Specializes in functional ware/ tableware, personalized gifts and pieces, corporate gifts, customized crockery for cafes and restaurants, sculptural work, installation work, wall pieces etc..

Also conducts regular workshops and classes in pottery. (Click here for more information about workshops)

Artist Statement

I see the world in lines and planes.

A mish-mash of shapes interplaying with each other, coming together to create a tangential universe.  This is where I dwell, where I sculpt and mould clay and strive to bring sense and order to my life. I bend with the wind but stay strong in my ideas and beliefs.

In this universe, clay feeds my soul.

A main source of my inspiration has always been nature. It keeps surprising me, how the same tree can inspire me over and over again in various contexts.

I strive to re-create the earthy tones I find in soil and rocks. The intricate network of cracks on the surface of dry parched earth, completely enamours me. Tree branches and leaves; play, arch and curve in completely mysterious and magical ways.

Using nature itself as my medium in the form of clay, I try to express these everyday visuals. This is where I also start to express my most innate thoughts and desires; and combine my inspiration and Me in the work I create.

In that moment a part of me gets captured in clay and finds a voice.


About Veena

Fascinated by unique landscapes and excited by the prospect of creating impressions through eco- friendly methods, Veena pursued a formal degree and training as an architect in her initial years. She then decided to move on from architecture and follow other passions borrowing on the design sensibilities and the aesthetic sense she developed during those years.

A brief tryst with clay during a basic workshop in pottery then fuelled her urge to master ceramics; even contemplate a career in it. Veena’s eagerness and curiosity took her to Pondicherry where under the tutelage of internationally renowned ceramic artists Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith at Golden Bridge Pottery, her dreams took shape. Experimenting with different clays, methods of shaping forms and firing techniques, Veena’s ideas of clay shaping entered new dimensions and a unique style took shape.

A main source of her inspiration has always been nature. She finds certain abstracts from these inspirations and shapes them into the medium she enjoys most – Clay. This is where she also starts to express her most innate thoughts and desires; and combines her inspiration and herself, in the work she creates.

Since her time at Pondicherry, Veena has got various opportunities to exhibit her work internationally and in India. She has also travelled to Tasmania and Australia where she was an artist–in–residence with Neil Hoffmann and recently has been a part of the Wood Firing Symposium held at Kohila, Estonia.

She has also worked on various installation projects, the most recent one being “Alchemy” where she collaborated with a micro biologist to create installation work for a college campus.

Teaching is one of Veena’s main passions, and she dovetails her time between teaching architecture at the University and moulding visions in clay at her studio in Pune.

Detailed Profile
Residencies

2016 

  • Kohila Wood firing Symposium

2013

  • Artist in residence at Reedy March Pottery with Neil Hoffmann, Tasmania, Australia
Group Shows

2017

  • Installation work, Gyaan Adab, Pune
  • Alchemy, Installation work, Flame University, Pune
  • Blue, Let Art work, Pune

2016

  • Ceramic Spectrum, The Cube Gallery, Goa
  • Medley in Ceramics – 6, Renaissance art gallery, Pune

2015

  • Vessels Redefined, Terra Forma, Taj Vivanta, New Delhi
  • Under Construction, Art N Soul Gallery, Worli, Mumbai

2014

  • The Gang of Nine, The Attic, New Delhi
  • Mrittika II, Bhopal
  • Date with Clay, Pune
  • Bridges, Stainless Gallery, Delhi

2013

  • Cluj International Ceramics Biennale, Cluj-Napoca Museum of Art, Romania
  • The Bucket Show, Forum Art Gallery, Chennai
  • The Match Box Show, Travelling exhibition, Australia
  • The Delegates Exhibition, Clay Push Ceramic Conference, Gulgong, NSW, Australia
  • Creative Studios Art Gallery, Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia.
  • Sculptural Teapots: The Year of the Snake, Shanghai.
  • Poona Farmers’ Market, Westin Hotel, Pune
  • Medley in Ceramics II”,  The Renaissance Art Gallery, Pune
  • “Pune Biennale” –Inaugural exhibition for the Pune Biennale, 2013 at Bal Gandharv Art Gallery, Pune
  • “Ceramic Arts” Aks Art Gallery, Mumbai

2012

  • “Tiles Forever”, Indian Habitat Center, New Delhi
  • Online sculptural exhibition – www.thetreeoflife.in
  • “Medley in Ceramics”, The Renaissance Art Gallery, Pune
  • Kala Ghoda Potters’ Market, Mumbai
  • “Jeff Shapiro & Friends”, Gallery Square Circle, Kala Kendra, Auroville

2011

  • “Continental Drift, Anagama in South India”, group show at Deloraine, Creative Studios Art Gallery, Deloraine, Tasmania, Australia.
  • Sculptural Teapots: The Year of the Rabbit, Shanghai.
  • “Lotus Art Show”, Coomaraswamy Hall, Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai.
  •  Kala Ghoda Potters’ Market, Mumbai
Solo Exhibitions

2012

  • Wall Pieces – ‘Ibis Hotel’ Pune

2009

  • “Visions in Clay” Colors Art Gallery, Pune.
Clay - Work Experience

2013

  • Several Wood and Salt firings at “Reedy Marsh Pottery” with Neil Hoffmann, Tasmania, Australia
  • Anagama firing workshop  with Jack Troy, Golden Bridge Pottery, Pondicherry

2012

  • Anagama firing workshop  with Jeff Shapiro, Golden Bridge Pottery, Pondicherry

2010

  • Smoke/ pit firing workshop with Rebecca Maeder (Switzerland), Golden Bridge Pottery, India.
  • Raku workshop by Sandeep Manchekar, Mumbai

2009

  • Golden Bridge Pottery with Ray Meeker , Pondicherry, India.
Professional Experience & Qualifications

2008-2017

  • Visiting Lecturer, Bharati Vidyapeeth College of Architecture, Pune

2015- 2016

  • Visiting Lecturer, Brick College of Architecture, Pune

2010

  • Set up ceramic studio “Farishtey Creations” in Pune

2009- 2010

  • Training in ceramics at Golden Bridge Pottery, Pondicherry, under guidance of Ray Meeker and Deborah Smith.
  • Completed several wood-firings and was part of firing crew for August 2009 Anagama firing.

2006-2008

  • Chief Architect, Shelter Associates, an NGO working for rehabilitation and up-gradation of housing and infrastructure for slums in Maharashtra.

2006

  • Bachelor of Architecture, with First class, from Pune University.
Conferences attended and Talks given

2013

  • “Clay Push” Ceramic Conference at Gulgong, Australia
  • Talk given at “National Art School” Sydney, Australia
  • Talk given at “Reedy marsh Pottery”, Tasmania, Australia