Artists celebrate Dussehra on canvas

In Dussehra, every body wants to enjoy the occasion in a special way to make it memorable. While people are busy in shopping and merrymaking, artists of Sambalpur celebrated the occasion in a unique way with their colours and brushes.

They assembled at Govindtola puja Mandap on the eve of Durgastami on Tuesday and enjoyed the times with painting of goddess Durga in their own ways and tried to give a shape to their imagination. Under the banner of Sambalpur working Artists Association (SWAA), the artists devoted many hours concentrating on their works to create various forms of Goddess Durga.

Art lovers and people visited the place to encourage the artists. More than 60 artists took part in the event. The association decided to sell the arts and to spend the money on flood affected people.  

“We have decided to spend the moment on goddess Durga with our brush and colour. When every one is in festive mood to enjoy Puja vacation, we have tried to add some colour in it. We decided to celebrate this puja for a special cause. We want to spend the money for flood victims that would be collected by selling the arts created in the event," secretary of the Association Nrusinghnath Nayak said.
 
According to the sources, Sambalpur has various art institutions to train artists. But poor encouragement and lack of patronage, thriving of such institutions become difficult in the present day. Many artists do not think to make it a profession and give only their extra time for the development of art and culture.

Many good artists remain in the shadowy due to lack of promotion and support. “There is no dearth of MF Hussein in the country, but it is difficult to find one because the talent dies before coming to limelight due to lack of support and sponsorship. So we have decided to patronage and promote artists who are remaining in shadow despite of their good work”, senior artist and member of the SWAA Pramod Mishra said.

He said that people visit Puja mandap to see goddess and to get her blessing, but as an artist, I see goddess for hours with my brush and colour to bring the real goddess in my canvas. I will continue my panting till I discover the real goddess in the piece of paper”, Mishra said.

In the programme, eminent artists including Bholanath Nayak and Baradamadhab Guru attended and created arts in front of the people and celebrated the occasion. “I feel happy to attend the programme. I think such programme has become essential not only for the survival of the paint and art but also for the encouragement of the budding talent”, Bholanath Nayak said.

Many young artists that participated in the event expressed satisfaction because of the encouragement and cooperation of the association. “We want to bring all artists to strengthen the art and culture of the region”, Prasanta Majhi said.

“It is unique to see several young and talented artists working at one place. Really, I congratulated the organizer for creating such an occasion to celebrate Dussehra, Paresh Sharma of Govindtola said.