As a little girl, Sreeja Kalappurakkal loved collecting multi-hued feathers like most kids. But unlike others who gave it up over time, she never parted with her collection. The artist, whose paintings are also ‘feathery,’ has been an avid feather collector for the past 25 years, and has more than 500 varieties of pet bird feathers safe with her.
The collection has fetched her a world record now; the Universal Records Forum (URF) has titled her the world record holder for the largest collection of feather art, and also announced a global award for the same! Speaking to Kochi Times, the ‘feather girl’ from Nilambur, who recently conducted an exhibition of paintings ‘Luminous’ at Kochi, recounts her love story with her unique art work.
“I started gathering feathers when I was nine years old, like many kids of the age. But I never gave it up. I did nothing much even for preservation, other than occasionally drying them in the sun, dusting or perfuming,” explains Sreeja, who has feathers of birds ranging from that of various species of macaw and African grey parrot to that of the rare bird orange winged amazone.
Sreeja has never trained in art, but has tried a hand at everything artistic, from wood art to paper craft. She decided to conduct her first painting exhibition last year, encouraged by her friends. “It was held at the Lalithakala Akademi, Thrissur, and was themed flora and fauna. I expected negative comments, being a newbie at the cultural capital. But the positive responses were quite encouraging and I wanted to try something different for my next exhibition,” she recalls.
Meanwhile, one of her friends, a record holder herself, got the feather collection checked by an expert. “I was told that there is enough for a Guinness record and that was news to me! I thought of a novel mode of presentation and decided to try paintings with feathers,” she explains. Nevertheless, Sreeja got into the India Book of Records for the largest feather collection in March this year, while her efforts to put together some ‘feather paintings’ continued.
Sreeja does the background of a painting in acrylic and fixes the feathers on it. “I do as much as possible of a painting with feathers, and fill the rest with shapes and colours,” she explains.
Though she approached the Lalithakala Akademi with her feather paintings, Sreeja wasn’t allowed to present them as feather did not fall under the art material category at that point. “I guess it is because of the law prohibiting the collection of the feathers of wild birds. However, my collection solely consists of pet birds’ feathers and I got a chance to present it in a school in April this year. Upon noticing the tremendous response, the Akademi asked me to put in a request so that they can attempt a provision by the law,” Sreeja says. Her exhibition, which started off earlier this month at a mall in Edappally, has been attracting people in droves and out of the 30 odd feather paintings, Sreeja’s favourite is that of a dragon fly titled ‘Reach’. “It took me about two months to finish it and I have used 150 tiny feathers on this painting. I also love it for the theme — the urge to fly high,” she says.
The tremendous effort behind making a feather painting might go unnoticed as one gets immerses in the beauty of the works. “I have been blessed to have a couple of friends who help me find feathers through many sources. However, being soft and weightless, handling feathers is no easy task. You can’t even switch on the fan, and can do the work only in an air-conditioned room. The dust produced while cutting them can give you an allergy.”
Sreeja adds that she could not have done it all, if not for her ten-year-old son Maheshwar. “He helps me categorize them and fetches me good feathers from wherever possible. He even ensures that I don’t have to get up from my spot for anything at all, while working on a painting,” she says. Sreeja is married to Sathyan, a business man.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kochi / by Deepa Soman, TNN / September 07th, 2015