Artist Ram Kumar from Gwalior portraying princess Ananya Raje Scindia
Gwalior is the city known for its heritage and royal culture the city ruled by many rulers of various dynasties before it became the princely state Scindia Kingdom. From Gwalior Fort to Jai Vilas Palace, from Tansen Maqbara to HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum the city has foot prints of the royal families who were earlier known as the ruler of the state. The HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum in collaboration with Gwalior Heritage Foundation organized an art residency for art students in the museum premises. Participants from the various art residencies across the country participated in the event and showed their talent over the canvas and on sculpture. The ten days Artist Residency program aims at encouraging interaction between artists, art students, and the museum. A group of 10 art students from renowned institutions like MS Vadodara University, Andhra Pradesh University, Raja Mansingh Tomar University, Jaipur University, Lucknow University and JNAFA University Hyderabad under the able guidance of Prof. V.Ramesh, are to understand and react to the museum collection and environment in a constructive and creative manner. Gaurav the curator of the museum said that Gwalior city has a very rich and royal culture and many people of the city has many valuable monuments but they are of no use as they are not displayed by a proper channel and usually such people sell them out for a small amount of money by organizing such residency programmes we want to convey a message to such people that help us in preserving such monuments instead of selling them for pennies. Art students are real visionaries they see heritage and old monuments from their own prospective and then they portray them on to the canvas or make sculpture of them this certainly going to attract the art lovers and they will come forward in saving and preserving such precious piece of art. He added that art of the city is declining earlier there was a school called Gwalior miniature school of painting but now it has vanished due to lack of students and funds, same way Gwalior was the hub of Stone Carving as the city has the best sand stone of the world and earlier artist use to produce their best work out of these stand stone but now they are gone with the wind. Shiba Rige Assistant Curator Research and Developer said that by organizing such art residency programmes HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum will not only going to promote the art and heritage of the city but it will also motivate artists to come forward and display their precious work on this platform.
Professor V.Ramesh from Vizag who is also the mentor of the students participating in this event said that this is the first time that any museum has come forward in support of art and artist and it feel great to be a part of such artistic event and the all credit should go to HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum for making the show a great success. Museum is the hub of art and artist such events will narrow the gap between young artists and the art hub that is museum and the artist will feel more comfortable in re-living those royal old memories, and when he draw them down on the canvas with the help of his artistic skill those old memories will come alive.
HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum organised an exhibition on Thursday which consist of the art work of the students participated in the residency programme, the exhibition showed the immense talent of young artists as they gave a new life to the museum by their paintings, print work and sculptures no doubt the event was a big hit and citizens appreciated the work of young artist. Gwalior plus spoke to all the artists participated in the show to know what they feel for such kind of artistic event. Chanjeet Singh final year student of Master of Visual Art from MS Vadodara University said that when we talk about art and artist in India, the competition has been risen on a large scale in this field as many artists from abroad entered in to the country and now they are the part and parcel of the country and they don’t want to leave, this is all because India is the popular art destination and each and every artist want to be a part of the heritage India. This has built up a great competition and only the fittest will survive, artist really suffered after 2006 when there was a boom in this field and whosoever get the chance held the opportunity with both hands as result art lovers or people who purchase art work didn’t get value for their money. Now most of the artists are surviving mainly with the help of teaching profession and tiny toed selling that they get for their work. Such type of programme will certainly help the artists and their art work to grow and blossom in the world’s garden as it provides an excellent platform to show their talent. Talking about going abroad he added that India has great heritage and culture and if any artist read the whole culture and heritage of this versatile nation than there is no need to abroad for the search of real art. Talking about museum he says that watchmen, guards and guides who are the part of this heritage hub from past 20 to 30 years has given loads of information as these people know in and out of this art destination from paintings to weapons, from royal dressings to royal furniture this place has each and everything that any artist need.
Varun student of MVA from Jaipur University said that he is very thankful to HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum and Gwalior heritage foundation for organising such event as art students need a platform where they can put up their talent and this is an excellent platform. Varum comes from a musical family and he himself has done diploma in music. Varun is doing Specialisation in Sculpture added that any artist who wants to perform on world galaxy, he need a support from parents and family only then he can make it large so parents also need to realise this as there are many more fields rather than just engineering or doctorate. Renu Bala classmate of Varun said that the thing that inspired her lot in the museum is the stone crafted window as they have a unique system that allows the person from inside to see outsider but outsider can’t see the person inside she with her Colleague Meera from MS Vadodara University has portrayed this unique system on their canvas in their own way. Meera said that now days we talk about sun film or CCTV cameras which allow us to see the person without being notice and we call it a great discovery but the fact is this has been discovered way back by the artists with limited resources, art consist of talent, nature and skills combination of these three make the artist so these type of programmes will help us to build our talent, sharpen our skills and develop the skill of observing nature and help us in becoming a complete artist.
Artist Chandrakanth from Hyderabad with his Dolly art work at museum
Shiva kumar and Chandrakanth from JNAFA University Hyderabad said that artists are not made they are born; they just need to realise it and choose their field accordingly. Both of them were inclined towards painting and art from childhood onwards and wanted to make their career in this field parents and family supported them in each and every step. They said this is the first residency programme that they are attending and they were overwhelmed to see the response from the people, Shiva said this has motivated us to go further ahead in this field and make a big name.
Ram Kumar local boy doing masters in fine arts from Raja Mansingh Tomar University said that its he has been into this field from past eight years and done lot of art exhibition at Kalavithika and many more destination, but this platform provided by The HH Maharaj Sir Jiwaji Rao Museum and Gwalior Heritage Foundation stand high out of all those as the museum is the art hub of the city and re-living those moments with art work which we drew from our own prospective is like dream come true such type of event will not only highlight the artist and his work but also bring the artists from across the world to Gwalior city and will make them to relive the heritage moments once again with their art work.
