Here are glad tidings for all art connoisseurs of the Pink City.
A bunch of passionate art lovers, who want to revive the ancient cultural heritage and traditions of the Rajasthani community have got together to roll out a unique, digital platform by the name of Rajasthan Studio, where visitors to the city can simply select and book a carefully-curated, highly interactive art appreciation session with a well-known city-based artist, and experience the Pink city like you have never experiences it before, even though you may have lived here for generations.
Don’t believe us?
Quickly log on to https://rajasthanstudio.com/ and check out the names of some of the prominent artists who have lend their support to the movement and have signed-up with Rajasthan Studio, namely miniature painter Padma Shri Shakir Ali S., Blue Pottery expert Shilpguru Gopal Saini, National Award winner Jaswant Kumar Meenakar, Wooden Block Maker Gayur Ahmed, Puppetry Award winning artist Papu Bhat, to name just a few.
At present, 16 unique art experiences in 15 well-known art forms are listed on the digital marketplace. Each of these 15 art forms – e.g. Brass Wire inlay, Gem Stone carving, Enamelling on Silver, Paper Mache – is conducted by renowned art maestros. Each art form has been carefully curated to capture a slice a once culturally-vibrant city like Jaipur.
The sessions are conducted at the artist’s private home (as they should be) and if the animated discussions and demo gets more intense, it can last for as long as six hours, although the average duration is two to three hours. In the end, participants don’t just come back with a load full of sweet memories; they also carry back with them a small curio – their own creation, made under the Master’s careful gaze and guidance.
To be sure, you cannot expect to be turned into a Pablo Picasso in one session, but you can sure gain hugely in terms of a never-before-never-again immersive experience. After all, what can be a better way of appreciating a particular art form, than to be on an exploratory journey with the artist himself/herself?
And if this was not enough, there is more.
Rajasthan Studio is parallelly facilitating a free-of-cost interactive session series, among artists themselves, as part of their invite-only Rajasthan Studio Circle series, which is a sort of an art club, which features live discussion of any art form painting, sculpturing, photography, poetry, art, literature, dance, singing, yoga and even stand-up comedy.
So far, Rajasthan Studio has conducted 16 number of such off-the-drill sessions, under the banner of Rajasthan Circle, namely khartal live session with Magniyar Gazi Khan Barna; Storytelling workshop with Dr Shweta Singh; Minimalistic Photography session with Prakash Ghai; Percussion Session with young Varenya Joshi; Poetry and Perspective with professor Dr Bhavya Soni, to cite just a few.
Notably, the artists as well as Rajasthan Studio organisers don’t charge anything from the participants for Rajasthan Circle sessions. Rajasthan Studio also does not take any commission for any art product that you buy from any artist, as these sessions are conceived strictly as an ideas exchange programme.
There is a highly-talented team working behind Rajasthan Studio that has been pursuing this idea and quietly working on the digital platform for close to two years now, pooling in their own funds, and pulling our time apart from their respective work schedules, led by the vision of one man, Kartik Gaggar. Gaggar incidentally is a chartered accountant by training and an art connoisseur and travel lover by choice.
If you are not an artist, but see yourself lending support to this movement, you can volunteer for the role of a gracious host for an art experience, and Rajasthan Studio volunteers would be happy to assist you with all the preparations.
Any suggestions on how to make this platform better? Drop in a line to [email protected] or reach out at Rajasthan Studio (Slo Mo Experiences Private Limited) office at 74B, 2nd floor, WaveX, Sawai Pratapsingh Rd, Bhagat Vatika, Civil Lines, Jaipur – 302006 (India)
