Little Van Goghs

KATHMANDU:

Believing that a little effort can make a big difference, The Jasutara Art Foundation for Children held its second painting competition at the Nepal Art Council on June 3. Established in 2002, The Jasutara Art Foundation for Children works towards discovering the potential of underprivileged children and bringing out their hidden talents.

Altogether 53 children from four different organisations — Bal Mandir, Maiti Nepal, Sathi and Sathsath — participated in the competition. The children were divided into two age groups — 7-9 years and 10-12 years.

The younger children were free to paint whatever they liked while the children from older group were given a specific topic — ‘Aajako Nepal’ (Today’s Nepal).

A panel of judges comprising artists Bhairaj Maharjan, Sunita Rana and Chandra Shrestha picked the winners. Keshav Khadgi from Bal Mandir, Soni Shrestha from Maiti Nepal and Sonam Sherpa from Maiti Nepal from the younger age group, and Rupendra Vaidhya from Sathi, Prabha Bhetwal from Maiti Nepal and Chhiring Sherpa from Saathi were judged the best six.

The Jasutara Art Foundation for Childrn provided them with art scholarship for one year. They will attend art classes at Kasthamandap Art Studio for a year — two hours, every Saturday.

Given an opportunity and some guidance, they can perform extremely well. And this was proved by Chitra Tamang, 12, of Balmandir who was selected from last year’s programme. In his work compiled in a book form, one can witness a remarkable improvement in his work.