Outreach Programmes

Chalchitra Academy’s grand initiative of forging a confluence of traditional and contemporary art is something that needs an organic and susceptive medium to take root, and what better medium is there but is that present in a child’s imagination? Thusly on the 8th of December, 2018, a workshop titled “Art Mela” was organized at the premises of the Modern High School for Girls, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Kolkata. Coordinated masterfully by the artist-designer duo of Mrinal Mandal and Jayati Bannerjee, the headline of the event was a workshop on Jaynagar-Majilpur’s fascinating tradition of Babu-putul, as represented and mentored by the artist Shambhunath Das. With a healthy and enthusiastic participation on the part of the students and their teachers the event successfully infused into urban sensibilities a new-found wonder and respect for the rural art-forms.

Divided into two parts, the event of “Childhood Charms” was organized by Chalchitra Academy over 6th to 9th of December, 2016 at the Calcutta Girls’ High School on the eve of their 160th anniversary. The first part, from the 6th to the 8th, saw multiple workshops centering around the rich and vivacious traditions of Bengal’s folk-art. Bidhan Biswas headed the workshop for brotokotha-alpona, similarly there were Swarna Chitrakar for patachitra, Krishna Bhaskar for shola-art, and Pradip Pal for Krishnanagar’s tradition of matir-putul. Additionally the students were engaged in classroom discussions by the Kolkata-based contemporary artist Debanan Shasmal and the US-based 3D/4D artist Tracy Lee Stum. After this, on the 9th of December, came the turn of display of all the art and artifacts that were generated over the various workshops. The love of the students, the enthusiasm of the teachers, and the participation of the guardians attested to the fact that Chalchitra Academy had yet again succeeded in touching a sincere chord.