A painting from Raghurajpur which will be displayed in Dublin. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 10: For the first time, works of traditional artists of Raghurajpur have got a call from a contemporary art gallery at the famous Pearse Museum in Dublin, Ireland.

The two-week long show, which will start on August 14, will feature the works of more than 80 artists on a wide range of canvas right from patta chitra to tassar painting, palm leaves painting, toys made of cow dung and paper masks.

Kshitish Das, a painter who hails from Cuttack but has been associated with an international event organised at Raghurajpur, said that the upcoming exhibition was an outcome of their international art festival.

“We first hosted the Raghurajpur International Art and Cultural Exchange in 2011 when many artists from all over the world showed great inclination to learn our traditional art works from the practitioners here. Last year, too, it was a successful event. A regular participant, Jean Doyle from Ireland, initiated the plan for this exhibition in Dublin,” said Kshitish.

A curator in Ireland, Jean asked Pravat and Kshitish to help the artists from the crafts village of Raghurajpur get recognition on an international stage.

The artists hope that they will get exposure and recognition at an international level through this exhibition.

“We were really surprised to know that our art will be shown at a contemporary gallery. We export our products to buyers from all over the country and even abroad. But our work has usually been considered to be craft. We are glad that our creativity will now be understood by connoisseurs as artwork,” said a cow dung toy maker, Chumuki Behera.

The 150-odd art works that will be put on display will mostly include creations from Raghurajpur. But, various items from other parts of the state, such as the famous shawls knit by Lanjigarh’s Dongria Kondh tribe, will also find a place at the Pearse Museum.

After the show at Pearse Museum, another exhibition of the same set of works will be hosted at Ranelagh Arts Centre in Dublin between September 20 and 29.