Concern for Children Trust is hosting an art fundraiser where paintings from notable local artists will be on sale to raise money for Machar Art 2009 at Chawkandi Art Gallery on Monday May 4th 2009. 

Machar Art is a CFC designed program that brings professional artists and photographers to provide training to children in Machar Colony schools. This art therapy program is often the only chance children from the largest unofficial kutchi abaadi in Karachi have to express themselves through art. (more…)

The inimitable Tina Sani invites you to an evening of eastern music, in support of PeaceNiche and T2F on Friday, 17th April 2009, 9:00 pm Sharp

For this lovely evening with Tina Sani at IVS, Nando’s will be standing by to feed you. Buying fod from them means you are donating 50% of their proceeds to T2F and They’re also throwing in a free Rs. 200 dine-in voucher with every meal you purchase.

The event is part of the T2F: Renaissance Fundraising Series. For more information about T2F and their work, please explore their website.

You may also subscribe to their Google Calendar Here.

Date: Friday, 17th April 2009
Time: 9:00 pm
Venue: Indus Valley School of Art & Architecture [Map]
Info: 0300-823-0276 | sabeen@t2f.biz
Web: http://www.peaceniche.org | http://www.t2f.biz
Tickets: Rs. 1,000 per person

Available at Agha’s Supermarket, Nando’s (Clifton), Espresso (Kh-e-Shahbaz), Naheed Store, and Indus Valley School

An exhibition of black and white photographs, by leading photographers Aasim Akhtar, Ayesha Vellani and Tehmina Ahmed will be opening tomorrow 16th of April, 2009, 5 PM sharp at the KOEL gallery.

The show will continue till the 7th of May 2009 Daily from 11 – 8 pm

Koel Gallery
F-42/2, Block 4, Scheme – 5 Clifton,
Email: gallerykoel@gmail.com
Phone: (+92-21)-5831292

A reflection of renaissance, a showcase of creativity, a testament to talent: IBA’s Arts, English Literary and Photography Societies fuse their spirits and combine their energies to produce the first ever event of its kind at IBA in many years.

“Talking Pictures- elevating Craft to the level of Art”
Talking Pictures will take place on Friday, 10th April 2009, 4:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the IBA City Campus.

The event promises a blend of imagination and recreation for the evening:

My Fair Lady – an adaptation of the famous play by Bernard Shaw,
and
Dhanak – an exhibition of original artworks by IBA students, including breathtaking photographs, stunning still lifes, and more.

Participants at IBA are working towards what is much more than simply entertainment- a step towards culturing an aesthetically sound thinking process in society. A step towards proving that excellence, harmony and beauty are what we appreciate as Pakistanis – not a misguided sense of self-righteousness.

Do attend the Talking Pictures on Friday, the 10th of April at the IBA City Campus. The play MY FAIR LADY starts at 6. There is no entrance fee to the event, however, the tickets for the play will be available at location for Rs. 100.

TLISM ended yesterday after a spell-bound performance of more than 2 hours of Ek Hazar Aur Ek Thi Raatein having stories depicting powerful women in Arabian Nights. The play got an awesome response with an standing ovation. After all, it is not a child’s play to perform and sing for 2 hours, remember so many lines and above all giving a perfect performance which touched everyone’s heart and enriched everybody’s mind. IT IS AN ART!

The purpose of declaring this at KMB: TLISM, a theater festival which celebrated the 30 years of Tehrik-e-Niswan’s astonishing work for women empowerment and social development in Karachi and elsewhere, and their work speaks for itself; their work is there ode to the mission, and this post is ode to the people behind the vision.

The activities continue. One of them will be a dance ballet SONG OF MOHENJODARO on 29th and 30th April marking the International Day of Dance.

Dawn Feature: http://dawntravelshow.com/dawnanimation/tehrik/

Koel art Gallery opened it’s doors to an exciting art exhibition by master ceramist Sadia Salim on the 19th of March 2009. 

