|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 12 September 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
Promoting Lankan art in Canada by Carol Aloysius Ramanie Arseculeratne, a multi-talented artist who excels in innovative creations, will showcase Lanka's rich heritage of arts and crafts to Canadian audiences when she conducts two Arts and Crafts workshops in Toronto and Ottawa on September 18 and 19 respectively.
Ramanie hopes to use as much local raw materials as possible for her two full day workshops in Canada. These include coconut shells, coconut fronds, palmyra leaves, bamboo, paddy stalks and seeds, and dried ferns and leaves of various spices. "I want to show my Canadian audience the vast potential there is in making use of their own indigenous fruits and vegetables for creative purposes", she says. "My vegetable carving will include as many typical Lankan vegetables and spices as possible. I hope to make masks out of pumpkins to demonstrate some of our famous masks used for our various religious and cultural activities as well", she says. I also hope to have a bridal show where I will be dressing up brides to represent the three main ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. All their clothes will be made of hundred per cent local raw material and their accessories too will be typically Sri Lankan", she adds., The grand finale of her two day workshop will be a Sri Lankan night complete with Lankan food and dances, which will be arranged by the Lankan community there. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
"I have been invited by the Sri Lankan High Commission in Ottawa,
Canada to conduct these workshops due to a growing demand to learn about
their native arts and crafts by the Sri Lankan community living
there", says Ramanie, who runs an Academy to teach local women on a
wide range of creative skills which include floristry, glass painting,
pottery painting, saree painting, jewellery making, vegetable carving and
cake making among other things. "Many of my former pupils who live in
Canada have also requested me to conduct refresher courses in the latest
trends in Lankan arts and crafts for them during my stay in Canada, so
that they may promote our local culture", she adds.
