"ChitraSanthe " or Picture(Art) Fair happens once a year in Bangalore , where more than 1500 selected artists from all over India display their art work directly to the public for selling. The event is organized by the"Karnataka Chitrakala parishath" a department functioning under government of Karnataka to support art work . They have colleges and museums which display art work from famous artists . More information available on their website https://www.karnatakachitrakalaparishath.com/
I used to visit the fair every year as general public, it was only from 2018 I started applying for a stall to showcase. This year I got selected and it was a privilege because lakhs of Artists across the country apply and only thousand get selected .
I had start preparing for this event from October onwards, but went on a small scale as I was not sure how the response of the art lovers will be towards the quilling work . So I decided on preparing dolls, Jhumkas (earrings ) , gift envelopes , wall hangings from smaller to bigger size . Finally I decided on the following :
- Quilling Table top Ganesha Dolls
- Music Band doll set
- Marriage doll set (Groom & Bride in traditional attire)
- Quilling Gift Envelopes
- Quilling Jhumkas - Plain, Painted
- Wall hangings from sizes ranging 6" X 8" to 30" X 30"
I got the selection SMS a week before the event and I was super excited and visited the department previous day on Jan 4, 2020 to find the stall number which is randomly allocated based on lottery . I was allocated stall number 945 to my luck it was on the corner of the road ( don't be surprised the fair happens on the kumarakrupa road .. the entire road is blocked for vehicle movement and pavements are marked for stalls ) .
On the Fair day Jan 5th 2020 , I had hardly slept the previous day got up at 4.30 and reached the venue early morning around 6.30 am to put my stall as later vehicles are not allowed and you will have to carry your artwork to stall. The Parishat gives you a set of chair , table to display ,anything extra will have to be carried by yourselves like additional tables, cloth spreads on road chairs , threads tapes to hang your artwork .The artwork I had carried was less so most of them I was able to display on the table and bigger wall hangings I used my chairs to showcase them , I had carried cloth to spread on table and ground to keep my art work . The breakfast and lunch to the artist are provided by parishat , but they have a nice canteen well organized to meet the crowd you can have there or carry from home .
The most of the artists I saw were painters of different type who almost constituted 80% and rest were art people like paper art , clay work , terracotta , wood and I was the only one with quilling .The crowd start to swell from 10 am onwards and the enquirers began .. it was surprising that many did not know what is quilling and some of them had a limited idea of quilling as only flower making and earring making .. when I showed them wall hangings, envelops and doll sets they were quite amazed . The quilling Ganesha doll was a hit among the crowd and got sold before lunch and I had only my demo piece kept to showcase many queries were there for mass order . next to get sold off was Jhumkas and Envelops ..In the crowd it was nice to see children were more knowledgeable and they actually pulled the elders to the stall and once in , they liked and many were curious to know how it was done . I had taken a quilling tools which helped me to showcase how by just turning strips art work could be done . There were some enquiries even on conducting workshops .
Post lunch , I had a visitor from the local daily "Vijaya Karnataka" the lady was very nice and not only interviewed me on the quilling but also wrote an article on the quilling in the fair which I got to know from my friends and shared it . Which was an overwhelming experience.
The crowd was peak from 11 till 7pm and started to thin out and I was also quite drained by then and decided to pack my way to home . I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to my family who stood with me and supported in the fair and also my relatives and friends , they were all very supportive and encouraging , I owe them the success of my maiden experience of exhibiting quilling art work in such massive fair.
Overall it was a fascinating and energizing experience and I am now eager to look forward to more participation and spread the art of quilling.
