Teenage artist wants art societies set up in schools.

Byline: Sher Alam Shinwari

PESHAWAR -- A teenage artist hailing from Mardan has asked the education department to set up art societies in all the schools of the province for grooming of young artists so that they could acquire different creative skills to cope with the digital technology.

Shah Khan, 11, a sixth grader in a private school of Kati Ghari village in Katlang, Mardan has recently stunned audience on social media after his calligraphic artworks and pencil sketches went viral.

'I request to the educational officials to set up art societies in all schools so that small children could bring out their God-gifted talent and get opportunities to create new ideas. I am a self-taught sky artist. I searched on the internet and ended up with a Russian artist, who I believe, is my ideal as he too seems to be a self-taught sky artist and I even tried to recreate a few of his sketches,' said the teenage artist.

Shah Khan says he started taking interest in pencil sketching when he was six-year-old

During his visit to Peshawar to attend a paintings exhibition, this scribe caught up with him to answer a few queries regarding his, art, dreams and future plans.

He said that he had no teacher in art and the inspiration came from within and made him a restless soul to pick up pencil and began drawing sketches of all those...