Kids given a space at Aspinwall to produce art in Kochi Muziris Biennale 2016

Children participating at Kochi Muziris Biennale ABC workshop in Aspinwall House,Fortkochi.

With his tongue sticking out, five-year-old Josh Robin curls his tiny fingers around the crayon concentrating on making a straight line on paper. He then peeps at his six-year-old brother Theo’s drawing and evaluates his sketch.

Hundreds of enthusiastic kids like Josh and Theo are creating their own little world at Aspinwall House (Fort Kochi, Kerala), the main venue of the third edition of the Kochi Muziris Biennale (KMB).

The initiative is part of Art By Children (ABC), an innovative art education and creative learning outreach initiative by the Kochi Biennale Foundation aimed at introducing art to school children in a fun way.

“It is lot of fun for children to explore art in their own way. They are free to sketch anything. The effort is give them a feel for this international event,” said Manu Jose, who heads the ABC programme.

The kids are seated in the shade of some trees at the main Aspinwall venue, and are provided paper and colours to express their creativity. The programme has seen a continual flow of children who through the day to hang out there and make sketches.

“We thought of setting up an ‘art canopy’ here to attract kids and engage them in art work. I was
surprised to see that the space was jam-packed with kids within a couple of minutes,” added Manu, who said that they will be provided with different medium, such as clay, in the coming days.

ABC also hosted a free three-day workshop, with art and story-telling programmes, for 12-13 year old students at Cabral Yard, which is one of the 12 KMB venues.