12-day Stone Sculpture Workshop concludes today

Chandigarh, 18^th February, 2019: The closing ceremony of the “Stone Sculpture Workshop” was organized today by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi for the Tricity Sculptors with Guest Artists at the Museum Outreach Activity Centre, sector 10, Leisure Valley, Chandigarh. The chief guest during the ceremony was Sh. Manoj Parida, IAS, Adviser to the Administrator, U.T Chandigarh, Sh. Arun Kumar Gupta, IAS, Principal Secretary Home, Chandigarh Administration was the guest of honour and Sh. Adwaita Gadanayak, Director General, National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi was the special guest during the ceremony.

Welcoming the chief guest, Sh. Bheem Malhotra, Chairman, Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademy said, “This kind of workshop was first organized in the city beautiful in the year 2012 and now after a gap of seven years it has again been organized for the national sculpture artists. The workshop is a step towards creating an art enriched environment in the city that provides sculptors, art lovers, art students, and city residents a platform to converse about the great Indian medium of art of sculpting.”

Congratulating the participating sculptors during the ceremony, Sh. Parida shared that the sculptors have shown exemplary skills in carving out immortal art. The finished rock sculptures would be placed at significant spots in the city wherein the public can adore the skill and vision of these talented sculptors. Their sculptures will continue to be a source of remembrance of these artists, for generations to come. The Adviser further assured that such workshops would be organized annually going forward so that more artists can come forward with their designs and carves.

The workshop concluded with an award conferring ceremony by the chief guest to all the sculptors and guest artist who crafted these blocks of stone into works of art in a short span of 12 days.

Among the guest artists who graced the workshop with their profound art was renowned sculptor from Kerala, Valsan Koorma Kolleri, who studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1985–86), the Faculty of Fine Art, Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda (1976–79) and the Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai (1971–76). The other guest artist is an alumnus of the Delhi College of Art, Nivedita Mishra. An internationally acclaimed artist, Nivedita has won awards like Odisha Lalit Kala Academy -1988, International Award Scottish International Sculpture Award-1996, etc.

Sculptors from the tricity who were a part of the workshop were Vishal Bhatnagar, Sanjeev Kumar, Nitin Dutt, Hirday Kaushal, Gurmeet Goldie, Rajender Kumar, Parminder Singh, Harpal Shekhupuria, Ramandeep Singh, Parvesh Kumar, Narinderjeet Singh and Pardeep Kumar.