Workshop gives push to Gond art form

Nagpur: In an attempt to revive the glory of Gond paintings, a three-day workshop, organized by Academy of Performing Arts, Liberal Arts and Culture Studies, was inaugurated on Monday. The academy runs under the aegis of Women’s Education Society and the workshop is being conducted at LAD College, Shankar nagar.
The workshop is aimed at teaching finer details of the Gond art, and making the participants aware of its rich culture.

Gond art derives its name from the tribe hailing from Madhya Pradesh and its surrounding regions and it dates back to the Mesolithic period. These paintings stand out more so due to the intricate patterns that fill the space and usage of a very bold palette. The art celebrates life in all its glory and hence seldom uses the form of God in their paintings.

Talking about the inspiration drawn for the vibrant art, Yamini Kohad, a postgraduate fashion designing student of the same college and an instructor for the workshop said, “Initially these paintings were drawn on the cave walls and later on to beautify temples and homes. Naturally, the paintings have a heavy context of animals and nature. Sometimes, you might find paintings depicting the various moods of Lord Shiva and Lord Ganesha, but even then, the paintings tend to take an abstract form”.

Kohad, along with other mentors, illustrated the different filling patterns and brush strokes used in Gond paintings. “During early days, tribal people used to draw with jute brushes and paints made from vegetable juices and cow dung. Each line and every dot is drawn painstakingly with paint in steady strokes which communicates a sense of movement in an image,” said Neha Suryawanshi, another student and mentor.

Over the course of workshop, the participants will be taught the skills like how to draw Gond art on different canvases, including fabric. The course was coordinated by Harsha Jharia, former head of the fashion designing department and overlooked by academy coordinator Shyamala Nair.

(Reporting by Bhagyashree Kashyap)