On Saturday, the 11th June 2022, the students of BSc IDD 2020 batch had an educative visit to the Artisans fair held by artists from around the country. The day started off with all of us lined up at the iconic foyer of Chitra Kala Parishath. We had heard of this place many times before, as one that has shaped the artistic careers of many popular figures in the art world. We were very intrigued as to what we would find in these corridors, that could spark more imagination in us. There were 3 faculty members also accompanying our visit.

From here we went on to see the permanent art exhibits at the gallery housed on the first floor of the main building. The art contribution of Svetoslav Roerich was breathtaking. His paintings seemed to reflect different phases of his life. Some of them depicted women in a dreamy, angelic and baroque style. Few of them even had a resemblance to the black paintings of Francisco Goya.

The rest of the gallery also housed a plethora of paintings, artifacts and sculpture. Most pieces celebrated the unique traditional aspects and way of life in rural India.

Also on this particular day adjacent to the main hall, CKP had organized an artisans fair, held annually. The main objective of this educational visit was to interact with the artists and artisans to get their experiences. The artisans were happy to share stories about the origin of their art and craft. They gave us a virtual tour of their hometowns explaining how they source material and train new talent to continue with their exquisite practices. One of the craftsmen shared his life story with us and in context of the troubles faced by the traditional craft sector of India, he said “Move on, you cannot continue living in the past! You can’t calm the storm, so stop trying. What you can do is calm yourself. The storm will pass.” These words of experience reflect the deep wisdom passed on over generations in the artisan communities and were engraved in our hearts when we heard them.

Overall, this was a great awe-inspiring learning experience and visit for the students and the faculty.

Ms Keerthana – Class Mentor, Ms Angeline- English Language Mentor and Mr Varun- Art Mentor, accompanied the students and shared their knowledge about various genres in art.

We wish to thank our management for giving the students this wonderful opportunity to learn through such an experiential visit.

-by Ms.Angeline