Mumbaikars get hooked to creative workshops at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

The last few days at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, in association with The Times Of India, saw Mumbaikars go all out to showcase their best skills as well as learn more from the creative workshops there. Right from calligraphy, macrame, clay mask making, porcelain, pour painting to sari draping, they went on a DIY spree!
Shukrita Shah a college student, said, “I have attended four workshops in the last three days and with each workshop, I have come away armed with some knowledge.” Not just college students, men and women of all ages have been thronging the KGAF workshops venues.“One of the really good things about these workshops is that they are being held in air-conditioned spaces like the BNHS Auditorium, the NGMA and the Coomaraswamy Hall at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS),” said Maitreyi Sharma, a retired bank officer who attended the calligraphy, card making and porcelain painting sessions. The duration of most of these workshops were for two to three hours.
Artist Rashmi Mhapsekar, whose porcelain painting workshop was attended by women across all ages, said, “It was wonderful to see the great response here at KGAF. Besides artists and art students, women who were keen to take this up as a hobby also attended the demo.”
Darshana Tailor, the academic head of a fashion institute along with Payal Dalal, the faculty director, shared tips to drape the sari in different ways at the sari draping workshop — right from traditional drapes to regional ones with some modern twists.
Ceramic and pottery artist Lidwin Mascarenhas, who has a studio set-up in the suburbs, taught African-inspired mask-making at her workshop, which was attended by engineers, students and media professionals. “The best thing is that Lidwin gave us a free reign to create what we wanted. This is the reason everyone ended up creating some interesting masks,” said an engineering student Sirish Sheth.
Kids of all ages also had a good time at the CSMVS lawns. School students came in batches to learn slime making and attend art activity workshops, drawing and painting competitions, and more.