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| Wednesday, 19 May 2004 |
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Teacher-pupil art exhibition : Creative inspiration by Kalakeerthi Edwin Ariyadasa
Lakmini Kumari Amararatne and students of Lakmini School of Art will hold an exhibition of their work at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo 7 on May 22 and 23 from 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Lakmini Kumari Amararatne has already achieved a niche of her own, in the current stream of Sri Lankan art. She has had the distinct advantage of starting quite early. In fact, she held her first solo art exhibition, when she was just seven. Literature, art and other facets of culture, were in her blood, as it were, from the time she was born. She grew up in a family-setting, in which matters relating to aesthetic values, were part of the daily life of the household. Her father was a reputed author and a member of the faculty at the Heywood School of Art. In such a context, little Lakmini almost lisper in art. Discipline She burnished her talents, into a high polish, through sheer creative effort and sustained striving and unflagging discipline, over a period of more than two decades. As a salutary effect of that prolonged preparation, Lakmini has now emerged into a mature artist, possessing her own destructive world-vision. Her recent works are inspired, to a great extent, by an impressive social consciousness. Contemporary urges receive creative expression, in her works of art, as she pursues such issues as peace initiatives, ethnic harmony and eco-purity. Fumes In one of her paintings making an impassioned plea for ecological sanity, a majestic tree raises its head above a thick pall of polluted air.
It is as if the tree is desperately seeking a breath of fresh air. One can almost feel the suffocating presence of fumes throttling pollution, that relentlessly engulf the living trees. At present, Lakmini displays an admirable sureness of touch, bearing testimony to her evolved experience and her advanced technical skills. As a creative individual, Lakmini is presently a teacher of art too. In the current exhibition of art, she displays her works of art along-side those of her pupils. In her style of teaching art, one cold experience a spirit of remarkable liberality. She does not force-feed her charges. Instead she allows the imagination of her tiny pupils, to roam free. She does not confine her. Students within the walls of a classroom, Lakmini, takes her pupils to inspiring sites - the sea-shore, festivals etc. In these contests, the children are free to select and orchestrate their own themes and ideas. Nature The children practise other forms of art, than painting. They work in living clay, moulding it into shapes that they fancy. The little ones get a notion of the nature of those materials.
The works of Lakmini's pupils receive prominence this exhibition while her own works provide a background. Lakmini's pupils, are from her new Art School, inaugurated about a year ago. The works of the children indicate the surprising progress they have been able to achieve, under their teacher's guidance, during this brief span of time. Lakmini is currently the Art Teacher at S. Thomas', Mt. Lavinia. The pupils who acquire creative skills under her guidance, can invariably hope to be inspired artists, in whatever medium they eventually select. **** Back **** |
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