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Neeti Gokhalay Kheny | 1213
Neeti Gokhalay Kheny is a ceramic artist and former graphic designer whose practice is inspired by nature, particularly the ocean and its fragile ecosystems. Drawing from shells, corals, and anemone-like forms, Neeti creates sculptural works marked by intricate ornamentation and architectural sensibilities. Neeti’s work explores reverence as resistance, inviting reflection on ecological fragility, conservation, and our evolving relationship with water and shared responsibility.
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You mentioned that you’re not a tall person, and yet you’re, you’re making these pots. How does going big impact you, physically? Does it tire out your body when you have to start moving that thing around and building up?
About that? Oh, yeah, I’ve had some issues, but not I don’t think it’s so much from building big, but it’s just being in certain postures. My shoulder very often gets like a bit of an ache. Last year, while I was doing my artist residency in New Zealand, I came back, and I got back into work again and my wrist started giving a bit of an issue. It was just like a muscle pull, but it has meant that I have to take working out seriously. It means that I have to do rehab occasionally. But, yeah, it is what it is.
How do you know when to stop for the day?
I want to say when, when the body is like you’ve had enough, but I think it’s also sometimes that I want to finish something so that might overtake that requirement. But I think I like to spend at least four or five hours, if not more. I mean generally more, but a minimum of four hours at work.
Is there a point when the scale forces you to work around the pot instead of on it, like you’re having to get more to certain point when you’re circulating around that pot a whole lot more.
Oh, I don’t know if I would be circulating around it as much, but I think if I needed to let it rest and stay, then I’ll probably start working on another piece, or maybe clean up the mess that I’ve made while working. So I feel like it’s it’s not just that pot that’s taking all my attention.
Have you gotten to the point when you can look at a piece and say no, it’s not going to survive,
and it’s time to walk away or finish up.
I think it’s I know when I’m making a bad piece, but I feel like, for some reason, I’m stubborn, and I just like, I feel like I’ve put
in so much work already, and I just keep going, and I keep going, and I will go as far as bisquing it. Yeah, and I have some really hideous pieces lying around as a result.
Are there failures that you’ve been through that make you that have taught you a big lesson?
Uh, yeah, of course. I think when I look at every single piece that I’ve made, whether it’s sculptural or it’s a vessel or whatever, I think each one is always definitely teaching me something. And I think I’m very, very critical of my work. I don’t know if it’s always a big lesson, but I think my bisque’s thoughts are definitely teaching me a big lesson. You need to stop when we are born dry or when things are not going right. Don’t fire us! I really need to look into that, to be honest. But everything else, I think the big lessons for me are always you need to be patient, because I tend to push things too far, and I maybe need a little bit of restraint sometimes.
What does going big or working big give you that a small pot doesn’t?
I think that’s really nice question, I think the sense of accomplishment after working on something for so many days, then waiting for it to dry, then firing it. I think just that whole journey, it’s so interesting, now that you asked me this, I feel like it’s running a half marathon or doing an Iron Man. I’ve done a half Iron Man and a bunch of half marathons. And it’s the same thing- It’s just this long journey to get to the end, and that end point is really fulfilling. And I think that’s what a big pot or a really detailed, intricate sculpture really does for me, I think it’s the same joy that I get out of running a half marathon. I’d never thought of it. But thank you.
Book
Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists by Alice North, Halsey North, Louise Cort
Contact
Instagram: @neetigoclay