Paintings on display at Jayadev Bhavan in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Dec. 11: Child artists explored various forms of art with a riot of colours as part of Shilpi Diwas.

Odisha Modern Art Gallery had hosted the festival of art and artists at Jayadev Bhavan from Sunday. The fourth edition of the festival, which concluded on Tuesday, exhibited children’s art works across the globe. The festival went international with the participation of child artists from Brazil, Cambodia, USA, UK, Romania, China and Japan. Young artists from all over the country also contributed their best creations.

Animals, pets, landscape and scenes from rural life were the most popular themes for the young painters. Several sketches and photographs of Krishna and Jagannath were also exhibited.

Though most of the creations lacked finesse, the enthusiasm and love for art was well reflected in their works. Ballavi Mishra, a Class V student, depicted the famous tale of Shravana carrying his parents on a balance hung on his shoulders.

Similarly, Rudresh, another young artist, created a silhouette of Krishna with sharp outlines and placed a portrait of Jagannath beside it.

There were also appealing scenes such as a little girl playing football with her mother, several abstract profiles of women and even Radha and Krishna. Some striking works on natural calamities and the fury of nature were also exhibited. “This year we had 1,100 entries that we displayed here. We awarded 110 works in different categories,” said Tarakant Parida, artist and organiser of the festival.

Among other attractions was a sand art created by Keshab Chandra Nath based on turtle conservation. It was a replica of a beach full of turtles with a blackboard set aside that said A for apple, B for Ball and so on and then T for Turtle. It was made especially for the child visitors.

“It is lovely. I like the turtles shown there. I thought they are real at first,” said Ananya, a five-year-old visitor.

There was also an art talk and slide show by Chandra Shekhar Sethi, young artist Mayadhar Sahu and Karnataka artist Nagaraj Kumbhar. Sahu was also given the Shilpi Diwas young artist award for his brilliant works throughout the year. Art teachers, whose students did well in various contests, were also awarded. Among them was Rajiv Dey of DPS Kalinga and Bijay Kumar Panda of DAV, Pokhariput. DPS Kalinga, Aradhana English Medium School (Karnataka) and Bhubaneswar-based Puja Pratyush Centre were also awarded for their contribution to art.