KOCHI:Ahalf-finished sculpture of a soaring eagle catches the eye as you step into the historic Pepper House at Fort Kochi, while a young woman sits in the midst of scattered leaves, twigs and branches concentrated on shaping them into an impressive work of art.
The eagle is the creation of Manisha Chandel, one among five young artists who have come to Fort Kochi to gather new perspectives on art from renowned sculptor Valsan Koorma Kolleri at the latest Master Practice Studios hosted by the Kochi Biennale Foundation.
Kolleri says his effort is directed towards building on the foundation that these young people have received in art from their schools and help them take off on their own.“What an art student learns in college is like what you learn from your nursery classes. It’s just the base; there’s much more to it. The practical sessions here are mostly to enhance their ability to think from different perspectives,” he says.
The five students at the Master Practice Studios have come from different parts of the country and will remain under Kolleri’s tutelage for the next one month.After a strictly conventional education there’s always a chance that the young artist gets easily bored, he observes. “To get rid of this monotony, they shift to various mediums and sometimes it helps them to develop unique creations of their own,” he says. “In a way, it also becomes ‘Atma Vidya’(knowledge of the soul) as it is self -learned and self-earned.”
His message has resonated with the artists who say the session has helped them look at things from a fresh new perspective.
The studio has previously been led by masters such as Jyothi Basu, K. Raghunathan and P. K. Sadanandan. The next session will be led by renowned artist and graphic designer Orijit Sen.