Music was my first love, but it won’t be be my last.

From Sound to Clay: A Journey in Auroville

Julietta Kühle’s artistic path is rooted in a lifelong passion for rhythm and harmony. Before relocating to India in the late 1990s, she spent many years working within the dynamic German music industry. Her move to the International Community of Auroville marked a profound shift, initiating a new artistic love: clay.
Following an apprenticeship at Ray Meeker’s renowned Golden Bridge Pottery in Pondicherry, Julietta began developing her own distinctive voice in ceramics. Her practice is defined by experimental surface techniques, specifically the transfer of photographic and graphic images onto clay.

The ICONS Series and Experimental Work

Julietta’s most recognized body of work, the ICONS series, explores cultural iconography with a playful and irreverent spirit. Inspired by a printing workshop with Sushma Anand, she transfers images of figures ranging from music and film stars to comic heroes and spiritual leaders. Her aesthetic deliberately celebrates the imperfections inherent in the process—the cracks and the blurriness—viewing them as a metaphor for the unpredictability of life itself. These works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and pottery markets across India, including a major solo show, ICONS, at the Kalakendra Gallery in Bharat Nivas (February 2020).
Beyond her tile work, Julietta is a versatile multimedia artist. Her 2020 exhibition also included an immersive installation featuring clay characters inspired by Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride. Her commitment to public art is demonstrated by her permanent installation of ICONS tiles on the wall of the European House in the International Zone.
For Julietta, whether through sound or sculpture or expressing herself as a writer, the artistic pursuit remains constant: “Each and every piece of art brings me a bit closer to the never-ending search for the divine truth and harmony.”

Contact: Julietta Kühle
Address: Arati 2, 605101 Auroville
Phone: 8903965726
Email: julietta.kuehle@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/pottery.auroville

I studied architecture at CEPT in Ahmedabad, where I learned to see form, space, and structure in everything around me. Later, I found clay or maybe it found me. It felt more direct, more alive.

In 2019, I moved to Auroville. I’ve been working at Mandala Pottery in Tamil Nadu, in the production line and also creating art installations. It’s a place where I get to experiment. Nature, fire, and community shape everything here.

I work with clay almost like it’s fabric. I fold it, stretch it, let it settle into shapes that feel like they’re just about to move. I’m especially drawn to Nerikomi layering colored or different types of clay bodies. It’s kind of like weaving, but with earth instead of thread. Some of these pieces are remarkably fragile, featuring intricate, detailed patterns. I usually fire those in electric or gas kilns (oxidation firing) for a clean look, using minimal glaze.

Then there’s the other side of my work, the bold pieces, the ones I fire with wood firing or soda firing (reduction firing). I let the fire take over there. The ash, the flame they change everything. I don’t try to control it too much.

I like working both ways—careful and wild. It helps me think in different directions and keeps the process fresh. Even though the techniques vary, I’m always chasing the same thing: a sense of movement. Like the clay is caught mid-motion, just for a second, before it comes to rest.

Lavanya Pawar is an interdisciplinary artist and architect rooted in the experimental spirit of Auroville. With a background that spans electronics, architectural design, and digital marketing, her creative journey is as layered as her art. Her work explores healing, ecology, and resilience through various mediums—minimalist ink, mixed media, photography, and visual storytelling.

Lavanya’s visual language blends structure with spontaneity. Her series of artworks, prints, and handcrafted pieces are shaped by both personal recovery and collective transformation. She draws deeply from inner journeys, spiritual ecology, and the raw terrains of life—often blurring the lines between art, therapy, and activism.

Her projects include workshops on Artful Recovery, Minimalist Nature Ink Painting, and Scientific Toys from Waste, and she has exhibited across Auroville and Tamil Nadu. In 2023, she undertook a remarkable 3500 km solo bike expedition—“One Step Everyday”—from Auroville to Arunachal Pradesh, combining adventure, storytelling, and women’s empowerment.

Whether through quiet ink compositions or vibrant public engagements, Lavanya invokes a world where creativity becomes a tool for regeneration, dialogue, and soul-work.

Exhibitions & Highlights

• Synergy, Hibiscus Art Village, Auroville (2025)

• Out of the Lockdown, Savitri Bhavan, Auroville (2021)

• Remembering Veenapani, Adishakti (2025)

• Artwork featured in Auroville Today, News & Notes, and Enlightened Sapiens YouTube channel.

From early childhood, she was enchanted by the world of art and culture—shaped by both the grandeur of classical masterpieces and the quiet intimacy of domestic craft.

She was first guided by the patient hands of her great-grandmother, a craftswoman rooted in traditional practices, whose presence awakened a fascination with the language of materials and a lifelong love for creating beauty.

