Padma Shri is a big honour for my sand art: Sudarsan Pattnaik

BHUBANESWAR: With announcement of Padma Shri for renowned sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik, his students congratulated him in an unique way by creating his sand sculpture at Puri beach of Odisha.

They have created a 5 ft high sand sculpture of Sudarsan by using about 3 tonne of sand with some colour sand. They dedicated the art to their guru who will honoured with Padma Shri this year.

Moved by their gesture, Sudarsan said: "I can't express my feelings in words. It's a huge honour for me. Above all, the sand art got recognition in our country and more young artists will be inspired by this, I think people will also be interested to learn more about this art form".

Pattnaik has represented India in 50 international sand sculpture championships and festivals around the world and won 27 championships. He is the first sand artist who will honoured with the Padma award.