FOR THE PAST two weekends this month, Colours of Innocence, partnered with Indulge, The Morning Standard has been engaging young minds in the ‘Art of Giving’ through dedicated art workshops. Curated by Vayjayanti Pugalia, a social entrepreneur who dons many a hat including that of a social entrepreneur and communication expert, this fundraiser workshop is being mentored by artist Arpita Bhattacharjee this year.
With the tagline By the Children and For the Children and the theme ‘Bengal’, the workshop aims at inculcating awareness about the state’s rich heritage among children from a very young age. Giving us an insight into it, Pugalia, who is also the founder of a knowledge imparting firm called Sonali’s Cubo, tells, “Art is a versatile medium which reaches out to the children in a very special and unique way. We wanted this edition to be more fulfilling and hence made Bengal its theme. And hence we got Arpita on board since she is wellknown for all the beautiful murals across the city. We feel that complete justice would be done to the theme with her as the mentor.”
“The young ones are not at all aware of the rich and diversified cultural heritage of Bengal. So, Arpita made them paint Rabindranath Tagore, Vivekananda, Rosogolla, Victoria Memorial and anything and everything that represents Bengal and its vivid culture.” Each painting has been done using the fingerprinting technique to lay stress upon the fact that each dot goes a long way to make a huge difference.
Over 50 kids aged three to 15 years have participated in the event and that also included children from NGOs. However, Pugalia avers that the Colours of Innocence must not be mistaken for an art-oriented event. “It’s a multi-faceted event and goes beyond the strokes of a brush. It is about team building, developing confidence and most importantly, learning to give back to the society,” she points out, informing that the 50-odd paintings will be put up for an auction at a private residence on December 29 and the proceeds from the same will be donated to NGOs.
In the earlier editions, the event saw Dr Gouri Kumra and Gunjan Daga conduct workshops on dip and charcoal paintings. The fund raised from previous events was used for the medical treatment of ailing children and to sponsor computers for the underprivileged students.
The final workshop will be held on December 21 and 22. Venue: 17 Ballygunge Park Road. Timing: 11 am-4 pm