Saturday, June 25, 2016

Terracotta Sculpture Making Workshop(3rd June -9th June 2016)

Terracotta Sculpture Making Workshop conducted under the auspices of Apna Kendra from 3rd June -9th June 2016 at Kanpur UP by Shri Amiya Nimai Dhara, a reputedyoung sculptor from Santiniketan and also an academic staff of Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santiniketan. Participants of the workshop included Students of Apna Skool and Apna Ghar, children of Migrant workers in Brick kilns and construction sites in Kanpur, UP and teachers. To know more about this new initiative, read on…….
Apnaskool project has been running non-formal education centers learning for the children of migrant workers in more than 25 brick kilns and construction sites all over Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh since the 1990s. Presently ApnaSkool lead center has also set up in the Apnaghar (a residential complex for boys of Apnaskool) premises where regular classes are held daily for these children uptothe 5th standard.
As a recent addition to these activities, Vijaya Ramachandran, founder member of Apna Skool on a personal initiative has started the Apna Kendra, which is a vocational training center for development of skill based knowledge for these students. Presently vocational training is provided for Tailoring and Computer Education. In addition, Apna Kendra has now initiated a new Arts programme for the children of the ApnaSkool and ApnaGhar to impart hands on training and knowledge about different process of Fine Arts, music, theater and other related cultural practices. The intension is to introduce the students to the minute details of the process of making art so that they can imbibe that knowledge in their everyday practice and also for possible future sustenance.
Terracotta sculpture making workshop
In this respect a Terracotta sculpture making workshop was organized for seven days in the campus of ApnaGhar premises, where Shri Amiya NimaiDhara, a reputed young sculptor from Santiniketan and also an academic staff of Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati, Santniketan was invited to conduct a seven days workshop from 3rd to 9th June 2016. Amiya Nimai conducted an in-depth workshop on the method of terracotta sculpture and shared all the different techniques of terracotta sculpting, starting from clay preparation, to clay modelling, to relief work to direct carving on the bricks. He explained to the students the difference between the process of preparation of bricks and the process of preparation for a sculpture to the students. Students also learnt the process of making indigenous tools for sculpting from bamboo. Finally Amiya Nimai helped the students to prepare a terracotta firing kiln and students fired all their sculptures with their own hands.
This was a unique experience for the children who are habituated to work in the brick kilns to experience an alternative use of their skills as a creative process and apply them to make artworks from their own imaginations. Now both the young and senior students of ApnaSkool and ApnaGhar know the process of making terracotta sculptures. The success of this initiative will be achieved once the students continue to make more sculptures on their own initiative in the future and apply these experiences directly in their everyday life to imagine a lifestyle rich in both aesthetics value and sustenance.
Apna Kendra is dedicated to organize and invite many more upcoming artists from different disciplines who would share their experience and engage with these children to initiate them into a better understanding of social and cultural life so that they can develop a sustainable future for themselves and for their community.
Apna Kendra thanks all those who made the workshop a success, in particular Sanchayan Ghosh and who directed the workshop; Amiya NimaiDhara for accepting the invitation and conducting the workshop; Manoj Kumar, Mahesh Pandey , Laxmi Kant Shukla, B N Sharma, Ratnakar, Alok Gupta for organization; Mukesh Kumar, NiranjanManjhi, KalpanaNishad and other ApnaGhar & ApnaSkool students and teachers for active participation.