flesh is clay,

We are not history; we are the spirit of the living person.

We are transporters of energy from one landscape to another,

We transport ambition from Concordia to the summit of K2,

We are able to transform earth and fire into objects of desire.

Raania Azam Khan Durrani 2008

======================

Potters doing the rain dance

Afternoon Rain at Kanayama...

More from Korea

This group picture is after the dance performance by Mr.Shoichi, the
next one is of our day off at the Jomon museum, and lastly Kang and I
chilling outside the studio...

PAK-KOREA DREAM TEAM

Kang and Ryu emailed these pictures of Kanayama yesterday, one of the
images is of Ryu and I firing the haikaburi kiln.. crazy night..!!

parallel

kanayama blues

 

cold water, cold beer, cold sake, cold heart

 

Dusty floors of the Kanayama,

Aromatic Hiba wood,

Burning loudly in the kiln on the hill, Land moves, we stay still..

Silent and saited as never before.

 

Trivia, or not..its true,

Reality or not, its a dream,

Am not asleep, but very awake...and I am dreaming.

 

Dreams are what I see when I am  wide awake...

Memories are what I have when I am asleep..

 

When I open my eyes, the world around me begins to exist just for me..

The world seems large, full of details and depth..

yet its is very small...only its people are deep and detailed..

 

We are one people..

not a category, not a division, not a language, not a taste...not a smell

we are not history.

We are the spirit of the living person.

 

Years are numbers, only a timeline...

Wrinkles are just a symbol of that timeline..

The heart is ageless, timeless..and brainless.

 

I eat fish you eat miso...but we both consume life,

we consume life as it was about to finish and deplete.

 

We are mere transporters of energy from one landscape to another,

We transport emotion and movement from one river to the other,

We transport ambition from Concordia to the summit of K2,

We are able to transform earth and fire into objects of desire.

 

We are infact mere objects of desire.

Yet that desire which these objects require is scare and endangered...

almost never found,

But when and if found unobtainable.

 

We are the fireflies which burn and extinguish searching for light.

 

 

 

 

 

--
=============================

Haikaburi Firing, Kanayama, Aomori 2008

Charcoaling Johngama at Cone 14

As the charcoal is dropped onto the pots...

Rainfall at Kanayama

Its late Sunday night..I can hear the heavy rainfall outside. I am in my room in the International House in Kanayama Pottery. No matter how late at night it is someone somewhere is working making pots or firing a kiln. I particularly enjoy visiting the kiln sheds before bed, one or two members of the superb Kanyama staff are firing. Often Ryoji San or Risako are downstairs in the studio working away. It is unbelievable to see them work, a real treat.
Tomorrow morning we unload the Johngama. I am excited about the results. The Johngama was a great kiln to fire, super smooth and relaxed, but only until we hit temperature and had to hold it steady for a few hours until the grand finale of dropping charcoal onto the work. Thanks to my super firing partner I had no trouble charcoaling, could not have managed it alone...the weight of the charcoal rod and the crazy stress of hitting work off the kiln shelves is amplified by the crazy heat and red embers flying into ones face. Thanks to Wanny who came to my rescue.
After the unloading we plan to do a bisque for the Haikaburi. This is the only kiln we will be using bisque ware for. With Ryoji Sans super action kiln...greenware does not stand a chance. I am looking forward to the Haikaburi... it will be one of a kind. All the artists are working away and stressed because the work is not drying in time.. dry rooms, tops of kilns....propane torches...everything is worth a try. Kanayamayaki and its kilns are fantastic, and Ryoji San is the Boss.

Kanayama (Gold mountain) - End of week one

Goshogawara International woodfire festival 2008

30th June 2008

First day at Kanayama, it is fantastic. Beautiful place and great people.

 

on my mind

"The challenge is to do the thing you have to do because you're in love with it and can't do anything else.   Not because you want to become famous or rich, but because you will be unhappy if you can't do it.  It is not something you can turn on and off." - Warren MacKenzie

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_MacKenzie

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4620622

 

Stage 2: Thin layers of Fat clay - 1

Work in progress images:
Hollow paper clay forms, worked upon with surface editions and cobalt slip & wash drawings. Some of these have been soft bisqued. I intend to woodfire them eventually.

