Pan-India Art Festival for Children held by Thoughts on Canvas at India International Centre, Delhi from 28th-31st December, 2023.
For the first time in Indian history, children under 18 years of age across India were given the opportunity to showcase their art and early design skills at the prestigious India International Centre, New Delhi from Dec 28th-31st .
The exhibition was curated by Thoughts on Canvas, India’s largest virtual art and early design school. The school has a global presence having students across US, Canada, Singapore, Dubai, Australia and nearly every major city in India from Vadodara to Srinagar. The exhibition showcased 250+ artworks from over 150+ children’s artists, from all walks of life, including many children from under -privileged backgrounds.
The award ceremony for the students on Saturday afternoon, December 30th was presided by Shri Somnath Bharti, representing Malviya Nagar constituency as MLA in addition to serving as Vice President for Delhi Jal Board. A former minister in the Delhi Government, he has also been a successful lawyer earlier practicing in the Supreme Court of India.
He was accompanied by several other dignitaries at the event, including Ajay Dutt (MLA, Ambedkar Nagar), Ashok Bhowmick (eminent artist), Pankaj Kr Singh (senior AAP leader), Manish Trehan (Senior Journalist), Neeraj Sharma and Neeraj Mittra (renowned graphic artists).
Somnath Bharti lauded the efforts being made by Thoughts on Canvas towards nurturing and developing design skills in the children of NCR. He provided personal insights from the artwork of his own children and was accompanied with his wife, Ms. Lipika Bharti who is a known art enthusiast.
School principals, artists, designers attending the event also offered many points of guidance to the children at the event. In the words of Garima Govil, Principal Director, Thoughts on Canvas “Design thinking is a life skill, the trick is finding that genius within each of us as early as possible. This creativity is not limited to artists only – it is there within all of us!
Ajay Dutt, MLA Delhi Government also shared insights on how “Life is a canvas, and how art and design is key to building peace and prosperity”. Ajay Dutt is also Chairman of the International Peace and Human Rights Federation, dedicated to promoting global peace and harmony.
The dean of education of the institute Shaifali Goyal & amp; Grishma Shah, HOD (Admissions) talked about how Thoughts on Canvas is focused on building a culture of Early Design in children so that they can fulfil their ambitions of being anything they want – an architect, a fashion designer, an interior designer.
The exhibition was the second in continuation, exhibited by TOC, and proved to be one of
India’s largest art exhibitions for children under the age of 18. It attracted nearly a
thousand people from different parts of the country, and over 250 artworks were displayed
in the art gallery. These artworks were created not only by children from different parts of
India but also by those from across the globe._
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(Group photo in IIC Auditorium of students, TOC team, distinguished guests)
(Shri Somnath Bharti addressing the group of 500+ children, parents/ grandparents of TOC students)
(Shrimati Garima Govil, welcoming Shri Ajay Dutta MLA Delhi and distinguished guests Pankaj Singh and Manish Trehan associated with Delhi Government for the inauguration of the TOC Art festival)
(Somnath Bharti, Ajay Dutt having a gallery walk of the exhibition with the School’s Principal Director, Garima Govil)
(Few of the 250+ paintings on display at the Kamladevi Complex, IIC Delhi)
(Art aficionados enjoying the paintings, also seen is eminent graphic artist Neeraj Mitra)
(Inauguration of the art gallery by Somnath Bharti, Ajay Dutt, Pankaj Singh, Garima Govil)
