From landmarks to abstracts, Art Group Wanstead member Barkatun Poland (aka Kalpona) makes the most of the park on her doorstep and maintains a link to her Bangladeshi roots
I used to walk in Wanstead Park before the COVID pandemic, but only occasionally, in spite of it being literally on my doorstep. However, during lockdown, a walk in the park became part of my daily exercise and this has continued ever since. I’ve now experienced it at all times of the day, through all seasons and moods, and it has become an inspiration for some of my most recent artwork.
I’ve always painted, even while working full time in education and bringing up my children, and was one of the first students to enrol in an Open College of the Arts course in fine art. I now have a bit more time on my hands and have become a member of Art Group Wanstead, which has helped me link up with some really talented local artists.
I paint mainly in oils and acrylic. In the past, I combined both portrait and landscape work. More recently, following my walks in Wanstead Park, I’ve created a series of semi-abstract paintings and I feel this has helped me to best capture the shifting subtleties of colour and shade, as well as my own thoughts and moods. I’ve also painted some of the local landmarks in Wanstead Park, including the Temple, the Tea Hut… and the cows!
I recently exhibited my work at an exhibition in the Hawkey Hall in March and contributed a series of paintings on the theme of bluebells for an exhibition in The Stow Brothers on Wanstead High Street. In the past, I’ve exhibited work in the Brick Lane Gallery and had a self-portrait in the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition for the Open College of the Arts.
Between 2014 and 2019, I set up and ran a pre-school, playgroup and extracurricular project in Uttara, Bangladesh, which included art classes for young people. During my regular visits to Bangladesh I ran classes for children and young adults, which was really inspiring and reminded me of my own childhood when I would always find a quiet moment to draw and paint.
And ‘Kalpona’? This harks back to my family roots in Bangladesh. It’s the name I use to sign my artwork and is the name by which I am known by my family and close friends. It’s my ‘dak nam’ (nickname in Bengali) and means ‘imagination’.
To view more of Barkatun’s artwork, visit kalponafineart.com