Stage 2: Thin layers of Fat clay - II

My student's blogs

Zuna and Sara have just set up thier blogs, you can view them:

www.zunaaltaf.blogspot.com

www.saramahmood.blogspot.com

 

MOUNTAINS & KILNS

May Your Spirit Rise Higher Than Mountains (January 1, 1997)
May your spirit rise higher than mountains! I have returned from my Fall expeditions and all my pain of the Summer has lifted somewhat from my spirit into the crystal air of the Himalaya. Compelled: in that world you may know yourselves and beauty that is eternal. The very best to you in the coming year.
Anatoli Boukreev
Santa Fe, New Mexico

 

 

At the site of Annapurna base-camp there is a memorial to Boukreev including a quotation of his:

"

Mountains are not Stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion...I go to them as humans go to worship. From their lofty summits I view my past, dream of the future and, with an unusual acuity, am allowed to experience the present moment...my vision cleared, my strength renewed. In the mountains I celebrate creation. On each journey I am reborn....Anatoli Boukreev

I sometimes think about how similar firing a wood-kiln might be to climbing a mountain. The climber faces: The death-zone: 5000m and above, the summit attempt, acute mountain sickness, the hallucinations...The firer faces: The final hundred degrees, reaching temperature, post-firing sickness, heat-exhaustion and confusion.... The climber and the firer love the challenge, the glory, the feat, the achievement and the desire to do it all over and over again. I read once in a travelogue, that the more one sees of the Karakorams, the more one wants to see. Anatoli and his stories have inspired me always, my collection of climbing books and resources grew because of Anatoli and the first time i read him. Anatoli wrote......
 " we are low in number but high in spirit!"

I feel the same way when we fire wood, there is one wood-kiln here in Karachi, and not too many who feel the love. I remember, as a student in Vermont,  learning to fire wood with a crew of ten or twelve, all eager and crazy to fire. Firers are a certain breed for sure, and its time to multiply - atleast in Karachi.

we are low in number but very high in spirit!

 

Woodfiring March 2008: Pots and process: Karachi

Woodfiring upto 1250C at the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture Karachi, in March 2008. A student Abeer Asim was firing some work, and I assisted her and put in some pots to test. It was a good firing, but was very very fast.. started firing at 7am and ended before midnight. Here are some examples of the firing results and the firing process.

VOLUMINIOUS : THIN LAYERS OF FAT CLAY

These are images of some work I am currently developing. I am dealing with movement and volume. The forms are softer and rounder, which makes them very open to interpretation. At times I see jellyfish, at times pillows, clouds, organs, flesh, fish, rocks, rivers, fabric.....The solution is always in the process. I hope to woodfire some of this new series in Japan. I am using the smelly but super, paperclay for these.

STUDIOS

I have moved a few studios over the years. These are images of two of
the studios: one at my parents house on the roof top, it was infact
the best studio space I ever had, wonderful light and fabulous breeze;
and the other which I had at Commune Artist Colony, in 2006. I do not
have a private studio at the moment.

WOOD-FIRE IN VERMONT: Memories of a Landscape

These images are of the wood kiln at Bennington College, the kiln I learnt to fire with. This is a two chambered kiln, fired to cone 11. Some of this work is fired i the wood kiln, the two large pieces are wood fired. The darker one was fired in the first chamber where ash deposit and flashes are greater. The second chamber gets the finest ash, the lighter one is from the second chamber.Most of the other work is fired to cone 10 in a soda kiln. This work is part of a series titled: " Memories of a Landscape", 2003.

ARTIST PROFILE / CV

EDUCATION
1999–2003
Bennington College - Bennington VT, USA
 B.A., Liberal Arts, Concentration Visual Art: Painting, Ceramics, Printmaking

WORK EXPERIENCE
2001-2003
Ceramic Studio Assistant - Bennington, Vermont, USA
 Studio assistant to clay artist Barry Bartlett (NY)
 Studio monitor for clay artists Jeff Oestrich (MN) and Arnie Zimmerman(NY)

2003–Current
Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture - Karachi, Pakistan
 Faculty at the Department of Ceramics
 Faculty for Foundation Year, designed and taught course: Document:
The diary, the sketchbook and the travelogue & Curiosity Cabinet

2004
Sutra International Artist Workshop - Bhaktapur, Nepal
 Participant of Nuga Mikha, International Artist Workshop, June 2004

2004–2007
Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture - Karachi, Pakistan
Coordinator Workshops & Exhibitions

2005 - 2008
Commune Artist Colony - Karachi, Pakistan
Founder & Director
 Commune Artist Colony is a dedicated space for visual & performing
art activity in Karachi. Commune provides an alternative exhibit and
performing space to artists as well as a platform for discussion.

2006 - current
Independent Curator/Art Promoter
 Curation and management of visual and performing arts events.
Special interests: Inter-disciplinary and concept derived group shows,
international exhibits, promotion of contemporary Pakistani art and
educational outreach.

