Artsheets: check
Pencils: check
Josh: double check
Students of Classes VI to IX of Lakshmipat Singhania Academy could not wait to attend a handicraft workshop from October 17 to 21.
As a continuation of the festive season, the school conducted a five-day craft session to give its pupils some handson experience in folk art and an insight into the lives of artisans. The result — a new learning experience for the students.
Fifteen students were assigned for each workshop on patachitra, carpentry, seashell art, cloth crafts and jewellery designing.
“We learnt about the workshop just two days before it kicked off. I couldn’t contain my happiness when I found out that I had been selected for tribal painting,” said Class IX student Jinal Baid, who loves to paint.
The workshops took place from 8.30am to 9.30am in the school’s eighth-floor auditorium. The students were taught by artisans from Paschim Medinipur.
“Our visiting teacher showed us how to create figures out of shells that she brought along in a bag. We began with simpler projects such as making hair clips. By the end of the session, we learned to make figures of deer, owls and Ganesh as well,” said Class IX student Daksh Agarwal, who kept his art pieces in his bedroom.
The artisans told anecdotes about their roots and lifestyles as they taught. In the end, the children gained a new perspective on rural Bengal and its people.
While one set of students illustrated the connection between man and nature through patachitra, another learnt how to use their chisels and mallets in the carpentry workshop to create wooden boats, dolls and boxes. Some also learnt to sew, cut and make dolls. The young jewellery-makers could not hold their excitement when they saw how date palm leaves, coloured beads and reeds can be turned into attractive bracelets, necklaces and earrings.
“The students were all very creative. I showed them how to make colours using natural materials such as mud, flowers and leaves,” said a workshop teacher, Monimala Chitrakaur.
By the end of the five-day session, most kids had picked up a new skill and learnt new things.
“Before the pandemic, the school used to organise regular handicraft sessions. I am glad that we have resumed them again and students could learn from the artisans,” said director Meena Kak.