Dharamsala: Three-day Sobha Singh Art Festival concludes

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, November 29

The three-day Sobha Singh Art Festival concluded at Andretta village today. An exhibition of miniature paintings made using gold and natural pigments by Gurpreet Singh Mankoo of Jagraon in Ludhiana district of Punjab was displayed at the artist residency of the Sobha Singh Art Museum.

Hirday Paul Singh, Secretary General, Sobha Singh Arts Promotion Society, said it was the first exhibition in the state, where Mankoo had integrated Vijaynagar (Karnataka) and Kangra styles of depicting gods and gurus.

The art festival organised after two years due to the pandemic has once again brought to the fore the demand for the declaration of Andretta as an art village.

Local resident Satish Sharma says Andretta has been an art village since 1947 as artists like Sardar Sobha Singh, Norah Richards and Gurcharan Singh had stayed there. Thousands of tourists come to the village every year to see the work of legendary artists. However, the government has not promoted it as an art village. If the village is promoted as an art village, it will attract more tourists and create employment opportunities for locals, he says.

At the concluding ceremony, art connoisseur KL Vaidya was awarded the Sobha Singh Kala Puruskar, comprising a citation, shawl, cap and Rs 21,000. A set of 18 view cards on famous paintings of Sobha Singh was released to mark his birth anniversary.

Rural women and five self-help groups were honoured for their craft work. Prachi Katoch, Sejal, Kunal Verma, Prachi Sharma, Harshit, Arindam Thakur, Rajneesh Dogra, Namrata, Kajal and Muskan from schools at Andretta, Rakkar, Tatehal, Pahra and Panchrukhi were honoured with prizes and certificates in the greeting card making competition.

Chief guest KG Butail, president, Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society, recalled four decades of Sobha Singh in the art village and encouraged the new generation of artists to imbibe his virtues and spread his philosophy of ‘Grow more Good’.

Sandeep Sood, Registrar, HP Agriculture University, underlined the need to develop the village. Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, daughter of Sobha Singh, artists and teachers were present during the award ceremony.

‘Declare Andretta an art village’

• The art festival has once again brought to the fore the demand for Andretta to be declared as an art village
• Local resident Satish Sharma says it has been an art village since 1947 as artists like Sardar Sobha Singh, Norah Richards and Gurcharan Singh had stayed there
• Thousands of tourists come to the village every year to see the works of legendary artists, but, the government has not promoted it

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