Mumbai Trip for WARLI Kids on 7th March'09

Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced." - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy On 7th March 2009, SIFE Somaiya had arranged for the young artists of Warli Painting art from Nareshwadi and Dahanu in Thane…

Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced."
- Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy

On 7th March 2009, SIFE Somaiya had arranged for the young artists of Warli Painting art from Nareshwadi and Dahanu in Thane District, a small trip to Mumbais art circles. The kids that had come for the Mumbai visit were Neelam, Pramila, Jitesh, Prashant, Dinesh, Sachin, Ravindra, Pramila. The SIFE Somaiya members involved in this trip were Virat Srivastava, Shriyak Dedhia, Divya Maheshwari and Nirupam Kulkarni.

The kids made an early start to the day, by beginning their journey around 6am and traveling for almost 3-4 hours to reach Mumbai from Nareshwadi, Dahanu. The kids (total of 9) were accompanied by Rita Kulkarni and Kadu Sir. We, at SIFE Somaiya joined the kids when they reached Mumbai CST.

After such a long journey, it was time to relish a sumptuous breakfast at a McDonalds - burger and coke. While enjoying their breakfast kids, Rita Maam and Kadu Sir were given gifts, to make their trip memorable.

While having breakfast, we started interacting with the kids by getting to know their names, the standard to which they belong, Have you ever visited Mumbai before?, What sort of paintings have you made?, What other hobbies do you have? among other things.

After the breakfast, the next stop was the Jehangir Art Gallery, where the kids got to see various kinds of paintings from different artists. This also provided them with ideas about various styles of paintings; the styles were explained to them by Rita Maam, which provided them insight as to how they can extend their art form. The kids were really curious and were asking various questions to Rita Maam, who was trying to explain the various nuances of the art.

We also visited the neighboring art galleries, the pavement galleries and a store selling various art-pieces. The kids took notes of the different styles as explained by Rita Maam and Kadu sir.

The next in line was a visit to the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangralahaya (formerly known as Prince of Wales Museum). The kids were excited as the glorious art history of India unfolded in front of them, as they saw various forms of ancient art like designs on ceramic pots, paintings and metal-art. Apart from the artworks they saw at the museum, they were particularly interested in the natural history section, with life-size models of different types of animals and fish on display. The hour spent at the museum was thoroughly enjoyed by the kids.

After visiting the museum the kids were tired and it was time to head for lunch. By the time, we had lunch, it was close to 3.30 pm. After the lunch it was planned to visit the Karigar store in Vile-Parle, where the kids could see the various handicrafts made of Warli art. But due to paucity of time and also considering the fact that kids had to make a long trip back to Dahanu, we had to cancel our visit to Karigar.

And as the trip came to a close, everyone thought that it surely was a day of fun, frolic and great learning for these young kids. While they enjoyed the day, they also took back a learning of various art forms and thus enriching their knowledge. To sum it up, they got to witness the work of various artists and realise the quote mentioned above.


Greetings,

Gaurav Mehra

Somaiya Social Cell