Kashmira and Bharat Patel are partnering to exhibit together this Artweeks. Bharat blends his skills as a travel and documentary photographer with his imagination to create provoking and surreal visions of the future Oxford city’s landscape. While Kashmira plays with clay to find spaces of energy and strength portraying elements of the earth that she feels are already at play in her present. The combination of one artist's contrived and imagined futures and the other’s organic reality makes for an interesting and holistic conversation around the elements which is both grounding and stimulating.
They have exhibited individually and jointly previously during Artweeks and various other venues.
Bharat's surreal Oxford series and fascinating Tribal photography is on display at the Plum Gallery in Banbury in the month of March 2023, and will be part of an exhibition at the Barn Gallery at St. John's College in August
‘’Learn to make what I feel and feel what I make’’
This year, Kashmira will display her Japanese inspired vessels, lots of 'wabi sabi' style tall Linearity Vases which have proven to be very popular, her favourite birds and her most recent experiment of Pit firing. Pit firing is firing bisque ware in a pit with organic materials, like saw dust, banana peels, orange and lemon peels, sea weed, rock salt and some oxides to give those vibrant red, yellows and browns. Watch the space, for the latest images.
Kashmira’s passion for all things clay gradually evolved after many years of dabbling in brush strokes on bisque ware and porcelain using various glazes and techniques. She wanted more than that and started making her own bisque ware and finally developing her own techniques.
After two decades she continues to play with clay to form abstract, organic pieces. Her pieces are earthy, raw and sculptural and immersing in the elements of the earth
Earth, fire, water, air and ether
Kashmira finds that working with oxides, greens and blues give a great sense of staying connected to the earth and water and her works emerge as grounded and minimal pieces that meld with nature. Her movements through the flow and freeness in the moment of creation are spontaneous and alive.
She says she is in a meditative state when she works with clay, and brings in ‘spirituality’ into her work. Her recent inspiration has been from the Japanese philosophy of ‘wabi sabi’ – a combination of ‘perfectly imperfect’ and beauty in simple things in life. So look out for Japanese style ‘chawans’ = tea cups, platters and vases in this Exhibition. Also displayed will be some of the pieces from her series ‘Elements of the Earth’, displayed at Fusion Arts Oxford last October.
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She recently participated and was selected by the Modern Art Oxford for the 'Flow' exhibition, and has participated in the 'Oxford Arts Society' Open Exhibition. She is a regular participant in the Oxfordshire Artweeks for a number of years. 'Rock Paper Scissors' is her latest exhibition at West Ox Arts in Bampton, running from 18th March to 22nd April 2023