Terracotta items made by students during a workshop. Telegraph pictures

Sambalpur, June 14: Fifteen students are trying their hands in terracotta art at a workshop organised at the Regional Handicraft Training Centre here.

“The objective of the workshop is to hone the skills of terracotta craft and help the youths to become self-employed. The students who are undergoing training will also learn about the rich art tradition of Orissa,” said Sisir Rath, manager of the State Institute for Development of Arts and Craft (SIDAC).

The 15-day workshop, sponsored by the state handicraft and cottage industries directorate, is being jointly organised by the district industries centre and SIDAC. Senior personnel from Bhubaneswar have been engaged to train the students. “We are imparting training to the students free of cost. We organised this workshop in summer as the students could find time for art and craft during the vacation,” Rath said.

“There are several crafts in Orissa that remain unknown to the students and youths of our state. This includes crafts such as stone and wood carvings. Workshops like this will help students and artists to add value to their creation,” he added.

“The students are quite interested to know about the art of Orissa. We will train them for 15 days. After the training, it will be easy for them to make terracotta products for decoration in their houses,” said Rabindra Kumar Champaki, a trainer at the workshop.

Monalisa, a student of the Government Women’s College of Sambalpur and a participant in the workshop, was happy to get chance to learn skills in handicrafts.