Gourd Art of India

 Ribbon Winner of 12th International Gourd Art Festival held in California,2008

1st prize winner in Canadian Gourd Festival,2008.

Winner of Honorable Award in ALL ABOUT GOURDS , Ice House Gallery, Kentucky, 2008.

I am a self taught Indian male artist aged 35, born & brought up India and having no degree/diploma in arts. I am an under-graduate and started working from the age of twenty. Art had always been a part of my life since I received my first box of crayons. During my school/college life I used to make several pandals (temporary structure where gods & godesses are worshipped temporarily) for Saraswati & Kali pujas. I had done several artworks with different mediums to decorate my house & even also made few furnitures single handed. Last year, I along with my freinds decided to make an unique pandal for Durga puja (the biggest festival of Bengal) with a new theme for the first time and for that I had created some artwork with bamboos(photos enclosed) which was totally new in West Bengal may be as well as in India and decorated the pandal named "Bansher Bhuvan" which had won lots of praise from different TV channels (Star Ananda, Kolkata TV & Akash Bangla-- Bengali regional channels) and several prizes for the first time for Durgotsav'2006 for our club named "Subhash Samsad" (Garia, Kolkata). Durga puja has now become a "festival of arts" where every artist tries to show their creativity. Many artisans mainly depend on Durga Puja for their survival. My thirst for creating new things took me into the world of pandal making and later into the world of handicrafts.My recent works with dried gourd shells had already been profiled in an e-magazine "Epic India"(www.epicindia.com/magazine/) and several other articles and showcased as a keeper of art in (http://www.keepersofart.com/, australianartgallery.com, usartgallery.com) as well as by Doordarshan Kendra Kolkata(DD Bangla) through their programme "Camera Cholche".

My thirst for creating new art form took me into the world of gourds. One day I saw an old man carrying some broken Tanpuras(Indian musical instrument) on his shoulder.The bottom of the Tanpuras are  made of dried gourd shells and they were broken in such a manner, it looked like an artform itself and so I purchased some of them for experimenting my thoughts and I was successful. In India gourds are used for storing supplies, hauling water, making cooking and eating utensils & musical instruments. Gourds are mostly used as resonating chambers of certain musical instruments like Tanpura, Sitar, etc. I thought of creating a pandal with dried shells of gourd. With the help of a farmer I cultivated and dried nearly 200 gourds of various sizes & shapes for nearly six months, out of which many were destroyed due to untimed heavy rainfall.

As no one had ever constructed a pandal with gourd's shells before this year's Durga puja,I thought that I'll be able to establish my self as Theme/Pandal maker with the help of this new idea. So I left my job six months back and devoted my full time in making the gourd shells ready for the pandal. I thought that I would earn some money for my living by making the pandal but I was ditched by my co-artist. As the poject was big I sought help of another artist who was more experienced than me in feild of pandal making. We jointly signed a token agreement(copy of which is with me) with the puja organiser but later he convinced the organisers and signed the final agreement alone without my knowledge. I missed the train of my success as this was a golden oppurtunity to get renowned in the feild of theme/pandal making.As the contract was big I hired him and instead he fired me. I was on the streets with more than hundreds of gourd shells in my hand. I coundn't make out what to with them. I decided to switch from pandal art to general art which can be used for decoration. And then with the help of knives and other materials I have created some artworks with dried gourd shells which is unique because as far as I know  that dried gourd shell artwork is not available in West Bengal and may be as well as in India also. I think I have given birth to a new art form in India i,e. Gourd Art.

Last year my creations with bamboos died with the pujas. So this year I dont want to let this creations die. I want to reach this art to the people with your generous help as I am new to this outside world of art and don't even know whom to contact. I want this art form to be a part of Indian handicrafts. That my wish. Can  I claim myself as the pioneer of Indian Gourd Art. It's upto you to decide.