2008
 Participant of the Goshogawara International Woodfire Festival July
2008, Aomori, Japan

www.makigama.org

GROUP EXHIBITS :
Usdan Gallery , Bennington VT, USA September 2001
President's Gallery, Bennington VT, USA March 2002
Usdan Gallery, Bennington VT, USA May 2003
Nugha Mikha, Sutra International Artist Workshop, Bhaktapur Nepal June 2004
Commune Artist Colony, Karachi – Opening Exhibit December 2005
Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art &
Architecture February 2006
Tale of the Tile, Mohatta Palace Museum, Karachi June 2006
ASNA Clay Trienialle, Arts Council Karachi November 2006
Clay Clan, Al-Hamra Arts Council, Lahore February 2007
Eve, Hamail Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan March 2007
Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art &
Architecture February 2007
Faculty Exhibit, IVS Gallery, Indus Valley School of Art &
Architecture February 2008

COMMUNE ARTIST COLONY 2005 - 2008

Raania Azam Khan Durrani : Founder & Director (2003 - 2008)

Fresh Ideas & Approaches,DAWN-Gallery Sep, 23, 2006 by Amra Ali -
Driving down Miskeen Gali, off Old Queen's road in Karachi, one
encounters an old run down neighbourhood, with the elderly sitting on
charpoys, overlooking small children playing on the street. A few
glares suggest that this intrusion through an almost private street
has not gone unnoticed. They seem to know why I am passing by and
eagerly direct me to the old ware houses turned artists' colony
further ahead. Called the Commune, a group of equally old warehouses
transformed into a sapcious gallery space, offices, meeting room and
artists' studios, is the brainchild of two creative people, ceramist
Raania Azam Durrani and fashion designer Yousuf Bashir Qureshi. This
space aspires to be a new breathing space for the visual and
performing arts, in which the emphasis shifts from the finished work
to incorporate a larger framework of creativity focusing on short and
long workshops, talks, artists' residencies, and a meeting place for
creative people. Its multidisciplinary approach is what may separate
the Commune from the commercial galleries in town, if it is able to
establish its credibility as a center for nurturing the arts. (
www.dawn.com/weekly/gallery/archive/060923/gallery2.htm)

CURATORIAL PROJECTS:
Significant curatorial projects on my portfolio include:
Solo show by Sarah Bakhtiyar (Karachi based painter) 2006
Solo Show by Fareen Butt (NY based abstract pointillist) 2006
Performance by Overload featuring pappu Sain (Lahore based
percussion/fusion band) 2006
Solo Show by Abdul Jabbar Gull (Karachi based sculptor/painter) 2006
Solo show by Sarah Bakhtiyar 2007
Solo Show by Adeela Suleman 2007 (Karachi based sculptor)
Group Show by VASL Taaza Tareen residency artists (Six young Pakistani
artists) 2007
Group Show by Fine Art Students of the Indus Valley School (Painting,
printmaking and sculpture) 2007
Concept and curation of the 'Night Caf'e at Miskeen Gali' Mural
Project (Public Art project by students) 2007
Recent works: photography and video by Nurjahan Akhlaq and Shalalae
Jamil, March 2008

READ REVIEWS:
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2007/taza_tareen_ii
www.bennington.edu/alum_news.asp
www.galeriedavidegallo.com/index.php?id=suleman
www.dawn.com/weekly/images/archive/080316/images.htm
www.karachi.metblogs.com/page/2/?s=art+exhibitions+3+
www.dawn.com/weekly/review/archive/060323/review5.htm
www.dawn.com/weekly/gallery/archive/060923/gallery2.htm

SUTRA International Artists Workshop, Bhaktapur, Nepal June 2004

Another artist Raania Azam Khan Durrani from Pakistan, was forever
moved by the beauty of the land, wanted so much to talk of her
perception of the workshop experience. Three dimension and clay
modeling was not all she was interested in. The environment for her,
too, was overwhelming and she could not resist succumbing to its
influence. She knows the medium of clay to perfection and does
innovative and original pieces. In her work, she added the extra
attraction of the people and especially the children in the project
since they also participated in small pottery making. They all, not
only enjoyed the work, but also learned by observation and imitation.
There was a day-by-day experience with the young ones that was
exciting for everyone.

Her choice finally for the project was the lovely little puja kotha at
the end of the square. She decorated the interior in bright pink and
there were endearing little sculptured objects d'art of clay that the
children helped her to make. Scattered and hanging inside and softly
moving in that pink atmosphere gave the place a floating look, thus it
had to be held down by extended ropes and bricks.

