Folk arts find young fingers
As kids we were taught to draw a fish with the numeral 3 — a combination of upward, inverted, small and large. There may be more ways to outline a fish, some are commonly used, while some are confined to a community of artists. If you want to know some of the uncommon techniques that are traditionally rooted in our country’s art space to draw a fish, a deer or a tiger, Tara Books’ upcoming children’s workshop is the place you have to be.
With a motive to introduce children to various Indian traditions of art, Tara Books is conducting ‘Drawing from the Mind: Art Workshop at Tara Books’. Here, children will be exposed to different indigenous and folk traditions of Indian art through a series of books called the ‘8 ways to draw’. “We have a set of books in this series already — Eight Ways to Draw an Elephant, Eight Ways to Draw a Fish, and so on. In this workshop, we are going to introduce how to draw tigers in some of these traditional styles,” says Geetha V, editorial director at Tara Books
Pardhan Gond from Madhya Pradesh, Warli from Maharashtra, Metila from the Mithila region bordering Bihar and West Bengal, Patua from West Bengal, and Mata ni Pachedi from Gujarat will be highlighted. “There is so much to see all around us. India is a visual culture. And these are traditions that we don’t see in an everyday sense. We may not live in those parts of the country where they are easily available. It is an important part of our art education because most of us grow up with this idea that art education, as it is taught in other parts of the world, is a given thing and we must follow that. But it is not quite necessary. There are ways in which you can learn from traditions here as well,” says Geetha, painting the importance of art programmes.
At this one-of-a-kind workshop, where children will be “inspired by what they see, before they create their art”. she says, “Typically, in art workshops, you’re asked to copy; we don’t do that. We give them worksheets on which some things will be done and the children can take cue from that and add their own imagination, colours to complete the work.”
The pattern, colours, textures from the traditional arts are observed by children, which will help them acquire skills such as attention, filling empty spaces, use of negative and positive space, importance of patterns — mostly how every stroke, dot and curve is part of a connected world.
By engaging directly with these artistic traditions, the publishers hope to spark a deeper interest in India’s rich visual heritage. The workshop is a small but meaningful step toward bridging the gap between exploration while staying connected to the roots.
Drawing from the Mind: Art Workshop at Tara Books will be held on May 17 from 10 am to 12.30 pm