Elena’s journey began with fiber arts—crocheting, knitting, embroidery, and wool felting—before expanding into fluid art, painting, epoxy resin, copper work, and most recently, the grounding, elemental world of clay and ceramics.

Her creations are more than objects; they are alchemical invocations — dimensional forms shaped by sacred symbols and myth.

Beyond the studio, Elena occasionally performs in avant-garde theatre and films, continuing to explore the intersection of art, form, and spirit.

She is also an active force in event curation and community-building at Hibiscus Art Village, where she helps cultivate a thriving creative platform for artists, makers, and cultural exchange.

Participant of

Krishna Charitra 5th Chittorgarh Art Festival, Rajasthan 2017

International Art Mart Khajuraho 2018

6th Chittorgarh Art Festival 2018

Art Camp Ujjain 2019

Women artists exhibition at Kala Kendra, Bharat Nivas, Auroville 2021

Multiple exhibitions of Hibiscus Art Village

https://www.instagram.com/ptichka.v.golove

https://www.instagram.com/birdie_curiosity

https://www.instagram.com/hibiscus_av

My name is Jasmine, I am 23 years old and grew up in Auroville.

I paint using acrylic on canvas with my primary source of inspiration being the sky.

Painting has been my means of expression for as long as I am able to remember. From taking part in Auroville’s The Play Of Painting program when I was little, to joining Last School where I was given the tools to grow my technique and practical abilities, to now painting on my own and learning through ongoing practice. Light and colour make me feel so it is my hope that my pieces are able to capture those two things and therefore evoke feeling.

My first exhibition/installation in 2021 was very large scale, a literal Walk in the Clouds with the paintings being meters tall. In 2022 I moved to England where my tiny room forced me to size down but I kept painting and eventually exhibited my work as part of Open Up Sheffield before moving back to Auroville. I now find myself continuing to enjoy painting smaller pieces and of course, I am still in utter admiration of the sky.

Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/jasmineelizabethart

Email : jasmineelizabethstorey@gmail.com

Phone : +918940779187

Address : Evergreen, Auroville, 605101

When I first started drawing as a teenager, I used pencils most often, and sometimes acrylic paint. Then I got more into using charcoal as my medium before I switched to oil paints, which is what I mainly use now, and occasionally acrylics. I tend to paint more in black and white than color.

I always liked drawing and painting portraits; it’s what I do most. I have also done other types of paintings, like seascapes, nature, and animals. I always copy from a photograph for anything I paint. In recent years I’ve started doing more custom art for people, where they send me a photo of a portrait or anything, and I make it into a painting.

Contact:
dasha(at)yours.com

Links:
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/diatsenko.art/
Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/diatsenko_art/
Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC6zBUnPz24UYDwrKX8vWFQ/videos

I’m also interested in experimental films, dance expressions, and merging these two disciplines into original fun pieces.

The aim of Ineffable is to be at the service of humanity’s awakening through conscious films and filmmaking, creating beautiful pieces to reach the heart of the audience.

Links

Website: www.valentinabeatriz.com
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZiugMtl-BbsIxDOLMl1UQA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valentinabeatrizav/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/22ojot4y6p2de53swovqnjs7y
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/valentinabeatriz

Having worked in the industry for over 10 years in several roles and positions her goal now is to create documentary films. She would like to open the eyes of others as hers have been, to educate and inform in the most unbiased way possible. She says, “I have had the great opportunity to travel, which not everyone is fortunate to have. During these experiences I have learnt a great deal, which I would like to share. The creative format of film has always held me captive from a young age. Wisdom and knowledge are best shared; this is why I have chosen this path.”

Her main interest is sustainable and regenerative communal living, and she travelled around the world for many years visiting organic farms, eco-villages and intentional communities making films as gifts to help share the knowledge and to give people a voice.

Now she lives in the international township of Auroville in South India, and continues Auroras Eye Films from there, sharing about her community experience.

Website: https://auroraseye.wordpress.com/
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/AurorasEyeFilms
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AurorasEye
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auroras_eye_films/
Email: serena_aurora AT auroville.org.in

Ever since she was a little girl, Claire, said she would live several lives in one. True to her word, she explored many different paths before placing her art practice at the centre of her life.

Claire was initially trained in France by a Bauhaus painter who spontaneously offered to share her knowledge with her, it was one of the lovely encounters that changed her life; one of the many she has had on her path. Continuing her artistic journey, she explored in the direction of traditional arts and was trained in the Japanese painting technique Sumi-e, which had a profound impact on her development as an artist; pushing her to evolve her practice and research, it taught her to look at the world through another set of eyes.

For Claire her art practice is one and of one piece with her decision to walk a spiritual path. Her art is an expression of the unfolding of her inner journey. She intuitively fluctuates between the abstract and the figurative, creating subtle worlds that evoke imaginary and symbolic landscapes, where nature is animated. In her visual storytelling there are no boundaries between realms, instead they simply unfold into each other in a kind of continuum.

