Sobha Singh Art Festival to return to hill state after two-year hiatus - Hindustan Times
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Sobha Singh Art Festival to return to hill state after two-year hiatus

By, Dharamshala
Nov 17, 2022 01:22 AM IST

The art festival will mark the 123rd birth anniversary of Sobha Singh, a celebrated artist, whose works focused on the lives and works of Sikh gurus

The annual Sobha Singh Art Festival is all set to return to the hill state after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus. The three-day festival will be organised in Andretta village near Palampur between November 27 and 29.

The annual Sobha Singh Art Festival is all set to return to the hill state after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus. The three-day festival will be organised in Andretta village near Palampur between November 27 and 29. (Representative Image/HT File)
The annual Sobha Singh Art Festival is all set to return to the hill state after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus. The three-day festival will be organised in Andretta village near Palampur between November 27 and 29. (Representative Image/HT File)

The art festival will mark the 123rd birth anniversary of Sobha Singh, a celebrated artist, whose works focused on the lives and works of Sikh gurus. During his 38-year stay at Andretta, Sobha Singh painted hundreds of paintings. His themes included Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwal and portraits of Bhagat Singh. Sobha Singh Memorial Art Society general secretary and the artist’s grandson Hirday Paul Singh said the exhibition will begin with the inauguration of the local handicraft exhibition on November 27.

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“Handmade products such as bamboo and pine needle craft, grass, wood and stone craft, crochet and embroidery, and ‘best out of waste’ products made by self-help groups will be displayed and sold by rural women,” he said.

A greeting card-making competition for the rural school students will also be held. Slide shows and documentaries on Sobha Singh and interactive talks on miniature paintings, local folk arts and demonstrations on the extinct folk art Likhnu (floor and wall art) will be held during the festival.

The visitors can also taste delicacies such as mithroo, sancholu and other home-made snacks unique to Kangra valley. A poetic symposium has also been planned.

On the concluding day, a month-long exhibition on miniature paintings by well-known artist Gurpreet Singh Mankoo from Jagraon( Ludhiana) will be inaugurated at the Artist Residency. A set of 18 view cards on some well-known and lesser-known artworks of the artists will also be released to mark the occasion.

Besides the awards to winners of competitions, ‘Sobha Singh Kala Puraskar’ will be awarded to art historian and connoisseur Kishori Lal Vaidy. The prestigious award carries a citation, shawl and 21,000. It is awarded to artists, art critics and others who propagate Sobha Singh’s ‘Grow More Good’ philosophy.

Some other organisations will also celebrate the birth anniversary of the artist at Chandigarh, Jagraon and Bathinda. Born in 1901 in Gurudaspur town of Punjab, Sobha Singh, after serving the army, opened an art studio in Amritsar and later in 1949 settled in Andretta near Palampur.

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