In a career that spanned over 50 years,
Prafulla Dahanukar not only made a commendable contribution to art, but also
helped young artists navigate their way to success. Instituting an art
foundation in her memory was to not only to honour but to perpetuate the rich
legacy she left behind. “The Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation was formed in
July 2014 after her demise. The foundation has two important projects – one is
to promote and propagate Indian classical music, particularly the raga. We have
bought the rights to well known raga exponent Pt Satyasheel Deshpande. The
ragas have been condensed to five minutes duration and can be downloaded for
free from our website and listened to even on a smartphone. The second aspect
is to promote art and encourage emerging artists in a serious and big way,
particularly through the Emerging Artists contest online,” explains husband
Dilip Dahanukar.
To encourage and award emerging artists
under the Emerging Artists Reward Scheme, a unique online contest in six
categories, namely painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, installation and
photography, the Foundation invited emerging artists to participate in an
online contest conducted through their website. “The online contest was a novel
idea. We attempted to involve artists from all parts of India and reward them
through a transparent process of evaluation. The contest is run in all 30
states of India and this year, 161 awards have been given on all India, State
level and City level with three awards – gold, silver and bronze – in each
category and corresponding cash prizes,” he explains of the works which were
adjudged by a jury of three eminent artists. “The Kalanand function is a
special programme designed by the Foundation to felicitate the winners.”
A gold medallist at the JJ School of Art
and recipient of the President’s Award in Goa, Prafulla’s work won her acclaim
in India and abroad. On the committee for selection of artists for showing at
the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai, she helped several eminent artists to get
started. “They are now benefactors of the Prafulla Foundation. She was
instrumental in selecting the site for Kala Academy in Goa and was on its
committee for 40 years,” elucidates Dahanukar of his Goan wife.
Paying tribute to his guru, student Ravindra
Salve, now a successful contemporary artist based in Lonavala and Trustee
Artist of the Foundation, avers that Prafulla was a brilliant teacher. “Her
attitude to life was so positive and her generosity was inspiring and this is
reflected in the way I have looked at life and my art.”
It is perhaps befitting that an award
instituted in the name of a renowned Goan artist has drawn six winners to the
first edition of the contest.
Kalanand 2015 – Annual Prize Award Ceremony
is being held at Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts today at 6pm
