A five-day unique woodcarving art workshop “Art from environment” was inaugurated at the Hotel Toshali Sands on Friday. During the event, noted woodcarvers would work on logs of trees which were uprooted in the last year’s cyclone Phailin in the vast hotel premises.
Hotel Toshali Sands managing director T Hari Patra, who inaugurated the workshop, said hundreds of valuable tree were uprooted in the vast hotel complex during the cyclone. “While we were trying to dispose of the logs, noted art master Sovan Kumar approached us and told us to preserve the logs so that woodcarving could be done on them. We promote environment-friendly hospitality industry,” he said and applauded the workshop organisers for their love for nature.
Speaking to mediapersons, M Sovan Kumar, founder of Bhubaneswar-based Kanti art village, said the woodcarving tradition is core to the cultural heritage of Odisha as lord Jagannath Himself is carved out of neem wood.
The workshop for the first time in the art history facilitates a platform for fusion of traditional and contemporary woodcarving styles to showcase, revive and preserve the rich tradition of woodcarving which is at the verge of extinction, he said.
Nearly 50 artists belonging to contemporary and traditional woodcraft art from Odisha and outside are working on the timber logs. The camp is organised jointly by the Hotel Toshali Sands and Kanti.
Noted woodcarvers like Bhola Kumar of New Delhi, Dhiraj Verma of Bihar and PR Mohanty, Shyamsundar Maharana, Arjun Maharana, Hemant Maharana, Biswakarma Maharana, Bulu Maharana and Brahma Maharana of Odisha are participating in the camp. They would work on the tree trunks giving them art forms. Pravati Panda and Helen coordinated the inaugural proceedings of
the camp.