This female trio has it all – right amalgamation of imagination and creativity, innovation and hard work. And they have made their share of money, earned name and fame, carved a niche, albeit all at leisure.
When they had an opportunity come by, they did not hesitate to flatter women with an eye for artistic and decorative detail.
Their interest is perhaps the same – creating items of beauty out of their hands. But each has her way and means to achieve creative excellence.
Ab initio, their child-like excitement has been in sharp contrast to the work they do. They literally release squeals of joy as they show their art work. It is like a harmonious concoction of different artistic talent besides exploring each other's flair for art.
Creative pursuits
Kamala Venkatraman, Meena Chidambaram and T.D.B. Nagarani are bound by their sheer passion to indulge in creative pursuits and come out with some brilliant patterns on anything – be it fabric, silkworm cocoon or plastic sheets.
They also share a few common traits like doing their first work at the age of eight and the absence of formal teaching
Oldest of the three, octogenarian Kamala defies age. Obsessed with handicrafts, she is self-trained and has undergone only one machine embroidery course with Singer Company. Her hands, in fact, have not spared even broomsticks and cycle rods, what to say about the silky threads.
During this informal ‘Take Three' with Metroplus, Kamala enthusiastically shared her experiences as an art teacher. She let out a few secrets about herself, like her ability to question, interest to explore and manipulate that led her to new designs in tatting. .
“My hands long for the touch of threads and needles and I do not mind burning midnight oil by doing some embroidery work,” she says.
Meena and Nagarani concur. “This is like a strange coincidence,” says Ms. Meena, who has carved a niche preparing garlands, flower vases, dolls and bouquets made out of silk worm cocoons apart from her other art, craft and embroidery works.
Meena buys cocoons at Rs.120 for 100 grams and turns it into attractive stuff. She then dyes the ivory-coloured cocoons into different colours to lend variety and creativity. The oval-shaped cocoons are made into different object d'art.
What started as a leisure pursuit has turned into a profession for Ms. Meena, who gained experience and expertise in all forms of painting, embroidery, wall hangings and craftworks.
She owes it to her mother Parvathy Achi, who encouraged her to develop these hobbies. This self-learnt artist always tries to explore new varieties with coffee powder and dhal too.
For Nagarani, sensitivity to colour, design and motifs made her to think only about art-related works. “I owe a lot to my husband Baskaran, who helped me extend my horizon,” she gushes, of course adding her mother's and uncle's contribution as informal art teachers.
Ask about inspiration, and Nagarani spurts: “It can be anything under the sun. You just need to have an eye for it.”
“Inspiration can be some news, glimpse of an image, a past event, nature or a photograph, colour of a flower, divine figurines and sometime even a human face," she lists .
“I draw inspiration from beautiful and appealing things around me ,” notes Ms. Meena.
Kamala says one gets attuned to surroundings and nature and draws inspiration and perhaps the artistic eye opens up new horizons. .
On teaching, Kamala says it is a divine experience and gets enhanced because it is your forte.
During her stint in Chennai, Kamala conducted classes for students of different age groups but soon she confined herself doing tatting work at home. Even now she teaches occasionally to students who ask for it. Kamala makes thread necklace, ear rings and anklets. The thread designer wares are sure to allure youth, she asserts. She gets Rs.200 for bigger designs and lesser depending on size of the design in tatting work.
“Money is secondary but the passion to do what you love is more important and that's why I am happy,” she notes.
Her cupboard is full of books and materialrelated to handwork. Even now, she finds time to work with her deft hands that never seem to tire of threads and needles, knitting and embroidering. Even at this age, she is willing to attend art classes, if they take place in nearby areas.
Nagarani also never misses any art class. New or old, she tries to attend them all to learn and adopt new techniques to evolve new designs. She makes
the most of her artistic endeavours. She is out with her ever fresh computer kolams to entice women. “The kolams remain permanent and glittering. With one set you can make your own designs and variety that enhances the ambience of your home,” she says.
She cuts the polyester films to desired shapes and sticks beads, stones and glitters until it gets into an attractive designer kolam set. “If the kolams are used with lamps it glitters more and is attractive,” she says.
Her kolam designs sell like hot cakes. “Many buy and give them as away gifts as it is a perfect choice for puja rooms,” she says. Nagarani also teaches art both to elders and children and earns a reasonable income by selling her products.
Recognizing their latent talents and nurturing them in an appropriate way, these women are contributing silently in strengthening the base for our traditional crafts. They have been successful in weaving the social, cultural and economic aspects of art into a beautiful pattern, which is out for other women with potential to emulate and replicate too.
