Bhubaneswar: Often artistes discover their skill accidentally, stumbling upon it. Meet Sibasish Panda, a B-Tech graduate and a miniature artist who is a faculty at a private educational institute.
Panda encountered his artistic skill when he was sitting at the last bench and was feeling bored to death as he was being flung physics and chemistry facts on his face.
“It was in 2014. I was sitting at the last bench in my class and the lecture couldn’t hold my interest. I found a chalk under my bench. Then what? With my pencil I started carving it. (chuckles) I tried making a Ganesh, however, I admit it wasn’t so but ain’t bad either,” he recalled. I felt happy and realised that I can make miniature art. What it required is practice, practice and practice, he added. The next day Panda again tried his hands on doing it and found that he had improved. “It was better than my first,” he said. His third attempt was a 1-centimetre-long elephant. He admitted that it was “indeed difficult for him.”
Panda uses graphite, chalk, soaps, waste electronic parts, scrap papers, clay, wheat flour and wood and liven them with sculptures of Lord Jagannath, Lord Shiva, former president APJ Abdul Kalam and many more.
In 2017, he won the first prize in Soapholic, a soap carving competition, organised by IIT Kharagpur. He bagged the winner trophy in clay modeling competition which was organised by a city-based engineering college, Bhubaneswar in 2016.
“I use simple tools like needles, nails, screwdrivers, knives, safety pins and blades,” he pointed out. Panda has made a tool with a 1.5-inch nail which he uses for carvings.
Panda said, “It requires a lot of dedication, patience and time to carve the sculptures and give it a proper shape. You have to be delicate with your hands or you may break the material in which you are working on and then again you have to start from scratch.” He aims to promote Odia art, culture and tradition. “Therefore, I always try to make something which showcases our tradition. My family and friends always support me and I am trying to take this into next level. Whenever I get any idea, I carve it and it doesn’t matter if it is midnight because ideas can come anytime,” he added. For his next art, Panda is using a rice grain.
As Odisha is getting decked up for Men’s Hockey World Cup, Sibasish is engaged in carving a miniature art related to the event.
Rakesh Mahanta, OP