Colours always bring joy to the children…. be it playing with powdered colours or coloured water during the Holi festival or using colours to create something on the canvas.
At the same time use of colours is a medium to exhibit their creativity.
Wall painting
For most children the wall of their ‘sweet home' becomes the canvas until their parents identify their ‘talent' and provide them with the necessary materials to draw whatever they like. However despite having the talent, many miss the chance to develop it. Kalamandala Trust, Dharwad, has been involved in this work of identifying the ‘artist' in children and providing them the requisite training for the last 15 years.
As many as 22 children underwent a ‘colourful' training session which went on for 50 days in the year. During this camp which concluded recently, basic training about visual was given to the children. Along with it, various other forms of visual arts were also introduced to the children.
Trained artists
It was also a fun filled experience for the children who had the opportunity to learn the skills of painting from senior artistes like Mr. Balikai and Ms. Gayatri Desai. Besides learning the nuances of painting, the children had another fun- filled opportunity to make mud dolls and puppets. Under Rajani Garud of the Puppet House, the children received training in the art of puppet making. It was not just training alone, the children also had the opportunity to watch five award winning children's films and they were taken to Tibetan Colony in Mundagod where they were introduced to the Tibetan style of paintings and murals.
“We wanted the children to know other styles of painting apart from those they learn during the camp” said Madhu Desai of Kalamandira. The art camp concluded with an exhibition of paintings by the children, which went on for five days with hundreds of other children and their family members dropping in to see and appreciate the paintings.
