The fishermen who live by the Chombal harbour thought that the mermaid that drifted on to the beach was something special. They placed the broken wooden sculpture in a public space and wrapped it in a silk cloth.
Anywhere else, the mermaid would have become the centre of legends and superstitions. At Chombal, however, the discovery triggered a tide of artists to the Azhiyoor village. They kept pouring in even after someone made away with the sculpture that started it all.
Azhiyoor is an artistes' village now, thanks to the efforts of the Vadakara block panchayat to gift each house in its limit a painting to display. The village soon turned an art gallery of landscape paintings inspired by the locality.
The artists who gathered on the beach created 50 paintings to be showcased in the houses in the initial stage of the scheme. The block panchayat allowed the artistes to camp in a building that belonged to it. They raised the funds to set up the art gallery through 15 exhibitions. The motley crowd of painters included freshers to celebrated artists.
Artists from across the country are now camping in the Azhiyoor village to be a part of the popular movement. People who had not given a thought about art now volunteer in the camp to help out the artists. They distribute food to the artists as they stay awake with their creations through the night.
Later painting camps offered an opportunity for about 20 local residents with an aptitude to art.
An artist from Uttar Pradesh who created a sand sculpture on the beach has set a trend of sorts in the village. Many children are now seriously into the branch of art. Children in the locality can receive training at the academy every Sunday for a nominal fee.
The paintings in the gallery fetched impressive sums from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. The money was raised to develop the art village.
The art gallery and the village of painting was envisaged by Vadakara block panchayat president Kottayil Radhakrishnan. Convener Ruby Raghavan and director Sadu Aliyoor are also working on the project.
A committee formed for the purpose, including Ramesh Ranjanam, Jagadeesh Palayatt, Sreejith Vilathapuram, Bijoy Karethayyil, Biju Sen and Sajeevan, joined hands with people in the area to make the project a reality. Also pitching in are Kadathanad Chitrakala Parishad and Beyond the Black Board, two associations based at Vadakara and Koyilandi.
Many visitors make a beeline to the art gallery by the national highway. Yet the gallery is yet to receive any substantial financial support from the state government.
The gallery is sure to lead to a spike in expenses. Azhiyoor needs special funds to realise its dream to be an art village. Organisers are happy that the local residents did not play miserly when they were requested to buy the paintings.
The fisherfolk are also planning to recover the lost wooden mermaid. They consider the drifted piece of wood as a totem of the artistic attention on the village.
