Gurmeet Goldie - Art is Putting mind in Creation to associate with the People : Jang S. Verman

“Art field has given a lot, taught a lot, given peace of mind, first of all, given joy in our life.. You are taught to be restrained in your life, whatever is in the field of this art, the artists are blessed because when an artist creates any art work, he dissolves himself in it, gets lost in it. He diverts his attention from the world, to only complete the journey of art. He lives, realizes, goes to meditation and in himself, the enjoyment becomes different. In every breath, this is just how he makes his art? How to get it out? He gets immersed in this whole process and by the time he reaches the final stage, he is completely drowned. Whatever a person likes, he does the same, but the art perfectly combines the artist, putting his mind fully in the art work to associate his mind with the people. The artist does the work of connecting with each other. When we watch a drama or a movie, we live every scene we watch, that is, we go into it, we laugh and weep. It’s the hard work of many people behind those scenes. If they are successful in transmitting their mind to our emotions, then it is their success.”

 

Gurmeet Goldie expresses her views on how she approaches to art. I also favour her stance as it is art, expression, artist and the community who get aligned if proper and genuine atmosphere of expressing, receiving and sharing takes place.

Gurmeet Goldie, a senior artist working at Chandigarh, is engaged in creating three dimensional art form of art i.e. Sculpture. Though she had done Graduation Degree in Fine Art (Painting) from Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh (under Punjab University) during the year 1986 (Then it was a 5 years course). Meanwhile, she turned over to clay modelling and then to carving in wood and stone, and later to metal casting and so on. She had been impressed by sculptures of Henry Moore after visiting an art exhibition of his sculptures at Chandigarh. That inspired to make sculptures herself. She has done sculptures in the mediums of like Metal Work, Fibre Glass, Stone, Terracotta, Marble, Wood, Granite, and so on. In Painting she uses Colour Pencils and Pastels and in her Drawings she uses Charcoal, Oil Colours and Acrylic Colours etc. She is now a well recognized Woman Sculptor at Chandigarh.

Goldie was born in Chandigarh on 27th June, 1964 with her mother as house wife and father as a government employee at Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh. She was fond of collecting stones during her childhood. She gives credit to her parents that they developed thoughts and curiosity which were established in her mind to a larger extent, to think freely and independently. She spent her childhood playing with boys. That too added to her bold life. When she passed out from the College of Art, she was married to Kanwal, one of her classmates working on Graphics then.

Her first show with the College of Art was in 1987. In that exhibition, (Late) Mr. Shiv Singh, the Eminent Artist also came and had been very appreciative for her sculptures. At that time, it was an encouragement for her. He also gave her some technical tips which proved to be very useful in her future art works. Meeting with such a great artist was a partial fulfilment of my little dream in itself. In such a situation, it becomes clear that what we have to do in life is now. Upto now, she has organized many Solo Shows of Painting and Sculpture starting with a show of Paintings and sculptures in 1987; Terracotta Sculpture Exhibition (1988) and Sculpture Exhibition (1993) at Department of Fine Arts, Punjab University, Chandigarh; Exhibition of Drawings at Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, Sector- 16, Chandigarh (1989 and 1995); Sculpture Exhibition (1992) and Paintings & Sculptures Exhibition (1993) at Sheesh Mahal, Patiala; Sculpture Exhibition (1997) and Sculptures & Paintings Exhibition (2017) at Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi; Solo Show of Painting & Ssculptures at Government Museum & Art Gallery, Sector 10- C, Chandigarh, 2018; and Solo Painting Show Bal Bhawan, Sector- 23, Chandigarh organized by Theatre for Theatre (TFT) 2018 and 2019. She has also participated in many group shows at Chandigarh; Ambala Cantt.; Shimla; Amritsar; New Delhi; Patiala; Jalandhar; Karnal; Gurgaon; Jaipur; Manimajra; Mohali; Jammu; Guwahati; etc.

Gurmeet Goldie’s art is based on her intensively knit patterns which otherwise seem to a normal mind a complex network of her thought process. According to Goldie , “A child is born with thoughts and desires which God produces within him. These desires are different in each individual, and which cause dreams. As we grow up, according to our thinking, our dreams also grow. Whatever a person is born, his desire is to acquire happiness... I used to believe that when we come in the Art field, much of our vision is not open, but every person wants a little happiness and have to work for it on a daily basis... All the artists feel that they are made for art. That feeling of tireless working is probably called passion. We all have different levels of passion but they all have the same motive, and fulfilling a dream is the happiness of the soul... ”

