KGAF: Teaching children the art of recycled creativity

The idea was to encourage the kids to create art from objects normally viewed as disposable scrap

When you leave 60 children with a heap of thermocol plates, plastic glasses, bowls, glue sticks, markers and staplers, what you’d expect is a great big mess. But at Arzan Khambatta and Sunil Padwal’s art workshop for children, conducted on Sunday as part of the HT Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, the result was a burst of creativity.

People enjoy the Art installation during Hindustan Times Kala Ghoda Festival 2016 at Cross Maidan in Mumbai on Monday, February 8. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times)

The idea was to encourage the kids to create art from objects normally viewed as disposable scrap. “We told them that they were free to do anything they wanted with the material provided to them; we decided to give the kids no instructions whatsoever,” said Khambatta. “It was so interesting to see how they gave new meaning to things they see every day.”

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Fellow participant Pooja Valotia, 11, a resident of Borivali, made a lampshade from thermocol glasses. “I plan to hang it in my room,” she said. For the parents present, it was a thrill to see their kids’ creativity given free reign. “What I really like about the workshop is that there were no instructions given to the kids,” said Natesh Nathan, a corporate executive and resident of Peddar Road. “That way one doesn’t get blinkered into following someone else’s vision and instead it nudged the kids to create visions of their own.”