A temple procession with the priest carrying the thee pantham and accompanied by men playing the thaarai thappattai , a herd of elephants with the mahout, a sprawling banyan tree with people huddled under its shade, and children grazing sheep… all made out of old newspapers. Students at Devarayapuram Government High School in Thondamuthur create abstract human forms using a simple technique. They crush the waste papers and then tie them together with white threads to create 3D art. “They don’t use gum at all,” explains V. Rajagopal, who teaches art at the school. Rajagopal introduced children to 2D and 3D art, and collage work along with their regular sketching and painting classes. He says the objective is to expose them to different art forms.
A team from the school exhibited the 3D work at Kala Utsav organised by the HRD ministry to promote artistic talent in children. As a part of the exhibit, they collected twigs and made a crow’s nest. Paper cups became decorative umbrellas that shield the gods and coconut shells turned into thaarai and thappattai …. At the district level, students M. Karthikeyan and K. Karunakaran, both in class IX, won appreciation for the eco-friendly concept of creating art from waste. They also represented the school at the State level at an event conducted at Namakkal. “Most of my students can’t afford to spend extra for art material. So, we selected raw materials that are easily available. While learning art, they also become disciplined. It calms them down and improves their concentration and memory skills too,” says Rajagopal.
Karthikeyan says making shapes out of waste paper is not easy. “I spend many hours just to mould the paper together for the desired shape. If I get distracted, then I have to start from scratch,” he says. Karunakaran says that creating the banyan tree and the aerial roots, which they made using two newspapers and three bundles of thread, were the most difficult. “I sketch a basic design before transforming it into 3D. I want to learn and explore different media,” he says.
Rajagopal attended a training module at the Kala Utsav. “Teachers in performing arts and creative arts were trained. We share our experience with our students and inspire them to make something unique. We submitted videos of how we trained the students and also of the students making the art work. The student had to explain to the judges why he chose to do a particular art work and what he learnt about the culture and tradition from it. Our headmaster H.Thittan has been very encouraging in promoting art and culture initiatives among children.”
