Holistic Education (Five volumes) for School Children (I to V) Book Launch in Chennai

Chennai, 8^th February 2020: The art of drawing is being introduced methodically and systematically in the curriculum of primary schools of Tamilnadu for the first time ever by the award-winning and consummate artist and social activist N. Swarnalatha. She is the only artist from south India who won #100 Women Achievers of India, receiving the award and citation from the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee. Not only was the award an honour and a tribute to her campaign for social issues through her art, but it was a motivator for her to continue her mission with greater passion and commitment.

Swarnalatha is a consummate artist who has let her heart project her sensitivities on the canvas. With complete mastery over different techniques and styles of painting, Swarnalatha has created several masterpieces in contemporary art and post- odernism. Deeply impacted by the happenings in the society, she makes a statement in every canvas she chooses to transform into an aesthetic creation. Today, a large part of her artistic creations are endowed with a compelling social message such as crime  against women, sexual harassment, infanticide and child abuse. Substance abuse, no smoking campaigns, environment preservation and campaign against wars.

Swarnalatha won accolades for creating a series of paintings under the theme, "Nirbhaya" that portrayed the impact of incidences of violence and oppression against women through exotic themes, figurines and backgrounds that magnify the emotions projected in the painting.

Swarnalatha has several exhibitions to her credit in reputed galleries in Chennai, other metros and cities in India and abroad. Many celebrities and dignitaries have visited her gallery and exhibitions and recorded their appreciation of her art She has also won innumerable national and international awards for her artistic endeavours. Along with two other women she also launched Asian Women Foundation, a public charitable trust , on International Women's Day, March 8, 2015 with the motive of offering succor and support to distressed, impoverished women and those subjected to violence and aggression. Education of the girl child is another major social goal of the foundation.

Her present endeavour is to identify talent and encourage creativity among children by introducing them to the nuances of drawing and painting at a very young age. Swarnalatha feels that today drawing and painting skills are necessary for all students as much as writing is, because every subject demands creation of diagrams, graphs and various other forms of drawing.

Even during higher education, drawing becomes necessary in courses such as medicine, architecture, teacher education, textile designing, fashion designing, visual communication, sculpture, ceramic engineering, art direction for cinema, media and journalism, animation etc. Despite this, only 55% of schools in Tamil Nadu offer art as a subject to students.

For the first time, after a lot of research and curation, under the initiative of Swarnalatha , primary school from classes 1-5 will be learning a step-by-step approach to line drawing. These line drawing workbooks have been created exclusively to plug the gaps in education and fulfill the imperative need to teach students art in a simple, easy and interesting manner. These line drawing workbooks offer the right approach to teach drawing for beginners and with simple practice any teacher would be able to guide the students.

Such quality introduction and training for beginners in line drawing will help promote creative thinking among students to a large extent and help them evolve into holistic individuals who can contribute effectively in any field as adults.

Hon’ble Mr.Justice R.Mahadevan, Judge, Highcourt Madras, Dr.R.Gandhi, Senior Advocate, Dr.M.Ravi, I.P.S., ADGP, Mr.Troskimaruthu, Eminent Artist, Mr.G.V.Manimaran, General Secretary, Canara Bank Officers Association, Fr.Jegath Gaspar Raj, Founder, The Rise, Mr.S.Prabakaran, VC, Bar Council of India, Dr.K.Santhakumari, President, TN Association of Women Advocates, Dr.Srinivasa Raghavan, Principal, Bala Vidya Mandir Sr.Sec.School, Adyar & Mr.P.Chandrasekaran, Advocate will be participated in the Book Launch in Chennai.

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