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| Sunday, 09 April 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Kala Pola:
Along the leafy sidewalks of Vihara Maha Devi... by Ranga Chandraratne
It was indeed a bazaar full of artists and their works of Art in diverse sorts, ranging from carvings made out of roots of different trees (Ruk Kala), which were displayed along the centre strip that demarcated the two drives, portrait-painters who captured the image of a man or the woman who sits in front of him with a fine stroke of a brush (in this instance a women with a child on her lap), sculptors with half a dozen of statues, most of them made of plaster-of-paris and bronze, and there was a moulded bust of Karl Marx, to fine-embroidered white garments at the far end of the fair.
The striking feature of almost all the paintings that were displayed at the fair was the uniqueness that is distinctly Sri Lankan in character. Nature, wildlife and landscapes are recurrent themes highlighted in most of the pictures and colour combination and material on which paintings were made to differ from one artist to another; some artists use sheets of canvas, while others use velvet for their drawings. Wood-burnt paintings... The wood-burnt paintings on slices of trunk of a tree by a young artist, Lakshman Dissanayaka, was another attractive array of paintings with a distinction. The wood-burnt paintings were made with special equipments. First, the artist traced the sketch on the wooden plate, and then burnt it. Lal Jayasekara is another youngster who debuted at Kala Pola just after A/L, and his paintings are special in the sense that they are marked with strong brush strokes and are all on the theme of worship; this year's theme for Lal's paintings.
A third year university student, Hemantha Kumara likes to work with the colour ' blue', and most of his paintings are backgrounded with shady blue, giving an aura of serenity. His abstracts are made of combinations of colours. Many talents Kanishka Bernard Jayasinghe (17) is still schooling at Isipathana College, and is a budding artist with a bright future who had made use of Kala Pola to showcase his talents. Among his creations that were displayed at the fair, the most striking work was the creation, a scene of a fair with replicating layers of drawings pasted one upon the other, giving a three dimensional effect to the creation. Pandual Lokuge's collection of paintings was another attraction at the fair. It was different in form and character, as Lokuge used aboriginal and Sri Lankan traditional motifs for his paintings. Pandula is a graduate of the University of Aesthetic Studies, and currently works as a teacher of art at the Dharmasoka College Ambalangoda. However, I observed that the hot air and New year season had contributed to somewhat a decline in patrons to the Kala Pola, as they were busy with purchasing new garments and New Year gifts at shopping malls, which was also confirmed by artists at the fair.
This year's Kala Pola featured nearly 300 artists and their creations with colour, music, songs and a lot of fun. Kala Pola was modelled in keeping with traditional open-air summer art fairs in European capitals such as Montmarte in Paris, with their fascinating air of festivity and deep sense of artistic appreciation, after a harsh and dismal winter. Nanditha Gamage's collection of stain glass was outstanding in style and design, as she deviated from traditional methods of making stain glass. In traditional stain glass, glass was baked in order to stain motifs on to it, but Nanditha had made it by hand with distinct Sri Lankan flavour. One of the outstanding stain works that were displayed at the thatched stall at Kala Pola, was a collection of mirrors with stain embroidery background. These motifs are inspired by age-old traditional paintings at temples. Though she had been educated in Humanities, and worked in the hotel industry for a long time, she entered this fascinating field of arts and making stain glass with an innate talent, coupled with an insatiable desire for it. "This is the fourth year that I feature my works at Kala Pola. My works are mainly stain glass and stain glasswork where I do a lot of different Sri Lankan designs. It's mainly vibrant colours and a lot of intricate work goes into it, and each piece takes at least two weeks to finish," says Nanditha referring to her labour of delight, showing us the elegant mirrors with Sri Lankan design.
"I schooled and pursued my higher studies in New Delhi and lived there for more than twenty years. But I am a Sri Lankan. I studied at Auxilium School in New Delhi, and Jesus and Mary College (JMC) affiliated to the University of Delhi where I did Humanities. I was in the hotel industry for nine years and I was at Lanka Oberoi. I do this as a part-time job" says Nanditha referring to her education in New Delhi. Naturally, she is fluent in her Hindi. Nanditha is also an accomplished interior designer. "Stain glass is something that I created, and is unique because this is done with paint. So it is unique and each piece is a piece, of one of a kind. I can do it according to the size that you require and colour scheme that you need. I also accept orders. I live in Kalutara and I see lots of sunsets. Therefore, I painted a lot of sunsets" Nanditha observes. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
The leafy sidewalks of the famous Vihara Maha Devi park bounding the
Public Library and the National Art Gallery, which was usually filled with
valentines walking hand- in-hand, was unusually busy with artists converged
from all parts of the island to showcase their talents, and to sell their
invaluable pieces of artistic excellence. 
Most of the stalls along the sidewalks were occupied by painters who had
participated in the annual art fair before, and some of them are students of
art at the University of Aesthetic Studies, and some others are freelance
artists who debuted at the Kala Pola and made a considerable profit, thanks
to the local and international patrons of art who make it a point to visit
this annual fair. 
The different modes of worshipping belonging to diverse religions and
cultures are depicted with unique style. Dharshana Jude is an accomplished
sculptor who made a name for himself at the Kala Pola, and a third year
student at the University of Aesthetic Studies. Most of his sculptures were
of plaster-of-paris, clay and bronze. However, material for sculptures
differ on the requirements and fibre has also been used for sculpturing. 
The annual grand event of Kala Pola, a meeting place for artists and art
lovers held along the leafy sidewalks of the Vihara Maha Devi park and the
National Art Gallery, was sponsored by John Keells Group, and organised by
the George Keyt Foundation for the 13th consecutive year. 
"I have done few water colour paintings and this is mainly a hobby of
mine. I also held an exhibition at the Lionel Wendt last year. It went well.
Except for the hot weather, Kala Pola was a good marketplace for artists"
she points out, the opportunity that the Kala Pola offers for artist. 
