Creative Vesak cards on display

Students of Sashika Academy of Arts presented an exhibition of creative Vesak cards at the Thalangamuwa Central College on April 21.

Sudumenike Wijesooriya

Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya presents a prize to a student

Rural Affairs Minister Athauda Seneviratne, Telecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and National Heritage Minister Jagath Balauriya graced the occasion.

Former Giragama Fine Arts Teacher Training College lecturer Charles Dayananda made a speech.

More than 100 students of former Tholangamuwa Central College teacher U R C Sudumenike Wijesooriya, the founder of the academy took part in the event. Clad in white, they were between grade one to 13 and also included school leavers.

The themes of their art include Jathaka stories, the role of the Buddha and events from ancient history. They are not extractions from books but creative images which have taken shape in the students’ minds after the stories have been explained to them in the classroom.

They have used water colour, pastels, poster paint and acrylic colours for the drawings. Each image is printed into 250 Vesak cards. Sudumenike Wijesooriya had presented four solo exhibitions at the Lionel Wendt and Colombo Art Gallery.

She has also done the murals at the Mahena Sri Sudharshanaramaya temple and won a national award for being the first woman to engage in temple mural paintings in Sri Lanka.