Arts
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| Sharing
her love for drama with children “This will be my second workshop of this sort, and my main objective is to expose the child to different aspects of the subject such as drama, speech, voice training and so on,” says Sashi Mendis, who will be conducting the workshop which will be held on August 13, 15, 16, 17 and 18, from 9 a.m to 1 p.m at the Ladies’ College Department of Vocational Studies. Children between the ages of eight and thirteen are eligible to participate. “If, by the end of the workshop, a child who has a vague interest in drama, is able to see the potential in this field, I will be more than satisfied,” she says, adding that children today are too jaded with school work, tuition and home work, and other pastimes such as computer games and do not have the time to be creative. Interestingly, a qualified lawyer, Sashi received her LLB degree from the Faculty of Law at the University of Colombo. “But drama was always my passion,” she says smiling. Being involved with drama at her alma mater Ladies’ College, she was also the President of the Drama Society of the University of Colombo. Following her degree, her love for drama led her to sitthe Associates Diploma in Performance and the LAMDA Bronze Medal Certificate in Acting. “Drama has always been my first preference and so I took up teaching the subject,” she said, adding that she first taught at a Speech and Drama school and has been attached to Gateway College, for the past four years as a drama teacher. During the workshop the kids will be able to act out interesting characters and get involved in activities to sharpen and improve their dramatic and performance skills. There will also be poetry reading, play writing, choral speaking and role play. “Since the time span is limited, I won’t be able to go into elaborate discussions, but the kids will be getting an overall insight into voice training, such as voice projection and modulation, facial expression and the basic components of a good play,” she says. Apart from teaching at Gateway, she also has private classes where she teaches drama and performance skills. “Role play especially is a favourite among children since they get to act out various scenes and characters and this improves their creativity tremendously,” says Sashi. “Another activity I do in my classes, as well as at school, is dividing the kids into groups and enabling them to create their own pieces of writing,” she says. “With my guidance, they write their own pieces of literature and sometimes even perform it.” According to Sashi, communication skills are imperative not just for children, but for adults too. “Sometimes we see that individuals, who have reached the highest standards professionally, are at a complete loss when they are compelled to speak or perform in public. The lack of self confidence is the main reason for this problem, and we need to make sure that kids receive this boost at an early age.” This is another aspect that will be dealt with at the workshop, and will surely give the kids that all - important edge. “Kids have lots of ideas, but most often are not given the opportunity to express them. I hope to give the participants of the workshop the exposure they need to be able to appreciate drama and performance,” says Sashi. Rustic
innocence beckons Thamara Damayanthi’s depiction of unspoilt pastoral beauty is indescribably nostalgic. She makes no secret of her early childhood in Nugadanda, Ingiriya in the Ratnapura district- a village that to this day has not seen ‘development’ in the modern sense. This in essence is what her watercolours are all about. Educated at R/Nugadanda Maha Vidyalaya and Horana Sri Palee College, Thamara honed her talents at the Institute of Aesthetic Studies of the University of Kelaniya and then worked for two years at the Thulhiriya Textile Mills as a textile designer. Veteran artists agree that using watercolours as a medium requires discipline, dedication and “needs to be developed over the years”. They feel the use of acrylic oil paint is more popular, even among the younger generation, due its opaque quality being very forgiving of mistakes. As one veteran artist put it “there’s no easy way out-it’s a real challenge. You either know it or don’t know it, there’s no guesswork when using water colours.” “Transparency is very important when doing a water colour painting. I feel that the colour of Sri Lankan scenery¸ the beauty of rural Sri Lanka for example, is best brought out through the water colours,” says Thamara emphatically. The truth of her words are aptly demonstrated in her paintings-ironically even in the few that she has drawn of city life. Counting 17 years of experience as an art teacher, Thamara is proud for her students’ achievements as well. Presently a senior Art teacher at Ananda College, Colombo, many of her students have won art scholarships to pursue their studies in countries such as India and China. Now living in Ragama, with her very supportive husband, Lt. Colonel Gamini Ranwela, Thamara is also a talented sculptor. Her monuments, both exalting war heroes, at Gampaha Bandaranayake College and at the 5th Infantry Headquarters at Pallekelle, Kundasale have won her praise for their very creative depiction of war. Thamara Damayanthi will hold her latest exhibition of water colour paintings at the Lionel Wendt from August12-14. Most of the 50 paintings on display will naturally be of the subject that is near and dear to her heart-rural landscapes and the lifestyle of the villagers. A brave
venture into Brahms music that succeeded Brahms does not appear to be many classical enthusiasts ‘cup of tea’ at least in Sri Lanka. So it was very brave for an up and coming young Sri Lanka pianist to decide to have an entire programme of piano music dedicated to Brahms. However, at the end of the concert, there was, I believe, almost universal appreciation of the music as performed by this artiste and many in the audience who came mainly to support the performer than to hear the music per se, went away fulfilled by what they had heard. Eshantha
Peiris, who was born in Britain where he had his early musical education,
studied piano under Ramya de Livera and violin under Ananda Dabare
after returning to Sri Lanka in 1993. He is currently completing
his Bachelor of Music at the New York University’s Steinhardt
School of Education. The Choral Preludes of Brahms for organ are compositions of his final period. Like the more famous Choral Preludes of Bach, they are based on the Lutheran Hymn Tunes of the day and the tune is recognizable in the fabric of the prelude itself. The Choral Prelude No. 4- ‘Herzlich tut mich erfreun’ (My inmost heart rejoiceth) has a pianistic background even in its original form for organ, and therefore works well as a piano transcription as does No. 10 - ‘Herzlich tut mich verlangen’ (My inmost heart doth yearn) – where the original pedal solo is played on the left hand surrounded by characteristic harmonic progression on the right hand. The Variations on this famous theme from Paganini’s 24th Caprice for violin followed. These
two sets of variations are not just virtuoso pieces but are highly
expressive and symphonic as the pianist ably demonstrated. Those
who came for the concert, in spite of their doubts that one and
a half hours of only Brahms on the piano would be too much, went
home, as I did, happy to have heard a talented young pianist give
us an insight into the piano music of Brahms and with a desire to
hear more in the future. ‘I
paint what I see, I paint what I hear’ Segar, whose paintings are an extraordinary combination of the realistic and abstract, draws his inspiration from real life, and his art depicts a deep insight into human nature as well as a zeal for physics and mathematics, as is apparent from his self-originated style “refractive effects in cubism”. Unlike most artists, he maximises the use of modern technology in his art, sometimes creating a picture on the computer and loading it onto his website, www.segar.8m.net, before he actually transfers it onto canvas. In this exhibition, his first at the Hermitage Gallery, he says he has deviated from his usual focus on reality to draw on his imagination. Having exhibited and sold paintings in several countries, including India, England and Australia, these paintings are particularly targeted at local purchasers. “I’d like to have my paintings in Sri Lanka,” he says, remarking that so far his main buyers have been from abroad. “I paint what I see. I paint from imagination. I paint from music,” Segas says describing his work, which one can appreciate at leisure in the comfortable ambience of the Hermitage Gallery in the week ahead. |
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