Each session was a dynamic combination of learning and hands on creative activity. Gond artist Gariba Singh Tekam and Naira Jansen lead the children. Together they asked “Who are the Gonds? Where does their art come from? What and who do they paint? And why? How does their world view differ from my own?” They learnt the techniques of Gond painting – creating their own “signature” patterns and making their own works. And during all the fun they got to know children from backgrounds very different to their own.
Getting to know Gariba
Gariba Singh Tekam came from Bhopal to help the children learn about Gond people and their art and to teach them how to paint in a Gond style. Gariba comes from a village called Patangarh. When he was a boy he looked after cows in the fields. As a teenager – inspired by Jangarh Singh Shyam the first famous Gond artist – he decided to become a painter. The children watched in awe as Gariba painted and listened carefully as he told them about his life and about some of the wonderful Gond stories that inspire Gond art. Gariba was supportive and encouraging as they painted their own Gond pictures.
Gariba Singh Tekam came from Bhopal to help the children learn about Gond people and their art and to teach them how to paint in a Gond style. Gariba comes from a village called Patangarh. When he was a boy he looked after cows in the fields. As a teenager – inspired by Jangarh Singh Shyam the first famous Gond artist – he decided to become a painter. The children watched in awe as Gariba painted and listened carefully as he told them about his life and about some of the wonderful Gond stories that inspire Gond art. Gariba was supportive and encouraging as they painted their own Gond pictures.
Painting
Gond artists paint subjects from nature: trees and animals and birds, they paint their deities and characters from their myths and stories, now they also paint things like aeroplanes from the modern world. There are two parts to Gond painting: the painting of an image in usually quite vibrant acrylic colours, then, once that has dried the decoration of its surface with an intricate repeated pattern. Every Gond artist has his or her own unique pattern, like a signature. Gariba’s three lines was inspired by the “trishul of the gods;” other signatures are inspired by rope, tattoos, ears of corn, creeping spiders, halved lemons and so on. The children enjoyed creating their own signatures which ranged from the simple and literal to the very imaginative.
Gond artists paint subjects from nature: trees and animals and birds, they paint their deities and characters from their myths and stories, now they also paint things like aeroplanes from the modern world. There are two parts to Gond painting: the painting of an image in usually quite vibrant acrylic colours, then, once that has dried the decoration of its surface with an intricate repeated pattern. Every Gond artist has his or her own unique pattern, like a signature. Gariba’s three lines was inspired by the “trishul of the gods;” other signatures are inspired by rope, tattoos, ears of corn, creeping spiders, halved lemons and so on. The children enjoyed creating their own signatures which ranged from the simple and literal to the very imaginative.