Fresco Workshop, February 2020

A fresco workshop was conducted to learn an ancient Indian painting technique ‘Fresco Buon’ which was a very prominent style of painting and can be seen in the frescoes of Ajanta and was lost in the time due to invasions and some or the other reasons?

Fresco is a style of painting which is done on the prepared walls. It is an ancient Indian technique which is being practiced by a few artists of India. Dr, Nathulal Verma a miniature artist as well as a fresco artist is well known in this field. Another artist cum artisan Mr. Radha kishanji is also technically sound in preparing surface, colour and tiles to teach students the actual technique of Fresco Buon. The main objective of the workshop was to learn this ancient Indian technique to work on walls. 

A piece of art is just not the final end product, it's the artist’s hard work, patience, a lot of thought process put into it. It is to know from where it originated, the history it has. It requires a lot of hard work and patience to create an artwork. The students of Fine Arts were able to experience this in the “Fresco Workshop” conducted by The Department of Fine Arts, IIS Deemed to be University from 5th - 25th February’20.

Dr. Nathulal Verma and Radha Kishan Ji were the eminent artists who guided our students through it. In this 20 day workshop the 35 students learnt the art of making a fresco tile from the scratch. Starting from how a tile is made, how to make the natural colours, the process of applying it. Their patience was tested along with it, taking care of the tile as if it was a child. The phrase of putting all your heart and soul in an art work was well seen in action here. 

Our faculty members and lab assistants didn't stay behind. They took this as an opportunity to enhance their skill and knowledge. They enjoyed being a student again. This chance of getting the knowledge first hand about an age old art form from the artist was a golden opportunity for everyone.

Through this workshop the students of painting could learn one of the famous painting styles of Indian Art. They were taught to create tiles made of ancient methods, make colours through natural things like minerals, Kajal, semi precious stones etc. The students learnt the whole process of painting and technique. They were asked to create one or two tiles but they got so much interest that they created more than three or four tiles. A great enthusiasm could be seen in the students to learn this technique and create many tiles.