According to Gurmeet Goldie, “Every human being works according to his thought process. My childhood grew into a good healthy environment of ideas. The biggest part of it was my father who used to feed our brains on daily basis. At the dinner we all used to sit together. My mother used to cook and we all sat down on the mat on the floor to have it. Father used to talk every day about some kind topics like helping people with relationships, loss of anger, having a big heart, not to do small things, having courage, having a genuine heart, having a loss of dishonesty, taking blessings, speaking less and listening more... He said that this creates Sanskaras...” depending on this though process, she has derived her vision as the purity of the relationship... A pure soul has a feeling of joy... If you have even a stone in your hands, a relationship would be formed even if it’s only for a few moments... We can feel happiness every moment only when our thoughts are pure... The more the relationship is pure, more energy is generated. The proof that a man is alive is only the relationship... An artist connects a lot of people through his art. The thought process of an artist is very important. Here again I will talk about the relationship that if we create a positive work, positive thinking will transmit to the people, people will be overwhelmed by positive energy... The artist always lives freely and lives with the mind, with the truth and with his thoughts to transform himself into a new form, and to fulfil his dreams... gives birth to new creations... As the mind is so will be our body... For being an existence, an artist works hard and persistently, thinks creations, works with self- restraint, with apt time, consciousness, faith, and meditation... The artist always lives in the present. He lives with strong vibrations and a strong mind.”

At the early stage of her art career, she couldn’t go well with sculpture but in the year 1990 when the government job started, there was some relief from the financial crunch and started using other materials like fibre, etc. As a woman, many artists discouraged her to leave all this and do a comfortable painting. They suggested that it’s very difficult to do sculpture. Some strength within her with the approach that a woman can do every task motivated her to work more strongly. The full support of parents boosted her confidence and morale further.

She has also attended a number of art camps and workshops organized by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi; Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi; J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages; BBK DAV College for Women, Amritsar; ‘SODEFA’; All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society, Delhi; Bal Bhawan, Panchkula; Govt. College for Women, Mohali; ‘We Group’; Kirpal Art Society, Punjab; Sanskar Bharti; Govt. College, Ropar; Govt College for Women, Rohtak; Shahabad Markanda; Govt. College, Mohali; Apeejay College, Jalandhar (in collaboration with Punjab Arts Council, Chandigarh); Sadguru Art Studio; Camp at Morni Hills (Haryana); North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala; WZCC, Udaipur; CCPCR; Presentation and Art Trip to Sweden (2019); Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur; Master Sansar Chand Baru Memoerial Charitable Trust, Jammu; and organized by Bibi Harjinder Kaur Chairperson CCPCR. She has undertaken Restoration of wooden sculptures at Kala Gram, a project by North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala.

Honour and awards are a great motivation in the growth of an artist. So, many organizations keep on honouring artists from time to time. In this regard Gurmeet Goldie is the recipient of awards and appreciations like Merit Certificate in Annual Art Exhibition of Govt. College of Art, Chandigarh (1985); State Award in Graphic Print by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi in Annual State Art Exhibition (1994), for Sculpture (2015); 1st Prize in Poster Making Competition organized by SIE Chandigarh (1996 & 1997); Best Teacher Award, Chandigarh (UT), (2005); State Commendation Award Chandigarh (UT) (2012); Honoured by Niffa (Haryana) (2015); Honoured by Govt. College, Mohali at Techno Fest- 2016; Honoured as Artist of the Year by "WE" a Group of Indian Women Contemporary Artists (2016); Honoured as an Art Expert at Guru Shishya Parampara at NZCC, Kala Gram (2018) and Honoured.at Vivekananda Millennium School, HMT, Pinjore as invited Judge for Painting Competition.

Her works figure in government and private collections in India and abroad, like Himachal State Museum, Shimla, Govt. Museum & Art Gallery, Chandigarh; Panjab University, Chandigarh; Mr. T C Gupta (MD NZCC) and displayed at Mount View Hotel, Chandigarh; Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendra, Lucknow; Bhawan Vidyalaya, Panchkula; NZCC, Patiala; and in collections in Sweden and London.

To young artists she comes out with her experiences. According to her- Have dreams, be firm on them, do believe in those, what you do with determination, you can achieve that but you have to choose the journey, no one will do that for you, and work daily, try on new methods, keep focus on yourself and your work. Hurdles, challenges will be there but keep on walking! She is currently working on wood and stone sculptures taking different themes into account, enjoying the texture, rhythm, shapes and touch.

 Jang S. Verman

Artist Multimedia, Columnist on Art & Culture

Special Correspondence of The Earth News, 

Jammu

Mob.: 94 192 10834

Email ID: jangs.verman@gmail.com