‘This is Freedom’: An exhibition of paintings that touches the soul

Rhuani Rambukwelle and her students at the Hardy Centre of Art will exhibit their paintings at the Lionel Wendt art gallery on December 3 and 4.  The exhibition is open to the public from 10.00am to 7.30 pm on both days.  
Titled ‘This is Freedom’, it showcases the work of 28 students working with several mediums like oils, watercolour, acrylic, pen and ink, pencil sketching, glass painting, and covering myriad themes like wildlife, buildings, fauna and flora, natural scenes and African art. 

The artists include 13 adult students as well as 15 children – the youngest being only five, and the oldest in their sixties.  Some of these artists discovered their skills in art quite recently. Uniting them all is their passion.  “Art digs deep into my soul and splashes it out on a canvas,” says Nirmala de Silva, a longstanding student.  
Nirmala continues: “Rhuani’s guidance has helped me experiment with a variety of mediums. Her classes give me countless hours of joy. She took me from crayons to exhibitions”. Similar sentiments are expressed by many of her other students.  

Geetha Ramachandran who works in the finance sector was inspired to join the art class after the pandemic reduced her working hours and she began to work increasingly from home. “Our art class is a very friendly and peaceful environment. We have all the freedom and also lots of fun in the class.  I would encourage anyone to learn art as it is good for the mind and soul. It’s like a form of meditation,” says Geetha.  

Rhuani’s classes are creative, empowering and clearly fun.  “Students seem to love coming for classes and they not only enjoy painting, but also having fun,” she says. “Some have started off not being able to draw, but after a few years they are selling their art.  It’s about giving creativity wings,” she adds. “As a child I loved art, but it was after joining Rhuani’s class that my talent was unearthed. She gives us freedom to paint and guides us expertly to create a work of our own,” says Keerthi Wijekulasuriya, another student.  Rhuani’s own art is bold and colourful. “Colour is very important to me. The world is so colourful and I think it’s important to use colour to brighten our days.”  Wildlife and particularly the lion are a favourite theme.  “I love painting lions in all forms and colour. Birds are another favourite.” Basically she loves painting anything that catches her fancy.  Her own inspiration, however, comes from beyond the physical realms: “For me, it’s God and His creation that inspire me. It’s a wonderful, wonderful world, so why not draw from it?” she says.