Late Jyotsna Bhatt


Jyotsna Shroff Bhatt Born in 1940 at Mandvi in Kutch, she lost her father early but her uncle saw her aptitude in fine arts and encouraged her to pursue it.

Her journey at the wheel began in the 1960s in Vadodara. A high priestess of the world of minerals and fire and clay, she looked around her garden at Vadodara for stimulus and inspiration.

Married to celebrated artist and Padma Shri, Jyoti Bhatt, she always mentioned that her husband was very supportive and her family played an important part in her achievements.

She studied sculpture under Prof. Sankho Chaudhuri at the famed M.S. University at Baroda and later ceramics at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in the U.S. Returning to India she taught at, and later headed the Department of Ceramics at her alma mater until her retirement in 2002.In her career of over five decades, Jyotsna behen had been a part of several group exhibitions, workshops, art camps, and solo shows.

Her last shows at Kolkata and Vadodara showcased a deluge of delightful creations. In her agile hands, inert matter like stoneware, signature matte glazes and minerals seem to awaken, smoke, stretch and settle into a position of poise and reflective.

She always had a preference for matte and satin matte glazes with mottled colour tones. The quirky expression of a cat in sleep, the beauty of an opening bud, little vignettes from nature, her tall vases with a hint of the antiquated murmurs — each piece had its own tale. More than just a ceramic artist, she was a mentor, a pedagogue exemplifying humility, grace and wisdom. She has been a mentor to several ceramicists, all over India. Her incessant urge for novelty in botanical and animal forms kept her agog.

Pottery for Jyotsna Bhatt was a direct, playful expression of the physical body of the maker and the beholder —a connection through form, design, and purpose.

Jyotsna Bhatt used to reside and work at Baroda.