A diverse range of influences have informed the work of Shalan Dere, a self-taught potter and ceramic artist, Shalan's work stands out among artists formally trained at art schools and working within the parameters of particular stylistic traditions. The absence of rigid norms, techniques, and academic theory, translates into a style that is simple, unpretentious, and representative of artist's own desire to engage in a dialogue with clay.
With over fifteen years of experience, Shalan has exhibited her work throughout India including three group shows with "Clay Chakra", Mumbai, "Tiles and Tiles" with Delhi Blue Potteries, and "India Art Festival", Mumbai. She has sold her work at various Potter's markets including Kala Ghoda festivals, Calcutta potters market, as well as through pottery workshops and open houses at her home studio and gallery "Potters Place", Mahim / Shivaji Park.
"A dialogue with clay" is her first solo show and represents the diversity of Shalan's aesthetic and expressive sensibility that have shaped her understanding and relationship with clay. The dialogic in Shalan's work is both gestural and abstract as it manifests in a willingness to open up, engage, and encourage the clay to turn into a medium that can be limiting and limitless, offering a freedom that emerges because of its capacity to contain and be contained.