Art draws inspiration from the nuances of the living, breathing world and gives it shape — until one cannot be distinguished from the other. This is exactly what you see in the courtyard of the National Crafts Museum this week. Paintbrushes and charcoal pencils in hand, art students sketch whatever they see around them.
The ‘Outdoor Sketching Session’ is an eight-day initiative by the Delhi College of Arts, encouraging students of art and design to translate the world around them into the mediums of oil pastel, acrylic, charcoal and more.
“Creativity blooms in the outdoors,” explains Renu Gupta, an organising member of the college. In the past editions as well as this one, the focus has always been on finding a location that helps students absorb their surroundings. “Here, in an environment like the one you see at Shantiniketan, the students observe and sketch in three-dimension, which helps open their mind.”
The day is peppered with teaching sessions from Ashwani Kumar Prithviwasi, founder-director of the college and a celebrated artist. In live demonstrations and interactive lessons, the artists introduces new mediums and unique ways of translating observation into art.
Nidhi, an art student who has been attending the workshop for three days, looks forward to learning a new medium everyday. “It’s challenging to be outdoors and sketch something new everyday, but it’s very exciting as well.
In most of our classes, we copy from a two-dimension image. Sketching our surroundings on different mediums brings a whole new perspective.”
Old is new again — many trends find benefits in turning back the clock and adopting our ancestors’ ways. Art students are now being taught to go back to nature — as Prithviwasi agrees.
“For many decades, Indian fine arts was constructed within the four walls of classrooms in many colleges across India. Through these outdoor sessions, we try to break down these boundaries and work underneath the open sky, surrounded by nature.” With no bar on medium and creativity, students across the city can participate in these sessions and explore the intricacies of outdoor sketching.
