Berhampur: Thirty-three year-old Satya Maharana from the city, who already has 10 listings in USA World Record Setters, three in the India Book of Records and two in Global Book of Records for creating smallest artefacts on wood and sand, has made two sculptures completely out of newspapers.
"While paper may seem like a fairly mundane art medium, the unique braiding of the paper in these sculptures excited us," said Satya.
The bust size newspaper sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi is of 14cm height and 13cm width. The news paper sculpture of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose is 8cm high and 11cm wide.
"It took four to five hours to make each sculpture and I used the medium for the first time, especially to encourage children," said the sculptor.
"I tore some old newspapers into small pieces and mixed them with adhesive for grip. The paper pieces were pasted one on another with complete artistic imagination," he said.
"The children can use their hand-eye co-ordination because they will have to share materials and will learn to co-operate with others. Most importantly, children will feel empowered and safe from judgment because there is no right or wrong way to make a sculpture with newspaper. In fact, the more creative they are, the more fun it will be for them. Supervise the children while they're creating their sculptures. Ask them to describe what they're doing and how they are going about it. If they encounter a problem making their sculptures encourage them to find a solution rather than giving up," said Satya.
The sculptor has trained more than 200 students on sand art at an event in Berhampur earlier this year and intends to popularise and publicise the art and culture of Odisha in general and Ganjam in particular.