CERAMICS BY ISHRAT
Ishrat Raza Suhrwardy is an accomplished and award-winning artist and ceramist with over 30 years of experience. Since graduating from National College of Arts in 1979 in Lahore, Pakistan, Ishrat has worked, taught and exhibited work in nationally and internationally in venues including Canada, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand.
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After moving to Canada in 2004, Ishrat has been a participant in the Resident Artist Program at Living Arts Centre, Mississauga where she produces work, manages the studio as a technician, and teaches workshops and classes.
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Apart from teaching and exhibitions, she maintains professional affiliations with several organizations, workshops and guilds.
ARTIST BIO
Ishrat
Starting her career as a painter, Ishrat was drawn to ceramics early on when she tried the wheel by chance one day. She quickly found herself taken by the process of using the natural tendencies of clay, glaze, and fire, to create form and emotion, as well as the unique combination of art and utility that ceramics permits. These tensions have never stopped informing her work.
Ishrat is equally inspired by the natural and the human. She takes her palette from Canadian and Pakistani landscapes while, conceptually, her work often deals with social issues, using clay as a story-telling medium to communicate messages that come from the land and society and their complex interaction.
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Technically, Ishrat is equally at ease using electric, gas, raku, and horsehair clay firing techniques. Her work is known for being accentuated by a variety of other media such as glass, wood, metal, often in collaboration with other local artists.
Ishrat makes wares for the kitchen and sculptures for the home. She won the MARTY’s Established Visual Artist award in 2010.
