Chandrahas Yallappa J

Chandrahas Yallappa is a practicing artist with more than two decades of teaching experience in visual arts at MMK College of Fine Arts, Kalaburgi. He has a post-graduate diploma in printmaking from Shantiniketan.  

Chandrahas’ project aims to develop an appreciation for calligraphy, paintings, architecture and administration of the Bahmani Sultanate among eighth grade students of the Government Higher Primary School in Kalaburgi. Through woodcut printing, Chandrahas will encourage students to connect with these aspects of the Bahmani Sultanate, which is part of the students’ social science syllabus. The project also encompasses a wide range of practical exercises in making graphic prints for developing the children’s powers of observation, imagination, and physical and technical skills. Case studies and use of artworks of that period will be used for pedagogy. The students will also have an opportunity to observe and study the methods and materials used by the artisans of the Bahmani times. Chandrahas strongly feels that exposure to such core and fundamental subjects of visual arts helps the students to learn from their environment and express what they feel as individuals. It not only helps to mould individual personality, but also provides skills in articulation of innovative thoughts and ways to implement those thoughts.

Chandrahas will also engage students in various skill development workshops for calligraphy, painting, drawing, mural making, storytelling, illustration and documenting the local social and cultural life. The project will be implemented in multiple stages with Chandrahas working with the children once or twice each week. Students will also be involved in workshops on creative writing on the history of the Bahmani Sultanate. Some of the outdoor activities will involve visiting monuments, museums, markets, parks and streets in their own region to interact with people and observe life. Once such information is collected, they will transform that to create individual narratives with 30 different woodcut prints which will finally result in 30 Art works. For some of the workshops, Chandrahas will invite professional resource persons too. The outcome of this project will be a compilation of art works by students in the form of an art book.

The Grantee’s deliverables to IFA with the final reports will be still and video documentation of the entire project and an art book.

This grant is made possible with support from Citi India and Infosys Foundation.