After 30 years of working with pottery and clay, the renowned master craftsman of the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi has only been brought to a halt by old age and a heart attack.
Born in a village near Neishabour in 1941, master of pottery Mohammad-Ali Fazlinejad is a household name for fans of the craft, MNA reported.
His interest in mud and clay from childhood lured him to visual art works and in 1956 he started learning the art of pottery.
At present, his pottery workshop is in Imam Reza (AS) Art and Culture Complex in Mashhad. “For 30 years I am working as a professional; I have done my best to revive this art which is a spiritual heritage of Khorasan,” says the master craftsman.
Fazlinejad established his own workshop in 1982 to promote the art in Mashhad, and taught in schools and centers for youth. He has held several galleries in Mashhad, Tehran and abroad, which won him awards as well as fame.
“There was a time when there was no place for this art in the province; I revived the art, which is on the verge of being forgotten,” says Fazlinejad.
No Support
Lamenting the fact that officials do not support the art to save it from dying, Fazlinejad states, “I have been working to help pottery find a stronghold among the youth; the art however, is neglected and my disciples have abandoned it for the difficulties associated with it; this is a great blow to pottery, and the province has forgotten the clay jar.”
According to him, the art of the millennia has now gone obsolete; but he is fighting thick and thin to save the pottery workshops though.
He highlights the “medical properties” of the art as well, saying “it is a sort of physiotherapy, using the hidden energy of the clay.” Researchers have found that pottery and playing with mud have proved “to have magical powers in treatment of psychological disorders.”
