Lofty cause: Painting for a brighter future

Proceeds from an art exhibit to help children of an orphanage.

ISLAMABAD:

In a bid to reach out to less fortunate kids, art students of the Foundation University put up an exhibition at Lok Virsa Heritage Museum here on Thursday. By selling paintings at discounted rates, the exhibition aims to help children living in Pakistan Sweet Home, a charity project of Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM) and Lok Virsa, Ministry of National Heritage and Integration.

To this end, 50 students of the university’s Fine Arts department, displayed a total of 150 paintings on different themes including historical places, landscapes, portraits and flowers. Students were assigned projects on a myriad of topics in their relevant subjects.

The paintings were mainly in oil paint, water colour and pastels. “I’ve focused on the women working in Thar desert, a remote area of Sindh. My work deals in oil paint and pastels and costs Rs7,000,’’ said Saba Nazir, a student of Interior Decoration  and  Fine Arts. Another student, Gohar Iqbal commented, “After completing my education, I aspire to become an interior decorator and it’s been good practicing on this project for the last two months.’’

Earlier, PBM Managing Director Zumurud Khan had inaugurated the exhibition amid a large number of university students and orphanage children.

While talking to media, Lok Virsa Chief Executive Khalid Javaid said, “Our focus is the youth community, who is the future of the country. They have great potential which needs to be polished and projected at national level.” The exhibition will remain open till March 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2012.