Vinay Shriram, a Class 5 student of the American International School, was sitting at one end of Prakrit Art Gallery listening intently to a talk about the different folk art forms of India. He was one of 30 enthusiastic students in the room.
In India, though we have different folk art forms, not many people know much about them.
To solve this issue, Shamim Padamse has been conducting workshops to explain to youngsters about the various folk art forms in the country.
At the exhibition at Prakrit Gallery, a number of paintings from traditional Indian folk art in the different styles were on display. Padamse showed the kids around and told them a little bit of their history. The various folk art forms included Warli, Gond, Mithila, Madhubani, Patua, Kalamkari, Kalighat, Patachitra, Phad and Mata ne Pachedi.
Padamse gave interesting facts about every folk art form. For instance she told the story of how Kalighat paintings, a Bengali art form, were heavily influenced by the British when they were living in India.
After a tour, the students were tested on what they had learnt and almost all of them were able to tell the art forms apart.
While some children expressed interest in learning more about the art forms, others began drawing them.
The gallery had around 50 children’s books on the subject with illustrations. Dancing on walls, a book set in the foothills of the Sahyadri Hills, talks about the origin of Warli art with beautiful illustrations of the same. Warli art is simple and uses few colours and triangular shapes.
Some other books on display were A Curly Tale (Madhubani from Bihar), Ambili (Gond from Madhya Pradesh), Biju Spins some Magic (Patachitra from Orissa), Eyes on a Peacock’s Tail (Phad from Rajasthan), Mangoes and Bananas (Kalamkari from Andhra Pradesh) and Monkey Photo (Patua from Bengal) among others.
Impressed with the art forms some students expressed an interest in going back to school and drawing them.
The workshop included students from schools like Bala Vidya Mandir, American International School, Sishya School, Vruksha Montessori School and Akshar Arbol International School.