Eco Friendly Clay - Lessons from Ayurveda

Presenter Information

Shveta Agarwal, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Location

CSU Ballroom

Start Date

2-4-2019 2:00 PM

End Date

2-4-2019 3:30 PM

Student's Major

Art

Student's College

Arts and Humanities

Mentor's Name

Mika Laidlaw

Mentor's Department

Art

Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Second Mentor's Name

Todd Shanafelt

Second Mentor's Department

Art

Second Mentor's College

Arts and Humanities

Description

Ayurveda is an ancient system of medicine which originated in India and teaches about different aspects such as life, human beings, diseases and food. This knowledge has continued in day to day lives of people of Indian subcontinent and they have practiced it unconsciously for 5000 years. There are many interesting things which are now adapted by the Western Civilization from this knowledge, the most notably being Turmeric. In this project I used the knowledge from Ayurveda to create a clay which is eco friendly and utilizes ingredients such as Fuller's earth, sandalwood powder, rose water and plant based glue. These ingredients are not only natural and found abundantly on earth but also have many medicinal properties. Fuller's earth is used for facial and body cleansing/acne, sandalwood powder is used for flu symptom relief and rose water is great for eyes. The clay was used both in hand building and wheel building to create a swing and drinking vessels/vase. The products made from this clay are lighter than traditional clays such as earthenware/white stoneware. They are also less porous and require low firing temperatures which reduces their carbon footprint.