Rourkela: Situated in the lap of nature, the beauty of Sundargarh town has been enhanced due to single-minded dedication and contribution of painter and sculptor Sital Kumar Mohapatra.
Mohapatra’s love for art and the town is manifest in numerous statues including those of Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Subhas Chandra Bose installed at different places in Sundargarh and Birsa Munda at Birmitrapur.
Mohapatra evinced interest in art from an early age. “My late father Dinabandhu Mohapatra’s artistic works motivated me towards art and sculpture,” says 60-year-old Mohapatra.
After completing 4-year diploma in Arts at Government College of Arts & Crafts, Khallikote, he got the job as an artist in Government College, Sundargarh in 1985. Since then, he honed his skills in his adopted town to emerge as one of the distinguished artists of the region.
“Painting of all kinds – oil, water colour, acrylic painting – is my first love. Everyday, I do painting for 2 to 3 hours. My second love is sculpture,” says Mohapatra. He has held several solo exhibitions in different parts of Odisha.
Among many awards conferred on him, Kala Ratna Award, Paschim Odisha Sanskriti Samman by Sambalpur University, felicitation by Cultural Academy, Rourkela stand out. He was a member of Odisha Lalit Kala Akademi from 1987 to 90 and 2008 to 2011.
Besides being an artist of great acumen, Mohapatra is a teacher par excellence. His desire to impart art training to tribal youngsters of the region led him to establish Kalayatan School of Art in 1986. Affiliated to Odisha Lalit Kala Academy, it is running successfully till date.
Four years later, he established Kalayatan Mahila Silpa Samabaya Samity with an object to impart handicraft training to all categories of people. His art related activities further got a boost with Kalayatan College of Arts and Crafts established in 2004. This college, affiliated to Utkal University of Culture, Bhubaneswar has emerged as most important centre of arts in Western Odisha. Mohapatra is also Principal of Kalayatan School of Arts, secretary Of Kalayatan College of Arts and Crafts and advisor of Kalayatan Mahila Silpa Sambaya Samiti of Sundargarh.
Talking about his students, Mohapatra says many students of his institution like Makardhwaj Sahoo, Rakesh Patnaik (Mumbai), Kedar Nayak and Rajendra Meher have excelled in their fields at state and national levels.
“Because of Mohapatra, many tribal youths with artistic skills have got recognition,” said Santosh Amat, a social activist of Sundargarh.
Abhay Patnaik, a retired government officer, said, “His contribution to our area is immense. Mohapatra and his students have actively taken up beautification work in Sundargarh”.
Now Mophapatra’s focus is on the development of Kalayatan institutions. “Economically we are more or less self-sufficient. But we need better equipment and more space. We need a place where we can accommodate all the three institutions with hostel facilities,” he said.
