Gandhiji Primary School in Pottulupatti, a tiny hamlet near Vadipatti, wears a festive look with walls neatly whitewashed and festoons all over. The cacophony of chatter and giggles die down when Tejashree Ingawale, Pune based artist, asks the children to draw their dreams. “It is amazing to see the immediate response. But most of the drawings are far removed from the world of children. Some dreamt of a big house and others of becoming a police officer. It is too much for their age and I suppose they are just forwarding the dreams of parents. I wanted to break that and pull them back into the world of fantasy where they belong to,” says Ingawale.
Vibrant hues Children engrossed at The Little Manu workshop. Photo: Special Arrangement
Ingawale is here for the Little Manu wokshop, which envisages educating children through visual art and make them understand their ability. She left a lucrative art director’s job in an advertising agency and embarked on this mission to educate underprivileged children. Sudden demise of her father Ratnakar, who was also a painter, three years ago made her realise the purpose of life. “He played a very big role in my life. I was the pet of my grandfather and father as I was the youngest child in the family. They gave me full freedom to do whatever I wanted. I felt that there are many underprivileged children who may not have parents like I had and so decided to help them realise their dreams,” she says.
Ingawale started her mission in Kerala at the Alankode Panchayat School in Malappuram district and in another school in Edappal. “I deliberately chose that place because I believe language is not a barrier while communicating through art. In most of the places, children try to mimic elders without realising that they have to be their age first. Through arts I make them understand their age and enjoy the world by drawing larger than life pictures,” she says.
Tejashree Ingawale. Photo: Special Arrangement
She asked the children to connect themselves with any one object of nature and within a minute a boy responded with a drawing of a girl sitting on an elephant. She asked the boy to draw that picture on the wall. He hesitated. “Elders curtail children’s imaginations when they express themselves on wall. Walls are good painting boards for practice. Once you allow them their imaginations run wild and you get some spectacular drawings. Here too I got many drawings on wall and I just visually transformed the drawings into a beautiful wall art with vibrant colours. Children were thrilled to see their artwork on wall,” she says.
She also asked them to pick any two objects they found on their way to school and with those objects she created a beautiful floor art. “I did it to prove that art does not require any medium. Like music, it can also be done with any material and with any medium,” she says. Her talk inspired a boy to design a snake on the floor with a dupatta and a girl designed a flower with bangles.
She has created several modules for her workshop and her next is to make stop motion film with the children’s drawings. It is an animation technique that physically manipulates an object so that it appears to move on its own. Also, she is encouraging the children to write stories and illustrate. Her next plan is to work with visually challenged children in Nashik.
Ingawale realises the importance of follow up and revisits every school at regular intervals. Recently, she visited the schools in Kerala and promised to return soon. “Next time when I come here it will be animation workshop,” she says.
