Ceramists bring 'flower power' to teapots

A group of Indian and international artists have captured the essence of the iconic 1970s 'flower power' movement through festive teapots and kettles at an exhibition here.

At the 'Flower Power Teapot Show' the vibrancy of the 1970's peace and love era (also called hippie generation) has been effectively captured in teapots of myriad shapes and sizes by the ceramists.

The thematic ceramic art show which began on Monday at the Sanskriti gallery focuses on the "simplicity of a flower and the art of tea-drinking."

The artists were inspired by the popular floral motifs of that decade and also from the music that was symbolic of the 1970s including that by John Lennon.

There are 20 teapot designs on display ranging from Rs. 4000 to Rs. 50000.

The exhibition-cum-sale runs till August 18.

Ceramists featured are Ira Choudhury, Jyotsana Bhatt, Mansimran Singh, Rekha Bajpe Agarwal, Panthini Thaker, Ritvij Mistry, Shampa Shah, Nidhi Chopra, Sharbani Dasgupta, Pallav Das, Ajay Kanwal, Nehal Rachh, Sandra Black, (Australia), Anatolii Borodkin and Eugenia Logninova (Latvia), Isabelle Roux (France), Anjani Khanna, Galguni Bhatt Sanghavi and Aditi Saraogi.

'Flower power' originated in the late 1960s in Berkeley, California as a symbolic action of protest against the Vietnam war.

Participating artist Nehal Rachh Nandi said, "when asked to work along the theme of 'flower power', the few things that came into my mind were - love, peace, softness, joy and protection."