Commentary: Chardi Kala Project’s annual event helps foster intercultural understanding, reduce discrimination and build bridges between Whatcom’s Sikh and non-Sikh communities.
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The whole family is welcome at the Children’s Art Festival and open house at the Guru Nanak Gursikh Gurdwara (Sikh temple at Pole Road and the Guide Meridian) Saturday, Oct. 4, between 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The Guru Nanak Gursikh Gurdwara will serve langar, Indian vegetarian food, and also pizza. Tours of the gurdwara are available.
The Pacé Atelier Art Studio of Bellingham has designed and will supervise art project tables for children (and adults too) to explore various media, such as painting, clay and glue projects.
“I have so enjoyed doing the Children’s Art Festival for these past few years at local Sikh Gurdwara Temples.” says Jacquie Bresadola, owner of Pacé Atelier Art Studio. “The gracious openness and generous hospitality is so refreshing any time, especially in times like these. The overall feeling of the Sikh community is one of acceptance, love and generosity.”
This is the fourth year of the Children’s Art Festival, hosted by the Chardi Kala Project and local gurdwaras. For the last three years, the festival has been held at the Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Bellingham. This year the event moves to the Guru Nanak Gursikh Gurdwara near Lynden thanks to grants from the Jansen Foundation and Whatcom Community Foundation.
The Chardi Kala Project is committed to fostering intercultural understanding, reducing discrimination, and building bridges between the Sikh and non-Sikh communities in Whatcom County. Through the Children’s Art Festival, they create a space for young people and their families to come together, engage in creative expression, and learn about the rich cultural heritage of the Sikh community in a welcoming, inclusive environment.
“The Children’s Art Festival is one of those rare moments where you can actually feel creativity sparking all around you,” says Tarnjot (TJ) Brar, director of the Chardi Kala Project. “Children remind us how fearless art can be, and when adults join in, it becomes a shared experience of joy, discovery, and connection.”
There are three art stations available and participants may create at each of the stations:
• At the painting station, create an individual painting on a stretched canvas with a palette of plenty of color choices, using brushes, sponges and dotters and other implements. Dress for mess.
• At the clay station, play with beautifully colored polymer clay and create small animals, flowers, people, whatever. It’s a fun make-take-and-bake project (at home, directions provided).
• The creation station — a hot glue gun/found object extravaganza — is a kid/adult favorite. Come see what you may be provoked to create based on a random assortment of interesting items.
All artworks are to be taken home.
“I love to work with kids as they create with different art media. I feel they are directly connected to their individual creativity with a seemingly direct link to inspiration.” Bresadola said.
“Last year, a kid was at the creation station. I asked him, ‘What are you creating?’” she recalled. “He replied, ‘I wasn’t sure what I was creating when I started this. I found this wooden piano key and these goggle eyes and this and that and voilà a praying mantis sort of creature emerged’.
“The best part was his sheer delight in the process and the final outcome, however unplanned.”
Sikhs pride themselves on their hospitality and community service. It is against the teachings of their faith to proselytize and they promote equal rights and kindness for all.
The Gurdwara Nanak Gursikh Gurdwara is a welcoming community and the food and drinks are also a scrumptious treat. Pizza is provided as an alternative to Indian food. Participants are asked to remove their shoes and cover their heads while in the Gurdwara. Head coverings are provided by the gurdwara, or bring your own scarf or cloth cap.
The whole experience is wonderful and fun!
— By Kamalla Kaur
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