MYSURU: It all began with walking on a beach and collecting some seashells during a school trip to Kanyakumari when she was in tenth standard. Fascinated by them, she purchased some. Then she had no idea that one day she will create artefacts using shells.
Radha Mallappa (55), a native of Hullahalli, Nanjangud taluk, who was already interested in art work, thought of creating artefacts using seashells. Seeing her zeal, her mother S Susheelamma encouraged her to create some unique art pieces. It was a turning point in Radha’s life. By the time she turned 20, she had created a niche for herself in the art field.
Today, her Seashell Art Museum, located on Chamundi Hill Road, and inaugurated on December 3, 2017, exhibits over 130 exquisite and unique artworks created using seashells. Her collection of shells is so vast that one will be surprised to find different sizes, shapes and colours.
All this did not happen in one day. It was the result of painstaking effort and care. She has spent about 6-8 years to create each masterpiece investing 14-18 hours per day. She has created art pieces up to 14 feet in height. Wherever required, she has used plywood to give the finishing and support for the structures.
Huge artefacts of Lord Ganesha, Shiva Temple, Saint Philomena’s Church, Taj Mahal hold the visitors remain spellbound. She has made it to the Guinness World Records for creating the largest seashell Ganesh.
Radha says, “Using conch shell, nautilus shell, coral, coral shell, silver bath, sea glass, and other treasures from the sea we can incorporate simple ideas and decorate homes. Many think creating an art piece using seashells is very easy. But it’s not as simple as they think.
A lot of dedication and patience is needed.” She has collected seashells from places like Muscat (Oman beaches), Andaman, Nicobar, Rameswaram and Mangaluru. She has developed a network with the distributors of seashells. She places orders after finalising the colour, size of the shells with the help of social media. She says, “The variety of seashells found in one ocean is not available in another ocean.
There are several hues available in seashells and I love to collect them from different parts of the world.”
“Selection of seashells of the same size, colour is in itself a big task. We hardly get 1 to 1.5 kg of the same size, colour seashells out of a 10 kg pack. We have to spend hours to come out with artworks,” explains Radha, who has been conferred with several awards by various organizations and associations.
“The most common question the visitors ask is if I have painted the seashells. When they come to know they are natural, they are surprised. Their next question is if shells are available is so many colours.”
Radha prefers to use cleaned shells as the cleaning procedure is quite difficult. First, the shells have to be rinsed, bleached and cleaned until the smell goes. They will be rinsed in acid to give brightness. Oils are used to preserve the natural colours.
In the initial days, she had gifted several artefacts. Later, she thought of opening a museum and started creating exquisite pieces. “My wish is to create a replica of Mysuru Palace, the wonders of the world and the famous Jog Falls,” says Radha, who has spent crores of rupees on creating these pieces and setting up the museum. She has also sold her house.
Different Strokes
She has created more than 240 varieties of craft work. She creates artworks from discarded waste material, which include peels of onion, garlic, groundnut, cardamom, etc. She is also an expert in Mysore and Thanjavur style painting, embossing works. She has opened a small sales counter inside the museum spread over 50x80 square feet, where she sells small artefacts and daily wearable objects like hairpins, saree pins, clips, key bunches, and other showpieces for visiting customers and tourists.
Best out of waste
Flowers are created out of onion skin, walnut-pista-almond peels, fish wire, gunny bag, betel nut skin, cow horns skin, cardamom skin, groundnut skin, corn skin and garlic skin, plastic paper etc,
Where it is
Kalashree Guinness world Record Sea Shell Art Museum located on Chamundi
Hill Road
Timings – 9 am to 6 pm
Entry Fee – `40 for adults; `20 for children