Tucked away in a bylane of Ameerpet, away from all the hustle bustle of the traffic, 17 artists are busy at work. After all, it’s not every day that an art camp for woodcut printing is held.
Bringing out the second edition of the woodcut camp — Woodcut Art Camp 2016 — Bhargavi Gundala from Dhi Artspace says that the event is bigger this time. “Woodcut printing is one of the oldest art forms, but because it is laborious, many don’t take it up. People need to know that art is more than just paintings and sculptures,” says Bhargavi.
At the camp, many artists — young and old — are busy carving out their wooden planks. Among them, you find Venkanna, globally known for his erotic art works, who is attending the camp for the first time. “I have never displayed my work here and this also happens to be my first art camp here. I studied printmaking and though I also create paintings, I love to keep going back to my basics,” he says.
Artist Dattatraya Apte, whose paintings and prints are famous across the world, is surrounded by younger artists who are watching him work. “Woodcut printing requires a lot of patience, but it is one of the easiest art forms to practice. You don’t need a lot of supplies and it doesn’t cost much either,” he says.
The aim of the camp was to popularise woodcut printing among general public and artists. Anila Kumar, who passed out from HCU a few years back says that the camp has been very helpful as he gets to interact with senior artists as well. “Because I studied woodcut printing, I was able to diversify into various other fields of art like painting and sculpting. This form teaches you a lot,” he says.
