Artists applaud art mentorship programme

Islamabad : Studio RM in Lahore and Gallery 6 Islamabad have joined hands and launched the first-ever ‘Art mentorship Programme,’ which was sponsored by Ercelawn Art Fund.

Aly Alp Ercelawn was a prominent economist of Pakistan who played a major role in making the Department of Economics at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad an exemplary department in the 1970s. Besides being an economist, Ercelawn was an educationist, a rights activist, an arts supporter, and a philanthropist. The spectrum of his financial assistance in large amounts spread in areas of education, nutrition, family support, art, and artists support, etc.

The first-ever art mentorship programme initiative was established in October 2021 through funding provided by Ercelawn. It aims to counsel young artists who have a noticeable talent and a degree in visual arts and are looking for guidance to develop their artistic careers. Unfortunately, Ercelawn died before the completion of the first AMP due to post-operative complications.

More specifically, the objectives of the programme are to guide and mentor artists to (a) broaden their vision, (b) enhance perspectives, (c) expand thinking process, and (d) sharpen skills in the execution of their artwork to facilitate them in building their visual arts career.

The first AMP was announced in early October 2021 and 79 applications were received. Surprisingly, young artists from Sri Lanka and India also applied. The 2-month programme began on November 1 and was completed on December 31, with 5 artists Aimen Batool, Javaid Iqbal Mughal and Maham Nadeem from Lahore, Muhammad Habib Akram from Gujrat, and Qasim Bugti from Quetta. Mariam Khan from Karachi could not attend as she fell ill.

The participants attended sessions from Monday to Thursday every week at Studio RM with the artist RM Naeem, who was the lead mentor. He provided individual guidance to each artist besides holding group discussions. Studio RM also invited guests to review the work of artists and to hold interactive sessions with the group. The invitees were distinguished artists, art teachers, critics from the art circles in Pakistan, which included Romaisa Khan, Quddus Mirza, Sana Arjumand, Ali Kazim, Saulat Ajmal, Ayaz Jokhia, and Afshar Malik. The participating artists also visited the studios of practicing artists and freely asked questions.

Each participating artist highly applauded the mentorship programme. Aimen, the youngest in the group, was thrilled at the attention she received from peers and mentors. Javaid Iqbal Mughal was thrilled at the opportunity of working under the guidance of RM Naeem. Maham Nadeem expressed that she has learnt to step back and view her paintings well. She has acquired the desire to experiment and come out of her comfort zone. Muhammad Habib Akram felt that his art will now have a new life. Qasim Bugti stated that interactions with mentors have opened up several new vistas for his art to develop. Above all, the participants appreciated the efforts of RM Naeem with each one of them and praised Gallery 6 for organizing it.

In the concluding session, certificates were distributed by Anjum Naseem, ex-Dean of LUMS and a 50-year-old friend of Aly Alp Ercelawn. He talked about the brilliance of Ercelawn as a teacher and many other aspects of his personality with examples like honesty, integrity, his belief in the power of truth, boldness, generosity, humbleness, love for arts, etc. An exhibition of the works of these five artists will be held at Gallery 6 in March-April 2022.