KOCHI:
What is art? Who can be an artist? Art by Children (ABC), an innovative art education and creative learning outreach initiative by the Kochi Biennale Foundation, aims to address these questions via a special offering to introduce school children to art in a fun way.
Students in the 12-13 years age group are being invited to participate in a free three-day workshop that will run from December 26-28 at the Pavilion in Cabral Yard, Fort Kochi, which is one of the 12 venues of the third edition of Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
“Everybody is and can be an artist. Our aim is to acquaint all children with the magic of the visual arts, even to those kids who believe they don’t know how to draw,” says Manu Jose, who heads ABC. The initiative aims to reach out to over 5,000 students and teachers in its pilot run.
A team of eight artist facilitators from fine arts and theatre backgrounds has been conducting painting and creativity workshops in schools across the 14 districts of Kerala. By March, the programme – which is sponsored and supported by pharmaceutical major and KBF outreach partner Merck – aims to have worked with 100 schools all over the state with select artworks created by children to be displayed at a permanent exhibition space at Aspinwall House.
“From November onwards, we have been conducting workshops in various schools and now in this holiday season we will bring the same workshop to the Biennale,” said Jose, an award-winning veteran theatre personality.
In the upcoming workshop, the facilitators will use instruction techniques from theatre, tactile and participative learning and visual aids to encourage children to use all their senses to get acquainted with art and to engage with the works of various artists.
“We don’t follow a conventional system of teaching art. For example, early on in the workshop we let the children play in a riotous manner and then ask them to freeze – an exercise useful to introduce them to the concepts and forms of line drawings. Another example is to ask the children to describe the colour of a laugh. All these questions force the students to view art in an entirely different manner,” Jose said.
Apart from various theatrical and visual exercises, the ABC workshop will screen videos of artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse and also host storytelling sessions and talks.
“We have seats for 35 children for the workshop and depending on the demand we will host another three-day session from December 29. We are also planning on more performances and workshops in Januar
y and February and bring in schoolchildren to the Biennale,” Jose said.
At the end of the workshop, students will create an art installation out of various objects found in and around the Biennale venues.
KBF Secretary Riyas Komu said, “Art education has been a primary focus for our outreach initiatives. For the children who visit the Biennale, it becomes a window into the world of contemporary art. The Foundation sees the ABC programme as having a major role to play in the paradigm of art education in India that will involve children, teachers and institutions.”
Interested participants need to register for the free workshop, which will run from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm daily between December 26 and December 28.
To register, please call Dhanya: +91-9072622012 or Sonu: +91-9562704925
