Latest news with #TheRoadNotTaken
New Indian Express
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Art beyond canvas
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. These final lines of the poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost could easily describe the journey of Sreeja Kalappurakkal, a self-taught artist from Thrissur. While most artists stick to traditional canvases, Sreeja sees art in the everyday. Over the years, she's painted on feathers, stones, and even seashells. But recently, she chose an even harder surface to create art, something most people throw away without a second thought — coconut shells. In her new exhibition titled 'Shararanthal' at David Hall Art Gallery, Sreeja brings life into these discarded coconut shells. Using acrylic paints, she carefully polishes and transforms each one into a memory capsule of nostalgic scenes of the state. Including the canvas paintings, around 500 artworks were on display at the exhibition, which was held from April 9 to 17. 'I tried to paint the warm memories of the past and everyday scenes from Kerala — between the 1960s and 1990s — on the inside of the coconut shells. From a child being born and rocked in the cradle to growing up and engaging in various activities, everything that directly and indirectly shapes our lives is portrayed in my paintings. The toys, the pond, the river, the fields, the tea shops, the fishermen, the rain, cartoon characters from old children's publications, school days, college, love — I have covered almost every minute memory through this,' says Sreeja. In addition to this, there are artworks displayed on plywood, where coconut shells have been cracked, ground into powder using a machine, and spread on the surface with glue. One such work, standing at five feet, depicts India and another, also five and a half feet tall, depicts Kerala. The distinct features of each state, along with indigenous and tribal art forms, are marked through the artwork. Besides that, handcrafted items using coconut shells and art pieces created on canvas using different materials obtained from the coconut tree were also part of the exhibition. 'There are so many hidden canvases around us in nature — things we see daily without noticing their potential. All my works begin with the thought of bringing different themes to life using such materials. After working with stones and feathers, I realised that people had started expecting something different from me. That's when I moved on to seashells, and now, coconut shells,' Sreeja says. It's not an easy process at all. According to her, this isn't like picking up a canvas from a shop and painting on it. From collecting the raw material to preparing the surface so it's fit for painting, every step takes time. Developing the method to work with coconut shells alone took her nearly four years. 'It takes a lot of effort, too. I even developed conditions like tennis elbow from the physical strain. But despite all that, art is still something that brings me real joy,' she smiles. The 44-year-old is currently teaching painting online. Since her first exhibition in 2014, she has held 16 solo exhibitions across Kerala. Her work has earned 23 national and international recognitions, including listings in the Limca Book of Records, Best of India Records, India Book of Records, and Asia Book of Records. 'Art was always a part of me,' says Sreeja. From school days, she had this urge to create. However, because of circumstances, she couldn't pursue it properly or study it formally. 'Later, when I became financially independent and had more time to experiment, I dusted off that old dream. That's how I started painting,' she explains. She began with oil painting. 'And when I first exhibited my work, many people criticised it, not knowing that I had never studied art professionally.' Later, many approached her with advice — to travel more, to read. She took all of it to heart, improved and kept going. 'But again, the hurdle is financial,' she adds. 'Conducting exhibitions is expensive, and right now, I'm stuck because of that. If I can get more support, maybe I will be able to share my art with more people,' she concludes.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
TWO ROADS LAUNCHES NEW CONNECTICUT CAMPAIGN: "HAVE A BEER, CONNECTICUT"
CT always gets good-natured ribbing from non-denizens, including a few widely followed social media celebrities and comedians, so we're celebrating all the attention we get in this tongue-in-cheek, Road-Less-Traveled tribute to CT, quirks and all. STRATFORD, Conn., April 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- On April 7th Two Roads Brewing launched a new Two Roads Brewing ad campaign "Have a Beer, Connecticut," a playful, tongue-in-cheek celebration of the Nutmeg State, created by its agency BRZoom. As Connecticut's largest craft beer brand, Two Roads is embracing the lovable quirks and infamous truths about its home turf – encouraging residents to laugh along with us, chill out, and own what makes the state unique, and, of course, crack open a cold one in the process. The campaign delivers a series of rotating headlines that poke fun at local truths, and pokes fun at some not-so-true arrows thrown our way from national podcast celebrities and comedians we've seen and heard a lot of lately. Headlines call out traffic on our notorious highways, our identity crisis being caught between NY and Boston, and other familiar conversation points you always hear in our State. Taglines include playful jabs like: "We're bigger than Rhode Island!" "Proudly separating New York from Boston since 1788." "You'll miss us when you move to Florida." Designed to be funny, relatable, and hyper-local, the ads celebrate what it really means to be a Nutmegger and beckons CT beer lovers to chill out, have a great beer like Two Roads, and don't take things too seriously. The "Have a Beer, Connecticut" campaign will be seen across billboards, paid social ads, signage, point-of-sale, and throughout the Two Roads campus in Stratford. It's the brewery's largest Connecticut-focused campaign to date - built to spotlight the shared experiences, humor, and Nutmeg pride that connect us all. So, wherever you are in the state—from the Quiet Corner to Greenwich Ave:Have a laugh and Have a Beer, Connecticut. About Two Roads Brewing Roads opened its doors in December 2012 having earlier acquired and renovated a 100-year-old vacant, brick factory building in Stratford, CT. Its name and philosophy are inspired by the Robert Frost Poem "The Road Not Taken"—a philosophy brought to life in the beers & beverages they create using the highest quality brewing and packaging equipment. Since opening, Two Roads has grown to become a Top 10 brewery in the northeast. Two Roads has two tasting rooms on its 10-acre campus including one at its Area Two Experimental Brewing. For more information visit Please direct all media inquiries to John Kubicsko: View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Two Roads Brewing Co. Sign in to access your portfolio
South China Morning Post
25-03-2025
- South China Morning Post
What young humans can do that AI can't
Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification Advertisement I refer to your report, 'Hong Kong schools don't have enough teachers trained in AI, sector veterans say' ( March 16 ), which underscores the need for a new workforce to educate students about the use and potential abuse of artificial intelligence. One of the experts cited rightly points out that we must first train the moral and ethical cores of our youngsters before exposing them to a potentially harmful technology. But ethical training is not enough. A recent study reports that about 40 per cent of secondary school students admit to using AI to cheat. The actual number is almost certainly higher. It is naive to expect that an honour code alone will dissuade students from such rampant improper applications of the internet. Instead, society's modes of teaching, learning and assessing learning need to change fundamentally. Teachers must study what skills artificial intelligence (AI) makes redundant and then alter, evolve or otherwise eliminate their pedagogy in these areas. We must likewise focus attention on the skills that large language models lack. AI is not omnipotent – far from it. ChatGPT struggles to form value judgments (good and bad, better and worse) that it is willing to defend. When asked about the pros and cons of allowing the use of AI in English classrooms, for example, ChatGPT cautioned me that the issue was 'complex' before producing a judicious analysis of costs and benefits. Advertisement At the end of the response, the tool offered a 'possible middle ground': teaching students to use technology moderately. I then prompted the bot to evaluate which of its arguments was 'the best'. Here was its final answer: 'Rather than taking a strict 'for' or 'against' stance, the strongest position is a balanced approach. Students should be taught to use AI as a tool. Schools should emphasise AI literacy.' This 'balanced approach' is typical of artificial reasoning. ChatGPT cannot make exclusive binary decisions in which, like the choice faced by poet Robert Frost's speaker in The Road Not Taken, following one path means rejecting another. This failure is likely due to the fact that AI is unwilling to be wrong or to accept responsibility for being wrong.
