Bihar's Simri village Artists exhibit their paintings during the four- exhibition at Kolkata.

 

PATNA:  Mithila artists of an obscure Simri village in Madhubani district will put their some of their paintings on display at Rabindranath Tagore art gallery, Kolkata from Friday. Banglanatak dot com has organised "Madhurekha" a four-day exhibition of Madhubani paintings by artists of Simri village.
Artists like Vidyanath Jha, Mahesh Jha, Reeta Devi and Heera Devi will exhibit their paintings during the four- exhibition at Kolkata.



 
British deputy high commissioner Sanjay Wadvani will formally inaugurate the exhibition at 5 PM on June 15. This is a part of the Action Research initiative undertaken by Banglanatak dot com, supported by the Planning Commission of India.
There are 300 Madhubani painters at Simri village in Madhubani district. "We have started working with them since November 2011. After four months of basic training, one month of special training took place between January -May 2012", said Amitava Bhattacharya, founder director, Banglanatak dot com (Social Enterprise working with traditional artists for their livelihood with its headquarter in Kolkata).
A two day interaction at College of Arts and Crafts, Patna with a few young painters was organized to understand the perspective of market and art colleges. The interaction with the students gave the artists confidence and maturity. They also achieved a hands on experience regarding market choice, preferences and price offered. The artists also visited a few boutiques in Patna and interacted with the concerned persons regarding future marketing prospects.
"We have completed 15 days of basic training per month for four months (Jan-Apr, 2012) covering 300 artists in Simri village in Madhubani district. We have completed 21 days of special training (May, 2012) covering 300 artists in Simri. They have covered natural colour making, maintaining tradition, stories behind the painting", Bhattacharya said.
Thirty top painters were given visiting cards. A logo was developed by the artists which is printed on the card. One pager promotional material on Madhubani was developed and distributed to hotels/ schools/ colleges across Madhubani and Patna.
"One pager promotional material for festival was also developed and distributed. As a result, the artists have already received one order for Rs 1.2 Lakhs to paint at one pandal at Kolkata", Bhattacharya said.
Talking about its future plans, Bhattacharya said that product catalogue with artists contact details, preparing audio visual training manual and holding Madhubani festival would be done in the later part of the year.







source : TOI