Shades of many cities, melange on common canvas

BANGALORE: Benjamin Franklin had once said: “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” In the hands of the teachers, lies the future of budding talents. These gurus are left with little time for themselves. Considering this, the Karanataka Chitrakala Parishat has organised a workshop for teachers. ‘Homage to Gurudev, The National Art Teachers Camp’ was inaugurated by Prof Jai Zharotia, an eminent artist from  Delhi, on Monday. “The concept behind the workshop is to make a critical note of the role teachers play as artists and professors. Also to analyse the different ways in which art is taught across the country,” said Lina Vincent, in-house curator of Chitrakala Parishat.  Elaborating, she said that  these professors get very little time to focus on their personal work. The five-day workshop will culminate on December 30, following which, works of artists and art teachers will be exhibited at the Parishat for one week. The exhibition will be a mix of paintings, sculptures, applied arts  and digital art.Sukhijeet Singh Kukkal, a sculpture professor from Kashmir University said, “My art work is inspired from my surroundings. I work with various mediums such as ceramics, silver, wood, clay among other things. During the process of materialisation, it gets driven by the resources available and then attains a character of its own. The form finally arrives at a stage where it acquires a spiritual connotation.”For each participant, the workshop holds a different opportunity and a different meaning. For many, while it is time to see the output of their creativity and watch it as it moulds, for others the workshop provides a platform to interact with others and build new relations.  Sanchayan Gosh, an art professor from Shantiniketan says that the workshop is a place to explore space and relationships. He adds that like last year, this year too, he hopes to embark on a journey created by the memories of the city.  “Through these memories, I then create body movements, which are then interpreted into shadow work and movements. This year too I hope to do something like this,” he says.Every artist’s interpretation of art is unique, while Gosh finds solace in interactive art, in-house faculty of the Parishat, Prof Krishna Rajendra Kumar experiments with X-ray sheets. “I create structures from X-ray sheets, I then pass light through them to create new and different  effects,” he said.