It is a special Sunday for a group of art ‘students’ as they get ready for their first day at school in Rainbow Art Gallery. At the gallery, it is an excitement of a different kind with professionals and homemakers sharing notes on colours and canvases. This is Model Art Academy’s first contact programme for their first, second and third year BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts degree) students in painting and applied art in a distance mode. Into its fifth year, this correspondence course by the Art Academy gives an opportunity for art lovers to rekindle their passion for art.
“This is a biannual event; it’s held in first week of January and last week for April every year for the first, second and third year BFA students. We ensure that in every contact programme, the students put up their art works,” informs academy director Rama Devi. With a focus on interaction, exchange and learning, the programme encourages students to learn more from each other. “It feels wonderful to see how the students have evolved as artists,” adds Rama Devi.
The second and third year BFA students are holding an exhibition of their works at the gallery. For the first year students, it is revisiting their childhood. An employee at income tax office, Usha B. has joined the course to learn about the technicalities. “Art has been my stress buster. Everyday I start painting after 9 p.m. and continue till 2 p.m., I was connected with art through the YouTube videos. Now, I wanted to know the technicalities. My husband encouraged me to take up the course and I am enjoying every moment of it,” she exults.
A portrait lover, Sandhya Rani takes crafts classes at her home in Visakhapatnam. “My perspective of looking at things has changed. When I look at a tree or any beautiful object, there is this desire to draw and paint it. Meeting new artists here has helped in learning and understanding art,” she points out.
If there is Dattatreya, a concept artist from DQ Entertainment pursuing his third year, Padma Bontha with a fashion designing background puts her best foot forward as a first year student. Besides art, she has also joined violin classes. “One can learn at any age,” she says with a smile.
On the inaugural day, artist Balamani took session in rasa - Indian aesthetics to help students on ways to express emotions in a painting. That session was followed by artist TVSB Sastry’s two-day workshop on scientific approach to art and learning laws and principles of art.
The exhibition by these students at Rainbow Art Gallery ends on January 7.
