THE Temple of Fine Arts has always strived to keep abreast with the changing times and norms.
While the organisation have strongly been a proponent of the traditional forms of teaching, which include face-to-face classes from a single instructor, reality has thrown it in the path of exploring new opportunities.
In keeping with this, the Temple of Fine Arts has developed a virtual platform that allows them to reach out so that the arts are accessible to all.
In this virtual platform, there will be mostly short-term courses that are run by trained instructors who are all specialists in their respective fields. The courses will fit in with the busy schedules of today while maintaining an acceptable amount of screen time.
Since the start of this endeavour, the Bindu platform has featured many artists who have conducted specialist workshops. Through these small initiatives, new interests and passions are discovered, and seeds are sown for a beautiful, creative tree to grow.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the artistic workshops that have been conducted.
- Visual Arts by Deepa Rajendra – Indian classical and tribal art paintings, coffee art, charcoal drawing, watercolour art, abstract art and others
- Music by Rajalakshmi Krishnamoorthy – Learning language through music for children
- Mini-mantras for Mighty Minds by Bhuma Manoharan – Teaching children the power of mantra chanting through story-telling, music and drawing.
- Rhyme, Rhythm and Reason by Lam Ghooi Ket – Exploring the beauty of prose, prosody and poetry in great literary works for adults and literary enthusiasts.
- Yoga by Kumar Superamaniam – Lifestyle and healthy living to relieve stress and calm the mind.
- Table Tapping – An experience for adults and young alike to identify the innate rhythm within and express it externally.
- Tales of Pandharpur and Abhangs – Vocalist Srivaramangai Sadagopan takes adults and youth through this little known genre of Indian music from the state of Maharashtra.
What is to come:
- Ganesha Kumara – A thematic Bharatanatyam workshop by world-renowned and highly acclaimed dancer, Shankar Kandasamy, who commands a worldwide audience.
- Madhu Re Madhu – A look into the Hindustani music idiom with award-winning vocalist Priyanka Raman.
- Kolam for Beginners – Self-taught expert Kasturi Venkat takes beginners through the beautiful art of kolam drawing. With over 30,000 followers of her work, Kasturi is no novice in this ancient decorative art form.
- Self-defence and empowerment workshops for women – Martial arts guru V Selvakumar will take women through the essentials of self-defence.
Bindu has made the arts – lots of it – accessible to just about anyone from the comforts of their home. Most of the courses on offer have no stringent requirements for enrollment and are priced nominally.
This has allowed many to discover within, and seek out new hobbies and passions. Furthermore, many participants have expressed that attending these courses have had a positive effect on their mental health, and provided a good outlet to spend their time fruitfully under the circumstances.
In terms of user experience, the participants have the opportunity to interact closely with the instructors with immediate feedback regarding performance.
It has also helped to create a new network of friendship while interacting with other participants with mutual interests. It has connected people from all over the globe from the USA to UK and Ireland, India, Singapore, Thailand and across Australia to meet new people and create new interactions.
The Temple of Fine Arts takes pride in being a repository of arts-dedicated individuals who are not only located in the Klang Valley but across Malaysia and our sister centres in Australia, Singapore and India.
Through this online platform, they will tap into these resources and share more extensively passion for the arts, without the limitations and inhibitions of geography and time.
Most importantly perhaps, on many levels, the arts have been one of the hardest-hit industries and this platform provides an avenue for generating income for artists.
On the whole, Bindu is a new endeavour to bring together and harness all kinds of artistic energy – be it from artists or art-lovers, and together we can share the harmony and peace that is derived from better mental and emotional health and lifestyle. – The Vibes, July 27, 2021
*Check out Bindu at https://workshops.tfa.org.my/
