Annual Art Exhibition, 2013
The Indian Institute of fine art, Silchar
– Dr. Meghali Goswami

We have seen how children are deeply involved in art. But beyond what we
feel and believe, there is much honest information about why art is important
in our children’s development; that is both interesting and helpful to know.
Creating art expands a child’s ability to interact with the world around them,
and provides a new set of skills for self-expression and communication. Not
only does art help to develop the right side of the brain, it also cultivates
important skills that benefit a child’s development. Keeping this in the mind, on
the 19th and 20th of January 2013, The Indian Institute of Fine Arts organized
a two days Annual Art Exhibition, Art Competation and a Woodcut Workshop
at Silchar. The programme was inaugurated by Shyamalendu Chakrabarty. As
the exhibition and the workshop were held in the Children’s Park, Silchar, the
entire ambience created an aura where nature and man were interacting in a
unswerving way. The exhibition was a collection of works done by the students
of the Institute which had collections from landscapes paintings to abstracts
paintings and from portraitures to photographs.

It was felt by the parents as well as the visitors in the woodcut workshop;
which was a part of the programme of the Institute, how a child actually learns
a lot through exploring the arts and doing art activities and also how children
learned useful life skills through art. The two mentors of this workshop were
Rajkumar Mazinder, Assistant Professor, Department of Visual Arts Assam
University Silchar and artist Monoj Das who encouraged them to get creative,
explore art ideas, they were all keen on testing possibilities and working through
challenges, much like a researcher who experiments and finds solutions. The
workshop helped them to think more logically as to how and in what way the
wood must be curved out, how much depth should be made while curving out
the images, what will be the outcome, how to apply the colours, and how to
handle a piece of wood to curve out images, etc. Even when experimenting and
learning in the workshop they learned how to handle art materials effectively,
and solving challenges and coming up with new ways to handle unexpected
outcomes. Along with the workshop, through art, they also practice sharing
and taking turns, as well as appreciating one another’s efforts.