Furthering his mission to make art education "inclusive", noted Italian blind sculptor Felice Tagliaferri has started a sculpture workshop here for the blind.
The two week-long workshop, his first one for the blind in India, began yesterday at the Bethany Society premises where 15 youth began their art lessons from the artist.
Felice, who lost his eyesight at 14, took to sculpting when he was 25. He shot to fame when he created his own version of "Cristo Velato," or "Veiled Christ", a 1753 masterpiece by Giuseppe Sanmartino, when he was denied to touch it in 2008.
His "Cristo (ri)Velato," or the 'Christ revealed', for which he worked almost two years, fetched him a whopping 200,000 euros, the 40-something sculptor said.
Apart from running an art school in Belonia, his home town, Felice travels the world to conduct workshops for both the blind and people with normal eyesights.
He said he was studying furniture restoration when he joined a test to check whether he had what it takes for sculpting. After that, he joined the world of sculpting.
Master sculptors in Bologna, Carrara, and in Spain, France and Germany have helped him shape his own works.
"I see myself lucky to be doing what I want to do in life. I believe that other blind people like me can also express the shapes that they see," Felice told reporters here after his first day workshop.
"I hope my intervention will go beyond schools and make art education inclusive," he said.
It is being conducted by the Bethany Society, a charitable organisation, in collaboration with the CBM, an NGO, and the state's arts and culture department.
Bethany runs the first inclusive school in the state and is instrumental in highlighting the importance of inclusive education for disabled children.
The final art work will be unveiled on March 12 at the Society's premises.
