There are many talented and enthusiastic students at the Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA), Rajshahi University (RU). The teachers at the faculty are very friendly to help the students pursue their academic feat. The artists try to do their best with the little facilities they have. There is no art gallery at FFA, RU and even in the entire Rajshahi city. Promising artists display their artworks hiring any hall room that they can find. Government and private initiatives to set up a well-equipped art gallery will help them immensely.
Frequent art activities other than the academic ones will definitely facilitate them in their creative pursuance. They are no less talented or creative artists than the ones in the mainstream. Cosmos Atelier71 Printmaking Studio, under the banner of Cosmos Foundation, held a three-day (July 9-11) printmaking workshop at FFA, RU where around 40 students and teachers of the faculty coupled with several Dhaka-based artists.
Dr Md Amirul Momanin Chowdhury, a professor at the FFA, RU conducted the workshop facilitating the participants with different printmaking techniques including wood intaglio, wood cut and several experimental ones. The workshop conductor, who is a drawing master, instantly made things easy for the learners. This writer, who never practised printmaking, also produced a print and learned the media to a large extent. The participants were amiable and they kept the workshop vibrant throughout the occasion. They produced diverse artworks on various themes including nature and vegetation, floral images, feminine grace, fish and animals and folk motifs. An art exhibition will take place at Gallery Cosmos in Dhaka with the outcomes of this workshop.
Amirul Momanin Chowdhury, a renowned artist having expertise on diverse media, introduced the participants to different complex and experimental techniques of printmaking in an easy way.
Dr Md. Abdus Sobahan, Sujan Sen, Momotaj Parvin, Naznine Akter, Sudipto Islam, Faiz Mohammad, Joli Costa, Abdul Wakil Rajib, Jahid Hasan, Umme Habiba, Momena Akter and Ariful Islam also participated in the workshop.
The Foundation had previously donated a printmaking machine to FFA, RU, similar to what they had donated to Chittagong University last year and will continue to do so at other universities gradually.
Cosmos Foundation is the non-profit arm of Cosmos Group, registered as a trust. The foundation also oversees the groups abiding commitment to nature conservation, where its award-winning work has forged working relationships with world renowned institutions, such as the Smithsonian. In the arts, the group’s flagship curatorial space, Gallery Cosmos, and pioneering printmaking studio, Cosmos Atelier71, work under the foundation’s direction to spread the richness of art across all spheres through access to special collections, curatorial research, and compelling exhibitions.