The show exhibits some intriguing forms in ceramic derived right out of disposable bottles, tin cans or yogurt containers giving a new meaning to the common use items we rarely pay much attention to. Her installation titled “Chaos” a representation of how every element gets attracted and attached in a desire for find peace and a solution to end the chaos but oblivious of the harsh realities and ending up being a part of the chaos it’s self, is an inspiring  work of art. Another one which will instantly grab your attention is Transience, which is again a really interesting installation.

The mugs, bowls, the square plate, bottles and much more all in a display of interesting textures, colors forms and shapes, abstracted, molded, fired in ceramics makes this exhibition an inspirational display of art work.

 The exhibition is to continue till the 30 of March 2009, 11  to 8 pm.

KOEL Gallery: 
   F-42/2, block 4, Scheme 5 Clifton , Karachi
Phone: (+92-21) 5831292 and 5364013
E-mail: gallerykoel@gmail.com

KOEL, The recently opened Art gallery in the city brings the color of our traditions into the world of art with a stunning display of hand printed Ajraks,  a collection designed by Noorjehan Bilgrami in a  stunning exhibition “Sindh Ji Ajrak” in collaboration with AHAN.

 Centuries old tradition of making Ajrak, a hand printer and dyed fabric, goes through 21 stage painstaking process till completion. Over the last hundred years with the advent of synthetic dyes the use of naturally extracted indigo and madder in Ajrak had gone out of practice.in the past two years a series of workshops were held at the Ajrak Centers in Matiari, Bhitshah, and Sehta to revive the practice of using natural dyes.

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Photography Exhibitions are thankfully increasing in Karachi with advent of digital cameras as good amount of people who have taken it as a serious hobby. In some way these photographs are documenting Karachi’s vibe, sights and people.

One such exhibition this week is being organized by Photo Club of Karachi at Alliance Francaise. The exhibition will feature above 200 photographs of 30 amateur artists selected by professionals. Hope this one brings us some aesthetic pleasure.

Today on the 12th of February 2009 KOEL art gallery opened it’s door to the public for the first time with an opening exhibition titled “White On White”.

  An antique door greeted me as I entered the gallery for the first time, The open space soon after, is a garden with a champa tree in the center surrounded by a bed of rounded pebbles, with a beautiful wooden bench sitting against the gallery’s main window. On the side a huge sculpture and on the other a huge leafless tree, with branched and barks crisscrossing sheltering every thing under it. I am sure it would cast beautiful patens of shadows at daytime when the sun’s up for the shine. Upfront is the entrance to the main exhibit area.

 The exhibition area though large is divided by a staircase right in the middle but the stairs are so beautifully adjusted that rather then posing a hindrance it compliments the interiors adding a rich element to it. This area is divide into three portions and the ceiling is lined with a number of halogen bulbs highlighting the beautiful texture of the walls and illuminating the artwork on them. (more…)

One of the most associated words with our city Karachi is uncertainty. The same has become true for the Kara Film Festival. It is getting postponed since 2007, then was scheduled for 2008, after which organizers had to postpone it even further till February 2009, all because of the instability in the country. Now the festival which is scheduled from 4th to 15th February 2009 is again in trouble. Major sponsors have backed out of the festival because of the recession. Till now, they have only one of the venues that is Arts Council and because of lack of funds, are not able to book PIIA which was also in the list before. The organizers are trying some serious fund raising through their facebook group.

Kara Film Festival has always been into controversy from issues ranging from lack of management, over influx of Indian films and stars to favoritism. Whatever the case may be, it has been one of the important platforms helping in improve the cultural scene by promoting independent cinema but yes organizers need to streamline and take their efforts way forward to subsequently increase its access.

I personally wish Kara Film Festival good luck because I want to see more local stuff on a relatively large screen. Those who can help with funds do so more. I guess they would organize the event any how so moreover at least support them by going there and giving yourself some entertainment. Remember culture displays a nation’s core and revives its spirit.