The phone line is none too clear but audible enough to know that J Niranjan, who is coming to Coimbatore soon on the invitation of the Crafts Council of Tamil Nadu (CCTN), is a visitor to look forward to. For he is a fourth-generation Kalamkari artist, much lauded and much travelled. “We have been trying to get him to Coimbatore for four years ,” says Jayashree Ravi, President CCTN, as she shares Niranjan’s contact number.
“I learnt the art from just observing my father at work,” says the 52-year-old artist speaking from his village near Srikalahasti. His grandfather, Lakshmaiyya, was one of the few Kalamkari practitioners of his generation. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay happened upon his grandfather and persuaded him to set up a training centre, which he did with six students. “Three of his students were from my family and the first was my father,”says Niranjan. His father, Guruappa Chetty, went on to win the Padma Shri in 2008. A selection of the works of his great-grandfather and grandfather hang at the Albert and Victoria Museum in London.
The Tree of Life painted by J Niranjan
Niranjan thinks he must have started on the art when he was around 10. “But only as an observer,” he clarifies. “I was allowed to sit and watch my father work. Sometimes I was permitted to hold the piece of cloth, mix some colours, may be be do a corner of a painting...”
It was a book called Origins of Chintz that piqued his interest and got him more deeply involved with the genesis of Kalamkari. “I studied the history of textiles and vegetable dyes and natural colours and decided I would try and revive Kalamkari art as it was in the 14th and 15th centuries,” says Niranjan who has since conducted many workshops in and out of the country and is also a State Award winner. He says he has trained many women from tribal areas and that they have taken the art forward besides using that skill to earn a livelihood. Niranjan has a connection with Pollachi too as he has worked with Ethicus to bring out a line of organic cotton saris with hand-painted Kalamkari.
- Interact with J Niranjan at the Crafts Bazaar 2019. He is part of the team that will be here to share the arts and craft heritage of Andhra Pradesh
- When: June 29 to July 4; 10.00 am to 8.00 pm
- Where: Suguna Kalyana Mandapam, Avinashi Road
- Please carry your own shopping bags
Niranjan’s own works hang at prestigious museums, airports, hotels and other luxury spaces. He has also beautified railway stations at various places in Andhra Pradesh. He is especially renowned for his Tree of Life depiction that incorporates all the elements of Kalamkari art. He says he is particular about not bringing in too many changes to the old craft and prefers to stick with traditional motifs that existed in the 14th and 15th Century versions of it. “I do sometimes use a nib to draw the outlines to my designs, instead of the twigs that were used then, but that is all. The rest of the procedure of extracting colours, the brush strokes, preparing the cloth on which the Kalamkari is done... all that remains as it was since the beginning of the art form.”
