March 9, 2007

An afternoon of art at Sikh Gurdwara Temple

80 students prepare works at Punjabi art workhop

By Carol Rosen
Staff Writer

Eighty students from age 7 to 17 spent four hours at the Sikh Gurdwara Temple designing works of art, which will be presented at a special showing on March 24-25.

The afternoon was the first step in preparation for teaching the students Punjabi artwork. The session was designed for the students to get used to the different media of drawing, painting, watercolor and clay. Many of the students have never had art classes. In addition, their parents want them to learn the art of their culture.

Kalwant Bisla, who coordinated the event, said she is planning more events to teach the students Indian arts, so that they “can express their culture through the arts.” She wants to encourage art within the Sikh community, so that the students and parents too ”can learn. It’s a valuable thing that they can enjoy,” said Bisla, who had a total of 26 volunteers help out with the workshop.

The students were divided into four groups of 20, depending on age. Each group worked with its own media. Group one featured students ages 6 and 7, who used pastel crayons to make family portraits. Sandy Vrooman, who works in children’s fine arts for the city of Palo Alto, taught the group.

The teachers and volunteers for the special art classes at the Sikh Gurdwara Temple get together for a photo. Front row from the left are Sabine Kooner, Surjit Dheri, Ravinder Dheri, Kalwant Bisla, Nina Gill and Eric Hoffman. Back row, from the left, are Sanet Patel, Blavinder Bisla, Ramratan Khalsa, Sandy Vrooman, Sarabjit Kaur, Mohinder Sodhi, Guljit Sokhi, Simranjit Rai, Sarabjit Sokhi, Kamal Kooner and Kamal Dihota. Photos by Carol Rosen
Five of the older children work with clay after their lession. Pictured above, from the left are Manpreet Bola, 12, a seventh grader at Sierramont School; Ramanpreet Kaur Dheri, 14, an eighth grader at Piedmont Middle School; Harkanwalpreet Singh, 13, a seventh grader at Piemont Hills Middle School; Jaspreet Dheri, 17, a senior at Piedmont Hills High; and Gagan Kaur, 13, an eighth grader at Rancho Middle School in Milpitas.

The 8 and 9-year-old group used tempra for culture paintings. Their teacher, Eric Hoffman, is chair of the lower school art department at Harker Academy. Hoffman has worked and studied art throughout the world. He’s had showings of his work in New York, Chicago, Los Angles, Paris, London, Rome, Madrid and Nice.

The 10 and 11-year-old student group worked with Sarabjit Kaur, making self-portraits with acrylic paints. Kaur is an art teacher at Challenger School. The final group, with 12 to 17-year-old students, worked with air-drying clay making religious symbols that have meaning and identity to them. They worked with Sanket Patel, who teaches in Los Altos and has his own studio, where he holds classes for adults and children.

Bisla designed the event as part of a commitment to Landmark, an organization encouraging community projects to promote self-expression and leadership. She notes that art brings out people’s expressions, and can also be used for describing a culture. She decided to hold the art session to allow the children to express themselves, since many have little art in school and also to begin providing a cultural basis for them to learn about their background and culture.

Eventually, she hopes either to have a classroom at the temple, which can be devoted to art classes or to make artwork part of the religious classes. Either way, the special artwork afternoon is a good way to get started, she said.

The March 24-25 art showing will be divided into a private and public showing. While plans are not yet firm, Bisla hopes to have a private showing between 2 and 4 p.m. with the artists and their families and possibly prizes for the best works. On Sunday, she hopes to open it to the public from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., especially for families attending the temple.

Among the treats she had for the children were coloring books and activities after the art session to further their knowledge of their culture.