Roma Mehta, David Pipkin – VDX
Roma Mehta
I grew up in Calcutta, a densely populated city where the entire spectrum of human experience was in plain sight everywhere you looked. From a very early age i found joy in art and painted every chance i got. It was a way to connect with my inner self and provided an escape from the sadness and misery around me. I could not fix what i saw, but i could create something beautiful.
I decided to study graphic design in college so that i could ensure a living while continuing to paint in my free time. Art and design merged as the years went by and became a way of seeing and understanding the world around me.
My art is a collection of episodes that afford glimpses into moments of clarity and have been essential in my journey.
Portraits, lines and shapes, energy, colours, all blend and become the lens through which I see the world. Art gives me the insights I need to understanding the world I have chosen to live in. India remains the vibrant inspiration, the chaos of my soul and my palette. It disturbs my senses and calls me to become involved. Taiwan brings order to the chaos of things beyond my control. Helps me linger longer in the creative space.
with the first brush stroke
the canvas becomes the master
and leads me through a spirit journey.
i remain receptive as thoughts unscramble and a story unfolds on a living canvas.
inspired by the energy of india,
the spirit of taiwan,
the beauty of our planet,
the embrace of its people.
Artist Bio:
Roma Mehta is originally from India. A graphic designer, an artist, and a committed community member, she has made Taiwan her home since 1987.
15 April 2018, Open Studio + Artists Workshop
3pm – 5pm 紅坊開放工作室 Open Studio
5pm -7pm 名字底下 What’s in a Name：藝術家工作坊 Artists Workshop
Facilitated by Sandy Chen and Sean Irving
What’s in a Name?
Sunday April 15, 2018 from 5pm – 7pm.
Limited to 12 people. RSVP here.
Purpose of Workshop:
To come to tentative conclusion on whether an artist should name a piece of work or leave it untitled, and whether titling it Untitled is in itself a form of title.
Reason for this:
How what we think affects what we see, and how seeing translates into thought which affects the seeing, creating a cycle of influence.
Can we see without reaching a conclusion? Without naming? Without generating ideas? Just see and let it wash over you, without condemnation or judgment?
Do the titles of works of art, or the names of cars, or the labels on shoes, force us into a way of thinking that we might not go into had their not been a title to label that thing?
Speaking of paintings specifically, how does the title given to that painting affect the viewer’s way of thinking about it, talking about it?
Facilitated by Sandy Chen and Sean Irving
Sandy and Sean’s exhibition Explorations/探索 is showing at the Red Room from April 5 to May 5, 2018.
David Pipkin
Born and raised in Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains, and….never a day is without red clay. I took my first ceramics class in Stillwater Oklahoma, the home of the OSU Aggies, while I was studying architecture and dodging Draft bullets. I was immediately hooked on the process of making pots; digging that often overlooked amazing red clay, processing it, my fingers learning to see and understand the differential pressures needed to mold and form objects, then comes the chemistry of the glazes, and finally the magic of smoke and fire. All aspects of making clay objects have always fit me like a glove.
After graduation I spent more time making pots or playing on sailboats, than working as an architect. Downturns in real estate always hit architects first, so when a downturn hit Oklahoma I was actually delighted to be laid off so I could focus on playing with clay. After spending the better part of a year being a fulltime potter, I to returned to architecture with an interesting job. Although making a living from pots is possible and the hard work was actually fun, I found I really did not like working alone and was happy to hang around the water fountain again. During the first 5 years out of school I had many exhibitions, won awards, and made the rounds of multiple craft fairs.
Fast forward 40 years, I have not regretted remaining in architecture as it has shown me the world. I have worked in Oklahoma, NY, LA then Taipei. I was always able to keep my hands in clay and look forward to spending more time with clay as I get older.
I consider myself a serious student of clay. Every place I have lived in has offered different types of clay with different work conditions. In Taiwan I was limited to electric kilns, which was not my first choice but I gradually learned to come to terms with it. Two years ago I decided I wanted to go back to gas-fired kilns and thanks to the help of a potter friend Jack Doherty, I managed to build a gas-fired ‘soda’ kiln on my roof. After 12 months of planning I built a 1 cubic meter beast of a kiln. I had built and fired many high temperature gas kilns but never a soda kiln.
Soda firing means taking the kiln up to a temperature of about 1200 C, then introducing bicarbonate of soda in liquid form, which interacts with the clay and slips in unexpected ways. The process is 10 times more difficult to control than normal gas firing. After my 5th firing, I now have a pretty good list of things not to do. Hopefully, after 5 more firings I will have a reasonable list of things to do. Firing a cubic meter soda kiln offers a physical challenge that I did not plan for. However it is all part of the learning process, and I expect to make pots until the day I die, if it doesn’t kill me first.
