A play with clay

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: All the little hands went up when Kanayi Kunhiraman asked the kids whether they know how to paint. And sculpting? Barely one or two hands popped up. The kids gathered on the lush green lawns on the premises of Museum on Friday had a wonderful time under the shady canopy learning and making clay models with veteran sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman.“Come, take it and play”, invited the sculptor. Those who initially shied away from daubing their little fingers were soon lured in. They began making small balls of clay like rolling kneaded dough for making ‘chapatis’. Soon, the happy bunch of kids surrounded the artist like flies taking to a sugar pie.They looked on with awe the changes happening to the clay balls. And soon, they too became magicians making figures out of it. Kanayi separated a small portion from the end of a vertical piece, rolled it into another ball and attached it on top of a long piece. It now appeared like the head and body of a person.By placing two long pieces each up and down on either side of the body the figure got its hands and legs. And lo! it was a man! Smile flashed across the little faces.And the man, now lying supine, was erected into a sitting posture and Kanayi folded his left leg up and placed the hand on top of the knee.“How is it?,” Kanayi asked. “Super,” a boy wondered aloud from the crowd. The man was then made to do several actions with the deft and precise changes made by Kanayi. Inspired by the demonstration, the kids sat pondering at various corners of the garden with clay rolls and wooden planks in their hands.Says Kanayi, “it is easy to create a sculpture than to paint. The changes in moods and actions can be brought out more quickly than on canvas. So rather than thinking that putting their hands into clay would make them dirty, you can let kids make sculptures which would be a very interesting activity”.Soon, he was busy helping out his little disciples who called to him from various corners for guidance to finish the sculptures. Thadeyoose T, sixth standard student at LM UPS, Adimalathura, had shaped a gentleman in clay. “I made him wear a Raymond’s coat,” he said pointing towards the row of buttons he created on the sculpture.As there were only few planks available, Narayanan S Anand, who is in standard one at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Kunnumpuram, did not wait for one. He rolled the clay pieces on the table that was put for the guests. There reflected satisfaction on every single face as they were happy making pieces of art on their own.The clay modelling session was held as part of the summer camp ‘mazhavil koodaram’ organised by Thiruvithamkoor Samskarika Kendram.