3-day visual art workshop, expo begins in Mangaluru

A three-day visual art workshop and art exhibition was inaugurated on Tuesday in the presence of former MLC Capt Ganesh Karnik, M Prashanth Shet, S L Shet Jewelers & Diamond House, Mangaluru, and Srinivas Deshpande, General Manager of Karnataka Bank Ltd.

The visual art workshop, titled ‘Re-looking at the depiction of land/landscape in visual art’, is being hosted by Art Kanara Trust till January 27, at the Kodialguthu Center for Art and Culture, in Mangaluru.

It is specially meant for the art students and emerging artists of rural Karnataka. About 20 students and young artists from Mahalasa College of Visual Art, Mangaluru; Alva’s College of Visual Art, Moodbidri; Chitrakala Mandir, Udupi and Vijaya College of Fine Arts, Gadag, are participating in the workshop.

In his inaugural address, Capt Ganesh Karnik said that students should have an open mind to receive the experiences and knowledge of what the senior practitioners have undergone in their journey.

“This is an opportunity to unveil hidden talent by responding to the contemporary issues through a visual medium,” he said.

Srinivas Deshpande, General Manager of Karnataka Bank, said, “Art connects an individual to the unknown world within us. Visual art, music or any other art form can be achieved only by those who have an extreme vision and skill set to absorb over the years.”

M Prashanth Shet recalled how he was brought up being surrounded by art and artefacts which were collected by his father, late M Raghunath Shet and said that he was proud of the wonderful collection that his father has left for his family.

Shanthamani Muddaiah, senior artist and the chief mentor of the workshop, said the workshop is meant to respond to nature and landscape, how we look at and narrate it.

She also stressed the importance of a cultural dialogue to happen during the workshop.

“The coastal belt has a rich cultural heritage that needs to be imbibed and represented in the visual art form,” she said.

An exhibition ‘Artistic encounters - knowing art and its makers’ is being held along with the ongoing workshop. It is brought to Mangaluru by Paradigm Art Foundation, with the support of Shenoy Art Foundation, Bengaluru.

The works of artists from different parts of the country, including Adip Dutta, Arjun Das, Harish Chennangod, Mani Murugesan, Sanjeev Mirajkar, Shanthamani M, Venugopal V G and Vigil are on display. The exhibition is open to the public from 11 am to 7 pm.