Thursday, July 31, 2008

Spotlight on experimental design and tribal art

Creative range: Some of the works of differently-abled children on display at the WLC College in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: Vibrant collages, elegant pencil sketches and experimental dress designs produced by students of the St. Louis School for the Deaf, Adyar, and Clarke’s School for the Specially Abled Children, Mylapore, were on display at the WLC College in Alwarpet in Chennai on Sunday.

Collection
The exhibition marks a milestone indeed in the journey of two students towards putting together a meaningful design collection.

Titled ‘Thandavam’, Radhika Ganesh and Shwetha Raju, students of fashion designing, hope to bring out this set of apparel and accessories that would be inspired by all things Tamil in May.


They also would like to raise awareness of the abilities of the hearing and speech impaired by conducting workshops on design for special children, to help them benefit from their own knowledge.

Elements
On Saturday and Sunday, students from the two institutions played around with the elements of design, tribal art motifs and experimental designs.

Ms. Ganesh is eloquent with praise, “These children are very visually oriented and have a flair for art.”


The workshops would also give students a glimpse of a possible career option from Classes IX and above, Ms. Raju added.

At the college on Sunday evening, students with and without hearing aids were being instructed with signs from their teacher.

Paint-smudged fingers and excited faces hovered over brightly-coloured paintings.

“Since they cannot hear or talk, they are less likely to be distracted,” a student said, while two children behind her carried out an animated conversation in sign language.

The project has been sponsored by the college and space provided to conduct the event, on the premises.

“Creativity requires independence and we are glad to encourage it,” P. Kesavdass, WLC Centre Head, said.

A similar workshop was held previously for students of the St. Louis College for Deaf, Adyar.

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