Paper, Threads, Dolls

Sandhya Bordewekar discusses the works of five Baroda artists who engage with diverse crafts-based methods in their art practices.

- Sandhya Bordewekar

When artists decide to use craft elements in their works, they take on a major challenge that can buttress or destabilize their metier. Whether used playfully or with serious intent, the artwork treads a precarious tightrope between gimmickry and meaningful contextualization of the craft practice employed.

Over the last decade, several artists in Baroda have experimented with crafts-based modes and have often pulled off some bold initiatives. Kruti Thaker has used fabric and embroidery traditions of her native Saurashtra with panache but one has not seen any of her work in the last one year. Chinmoyi Patel is another promising artist who draws from textural crafts-oriented practices.

One afternoon, she came to the school where I am a trustee asking for busted footballs. I am familiar with Chinmoyi’s art practice and know how she has juxtaposed wood, metal, ceramics and fabric to create works in the past. Her new sculptural project grew out of working with textiles to create cactus forms in planters as a designed product; she dramatically contrasted the rough, thorny cacti textures with foam-filled, bright, ikat fabrics that covered the soft forms.