The Samikhsya Bureau
Bhubaneswar: Mruttika-2020, the exclusive annual exhibition of Odisha’s terracotta, in its 15th edition this year, kicked off in the capital city of Bhubaneswar on Friday.
The seven-day event, that would continue till November 12, was inaugurated by Minister, Handlooms, Textiles & Handicrafts, Padmini Dian.
More than 100 stalls have been erected in the exhibition showcasing the works of 157 artisans from 20 districts of the state.
The State has got the best craftsmanship with 168 artisans honoured with National Level Awards including four Padma Awards and 11 Shilpiguru Awards. Besides, 290 artisans have been conferred with State Level Awards, the officials informed.
Terracotta is one of the 50 approved crafts of the State that is practiced mostly by the traditional kumbhakars and trained youths almost in every district. There are more than 10000 terracotta artisans in the State who are producing traditional, decorative and utility oriented terracotta-based items, they said.
There are more than 40 clusters of terracotta in the State out of which some of the focused terracotta craft pockets are Sonepur (Subarnpur), Barapalli (Baragarh), Haldharpur (Keonjhar), Nuagaon (Khurda), Lunukua (Jagatsinghpur), Kusumi (Koraput), Chintamanipur (Balasore) and Trisalaya (Bhadrak), the officials added.
Three terracotta artisans have been conferred with National Level Awards and 18 have won State Level Awards, it was learnt.
The exclusive annual expo is being hosted by the Department in the state capital since 2006 to provide a platform for marketing of the products of the clusters and individual artisans.
Among others Subha Sarma, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Handlooms, Textiles and Handicrafts Department was present on the occasion.
