• Cynthia writing

    Hello!

    Welcome to the Dusty Clay Diaries. My name is Cynthia Siegel, and I’m currently writing this blog from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. So what’s the fuss about? In the fall of 2011, I participated in an artist’s residency at Sanskriti…

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  • Kumartuli – the first visit

    On the morning of my second day in India, I had the great fortune to make my first trip to Kumartuli, which is a neighborhood of image-makers that is located slightly north of the center of Kolkata. Leading the way…

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  • Shantiniketan

    In between my first and second visits to the image-makers of Kumartuli, I spent some time in Shantiniketan.  It’s a small, quiet (compared to Kolkata!) town about three hours by train from Kolkata, and it has become something of a…

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  • Kumartuli – the second and third visits

    With great excitement, I returned to Kolkata at the end of the first week of September, specifically to observe Dilipda and his assistants in the next stages of work on their Durga Puja sculptures at the Shovabazar Rajbari. In the above photo,…

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  • Vishwakarma, the Divine Architect

    It’s September 17th as well as my fourth visit to the Shovabazar — now Durga Puja is less than two weeks away!  Dilipda’s sculpture has fully dried, been painted with a white undercoat, and now the application of color on the figures,…

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  • Mahalaya

    The countdown to Durga Puja is well underway by Mahalaya,  which is observed seven days before (September 23rd for 2014).  It’s on Mahalaya that preparations for Durga Puja reach their final stages, and it’s believed that on this day Durga, the…

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  • Beauty and Chaos

    “Beauty and Chaos”  – one way to describe that which is Durga Puja! We heard this phrase first from photographer Dev Nayak,  when Stan and I met him while undergoing some serious “pandal-hopping” with Partha Dey in South Kolkata.  Dev’s actually comment was,…

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  • Durga Puja

    This first day of Durga Puja is also known as Maha Shasthi, and during this day a series of rituals are performed to symbolically awaken Durga.  For more information on the rituals of Durga Puja and their timings, check out http://www.bangalinet.com/pujacalendar.htm or http://www.durga-pujas.com/shashti.shtml. For…

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  • Just a few more pandals…..

    This post is a gallery of Durga Puja pandal image highlights from our explorations of Kolkata pandals throughout the following three days of the holiday.   We admired some pandals for the beauty and creativity of their designs, and others for the mindbogglingly…

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  • Immersions – Tradition and the Environment

    Traditionally, Durga Puja ends with the immersion of the pandal images into a stream or river.  Once again, good has triumphed over evil, and Ma Durga and her children return to Mount Kailash and Durga’s consort, Lord Shiva. Thousands and thousands of…

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  • Kali Ma

    I prefer Kali to Durga.  Why?  Since I’m not exactly sure, I thought I’d use the writing of this post to help figure it out. In Kolkata, Kali certainly has less fanfare than the almighty Durga, but from my vantage…

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  • A Dentist to Lions

    Dilipda is preparing no less than five images for Jagadhatri  Puja, which is celebrated throughout West Bengal and parts of Odissa about one week after Kali Puja (late October to early November) and exactly one month after Durga Puja. Jagadhatri…

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  • Krishnagar clay

    From practically the first moment since I stepped off the plane in Kolkata in late August, people have been telling me to visit the town of Krishnagar. Last week I had the opportunity to visit there with a group of…

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  • Elements

    In December I was very busy with a project called Elements. Elements was an experimental art installation for children in Kolkata, the first of its kind in India, and for the kids it was a thrilling sensory experience. Created by Ruchira…

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  • The Goddess of Knowledge

    Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music and art, and is the daughter of Lord Shiva and Ma Durga.   In West Bengal, Saraswati is revered by schools and universities, because of the belief that she endows the worshipper with speech, wisdom and learning. Saraswati…

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  • Residency at Maihol House

    How wonderful! In January I was invited to be part of an international group of ceramic artists who would  be working together at Maihol House, an artists’ residency center in Maihar, Madhya Pradesh.  Countries represented are India, Australia, Latvia, France,…

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  • Molela and Nathdwara

    Say hello to one of my new favorite places —-  Molela! In early February, my husband Stan and I were invited by artist and professor Gagan Dadich to stay and to work in his beautiful studio in the tiny village…

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  • Mishty Magic

    Please forgive me the transgression of diverting us from all things clay sculptural, and indulge me in a bit o’discourse regarding one of my favorite parts of Bengali culture – Mishty. Mishty is the Bengali word for sweet and is also…

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  • A Project With Ektara

    My work on the Elements project really whetted my appetite for more exploration in creating temporary, collaborative sculpture in which the viewer’s participation becomes an integral part of the work.  I began developing ideas for new projects while observing preparations at Kumartuli for…

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