A mural of Budhha in a resting pose at the Sudarshan Art and Crafts Village in Bhubaneswar and (below) artist Sudarshan Sahoo. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 7: A series of fascinating murals of Ganesha and Buddha pull you towards the Sudarshan Art and Crafts Village in the capital city where exemplary works of Sudarshan Sahoo and his students are displayed.

Call it a workshop, a studio or an institution, in the last 18 years of existence the Sudarshan Art and Crafts Village has turned out to be the home for hundreds of craftsmen and sculptors from all over the state.

Brainchild of Sahoo, the craft village was set up in 1992 with help of the state government. Sahoo who hails from Puri had already received national and international awards and accolades including —the National award for stone carving in 1981 and the Padmashree in 1988 — wished to make use of his 40 years of experience by training budding craftsmen.

The septuagenarian is known all over the world for his Buddhist structures in Dhauli, Delhi, Bihar, Japan and London and has recently created a huge monolithic Jain statue of Chlorite for Pushpagiri, Madhya Pradesh.

“The artisans who work with stone and metal in Puri, Konark, Jajpur are very dedicated and continue their work as it’s a hereditary process. But sadly, their skills get confined to their village or city due to lack of a proper studio or infrastructure. Thus, I created this art village to encourage the talent of these skilled craftsmen,” says Sahoo.

Sahoo and some of his senior craftsmen train the artistes who work here at the studio.

“It takes at least eight years to get mastery in carving wood or stone. During this training period the artisan is paid stipend and lives here in the premises for which we even have hostel facilities,” explains Sahoo.

“We follow a guru shishya tradition here. The training is imparted free of cost after which the artisan is free to open his sculpture workshop. But most of my students stay back and work here,” he adds.

Living in this creative environment helps the artisan develop his skills, believes Sahoo.

The 120 artisans from Lalitgiri, Jajpur, Puri and Konark who work at the craft village carve structures in green stone, granite, sand stone, wood and metal starting from inch long murals to grand structures.

Many of these artisans have been awarded state and national awards.

“It is an honour for me to be learning the art from Sahoo sir. We get to work for various national and international projects. Moreover, working together with so many artisans helps improve each other’s work through discussion,” says a student artisan Sangram.

A short course of two years is also provided at the Sudarshan Art and Crafts Village under the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts, central government body wherein 10 students join every year.