IT, they say, is a creative field. No wonder that Technopark abounds with the creative kinds – artists, photographers, dancers, musicians..., particularly painters and sculptors, it seems. A quick search finds that there are plenty of people in Technopark who are quite passionate about art, spending a fair amount of their free time in the world of colours.
For most of them art is the biggest stress buster. “There’s something relaxing about letting your imagination roam free on canvas. Art is sort of like meditation to me. Earlier, I used to paint very realistic art works, portraits too. These days my art seems to be veering towards the modern. It depends on my mood, really,” says Sreeja K. Nair, a 3-D texturing artist with an animation company. Sreeja’s quite serious about her art and has even held four solo exhibitions of her works. She also teaches art. “I enjoy helping people explore their artistic talents and now have many students aged between five and 80,” she says. Her colleague Laji, a background animator, too enjoys painting and says: “Art is the way I express my emotions. It has been like that since childhood. Whenever I feel joyful or upset or confused or have something to say about the happenings in the world around me, I take to my canvas.”
Santosh Kumar, a user interface designer with a multi-national company, is also quite serious about art. He too has held an exhibition of his works. Every year he gifts his friends and colleagues desktop calendars featuring his paintings. “Since childhood, I have found joy in painting. Once I got a job, though, it became increasingly difficult to find time to paint and I quit. Then, around four years ago, for my birthday, my friends gifted me a canvas and a bushel of paint. That got me back into the world of art. These days, I am interested in paper quilling paintings,” he says. Santosh’s sister, Sandhya, who also works in Technopark, is into arts and crafts too – terracotta ornament-making, metal crafts, mural painting on fabrics, and so on.
Ajith Kumar B.C., another user interface designer with an MNC, says that his interest in painting and sketching has helped him in his work. “My friends and I enjoy trekking in the forests nearby and capturing the wondrous landscape on canvas. I feel that, unlike a photograph, a sketch or a painting gives more of heart to the connect with nature. Sketching different aspects of the landscape within the frame of a canvas has given me a sense of proportion that I find useful for interface design. At work too I work more or less within a frame. I’m one of those lucky few whose hobby is work!”
Meanwhile, techie Theertha Raj, from Kannur, a production manager at a start-up, has started a Facebook page – ‘TArts - A tasty treat with colors’ - to showcase her artistic talents, paintings, murals, pencil sketches and, lately, terracotta jewellery too. The page has got over 350 likes. “I’m quite a shy person and always loved to sketch rather than socialise. When I came to Technopark I found that in the evenings I had some time to myself in my rented accommodation and started experimenting with colours. My friends and colleagues always encourage me to paint and nowadays commission paintings too. In fact, I cannot keep up with requests because of the paucity of time,” says the youngster. Then there is Kasturi Das, a technical writer at an MNC, who has always had a way with colours. “I use water-colours and oils as my medium. My parents, teachers and my colleagues have always encouraged me to paint. My paintings often get published in the company’s e-magazine.”
