Complementing each other

Kathmandu:

Artists in Nepal are getting good exposure these days, including the younger ones. With a view to complement each other with their art specialty, a new project ‘Ned-Nep’ is being organised in February, ’08. It will be an interaction of 20 of our art students with an equal number of counterparts from Netherlands.

“We think we can mix the Dutch thinking about art with that of the Nepalis. The Dutch are good in concepts but weak in crafts. Nepalis are seen as better in crafts than in concepts. So we hope to bring the two together and come out with a unique fusion,” said CF de Stoppelaar, Nepali Consul General to the Netherlands.

All the artists will be getting a feel of Nepal’s cultural heritage and trekking to a “no-tourist” village to have a workshop there.

As a part of the programme, the Dutch students, all of whom belong to Rietveld Academy

in Amsterdam, sent a letter with a small artwork by them. The twenty artists here picked each up according to their liking.

“This was how each artist from Nepal was paired with another one in Netherlands,” Stoppelaar added. At the Summit Hotel on December 19, the Nepali students submitted the letter adding their small artwork with their counterpart’s.

“The students can now interact with their partners,” said Stoppelaar, adding, “The best of the Nepali students will also be visiting Netherlands in September 2008.” Erna Anema, a Dutch painter, is coordinating the event.