The Traditional and Folk Artist Workshop at Punjab Kala Bhawan opens a window to the colourful world of tribesmen
Amarjot Kaur
Tribal prints often score an edge in the fashion industry, be it the native-American Aztec prints or the fascination of neo-hippie cult with Indian Warli prints. Quite a transition from walls to wardrobes, don’t you think? At the Traditional and Folk Artist Workshop, organised by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi and South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur, Meenakshi Vasudev Vayeda of Ganjhad village earns a living by making Warli prints.
“Folk art of Maharashtra, Warli was traditionally created by the tribal women. First explored in the early seventies, Warli art may be traced to as early as the 10th century AD. But now, we earn more as we take orders to make Warli designs on sarees, and even though Warli art is painted in red (gherua) and white (rice powder) colour, we don’t mind filling in more hue if the customer wants it,” says Meenakshi.
Made mostly on weddings, the central motive in each ritual painting is the square, the chauk; inside it we find Palaghata, the mother goddess, symbolizing fertility. “I learnt this art at weddings. However, now things are a little different. There aren’t many buyers for Warli art in India, but outside (of India) it sells. I make Rs 20,000 per painting and sometimes, we even paint a square-foot area of wall for Rs 500,” she adds.
Though Meenakshi managed to teach this art to her cousin, Nilesh Rajad, 30, who hails from the same village as hers, there aren’t many young village folks who would like to pursue the art. “I am the only one in my village who does farming and makes Warli paintings too. Not many people in my village like to take this up,” he says.
Meanwhile, Ganesh Nagilla and his wife, Vanaja, of Andhra Pradesh specialise in Cheriyal scroll painting, a stylized version of Nakashi art, rich in the local motifs located in Cheriyal, a small village.
“It requires meticulous handling of different nuances of this art that tells a mythological tale in a story format—it’s like a film on canvas,” shares Ganesh. Colours are made from easily available substances such as indigo, black from lamp soot mixed with thirumany tree gum, white from crushed, ground sea shells, lemon yellow from a particular yellowish stone, red from tamarind seeds, brown from geru, and so on. “I learnt this form of painting from my guru, who we stayed with, but now-a-days, there’s more stress on studies, so I send my daughter to Anganwadi schools and sometimes, she helps me and my wife paint and we manage to make up to Rs 40,000 on a month on an average,” he says.
Also, Dilipkumar Kale, a traditional painter from Mysore, shares that Mysore painting is a form of classical South Indian painting, which evolved in the Mysore city of Karnataka. “Under Wodeyars’s patronage, this school of painting reached its zenith. Quite similar to the Tanjore paintings, Mysore paintings make use of thinner gold leaves and the most popular themes of these paintings include themes of Hindu gods, goddesses, and the pictographic representations of the scenes from the prodigious epics of Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Bhagavta Purana,” he adds.
Jayadevanna T.S, a Surpur traditional painter of Karnataka, narrates that Surpur miniature art flourished under the then Surpur ruler Raja Venkatappa Naik during 1773 to 1858. He says, “It was during this period that artists from the Garudadri family, practicing miniature painting, migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Surpur (now in Yadgir district) and hence their paintings had the influence of Golconda miniature. The Surpur miniature painting style, which had nearly a century of extinction, was revived by Vijay Hagargundgi, a Gulbarga-based artist.”
The workshop also features the works of 10 artists of Gond, Mandana, Pinguli, Warli, Cheriyar, Surpur and Mysore styles from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Open daily from 10.30 am to 6.00 pm at Punjab Kala Bhawan. On till February 7.
Tribal prints often score an edge in the fashion industry, be it the native-American Aztec prints or the fascination of neo-hippie cult with Indian Warli prints. Quite a transition from walls to wardrobes, don’t you think? At the Traditional and Folk Artist Workshop, organised by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi and South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur, Meenakshi Vasudev Vayeda of Ganjhad village earns a living by making Warli prints.
“Folk art of Maharashtra, Warli was traditionally created by the tribal women. First explored in the early seventies, Warli art may be traced to as early as the 10th century AD. But now, we earn more as we take orders to make Warli designs on sarees, and even though Warli art is painted in red (gherua) and white (rice powder) colour, we don’t mind filling in more hue if the customer wants it,” says Meenakshi.
Made mostly on weddings, the central motive in each ritual painting is the square, the chauk; inside it we find Palaghata, the mother goddess, symbolizing fertility. “I learnt this art at weddings. However, now things are a little different. There aren’t many buyers for Warli art in India, but outside (of India) it sells. I make Rs 20,000 per painting and sometimes, we even paint a square-foot area of wall for Rs 500,” she adds.
Though Meenakshi managed to teach this art to her cousin, Nilesh Rajad, 30, who hails from the same village as hers, there aren’t many young village folks who would like to pursue the art. “I am the only one in my village who does farming and makes Warli paintings too. Not many people in my village like to take this up,” he says.
Meanwhile, Ganesh Nagilla and his wife, Vanaja, of Andhra Pradesh specialise in Cheriyal scroll painting, a stylized version of Nakashi art, rich in the local motifs located in Cheriyal, a small village.
“It requires meticulous handling of different nuances of this art that tells a mythological tale in a story format—it’s like a film on canvas,” shares Ganesh. Colours are made from easily available substances such as indigo, black from lamp soot mixed with thirumany tree gum, white from crushed, ground sea shells, lemon yellow from a particular yellowish stone, red from tamarind seeds, brown from geru, and so on. “I learnt this form of painting from my guru, who we stayed with, but now-a-days, there’s more stress on studies, so I send my daughter to Anganwadi schools and sometimes, she helps me and my wife paint and we manage to make up to Rs 40,000 on a month on an average,” he says.
Also, Dilipkumar Kale, a traditional painter from Mysore, shares that Mysore painting is a form of classical South Indian painting, which evolved in the Mysore city of Karnataka. “Under Wodeyars’s patronage, this school of painting reached its zenith. Quite similar to the Tanjore paintings, Mysore paintings make use of thinner gold leaves and the most popular themes of these paintings include themes of Hindu gods, goddesses, and the pictographic representations of the scenes from the prodigious epics of Mahabharata, Ramayana, and Bhagavta Purana,” he adds.
Jayadevanna T.S, a Surpur traditional painter of Karnataka, narrates that Surpur miniature art flourished under the then Surpur ruler Raja Venkatappa Naik during 1773 to 1858. He says, “It was during this period that artists from the Garudadri family, practicing miniature painting, migrated from Andhra Pradesh to Surpur (now in Yadgir district) and hence their paintings had the influence of Golconda miniature. The Surpur miniature painting style, which had nearly a century of extinction, was revived by Vijay Hagargundgi, a Gulbarga-based artist.”
The workshop also features the works of 10 artists of Gond, Mandana, Pinguli, Warli, Cheriyar, Surpur and Mysore styles from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Open daily from 10.30 am to 6.00 pm at Punjab Kala Bhawan. On till February 7.
Resource: http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/life-style/gyan-zone/paint-me-a-story/358097.html
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