Children mentored by master artists display artworks

Artworks created by children from Delhi and Mumbai, who were paired up with leading contemporary artists under a mentorship programme, are being displayed at an exhibition here.
The show - paintings, sculptures, installations and videos - resulted from workshops of "Partner a Master: artist-mentor,"an outreach initiative of Art1st Foundation in collaboration with Mohile Parikh Centre in Mumbai and Delhi.
"The 'Partner a Master' artist programme has been conceived as an annual project and entails introducing children to artist studios as spaces of imaginative learning, discovery and transformative thinking," says an organiser at the show slated to end August 2 at the Gallery Art Motif here.

Beginning August 2012, students from 30 schools in the two cities participated in a seven-month long program where they interacted with 14 accomplished artists like Shilpa Gupta, Prajakta Potnis, Rohini Devasher, Vibha Galhotra, Saba Hasan and Tushar Joag among others in their studios.
Rian Niranjan Alva, 12, from Sanskriti School whose work is included in the show, says the experience of working with artists was wonderful.
"I have sketched multiple characters to show how at the workshop we transform into different kinds of artists who worked on different material and different techniques" says Alva.

The artists worked along with the children introducing them to different mediums, methods, concepts and subjects "that challenged traditional boundaries of art."

"We saw works where artists had used waste material, cloth, metal, natural materials and even sludge from the river. I worked on glass, elephant grass, paper, bandage stripes, pain, charcoal, clay and wood...," says Alva.
Saba Hassan, a Delhi based artist who participated in the programme says she believes in challenging stereotypes on art.
"I started with usual idea of art myself that involved colours and brushes, but I did not want the same with these kids. I took them out to Hauz Khas and asked them to observe everything around and then work," says Hassan, who has been working in the realm of abstract art.