New-age sculptors exchange notes with traditional craftsmen

Kannur: Kunjimangalam village, near Payyannur in Kannur district, is renowned for its bronze sculptors who specialise in making temple idols. A national workshop held here from December 23 to January 11 enabled contemporary sculptors from Kerala and outside to interact with traditional craftsmen. The Kerala Lalithakala Academy organised the event at which sculptors from as far as Chandigarh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh attended.

It is beneficial to share the experience of one age to the other since the sculptors from Kannur had been using less of the technology that was transferred from their ancestors, the organisers said.

The sculptors using the contemporary techniques would be able to share the new technology with the craftsmen here and they, in turn, would learn something new from the villagers. Even the style used by the sculptors from Kerala varies, according to their locality and age,” said Subhash P V, assistant exhibition officer from Lalithakala Academy.

Four sculptors from Chhattisgarh (Bannuram Baidh, Jeetendrakumar Baidh, Ballkumar Nag and Triveni Baidh), two from Chandigarh (Nitin Dutt and Vishal Bhatnagar) and one from Delhi (Pulkit Jawa) took part in the workshop that also had sessions by experts in sculpture and art.

“Sixty-five-year old Ramachandran, who is the eldest, leads the traditional sculptors here. He explained the techniques used in this part. The Chhattisgarh craftsmen are mostly tribals. They use the lost-wax casting technique for making sculptures as dokhra,” said Subhash.

Sculptors from Kerala Vinod Padoli, Guruprasad Ayyappan, Ajayakumar VS, Sebbin Joseph, Anitha Xavier, Ramachandran V V, Biju TV and Linesh P were also part of the camp.

Along with the sculptures, sessions were conducted by Raghavan Payyanad, KK Marar, PB Sudhakaran, P Sudhakaran and Sudheesh Kottembram.

This is the second time the academy is organising a sculpture workshop at Kunjimangalam with the participation of traditional craftsmen. The first camp was conducted five years ago at the state level, said the organisers.