A canvas of free strokes by Zinufa’s students
Peace - Dr Shanti Jayewardene (inks and watercolour)
Next weekend, the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery will house a colourful collection of paintings produced by the students of artist Zinufa Razik. ‘A Kaleidoscope of Colours’, the exhibition and sale will be the third in a series that began in 2015 with the second held in 2017. This year’s exhibition is after a five-year gap mainly due to the pandemic.
The exhibition displays the works of ten of Zinufa’s students, each with their own approach in style and technique from the more traditional oils, acrylics, pencils, pastels, and charcoal to pen and ink, palette knife painting, and the more exclusive watercolour pencils. The individual works differ in composition and subject with different landscapes painted in oils or pen and ink drawings of bamboo leaves set on backgrounds of another medium, even drawings of old architectural plans of old ruins interspersed with watercolour.
Zinufa Razik. Pic by Dilushi Wijesinghe
While some of the students have exhibited before, for others, this will be the first time they show their work to a public audience. Zinufa’s students are not full-time artists, but those who engage in art as a hobby. Having been exposed to two different schools of art herself, one being traditional and the other more modern, Zinufa prides herself on not being rigid and allowing her pupils to explore freely while she provides guidance.
Bamboo - Athifa Sufiyan (pen and ink, pencil)
Although her preference is oils and acrylics, this doesn’t limit her approach to different styles and media. “I get them to do what they like. I don’t force them to do something and I don’t go to impose my style on them. If I correct them, I always tell them to paint over my brush strokes because their brush strokes are completely different from mine,” explains Zinufa. She also impresses on her students the need to do something on their own so they can progress further.
Most start with little knowledge of art but within months develop their skills and learn the nuances and finer points of their art. “Now they are like veterans – they can look at somebody’s painting and say what is wrong. They have come to that stage and I’m so proud that they can identify these problems, showing they have immensely improved,” remarks Zinufa.
With a career spanning a few decades, she initially began teaching a handful of students and by word of mouth, soon had plenty more. Previously teaching at the Ladies’ College Department of Vocational Studies (now Ladies’ College Institute of Professional Studies), she currently conducts classes at her home on Flower Road which she very much prefers. “I think this is what I like best, so twice a week my house is chaotic with easels and paints all over the place and I really enjoy it.”
‘A Kaleidoscope of Colours’ is on at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on May 13 and 14.
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