IVS students test their creativity at The Pop Show

Gallery displays portraits, recycled crafts, and slates with catchy quotes

KARACHI: Earning your way through your ideas and hard work is perhaps the best feeling in the world. Students of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (IVS) put their work up for sale at Canvas Gallery on Friday to collect funds for their educational trip to Turkey.

The work of seven final year students from the fine arts department, titled ‘The Pop Show’, had both artistic and usable items as well as installations and screen-prints. The artists, who had been working on the project since January, were optimistic about collecting enough to fund their journey, which is scheduled for the end of this month.



“This is the first time that the students of IVS have set up such an event for fund-raising,” said Ayesha Naveed, one of the students who had her screen-prints on display. “Previously, it used to be concerts and scholarships.” However, she said, owing to security concerns, concerts were not considered an option this time and their department head came up with this idea.

Bringing creativity out of you

Several creative ideas could be seen on display at the show. Renaissance pictures stuck inside old Urdu magazines, made into a wall hanging with a cutwork on front, coasters made of paper imprinted with wood and coated with plastic, mugs and portraits of notable personalities such as Madam Noor Jehan and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - there was a lot of craft and skill involved in the work. “I chose the frames first and then worked with paint sand acrylic for these portraits,” explained, Jovita Alvares, another student.

Recycling old material

Another intriguing aspect of the show was the idea of using old materials and recycling them - both in the functional and aesthetic sense. “Most of these were objects we found around us that we have given a new face and use,” said Naveed. One of the most popular items was the Renaissance pictures gelled on cloth with light streaming through the frames from behind them. Similarly, there were customised, cloth bags, bearing catchy one-liners.

From a vision to reality: Behold the future of Burnes Road

On the colourful side were items and vibrant slates donning catchy quotes of Marilyn Monroe, such as ‘It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring’, and Andy Warhol, such as ‘I’m a deeply superficial person’. Designed with catchy patterns and bright, happy colours, the artworks could appease perhaps anybody’s taste and provide a good wall hanging or decorative item for a side table.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2016.

IVS brings back lost traditions to its students