Art & Harmony

Art and Harmony

Positive imagery, bright colors, vibrant pictures can spread a positive vibe – it can play a great way to help you get your message across…(Dan Kitchener)

If you have to teach your nation about peace and harmony, you’d better teach them first about art and aesthetics. If you want to emphasize the uniqueness of your tradition and culture, again, you need to respect and appreciate the value of your country’s art and aesthetics. When the words and utterances lose their power to impress the deepest feelings and thoughts, most frequently colors and images achieve that opportunity successfully.

On a platform where words create the hot argumentative topics, art takes the responsibility to serve as a mentor or mediator of reconciliation. Neither cultural nor traditional limitations can disturb the taste of any kind of artistic work, because the amusement you enjoy from art can overpower all the mental and physical barriers in the world. Happiness in the soul is common for all human beings. Especially, when your soul is damaged and torn between the racial problems, religious disputes or cultural differences, the solution is always provided with arts as the the vision of the artist is always focused on humanity, rather than the gender, race, culture or religious deviations. Music becomes therapy and dancing and painting become a remedy since they reflect a reality that is common for all human beings. Sri Lanka, the wonder of Asia maintains its long-lasting majesty of arts from time immemorial. The historical heritages in Sri Lanka have an inseparable relationship with arts and creations. The frescoes, monuments and architectural designs do project the artistic sense of our native Sri Lankans. The most important point is unity and harmony based on these creations.

As responsible adults, proud Sri Lankans we can teach our young generation about the pristine glory of our arts and crafts. The SRILANKANKEY foundation expects to organize projects and programs to inspire the artistic skills and taste of our children because we believe that children have genuine ideas about unity and harmony and they will project them through their creations which is essential for the uplift of national peace and harmony. On the other hand, we want them to feel that their ideas are always welcomed or accepted by society in order to build trustworthy bonds among humankind. The artistic perspective of every artist is founded on freedom of thought. The vision of the SRILANKANKEY organization is to capture these free thoughts and give them wings to fly.

A child is born an artist

Sri Lankan arts and crafts have an interrelationship with our tradition and Buddhist culture. The child who learns to respect our arts and aesthetics, naturally tend to preserve our traditional and cultural values. The cultural gatherings, traditional and religious events, literary works and crafts of Sri Lanka were gaining global attention since ancient times. Even though we could see a diminish in that glow for the last few decades the current trend is again reflecting a new rise and motivation among our young generation. The energy of youthful skills and patriotic feelings should be motivated and appreciated to inspire the progressive trends for the reason that the young mind is the best place to nourish blossoming ideas. Every child is born to the world with peace and harmony in the soul. And every childish attitude is artistic with its pure blend of creativity. As an organization, we attempt to combine this creativity and harmony to spread and teach a global message to both young and old generations.

The impression you create with arts
is the expression of golden hearts

ART AND THE BEAUTY OF ART: FOR HUMANITY BY HUMANITY

It is a proven fact that throughout the beginning and evolution of the human civilization, “Art” has become the most appealing and attractive medium of communication. In fact, we can simply call it a Universal Language. From the birth to the death bed, what we enjoy in our lives, have the sense of Art: touch of life. “Art,” in deed, belongs to the family called Aesthetics where we learn, teach, share and spread the message of appreciation and enjoyment. And further, if we go into the deeper meaning of Art, it is a “Religion.” Simply because it helps release the stress!! According to Meister Eckhart “Art is Religion: Religion is Art.” Meister Eckhart’s idea of the human life in operation and attainment is aesthetic; it runs through all our thoughts that man is an artist in the analogy of the “Exalted workman,” and the idea of “Sovran good” and “immutable delight” is that of a perfected art.” You may realize the inner value of Art already embedded in this statement. I believe that Eckhart’s theory of Art and Religion is a lifelong emphasis for all of us to engage in Art, enjoy it and love it!! Simply because it teaches us how to inculcate self-discipline in us, respect and appreciate each other, and practice mindfulness!!!

What are the benefits of Art? One may ask.

If you have the experience of engaging in any kind of Art, simply you educate yourself to love and appreciate the human kind which is the most needed, and precious reminiscence of today. Imagine, the beginning of human civilization, our ancestors recorded all of the life experience through the most attractive medium: Art. We still find some of the classic examples of art from Pre and Proto Historic Caves, and Valley Civilizations resting around the world that have provided us with abundant of technological, creative, and communicative skills we are talking of today. We can still experience and enjoy their life styles through such examples. We can imagine, create and assume how their life styles were, and how they found their living and many more information about them and create a whole story of their past. That is why we call any form of Art is a universally accepted language or the most appealing medium of communication.

In addition to that, we also find it a wonderful medium of Therapy that treats for the wellbeing of Humanity. “Art Therapy,” is the most popular and technically used term to recognize its medicinal value to date. I, throughout my career life, have been able to work with a variety of experts: doctors, consultants, researchers, therapists etc., who are treating for mentally unbalanced, or differently able people of various ages: from Primary and secondary school children to adults and war- affected battle men for whom “Art” provided an immeasurable life or moral support to transform themselves and to accept the challenges of the real life. Whereas the experts were so optimistic when children found it a very effective brain exercise as they were trying to read the art work and create their own stories through their life experience, the art was the path finder for them to go back to their real life. I am so happy to share with you that some children nearly recovered from their mental disorders and achieved their goals so satisfactorily. Youngsters found it a way to express their feelings: love, anxiety, eagerness, and ambitions etc., while adults, as I witnessed looked into their inner life through Art: they recalled their past very effectively and freely came out with lots of joyful stories and recollections. This practice, in fact, helped them move away from their mental downfall, and to return to their real life with an experience of enjoyment!! The incapacitated warriors, on the other hand, found the heroes and human gods in them. Such are the wonders of “Art.”

In addition to all such qualities above, the undisputable fact about ART is its “Cultural Identity.” The identity varies mainly due to various factors:

1) Chronological impulse,
2) Demographic variations,
3) Geographic patterns
4) Ethnological factors, and
5) individuality.

There may be some other factors too. However, the value lies on this is that it represents one’s own culture, prolonged traditions, norms, customs and practices and many more that entail the specific elements embedded in it. It naturally identifies the artist’s ability and the capacity to represent his own tradition and built-in customs and values. Ultimately, those are the tools and elements that the artist carries to identify him/ herself among others. Throughout the history of Art, we find artists who brought such impeccable values forward that their artworks have become forever Specimens of Art, just like Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Not to mention, we Sri Lankans have some world renowned traditions of Arts and Crafts, that uniquely represent the glory of our technology, creativity, and values imparted through such art. We are a wealthy nation that inherits the wonderful treasury of art that needs to be nurtured and bloomed with some caring hands. No doubt that it immensely helps impart the knowledge of love and expression that we Sri Lankans naturally inherited and can be proud of universally and unconditionally for generations ahead!! I wish and believe that the mammoth effort of SRILANKANKEY will be able to flourish the serene aim of imparting the Loving kindness to the entire world through Art and indulge the value of Sri Lankan Culture to mass Sri Lankan community spread around the world and reckon the name of our motherland forever !!

Professor (Mrs.) Prashanthi Narangoda

Head/ Department of Fine Arts, University of Kelaniya. Director, SAARC Cultural Center, Colombo

Our organization's aspiration is to re-establish the relationship between Nature and Humans so that both shall enjoy the benefits from each other.

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