Sunil Das and Bharti Deveshwar at the art workshop at the ITC Sonar Bangla

Mukta Shilpa — Forum for Free Art recently organised a unique art workshop at the ITC Sonar Bangla Sheraton and Towers. Titled Artists for Animals, the workshop was in aid of People for Animals, Calcutta, a charitable organisation patronised by Maneka Gandhi. Several eminent artists — Jogen Chowdhury, Sunil Das, Prakash Karmakar, Bijon Chowdhury, Wasim Kapoor, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Aditya Basak, Ashit Paul, Dwijen Gupta, Shyam Kanu Borthakur, Anita Roy Chowdhury and Biswapati Maiti — were among those involved in the workshop along with the artistically-inclined wives of corporate honchos, art lovers and art connoisseurs such as Bharti Deveshwar, Rashmie Singh, Elizabeth Jacob, Laila Vanchinathan, Pallavi Dhar and Madhuchanda Majumdar. Bijon Chowdhury, who could not be present at the occasion due to ill health, did his bit for the cause by painting at home.

Ashit Paul, the chief convenor of Mukta Shilpa, said, “We expect around 50 paintings to be completed for the workshop. All the professional artists are working on two canvases each and the wives of executives are also trying to finish the same number per person during the three-day event.” Dwijen Gupta claimed that one of the aims of the workshop was to get patrons of culture in the city more directly involved with art, while Vineeta Kumar, a participant and wife of the deputy general manager of Eastern Railways, Pradeep Kumar, said, “The workshop provided amateurs like me a wonderful opportunity.”

The paintings done for the workshop would be auctioned after a couple of months. Maneka Gandhi is expected to be present at the auction, the proceeds of which would be used to set up a hospital for animals.