COMMUNITIES

The correlation between natural geometry and manmade objects, especially in architecture fascinates Antra Sinha. The beautiful hexagon, found in many forms of nature – beehives, interlocking basalt columns, the molecular structure of benzene and the geometry of snowflakes – is also a form that has inspired some great architecture.

Having recently moved from India, Antra’s desire for a sense of belonging led her to explore beehives. To her, beehives mirrored two concerns common to humans – security and ambition. While the need for security drives the construction of structures built for safety and comfort, ambition drives people outward, taking them from their homes and into the unknown, which in turn makes ‘houses’ that evolve in form. Antra aspires to incorporate the subtle movement, the beauty, elegance and responsive nature of bees in this work. The hexagonal modules fit together seamlessly, symbolising community, continuity and shelter. She sees the bee shelters as an allegory for diversity in human cultures and expresses it through the use of varied hues of white, black and red, each representing outward differences yet elemental similarities.

A 2018 MFA Ceramics graduate from Utah State University with a STEM Fellowship, ANTRA SINHA also has a BFA and MFA from Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara. As a teaching assistant at the Golden Bridge Pottery she has attended and facilitated workshops by artists from around the world. Recipient of the JENESYS grant from the Japan Foundation, she was a resident artist at Shigaraki Ceramic Cultural Park in Japan; She was also at Zentrum fur Keramik, Germany and GAYA CAC, Ubud, Bali. Antra Sinha assisted John Neely in Australia and has presented at several global ceramic conferences. In 2015 she received a Multicultural Fellowship from NCECA and was awarded the Caine College of the Arts Master Researcher of the Year in 2017.

www.antrasinha.com