Australian artist Marsden teaching art to students in Diktel

By Our Correspondent,Diktel, Feb. 4: An Australian artist has started teaching fine art to students in Diktel.

Senior Australian artist Ray Marsden, who has come to teach students free of cost for three months, has begun teaching at Saraswati Secondary School in Diktel.

Artist Ray previously visited Diktel to participate in the Mundum International Art Workshop and Exhibition, organised by the Diktel Rupakot Majhuwagadhi Municipality last year. Now, he has returned to Nepal once again to teach art.

A total of 35 students from both community and private schools around Diktel have joined the art classes. 

According to the municipality, students will learn art at Saraswati Secondary School for a month, after which the classes will be shifted to another school to include more students.

Mayor Tirtha Raj Bhattarai said that preparations were being made to continue the classes in different schools.

Currently, Ray has come to Nepal for three months. However, if he obtains the necessary visa, he is prepared to stay longer in Khotang and continue teaching.

Mayor Bhattarai further added that along with the Australian artist, German artists are also preparing to come to Diktel to conduct free art classes. The municipality is focused on nurturing exceptional artists from a young age, he added.

The municipality organised the Mundum International Art Workshop and Exhibition in Diktel from October 4 to 8 last year. The workshop and exhibition featured 106 paintings created by 43 artists from 14 countries, including Nepal.

Additionally, the municipality organised an art exhibition at Nepal Art Council, Babarmahal, Kathmandu, from February 18 to March 1 last year. 

After displaying in Kathmandu, the canvases were brought back to Diktel, where they were preserved in the newly established Mundum International Art Museum.

The art museum has been set up in five rooms of the Children’s Park and Shopping Complex in Diktel, displaying a total of 182 paintings.

Mayor Bhattarai said that the museum was established to promote tourism in the district while also preserving art, literature and indigenous culture.

The museum, located in the district headquarters, Diktel, was inaugurated by the Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation, Badri Prasad Pandey.