I've been wanting to meet Sterra Sharma since Meror told me about the part she is playing in the Mangar Village that is so close to our job-site. This weekend I got to do that...
Sterra, born in Netherlands, has lived in India for 40 years. She is an artist herself and patron of Indian arts & culture. In consulting on the Arts & Crafts hotel for Mrs. Suri of Lalit Hotels, Meror and I find ourselves enrolled in Sterra's plan.
Part I: The Blue Building
Walking down the hill into the Village of Mangar, amongst the yellow and pink and white painted buildings there is a prominent blue building in clear view. It is owned by Mrs. Sterra Sharma who has become a benifactress of this area and has a vision of reviving the Arts and Crafts of the locals here.
She has started by renovating her building and creating a museum and guest house there.
The Museum has solar panels and water tanks on the roof.
Delhi is notorious for it's intermittent power supply so many public buildings and the more expensive private homes have generators, battery storage and now solar energy to supplement this resource.
The finishing details on the museum utilize the local builder's crafts. The doors, windows and cement forms for railings are historic decorations added as part of this renovation.
The ceiling too is a revived craft that will also be a part of the Lalit Hotel building at the top of the valley. In the museum they look like this...
The barrel vaults at the hotel are larger than these. When I was here in March (2011) I saw the workers hand troweling the ceiling panels that will complement our SIREWALLs.
Part II: The Arts & Crafts
The beds are made locally - woven with their creation date. This bed was made on the 13th of January, 2011. The bundle at the foot of the bed is a folded futon mattress ready to lay out.
While we were touring the museum this beautiful woman joined us and I was impressed with her playful energy and her ability to communicate without language.
She explained that she is the craftsperson that plastered the walls with the pattern you see behind her in this portrait.
Her name is Santos.
She also made the large dish for the grinding stone and clay pots for fire.
Other crafts that will be displayed in the museum are the collection of turbans tied in different styles. Turbans can be very large or quite modest depending upon region, culture and religion.
Jagdeesh, who was our host for the day brought us into the storeroom to show us the beginnings of the collection. There were wooden carts with clay oxen to harness and horses and camels made with leather. a curious and appealing material for shaping the figures.
Part III: The Murals
Mrs. Sharma noticed a mural in this man's house and commissioned him to paint murals on the walls of the village. He is not to paint on any of the "old" historical walls but on anything built recently - he has the freedom to paint whatever he likes.
