When little hands create beautiful works of art, it is a sight to behold. Detailing, shadows, contours and lines captured by artistically creative children — the painstaking effort put into some of the works of art is immense, as is evident from the exhibition of the 100 paintings at the Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai.
Train them young
The exhibition had put on display, paintings that were chosen from the Art Olympiad 2015, which was organised by Small Hand Big Art. It was inaugurated by M. Ramachandran, Secretary, Lalit Kala Akademi on May 29.
Small Hand Big Art is a two-year-old venture to promote art among children and provide avenues for them to pursue their creative choices. This time, in collaboration with the Lalit Kala Akademi, the organisation had conducted the Art Olympiad in November, last year. Children aged between five and 15, across India, had participated. Out of almost 9000 entries, 100 finalists were selected by a panel comprising eminent artists and art scholars, including Yamini Telkar, SaffronArt, Gita Maini, Gallery G, Brinda Miller, director of Kala Ghoda Festival, Prof. Shashidharan Nair, Faculty of Fine Art College, MSU Baroda, Kalpana Shah, Tao Art Gallery, and M. Ramachandran, Lalit Kala Akademi, among others.
The Olympiad, says Pooja Mehrotra, Director, Small Hand Big Art, is not just a one-off annual event where winners are judged and prizes are distributed. “The idea is to draw the attention of children and parents alike towards the possibility of looking at art as more than a hobby.”
Options are given to children to pursue art seriously as a career. Putting up paintings at art galleries around the country gives children a sense of achievement and the motivation to consider a career outside the usual míleu of engineering and medical science profession, says Pooja.
“Seeing your child’s work put up on display at a renowned gallery as this, brings about a sense of pride in every parent,” says Shanthi Prabha, a parent attending the exhibition. “All the kids have done a wonderful job. It is nice to see them following their interests. There is a lot of talent in these children.”
In addition to the exhibition, children also get the opportunity to be mentored by well-known personalities from the field of Fine Arts and art institutes across the country.
A variety of workshops, conducted by Brinda Miller, Prof. Shashidharan Nair, Lolita Dutta, alumnus of NID Ahmedabad, and Prof. Gajanan Shepal, to name a few were also conducted as part of the event. The children will be taught how to create portfolios, describe and interpret different works of art, the difference in the Indian and international markets and courses to choose among many other things.
