Blue paradise

Seven faces with seven different shades of blue. This was the theme given to the students at the Pyde Pyper Art Academy. The end result that came out was truly ‘out of the blue’ as the title of the exhibition suggests. The varied emotions, shades, shadows, curves, depths and impressions on different human faces done by kids using oil pastels and oil paints thoroughly impressed their teachers and thus set into motion the plan for the exhibition. 

“The exhibition works depict the expression of our true selves through the exploration of the colour blue. It looks to understand the various hues of blue as well as explore the concept of creative portraits. They delve into the deeper meaning of portraits and not just replication of facial features for aesthetic purposes,” says Deanne Fernandes, an art teacher and also the curator of the exhibition.

Explaining this concept further, Fernandes states that our face is a constant flurry of expressions, emotions, joy, regrets, hurt, anger. But we all wear a social mask to cover up our true selves and true colours. Beauty is often equated with perfection and is often misinterpreted in art as well.  

 “Portraits are often created as perfect photographic realism of features rather than creative interpretations of personality and expressions of creative selves. However, colours not only are a determinant of human behaviour but a reflection of the feelings of the inner self which is best portrayed through faces and expressions. Thus the illusion and mystery of undiscovered and unexpressed personalities is brought out in this exhibition through the colour blue,” states Fernandes.

Majority of the participants were new to the medium of oil paints and hence this particular project was a great learning not only of a medium but how to create original art as well as learn about a colour. “Students were taught to interpret faces and people and look beyond facial features and colour differences. Thus no portrait was considered an anatomical mistake but an original interpretation,” says Fernandes,who not only trains students the academy but also the junior art teachers that join academy.  

Based in Dona Paula, the Pyde Pyper Art Academy was started in 2010 by Wilson D’Souza who earlier worked as an art director in a children institute. He believes that each student has a unique individual style that needs to be nurtured and discovered. The aim of the academy is thus to safeguard and encourage this originality. Hence, while they train students, they don’t focus on realistic perfection but originality, creativity and expressionism. They encourage students to leave aside their inhibitions and believe in themselves.  

Once the students discover where their passion lies, the academy trains them in that direction. In fact, the Academy has had students like Shruthi who was a Geology researcher at the National Institute of Oceanography and joined for hobby classes. After discovering her passion for illustrations and creative writing, and following training at the academy, Shruti has now taken up illustration at the Art Centre, Pacidenia, USA. Another student, Roshan had joined the Academy to learn water colour painting as a hobby. The teachers helped her discover her inclination towards story telling and has got into Minneapolis College of Art and Design, USA with 95% funding. “Very often talent remains unexplored at school. Science and Maths are the subjects schools focus on. People believe that only after pursuing engineering and medicine, can the child be termed as brilliant. Even the press plays a role here in asserting this mindset. When a student tops in Maths and Science at the IIT or any other entrance tests, they make headlines. But when our art students top in design at one of the top institutes in the world no one covers this. This is a sorry state which needs to be changed. The profession in arts or for that matter any other field is as lucrative as medicine or engineering. Parents need to focus on other alternatives too,” says D’Souza.