ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: When one first enters the exhibition hall, the wood sculptures hanging on the walls immediately catch one’s attention. Carved and designed beautifully, these sculptures invite a closer look.

The current exhibition in Nomad is titled “Raku: Ceramics and Heritage Photography by Nasir Malik and Sculpture by Abbas Shah”. The Nomad Art Gallery is well known for playing the important role in preserving art and culture in the city and is displaying this exhibition from October 11 to 18.

Abbas Shah is a senior artist, sculptor and designer who has had a long career in PTV and has taught at various art institutions. He is currently a freelance illustrator and a sculptor.

Shah has titled his current exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery ‘Enchanted Wood’.

In a conversation with Dawn, Abbas Shah explained that the reason he likes working with wood for his sculptures is that wood has been man’s companion since the beginning. “People might not realise its importance, but to me wood holds great value and hence I use it to make sculptures. I can use any kind of wood for this and I usually bury logs for a year or more before I start working on them”, said Abbas.

Nasir Malik, a photographer par excellence and a superb artist, was the other artist exhibiting his work in the gallery. He told Dawn, “I began taking pictures when I was a student years ago because my father was interested in photography and owned a decent camera. In this particular exhibition most of my photographs are classical with a focus on Sujan Haveli and other old buildings around Islamabad and Rawalpindi.” The pictures presented the famous sights around Islamabad from unique perspectives and put them in a new light.

Another interesting feature of this exhibition was the display of Raku. Traditionally used in the Japanese tea ceremony, Raku is a kind of Japanese pottery that specifically relies on the shape of tea bowls. It is conventionally made by hand molded, rather than turned, clay, which results in each piece being "one-of-a-kind". The pieces are fairly porous vessels and are made by first putting them on low firing temperatures, then glazed with lead, and then removed from the hot temperatures to be immediately placed in cold water.

Mr. Nasir Malik said that while attempting to make one piece of Raku, one can lose up to six pieces but the one successful piece is worth the effort. He explained that the process of heating and then cooling down immediately helps attain the unique finish. After that, only lacquer is applied to maintain the finish and add a slight shine to pieces of pottery.

The exhibition received a great response and it was fascinating to see a huge crowd of art students being present at the event. Mishaal, an art student from NCA told Dawn that such exhibitions “give us (the students) inspiration, direction and new ideas. Besides, the people who have put up exhibitions like this have taught us or our seniors at some point and looking at their work gives us great motivation and learning.”