A 20-day summer art camp was held at IIIT Hyderabad campus from 9 – 28 May for faculty and staff’s children where Shajil Padiyoor, visual artist and lecturer from Human Sciences Research Group (HSRG) taught them drawing, painting, dance, installation art, clay modeling, as well as art and craft.
Encouraging art creativity helps in children’s overall emotional, social, and psychological development as well as enables them to interact effectively with the real world.
With each stroke of brush, children improve their motor skills. Interacting and experimenting with different objects also introduces them to science. Most importantly, creativity helps boost confidence. Children’s imagination know no bounds, and artistic creativity is a great stepping stone in transforming the boundless imagination into something more productive.
Some of the highlights of the camp included:
Drawing & Painting – The first few days were focused on painting which gave the children an opportunity to delve into the world of colours.
Mandala drawing – The mandala art made them become more attentive and through this exercise of writing words in pictures, they could become more confident.
Craft class – involved painting of pop masks. The children happily painted their masks. Some gave colour to more than one face. With this mask on, they gave life to a variety of characters and later performed it as a mini-drama. These kinds of activities unleashed the hidden creative talents in children. It also helped to dispel their reluctance to speak openly.
Art with nature – There is no art without nature and no nature without art. Human beings and nature are intertwined. The first step was to leave the children in the campus garden to get a closer look at nature. From there, they collected different types of leaves and tried to identify them, giving more importance to medicinal plants and analysing them. This exercise created an awareness of nature and man as well as chemicals and engaged in discussions with them. Dr. Shefali taught the children about the medicinal and health benefits of these plants. Then the leaves of these plants were collected and made into various shapes. These kinds of activities helped to stimulate the creative abilities of the children. The camp had a variety of activities that helped the new generation indulge in experiences that are thought to be lost forever. They collected leaves and made hats, which were later adorned with flowers.
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. It is reminiscent of the relationship between nature, man, and living things. To this end the kids were made to collect a variety of dried twigs, leaves, and grass from the campus and arranged systematically to build a bird’s nest. They then imagined themselves to be birds and spread their wings in joy, each with their little stalks, and they nestled together in hope and rest. This artwork has been kept in an open space near the canteen for display. Many people watched this with great curiosity. Many were taking pictures inside the cage, and they imagined themselves as birds and talked to each other about it. The success of an artwork often depends on the kind of communication that it creates in the audience.
Clay modelling – was used to bring three-dimensionality to children’s ideas. The children made sculptures out of clay. Before making the sculpture, they drew their design on paper. A small piece of soft clay allows the child to do as he/she likes. It works on the basics of game-based learning. It is loved by all children and facilitates vital life skills such as problem-solving skills, planning, exploration, evaluation, and model-making. Clay modelling in small groups allows for fun, communication, and sharing as well as improving social skills. These activities nurture the child’s creativity, enhances imagination, and instil confidence in them and they get closer to nature.
Let’s Dance – The camp continued through exercises aimed at realising the importance of movement in the still arts and conducting various experiments in it. By doing small exercises, they understood the mind and body better and became more energetic. The mind also plays a role in body movements. They were taught to dance like butterflies in trees and flowers and were then asked to imagine themselves as wind and rain. Following this, they did a dance drama together, accompanied by music. The background of the drama was nature and man. Imagining themselves as trees and a variety of creatures, they presented the idea of man and nature through a dance form. Such camaraderie added more beauty to their friendships.
During the last days of camp, they framed their artwork with black paper, made files, and arranged their drawings and pictures in them. Many of these activities at the camp not only showed the children their creative abilities but also helped them make new friends and engage in group projects with them. The summer camp left them with not just a handful of good memories and art, but they also learned different languages and cultures. Different types of art have touched their creative potential and also helped them to identify themselves. They realised that art would benefit the community as well as their personal development.
Shajil Padiyoor concludes – “As an artist, I am very happy to be able to give such good memories to my children at the Bodhi Summer Art Camp. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the institute authorities and my friends for their support of the camp and hope to see you again next summer”.