Sale Date Ended
Sale Date Ended
CHERIAL MASK MAKING WORKSHOPS in Hyderabad
with Master Artisan Saikiran Varma
This three hour session of moulding, shaping and painting Cherial masks is a short journey into the rich heritage of art techniques that are unique to our country.
The workshop will have two parts:
1. Making one mask from a base.
2. Painting a pre-made mask.
Both the sections will be covered in three hours. All raw materials will be provided for. Every participant would learn 2 Cherial masks either male female or 2 animals. Each participant will get 2 moulds (of which 1 will be pre-made by the artist) so that at the end of the workshop they can complete a pair of mask.
Fees:
Pre-Registration ₹ 1500
Spot Registration ₹ 1800
Please Mention preferred venue in the note when registering online.
WORKSHOPS SCHEDULE & VENUES
Saturday, 25 May :: 10.00 am to 1.00 pm - Phoenix Arena -Lane next to Lemon Tree Hotel, Hitec City. Contact: 7893656789
Saturday, 25 May :: 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm - dāram,1-10-3/1 Boorugu Vihar, Lane, BEGUMPET. Contact: 040-27765503
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dhanaloka Saikiran Verma, son of state award winners D. Nageshwar and D. Padma, hails from Rangareddy district Telangana. He studied Fine Arts from Sri Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts, Madhapur. He later chose to carry on with his family tradition of Cherial Scroll Painting and Mask Making. He has conducted multiple workshops across the country.
THE ART FORM
The tradition of Cherial Art form began with scroll painting. Cheriyal Scroll Painting is a stylized version of Nakashi art, rich in the local motifs peculiar to the Telangana. They are at present made only in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.Like most other traditional painting forms this was used for story telling. Particularly the smaller intricate stories from epics would be illustrated in the Cherial scrolls. Cherial scroll painting made way to mask making where a few characters from the scrolls were converted into masks. Tiger, cow, neutral characters like that of man, woman, bandit etc were made into masks, which were used to entertain the children and decorate houses with. The style and motifs used in scroll are replicated on the mask and are painted with the same colors. The traditional art form became an inseparable part of the profession of the story-telling, balladeer community known as Kaki Padagollu. They displayed the scrolls and accompanied by music and dance went from village to village narrating and singing their ballads based from their rich folklore which was rooted in the Puranasand Indian Epics, enlivening many a lazy village evening.
The steps to Cherial Mask making are six fold if simplified. Namely- Sculpting : ‘Poniki’ wood is used to craft a figurine of choice and give it a crude form. Plastering : a fine mixture of tamarind seed paste and sawdust is applied over the base form. Bandaging : after the mixture dries up, cotton strips are layered of the figurine. Smoothening : liquid lime and chalk powder paste are coated to smoothen the surface. Coloring : On the base color, detailing such as eyes, limbs and accessories are intrinsically painted. Varnishing : to give a glossy look a coat of varnish is applied.
THE METHOD
Dry and hard coconut shell is used as the base. Then the shell is dried and it is sanded with the help of the sand paper to scrap out the uneven surface and coconut fibres from the shell. Due to its bulge structure it is easy to further shape it into a face kind of structure. Thereon a tamarind and saw dust paste is to be prepared. Tamaraind seeds are boiled till it becomes soft and then it is grinded to prepare a paste like consistency. Then the tamarind seeds paste is mixed with saw dust which is available in any carpenters' shop as waste. These are best to prepare the paste and it becomes rock solid as it dries. This paste is then applied on the mask to give the contours shape. Features like nose, eyes, lips and other features are rendered. This process provides the mask a three dimensional structure. After moulding the required shape the mask is covered with khadi cloth and it is stuck to the base with the help of the mixture made of rice starch, white mud and tree gum. This mixture is then spread evenly and allowed for drying. Once the mask is dried, it is painted with single base color and then the detailing like eyes, lip, hairs are done with the respective colors. After the painting is completed, it is allowed for drying and later varnished to give it the glossy finish.
