Environmental Ceramics

Murals
For Ruby, nature - it's vast spaces and openness - hold significant charm.

Her unique idea of environmental ceramics is relevant to anyone attempting to create a space of their own - be it a home, an office or a factory. Ruby has executed several murals for corporate and individual clients, and continues to do so.

Multinationals such as Alfa Laval and Hoganas appointed her to set murals for their complexes at Pune. With a remarkable ability to totally involve others, these murals wholly reflect the organisational and human personality of establishments. At Hotel Guestline, Mumbai she commissioned a mural covering an open 700 sq.ft. wall on the rooftop restaurant. At Tetrapak near Mumbai, she put up a mural covering about 4000sq.ft spreading over the entire frontage of the entrance block - Perhaps amongst the largest, handmade, totally ceramic murals put up in the country. Recently she has installed a 350 sq.ft mural at Mahindras Holiday Resorts, Munnar at their coffee shop.

Environmental ceramics is not merely an exercise in working at a scale larger than the potter is accustomed to, it is a challenge to develop new environments. Clay, after all, is the basic building block of our planet Earth.

The process of developing a mural

We follow Ruby step by step on the development of a commissioned mural the exterior wall of a company located in the industrial suburb of Pune, India.

Design

Any project always begins with a consideration of need, function, location and site. An overall theme, which is of interest to the client, is brought to the attention of the artist. Basis architectural information must be taken into account, when ideas for the project are being discussed in respect to the total area at the site.

Based on all this, an idea or plan is developed and sketches or drawings can be made.
During this stage, ideas and images are in continual flux as they are given visual form.
When the ceramist, architect, and client are satisfied with the concept or drawing, work can begin on the execution of the project.

Physical Process

Ideas and concepts are now transposed into media - the ceramic mural.

The first step is to draw a to-scale sketch of the selected design on a large sheet of cardboard paper. This drawing serves as a template for the further development of the mural.

Once the clay is prepared it is rolled into slabs of convenient thickness and size using a slab roller. The slabs are thrown over a large sheet of jute cloth. Several adjacent slabs are joined to each other, and the artist usually walks over the entire material in order to make the joints permanent and achieve a uniform sheet of clay.

The sheet is now ready to receive form. It is usually kept covered by a plastic sheet when not being worked on. Clay can be scraped back with various loop tools to make cavities, and fresh clay can be added to make projections. In this way, cavities and projections are the basic elements from which the artist creates the form of the mural.

Anything can be used as a tool to make impressions in the clay - metallic or wooden implements, pieces of bark or stem, stones, and
of course the most flexible tool of all - the artist's bare hands. In one of Ruby's murals employees from all ranks in the company were invited to make their hand impressions on the mural, thus involving them in the process of creation itself.

Once the entire image is frozen with the texture, relief, and feeling desired by the artist, does the process of the cutting the clay into 'tiles' begin.

The cutting must be done with care so as to not step on the design. The cut pieces are about 6 X 8 inches in sizes and can be up to 3 to 4 inches thick in places.

The result is creation of a 'jigsaw puzzle' of the original image of the mural. This can lead to confusion durating the installation of the mural.
Hence, the entire layout of all the jigsaw pieces is drawn on the cardboard template that had been initially made. Each piece is numbered on the back and the unique number is marked on the corresponding location in the cardboard template.

After the cutting the clay is allowed to dry for 2 to 3 weeks. Each piece is now unique and fits in somewhere in the larger form of the mural.

Firing, Glazing, and Firing again

Now the normal dual firing process of bisque and glaze firing is carried out {About Ceramics}. Through this transformation come a product that is almost indestructible in its strength, color fastness, and ability to survive the elements.

Glazing individual pieces of the mural is like recording each note of a song separately. Only later, when you put them all together, does one get to listen to the entire tune. The process needs a lot of experience in order to control, and the maturity to let go and allow the process to take its own course in adding some unexpected variations to the design that the artist actually has in mind.

After all the pieces are glazed and fired, they are layed out at the studio according to the original numbering plan, and everyone gets their first look at the mural. Yet, the work is not complete. What really matters is how it looks and feels once it is installed at the client's site.

Installation

When the mural is layed out at the studio, it has to be measured, and this measurement compared to the size of the wall where it is to be installed.

Any additions, adjustments or changes must be made at this point. Numbering must be checked. Tiles must be carefully packed and loaded into to the transport vehicle. Each piece is individually wrapped and boxed in cartons.
After arriving at the site, the tiles have to be unloaded, and carefully organized into groups according to the numbering pattern. The map or template is layed out on flat ground and the mural is them assembled on it.

Once the entire mural is layed out on the ground, the tiles can be adhered to the wall, one at a time, according the layout plan. The wall itself must be a concrete block or cement. Grouting is usually not done, except for protective purposes.
The mural is finally complete.