Elephant Helicopter by Vicky Lindo & Bill Brookes

To celebrate at the annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi during the 1970s, the Indian military decided to dress their Chetak helicopters as elephants and perform and dance for the crowds. Drawn to whimsical stories like this, Vicky Lindo found herself exploring further, discovering examples of helicopters dressed as fish and even a dodo. She reflects on how difficult it can be to listen to the constant stream of bad news and very little good news. This particular tale offered Vicky a sense of light relief, to remember that sometimes joyful things happen just for the sake of making people happy.

The amphora was constructed from cellulose-fibre (paper) earthenware slabs, slipcast on flat plaster batts, and trimmed into segments that were joined to form the amphora shape. The white amphora then had 9 brush coats of brown slip applied to form a sufficient coloured layer to be carved into. Finally, a very thin brush coat of white slip was applied to form a ground for subsequent coats of coloured underglaze that is incised with sgraffito decoration.

Once the sgraffito decoration was completed, the amphora was then allowed to completely dry out, bisque fired to 1015 degrees centigrade, dipped in clear glaze and finally glaze fired to 1100 degrees.

Earthenware with sgraffito decoration

48W x 38H cm

2024