Beautiful words
A fourth generation calligrapher, her great grandfather worked in the court of Bahadur Shah Zafar as ‘Khatta’ Account writer. Meet Shipra Rohatgi Dutta, whose writing evokes poetry on paper.
Tell us about your foray into the world of art.
I am the 4th generation calligrapher from Delhi. As a child I saw my father and grand-father perform the art of Calligraphy on walls and paper and there was no looking back. I h
ave been working professionally for over 25 years now.
What is the medium that you like to work with?
Dip pens, Brush and ink, various ingenious tools like waste tooth brushes, stamp pads, hair brushes, card board, iron strip, tooth pick and so on. Chisel and hammer is another great tool for expression.
Who are the artists you have worked with?
Since text is an integral part of life and adds life to a painting or an artwork, I have been fortunate enough to work with various artists. To name a few: Atul Dodiya, Rameshwar Broota, Heeral Trivedi, Arunanshu Chowdhury, Amrita Varma, Rahul Choudhury, Kanchan Chander, Akhlaq Ahmed, Harsh Raman Paul Singh, Sujiet Podar, Johny ML, Chandramohan Kulkarni, Achyut Palav, Bg Limaye, Susmita Chowbey, Aakshat Sinha, Lorraine Brigdale, Sabita S. Agarwal, Aarti U. Singla, Pravat M. Pravat, Jalabala Vaidya (Theatre), Saif Ali Khan (Bollywood), Begum Pataudi, Deepika Padukone and many more.
Which schools of art have you been inspired by? Styles that you like to emulate…
NIFT, I worked closely with Smt Kalpana Swamy, yesteryear’s Head for 15+ years. Seeing lines in nature intrigues me and something really new is created each time!
