Art
Print-making in Paradise
Being avidly interested in art from childhood it was natural for Shantona Shahreen(Nini) to take up art as a career, delving into the realms of designing.
When she came back she first worked in a fashion house 'Megh' at Aziz Super Market. She later joined the Bangladesh Rural Development Board in Karwan Bazar and worked there for almost a year, designing saris, dresses for children, bags, wall-mats , “nakshikanthas” , usable crafts like ornaments etc. working with shells and semi-precious stone. She used cloth and paper too. Most of the work there was about dress designing. The long hours prevented her from doing creative work of her own. At present she teaches art.
Born and brought up in Jessore, Nini was enrolled into Charupit which is where her artistic abilities developed. She later went to Charukala followed by a seven year stint in Shantiniketan. The idyllic surroundings, peace and quiet, were ideal elements for any artist and for Nini they shaped her style and approach to art.
"The lifestyle of the Santals really inspired artists like myself", says Nini, "their festivals such as 'Patna' 'Paush Shankrati' , and dances during 'Boishak' have always attracted artistic endeavours . Life was far from the tense existence of city life, it was near a river. They caught fish from the lake, burnt it and ate it. They did not have to answer to anyone.The students of “Santiniketan” learnt a lot from them."
"Their homes too showed their inherent aesthetic sense, decorated with plants, trees and flowers", adds Nini.
Commenting on the foreigners who visited them, from time to time, Nini said that they came to see the exhibitions from time to time; as the place is so well-known , people come there even for holidays , to enjoy the peace and harmony of that picturesque place of contentment. Artists, art lovers and educationists go there to escape the hustle and bustle of city life. Shantiniketan, says Nini, is a place of total harmony where religion and caste are put aside, where all men are equal, as one believes they are , before the Creator who has always desired peace for his creations.
There were four Muslims, and the rest of other religions. Nini felt that they took the place of parents. The teachers were only too ready to give her funds, when and if she required them. At times, during student life, they understood what was in the minds of the students, just by looking at their faces. Nini's teachers were Pinoki Borua , Nirmolendu Das Shantonur, Shankar D, Probir Kumar Das, Shipra Prashad, Gautam Das (of ceramics), Shomik Nandi Mojumdar—etc. Nirmal and Pinaki Da were her main guides and philosophers, as Nini was in the print-making department.
Which teachers moulded Nini, here, in Bangladesh? At Charupit in Jessore, she was guided by her mentors Mahbub Jamal Shameem, and Hironmoy Chanda. At the Depart of Fine Arts, DU, she had not the close contacts as in Santiniketan. Here in Dhaka , Abul Barq Alvi, Nissar Hossain, and Shishir Bhattacharya helped and guided in every possible manner. Abdur Shakoor Shah and Bulbul Osman checked her dissertation. Her subject for her Ph D was Nature in Bangladesh – she realised that it had a vast scope to pick and choose from. So she dealt with the birds, bushes, leaves and flowers. She toured different places in Bangladesh and photographed them. Her lifelong adoration for nature is constantly reflected in her work.
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