A weekend for culture aficionados to savour
Bentota Beach Hotel and the lawns of Brief to come alive with Artra’s Art Experiential Festival
It will be the Bentota Beach Hotel and the timeless garden Brief, creations respectively of brothers Geoffrey and Bevis Bawa, that will host the latest Art Experiential Festival presented by the Artra Magazine.
During the weekend of October 13-15 (beginning with an evening art tour at the hotel), culture aficionados can savour a festival that celebrates the grand old brothers and the launch of the latest edition of Artra – dedicated to comics and caricatures. A common thread -- Bevis was a cutting if elegant caricaturist and is featured within – alongside Aubrey Collette and a contemporary name, Gihan de Chickera.
The festival line-up promises to be invigorating: Tea time chats on the lawns of Brief with Dooland de Silva (Bevis’s devoted confidant to whom the estate was left) on that reclusive legend as man and cartoonist; art tours and exhibits; a talk with planter and writer Herman Gunaratne with a soupcon of black magic for which our land is known. Also tapestry artist Cresside Collette talking about her father Aubrey; Juliet Coombe’s tours with her passion for our country and culture; and architects Anjalendran and Ismeth Raheem – the veterans from the ‘good old days’ of Edwards, Reid and Begg and Ena de Silva batiks.
The children’s programme on Sunday, the 15th will have a Laki Senanayake themed workshop; exploring the garden and painting it on canvas; a cartoon workshop by Gihan de Chickera; a celebration and workshop of Barbara Sansoni and colour; and finally a workshop that brings Aubrey Collette’s spirit alive with lessons on the art of caricature.
Says Azara Jaleel, editor-in-chief of Artra, that the edition was triggered by her ‘love for humour’. “Cartoons and caricatures are a potent tool to critique or celebrate and critically comment,” she says while pointing out that the edition covers a period from the 1940s till now. “Aubrey’s cartoons direct in his dealing; Bevis’s more nuanced; and Gihan with his anthropomorphism.”
The festival programme “brings together a group of Sri Lanka’s most prominent figures and minds in the modern and contemporary art scene to celebrate the potency of our artistic and architectural expression.”
Gihan adds he feels ‘very honoured’ to be featured alongside the vintage practitioners.
For the full programme, visit artra.lk; for tickets, call +94 77 570 1891.