In her present series of paintings, Hidden Cities, the symbolic and allegorical cityscapes that she depicts,  timeless and unknown, may sometimes evoke metropolises or some undiscovered or mythical cities.
“The cities are a metaphor of our limitations and resistances,  says Claire, and that’s actually the parallel I make, it’s between walls and limitations, they form layers of all that must transform in us; the journey to experience this inner transformation is not a linear ascending process but rather a multi dimensional one”, and this is how Claire etches out her visual narrative, playing with different planes. She pursues: “And they are layers and layers to be transformed  at different levels, nested in each other, strata of our small and large stories of now and before. The mythical cities are present remains of an attempt of a new world and in this adventure of a new man, we also carry these experiences”.

Her iridescent paintings are always alight with a fire which is the manifestation of the will that allows us to overcome limitations. “The skies represent possibilities”, explains Claire, “and on Earth, where all our limitations are, there is a sea or a river, a flow, that allows us to link everything.”

She uses tempera with wash technique as used in Indian traditional ancient arts and watercolours and ink as used in different ancient Asian techniques. Her references are painters such as Paul Klee, VS Gaitonde and Zao Wou-Ki. Claire Iono’s evocative and imaginary is effortlessly fused to create an image of hope and life, with this positive energy that radiates through the beautifully ethereal world that manifests in her work.

Her art pieces find collector’s homes all around the world. She has held several solo shows and has participated in several group shows in India and in international art fairs.This last year, Claire was a finalist of the Indian national competition Ora Mojarto and of the international exhibition, Art revolution Taipei in Taiwan.

She recently has joined the artist’s catalogue of Kalakriti Art Gallery, one major gallery in India.

Working in a wealth of materials and contexts, her art ranges from sculpture and woodwork to painting, illustration and performance art inspired and supported by her background in fine art, theatre, dance and equestrianism.

Recently returned to Auroville after graduating with a Masters in Fine Art from the Birmingham School of Art, Lili combines her work with the Treehouse Community and her ongoing research and development in horsemanship to drive her art practice in ever new directions.

Contact:
email: ldreikhausen(at)gmail.com
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/being.lili/
contact number : 9585942813

Aparajita Barai is a communication designer and an artist. She has graduated from National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and completed her masters with a distinction in Design for Communication from University of Westminster, London.

Her work shows influence from the folk style and reveals the intricacy of traditional Indian art form. Mythology and spirituality predominantly mark her subject.

Her motive and mission is to re-stir Indian spirituality and philosophy and present it with personal quest. She aims to dig out the ancient treasures, meanings and possibilities that have got submerged under the ceremonial practices.

LINKS
Website: www.belovedindia.com
Attend the Upcoming / Ongoing events by Aparajita Barai: www.belovedindia.com/upcoming-ongoing

CONTACT

E-mail: belovedindia@yahoo.com

Born in Paris, Nathalie moved to India at the age of 7 when her family came to live in Auroville in the early days, as devotees of Sri Aurobindo and Mother. Growing up in Auroville has brought on a profound sense of exploration, adventure and a passion for learning.

Author and illustrator of two children books published in Auroville: MANGO TREE – 2018, JUST IMAGINE! – 2017, In 2012 she Illustrated The Little Wave, a book by Renu Neogy.

She lives with her partner of many years in Auroville – South India, where trees, mongoose, lizards and birdsong are welcomed friends in a mutually beneficial environment.

Email: nathalie(at)auroville.org.in

Just Imagine: The book 2017

The Little Wave: By Renu Neogy, Illustrated by Nathalie

Mango Tree: The book 2018

Mail: orevindia@gmail.com
Phone number: 2622154  

WORKS

contact:
e-mail: sathyacolour [at] auroville.org.in
address: Shankalpa, Auroville
mobile: +91 9486145072

link:
http://sathyacolour.blogspot.in
www.facebook.com/artbreezegallery

work:

contact:

e-mail: happy [at] auroville.org.in
phone: +91 80-98680467
address: Luminosity, Auroville

work:

I work with black pen on paper and give ceramic a new look. Changing simple utensils into unique objects, and expressing my creativity this way, is something I enjoy enormously.

The designs I’ve made on paper get a second life as well. They can travel all over the world as postcards or can be enjoyed as a print in a frame, on a cushioncover or worn on a t-shirt.

Sharing my art is a pure joy!

contact:

e-mail: connieartcards [at] gmail.com

address: Samasti, Auroville

mobile: +91 9655855368

link:

conniesgraphicdesign.wordpress.com

work:

I seek to create a new narrative dedicated to the future of humanity. I was born in an artist family in Kyoto, Japan. I started calligraphy study since age seven. Then started to learn figurative sculptures in a public art high school in Kyoto.In 1994 I became a professional wood sculptor through the apprenticeship in Tokyo. I practice & teach art in general in Auroville. I also organise a collective cultural/social programs under the title The ONE ASIA project. I am also known as an oriental tea lover and a practitioner of the Way of Tea.”