READ REVIEW:
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:yA3arAGEWkkJ:www.sutranepal.org/nuga%2520mikha.htm+raania+durrani&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=22&client=safari

ASNA Clay Triennial

The third ASNA Clay Triennial, Ahmed Pervez Gallery, Arts Council,
Karachi, Pakistan Nov 2006

Raania Durrani's Kiln Gods, tiny mythical icons, were an interesting
reflection on the crucial psychological bonding ceramists have with
the kiln

READ REVIEW:

http://www.newsline.com.pk/newsDec2006/artlinedec.htm
http://www74.safesecureweb.com/socialpages/137/art2.asp

INTEGRATION: Art Auction & Exhibit

KARACHI, April 23: It was after ages that an art auction took place in
Karachi. The venue was the Indus Valley School of Arts and
Architecture and the aim was to raise funds for Milestone, a school
meant for children with special needs, physical and/or mental.
Ten well known and not so well known artists had put up their works
for auction. However, the response was not very heart-warming. Only
one painting by Meher Afroz and a sculpture by Rabeya Jalil were sold
and the total sum raised was to the tune of Rs117,000. But as Raania
Durrani of the ceramics department, who was conducting the show, said
that the eight unsold pieces will be on display at the art school's
gallery for art lovers to buy them at what are minimum reserved
prices, fixed by the artists themselves.

READ REVIEW:
http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/24/local20.htm
http://www.apnakarachi.com/Art-exhibition-at-IVSAA-to-raise-funds-for-special-children.html

FACULTY ART 1

Faculty Art 1 - Indus Valley School of Architecture, Karachi, Pakistan Jan 2006

The participants from the other departments were Waheeda Mansoor
from Graphic Design and Raania Durrani and Sadia Salim from Ceramic
Design. There were also mixed media works by Arshad Faruqui, an
architect by profession who oversees the dissertations of the final
year students. While Sadia submitted conventional ceramic pieces for
the show, Raania produced delicate, translucent drawings on rice
paper.

READ REVIEW:

http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsFeb2006/artline1feb2006.htm

CLAY CLAN 1

Clay Clan 1 - Alhamra Arts Council, Lahore, Pakistan Feb 2007

Raania Azam Khan Durrani from Karachi put a large number of varying vertically modelled and aesthetically pleasing, pretty structures on display. Made of clay, with metal and paper garnishes, the alluring forms were collectively titled, ‘Never abandoned’. The artists said her creations reflected the verticality of Karachi’s cityscape, its inhabitants’ myriad views on politics and tolerance. Decay, repair and reconstruction were also used as reference points of the varying urban structures neatly created by the artist.

READ REVIEW:

http://www.dawn.com/weekly///gallery/archive/070224/gallery1.htm

Clay connections April/May 2008

This is work done in April, 2008. Shazieh and I fired it to cone 10 in the wood fire kiln at the Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture, Karachi. Soda packets were thrown into the kiln when at temperature, I dont think it was enough soda for a typical soda shine, but the results were quite interesting. The clay I used is a white stoneware - not plastic enough to throw with, have altered the recipe now, but it does react well in a wood fire.

Am now beginning to experiment with paperclay, so far its working well. The clay stinks though! My hand smell for hours after I work, even after scrubbing and washing, earlier when I was using my regular white stoneware for the hand-built pcs I kept getting major cracks...the image of the wood fired piece above for example. The addition of paper pulp is making it a much more exciting process - the clay is far more cooperative and I am able to really work with volume and form. Am planning on taking some of these pieces to Japan in July for the Goshogowara International woodfire festival 2008, which I am partcipating in. The participants are expected to bring along some bisqed work, so the first wood firing can be done right in the beginning of the month.

Reyaz (Badaruddin) was here from Dehli this past week. Met him a few years ago when he came for the Asna Trienalle. This time around he was an exhibiting artist in Clay Clan 2, a group show curated by Kaif Ghaznawi at the VM Gallery in Karachi. Reyaz was the first Indian artist to attend the wood fire festival in Aomori, in 2005. I am excited to be the first Pakistani. Thanks to Wali Hawes, he suggested this residency. Have never met the man, but he really has become a mentor for me over time. Reyaz talked about Wali's studio in Tokoname, and how fabulous a space it is.

Last night was great, spent at the beach.. reyaz, shruti & vinod were in karachi, and shazieh and I decided to take them to the beach. Perfect summer night in Karachi, the breeze was priceless and the company unmatched.

Karachi clay

Bottles 2004
Local Karachi clay - Low fire red, treated with slips