The onset of the Fourth Asna Clay Triennial 2013, with its volley of the fiery arsenal of baked ceramics, is perhaps the reason why winter has taken to a sudden thaw in Karachi. Consequently, the rich variety of the sizzling contemporary clay, porcelain, ceramic and stoneware works by national and international clay artists exhibited across the city, undeniably, have the potential to cause a meltdown of even the most hardened cognoscenti!

As a collaborative event to the triennial, Chawkandi Art, Karachi, recently held a group show of six clay artists titled, ‘Young ceramics’ mentored by the virtuoso ceramicist Sheherezade Alam. Comprised of 73 works, the meticulously laid out exhibition gave the audience a smooth circulation, essential information and pristine eyeshot of each exhibit of the participating artists: Asheena Jiwanmall, Habiba Omar, Kamran Maqsood, Bushra Fawad, Mahira Rana and Sikandar Asghar. Some of the sculptures have been illuminated internally using multicoloured lights, some occulting, to enhance their impact.

Jiwanmall, in her 15 clay and terracotta ventures has expressed the many facets of integrity and beauty by using the peacock as a symbol. She also reckons that in history, myth and legend the peacock symbolises immortality, nobility, holiness, guidance, protection, royalty, spirituality and refinement. The artist has used block print motifs and traditional press on relief stamps for repetitive patterns on terracotta, embellished finally with glass beads and sequins.

‘An odyssey through creative escapism’ is what Omar calls the 20 pieces that she has exhibited. She claims that it is the tactile response of the clay that redeems her spirit from the shackles of reality and sends her into a creative trance. Dispersed in the centre space at the gallery, her collection represents the melded interface of fantasy and reality through the skilfully sculpted conical and circular shapes which bear an organic fluidity that culminates into arresting objects.

Having been through protracted meditation in clay, Maqsood considers that the trade of sculpting has altered his personality significantly. Composed in small-scale boxed domains, he deploys pumpkin-seed shaped pieces to form floral shapes and traditional designs akin to native textiles. Moulded from stoneware mixture, each tiny piece in the 11 compositions bears the artist’s fingerprints embossed on it, giving every finished artefact a unique identity.

Of the 10 entries by Fawad, ‘Paradoxical twins’ in terracotta are two parallel standing towers, one black and one white, made through wheel-thrown and altered technique concluded with glazing during the final firing process. With improvised meshes made from multiple conjoined sleeves, her creations boast a spanking new process that has the potential to produce the ultimate magnum opus.

The boldly embellished 14 terracotta works of Rana with glass beads, stones and metallic finishes are extremely eye-catching and are based on the hamsa hand and various types of Urdu poetry such as poem, masnavi, rubai, geet, kafi, ghazal, yaad and dua. Rana’s work is oozing with venturesome expression owing to the radical choice of mixed media that may, at times, seem unrestrained.

Asghar’s dexterously handled carving of geometric patterns and convolutions, punctuated with judiciously inserted organic forms, have given a whole new direction to sculpting destined for the firing kiln. The artist’s most captivating manifestation ‘Frozen in time’ is a large circular ceramic artefact; a jigsaw combination of almost two dozen glazed segments. The lapis lazuli tint on the fluid geometric shapes grants an irresistible character to the intricately contoured disc.