Links:
jyotinaokieri.com
oneasiaproject.org

Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/jyotinaoki.eri

Works:

“In my expression, I seek the unity of opposites – asymmetry and balance, chaos and harmony, imperfection and attention to detail. Texture and rhythm are essential elements to step out of the self and touch intangible qualities such as emptiness, silence, translucency, weightlessness and the vibratory fields of matter and light. My work seeks to celebrate the delight of living. Life’s qualities of abundance, generosity and hope fuel my creativity as does Nature – ocean, landscapes, and life forms. My creative process relies on spontaneity, moment-to-moment guidance, and serendipity. I work through hand-building techniques, primarily using stoneware clay with slips, glazes, stains and luster for decorative effects. The works are fired in a wood-fueled kiln at 1250 degree Celsius”.

contact:
e-mail: priya.sundaravalli [at] auroville.org.in
address:
tel: +91

link:
images on google photos

work:

link:
http://www.adilwriter.com

contact:
mackinoav [at] yahoo.com

work:

video of my last installation “Le bateau de Marco”

Contact:


e-mail: ivana.frousova [at] yahoo.co.uk

phone: (91) 7094344154
community: Vikas, Auroville

work:

contact:
ade.jacques65 [at] gmail.com

links:
http://s81598.wix.com/dominiquejacques
https://vimeo.com/28406688

work:

contact:
marcos[at]auroville.org.in

links:
https://vimeo.com/user59565451
http://meltingspot.auroville.org/

work:

It is a disciplined art form where the arrangement is a living thing in which nature and humanity are brought together. It is steeped in the philosophy of developing closeness with nature.

As is true of all other arts, Ikebana is creative expression within certain rules of construction. Its materials are living branches, leaves, grasses, and blossoms, anything can be used and even a small weed can be given an important place in an arrangement…

Its heart is the beauty resulting from color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines and the meaning latent in the total form of the arrangement. Ikebana is, therefore, much more than mere floral decoration.

In Ikebana, empty space plays an essential part of any arrangement. The elements, placed asymmetrically, are given emphasis by the spaces. Thus, the totality of a well-done arrangement brings about a state of serenity and peace to the viewer.

It helps you to appreciate things in nature that previously had seemed insignificant. The ephemeral side of Ikebana helps us to not become attached to the material creation; but rather to love and to respect it in the real moment of its existence.

Together with some flowers, leaves, a vase and our inner being, we achieve silence and harmony between Nature and ourselves. This is the true philosophy of Ikebana

contact:
address: Surrender, Auroville
e-mail: valeriaraso [at] hotmail.com
phone: (91)9442992827

links:
www.japaneseartfurniture.com/ikebana
photos on picasa

work:

Over the past several years, while traveling between the US, Mexico, Guatemala and India, I have worked with materials easily transportable such as pen, ink (fine point, permanent markers) and watercolors.

My palette covers the entire spectrum, aligning, opening and expanding the energy of my chakras. I am inspired by my surroundings, the people, places and especially the Divine in nature.

Becoming an Art Therapist has become my ”calling”, my dharma, my path. I have always felt that art making and participation in the creative process, provides a voice, limitless freedom of personal self -expression and a vehicle for healing, communication and connection.

Unfortunately, Tia passed away in the year 2024.

contact:
e-mail: tialovesart [at] gmail.com
tel: (91) 9787468553

link:
www.createandtransform.org

work:

contact:
e-mail: yatrasrinivassan@gmail.com
address: Near Newcreation Sports Ground, Kuilapalayam
mobile: (91)9751033162 / office: (91)0413- 2623071

links:
www.yatraartsmedia.org
www.yatraarts.org

work:

Form is her ever attractive inner drive. A thought, an idea, a vision starts the process of creating and then while making intuitive energy takes lead. Finally the fire completes the artworks.  The three mediums interflow to create an artwork.

contact:
address: Auromodel, Auroville
e-mail: supriya [at] auroville.org.in

website:
www.supriyamm.art

work:

Sizes of first 8 objects:
1. Feel of life : 10 x 22 x 27 cms – Each
2. Fabric Pod : 29 x 45 x 27 cms
3. Landscape vases : 25 x 28 x 9 cms – Each
4.Set of teabowls : 9 x 9 x 9 cms – Each
5. Landscape jars : 21 x 11 11 cms – Each
6. Landscape vases – (medium) – 14 x 10 x 10 cms
7. Dish with handle – 14 x 16 x 15 cms
8. womb trpitych – 25 x 84 x 13 cms