The current world is bestowed with many incredible artists across the regions, who have been continuously making the world a better place each and every day. That being said, while a great group of artists have learned, mastered and honed their artistic skills throughout their adulthood, there are some by-born artists who have the innate power of artistry attached to their angelic souls from the very beginning. As the Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate Deepak Chopra once quoted that "Embracing the wisdom of uncertainty, is the doorway to creativity," the world truly needs to welcome and nurture the natural and purest creative ideas - especially, when it comes from the unfiltered imagination of the child artists.

With that motto and to emblazon the innate artistic spirit of child artists residing in the capital, Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier71 arranged a daylong watercolour painting, printmaking and origami workshop titled 'Inside Out' on Saturday, November 6, at the Cosmos Centre, in city's Malibagh area. More than 25 schoolgoing children from different parts of the world who are currently residing in Dhaka with their families, joined this exclusive art workshop with their parents at the Cosmos Atelier71 gallery and printmaking studio from 11 am to 4 pm, showcasing their creative artworks in the daylong workshop and represented several different regions including Bangladesh, Canada, India, Ireland, the USA, Portugal and other countries, based on the motherlands of the individuals.

Parents and guardians of the participating little artists shared their excitement over the workshop with Dhaka Courier, as they got amused to explore how all these little angelic souls have owned each of their own dynamic creativity - through which they played with colours and painted on the canvases. "It's a very unique and refreshing approach and a joyful experience for us and our kids. They are the main attraction here today, and we thank the organizers for this remarkable initiative where our kids are showcasing their artistic freedom," said Mr Roman, who brought his daughter to the workshop.

That was echoed through the voices of the conductors in the workshop, and regarding the initiative, one of the conductors and Bangladeshi artist, also a lecturer at the Yunnan Arts University, China, Mong Mong Sho told Dhaka Courier that this kind of workshop is really necessary to thrive and celebrate the artistic passion of the children. "Although children are universally beautiful, they have different creative visions because of their regional and cultural diversities. This kind of workshop is significant and much needed, where children from different parts of the world are gathered and freely paint their hearts out. Each of them is showcasing a unique artistic approach, vision and style, and together, they are participating in a cultural exchange with the children of our country," Sho told DC.

Another conductor of the workshop was visual artist Abdullah Al Bashir, who pointed out that the workshop has embraced creative diversity between the children of different regions. Sharing this viewpoint with DC, Bashir said, "As artists, we often had to go through the process of being institutionalized in our adulthood and therefore cannot express our hearts out, unlike all these amazing little artists - who have painted out of their beautiful, unfiltered imagination in this workshop. Also, we see the interesting diversity between the thought process of children based on their own regions, and this type of cultural amalgamation is always a good thing for society."

The exhibition was also joined by Abu Kalam Shamsuddin, Assistant Professor, Drawing and Painting Discipline at Khulna University, who conducted a unique origami workshop for children at the event. Sharing his experience with DC, he said, "Origami is an art consisting of a piece of two-dimensional paper. When we fold this paper according to a plan, it takes a certain three-dimensional (3D) shape of an object, which is very similar to our dream and vision. It subconsciously helps children to think more critically, widening their vision and approach towards life - and this exhibition deserves to be lauded for hosting such a workshop for not only printmaking but also origami."

Defining this unique initiative and the name 'Inside Out', Kate Jaro Khan, Artistic Director of Gallery Cosmos, told Dhaka Courier that the workshop was intended to help out the children to express their innate creative visions, which they nurture inside their beautiful minds. "During the crucial periods of the pandemic, people couldn't go outside and travel due to travel restrictions, and kids have been running out of things to do. We needed to explore opportunities inside the city, and this special workshop is a gift from us to these amazing children, dedicated to their creative vision and their emotional wellbeing. As you can see, we didn't fix any theme for these amazing little artists in this workshop because each and every child has its own different vision, different thought processes, different drawing styles - and we didn't want to limit their scopes for this fun event; we want them to express out what they feel their inside, and that's why we have chosen the name 'Inside Out' for this workshop" Kate Jaro Khan told DC.

Artist Sourav Chowdhury, Executive Artistic Manager of Gallery Cosmos conducted a printmaking workshop at the event, and speaking of this exclusive daylong artistic venture, he informed Dhaka Courier that the participating child artists were highly enthusiastic and amused at the workshop by exploring the methods of having multiple copies of their artworks through printmaking. "Our Gallery Cosmos has always been dedicatedly working with both young and prominent artists of our country, and we are committed to arranging this type of exclusive workshops and camps more in near future, to help flourish the creative visions of our little artists from both home and beyond. They are the future of the world, and we hope that with this kind of exclusive event, we would accompany and assist them in their creative journeys."

After the workshop, the participating child artists were awarded certificates by the Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier71.