Karnataka: Davanagere man earns livelihood through family's centuries-old artistic tradition

DAVANAGERE: C Harish Achar,28, a resident of Keregalahalli in Davanagere taluk, has been engaged in the folk art of his ancestors, without looking for any government job, ever since he completed the bachelor of visual arts (BVA) course, with specialisation in painting, during 2017, from the Fine Arts College under Davangere University.
His father and forefathers have been preparing the portraits of gods and goddesses, like utsava murthy and grama devate, along with temple chariots and pallakis (palanquins), apart from painting temple towers.He has been involved in art work from his high school days.
Harish earlier worked jointly with his father Channaveerachari, uncle Gurusiddachari and cousin Mounesha Chari. He is now associated with only his father, and prepares portraits against orders, and they make most of their portraits in wood, than stone. Their handicrafts sell out in Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Ballari and Davanagere districts, and they are surviving without any government aid. Customers come to their doorstep for placing orders, regarding the type of portrait to be prepared, and they again visit their house to collect the portraits against the payment made, said Harish.
"We manufacture five to six pallakis and 3 to 5 chariots in a year, using varieties of wood, like teak, neem, honne and fig. As wood from the fig tree is light and soft, we prefer it for larger portraits," Harish said. "I follow new methods of painting with shades, and prepare better handicrafts with modern style, after studying the anatomy of the portrait, as I learned these skills in my BVA course," Harish said.
Channaveerachari is an expert in the manufacture of utsava murthy and grama devate, which are made using hand tools like chisel, hammer, hacksaw blade, auger and tri-square at his house. "We sometimes go to the saw mill for cutting trees of a larger diameter, into small-size logs'," he said, adding that he is not getting a monthly honorarium, that is given to senior artists. "Folk art is deteriorating, and it must be protected, to show our future generation. Our village is popular for folk art, since our forefathers time, and hence we want to continue our artwork in this village only," Harish said.
Harish had attended a stone-work camp at Hulkoti in Gadag district three years ago, and bagged a Karnataka Shilpa Kala Academy Award, with a cash prize of Rs 15,000, along with a merit certificate and memento. Harish appealed to the government to allot a free site for continuing the artistic work in his village, as his house is small, and it is not sufficient to do all the work, like sculpturing, carving, painting and drying portraits.