Taking the words from the College song, Trinity College has truly been a “land of youth and dream” for many of us. The typical Trinity education develops us to be men of good calibre, giving us the opportunity to contribute to society using our talents through teamwork, collaboration and leadership. This article is about a young artist who developed a passion for art through many inspirations, but as the saying goes, “The cake was baked at home”.
Pulasthi Handunge is an old boy of Trinity College from the batch of 2014. Following his passion, he now works as a junior architect and continues his studies.
Pulasthi, like many of us, started drawing before his schooling. Joining Trinity in 2001, Mrs Deepika Gamlath became his first art teacher. Later he was also taught by Mr Heenagama in Middle School and Mr Somasiri in Upper School. He was a member of the School Officers’ Guild, the Senior Cadet Platoon and many other school societies and clubs.
He had his first solo exhibition when he was in grade 10 at Alliance Française Kandy.
“The teachers at Trinity always encouraged me to perform well. My batch mates always appreciated and commented on my work”
After finishing his ALs in the Combined Mathematics stream, Pulasthi followed his studies in watercolour painting under the guidance of artist M.D.S. Goonathilake and Vasantha Perera.
Artists M.D.S. Goonathilake, Vasantha Perera, Kingsley Goonathilake, H.A. Karunarathna, David Paynter, Stanley Kirinde, Vincent Van Gogh, Alvaro Costagnet, Nicolas Lopez are some of Pulasthi’s inspiring personalities.
“Although I started to do paintings before my school career, Trinity has always helped me to do great things. For me, Trinity Chapel is a place filled with art and craft!
I find painting as a way of expressing feelings and emotions, a mode to convey my imagination. I use to visit exhibitions often, where I learned a lot from other artists. Everything was an inspiration for me to create something new”
Being inspired by the grand architectural culture at Trinity, Pulasthi did not forget to contribute something back to his school. An album consisting water colour paintings of various buildings of Trinity was donated to the College archives.
He also gives a message to young and to be artists of Trinity:
“Be curious, learn new things, be creative and keep drawing!”
Some images from his collection are shown below:
