Travel: Rediscover a ancient art of Rock Dhokra in Panchgani

Think of Panchgani and we immediately start plotting an channel of hiking trails in a lofty Sahyadris, examination a object set over a powder-blue Krishna River and visiting a palatable strawberry farms. However, did we know that a renouned mountain station, about 4 hours divided from Mumbai, is also home to a lesser-known art form famous as Rock Dhokra? Originating in 2,500 BC in Mohenjodaro, and mostly prevalent in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa as genealogical art, Dhokra uses a lost-wax casting technique (casting a transcribe steel structure from an original) to emanate animal and tellurian figurines. If we are penetrating to learn a ancient art form or wish to make a Rock Dhokra sculpture yourself, pointer adult with The Travel Of Art for a two-day outing this weekend.

An artist in Devrai Art Village

“I trust art is a good approach to learn about a place since each art form is shabby by a internal enlightenment and habits. The guest will take one-on-one workshops with a internal Rock Dhokra artists and make souvenirs of their choice. On a final outing in January, a traveller finished a Mohenjodaro Dancing Girl (the famous bronze statuette deliberate to be a start of Dhokra art), while another finished a baby dino,” says 34-year-old Meghana Biwalkar, a city-based former publisher and owner of a transport company, launched final September. She has also designed a outing in Aug to Pollachi nearby Coimbatore, to try rangoli crafts internal to a area.

A kiln used for Rock Dhokra sculpture

Devrai and a Dhokra
The seminar will be conducted in a studio during Devrai Art Village, a non-profit in Panchgani, launched in 2008 by Mandakini Mathur and Suresh Pungati — a distinguished adivasi artist from a Madhia tribe, hailing from a Naxalite-affected Gadchiroli segment in Maharashtra. With an aim to commission genealogical artists, a NGO now offers a provision to 10 master craftsmen along with 17 genealogical apprentices from Naxalite-affected areas of Gadchiroli and Chhattisgarh. In fact, a NGO has given a art form a new twist, now in obvious tentative process. “They emanate a alloy of mill and brass, a technique that’s never been attempted before,” informs Biwalkar.

 The home-stay unaware Krishna Valley

The routine starts by formulating a figure of a sculpture in bees polish around a rock. It is afterwards fused with fiery coronet in a high-temperature kiln. “It takes around a week to make a Rock Dhokra sculpture. The waxwork depends on a distance and design. Then, a dual layers of clay have to dry adult before it goes for casting. Once expel in metal, a artefact has to be cleaned, buffed and polished,” informs Mathur, adding, “We will also speak about casting elements like leaves, branches and bellow into metal,” she adds.

Meghana Biwalkar

Gaga over godadis
The guest will be put adult in an home-stay run by Tejinder Walia, a internal who also supports village gratification projects and trains internal ladies in Godadi weaving. “It’s a normal form of quilt-making, renouned in Maharashra. The women make godadis out of aged dupattas and saris. Guests will be means to see how it’s done,” says Biwalkar. They can also penchant Maharashtrian transport creatively finished in a home-stay’s open kitchen.

A Panchgani internal teaches a member to make Godadi quilts

Trip Dates Jun 18 to 19 (capacity: 8 to 10 guests)
Call: 9820170948
Email: meghana@thetravelofart.com
Cost: Rs 5,500 per chairman (including travel, accommodation, meals, guided seminar and a forest trail)

Panchgani
From Mumbai 240 km 

How to strech (by road): Drive along a Mumbai-Pune Expressway and National Highway 4. Turn right onto a Wai-Surur Road that becomes Wai-Panchgani Road. Turn left onto a Ruighar-Mahu Dam Road in Ganeshpeth, Panchgani.

Checklist
Keep a site clean
 Don’t try out alone after sunset
 Check reserve precautions entirely during a workshop
 Carry monsoon gear

Inside Devrai Art Village

The space offers 7 to 10-day workshops along with residency programmes where artists, craftsmen and designers can combine with internal craftsmen and examination with different art forms.

Along with Rock Dhokra, one can also learn bamboo craft, mill sculpting, beaten ironwork, pottery, painting, wood-carving, weaving, trinket creation as wearable art and Warli painting.

AT: Devrai, Panchgani Co-operative Housing Society, behind Sanjeewan School Playground, Panchgani.
LOG ON TO: www.devraiartvillage.com
CALL: 9923339726

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