From Dhaka went artists like Aminul Islam, Qayyum Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Farida Zaman, Rokeya Sultana and Ranjit Das. From Kolkata went artists, such as Monoj Datt and Uma Siddhanta. From Agartala, Assam and Hyderabad were others like Chinmay Ray, Swapan Nandi, Aditi Chakrabarty and Sisir Sahan.

The purpose of the camp was to foster friendship and understanding between artists from different regions, as they got together and exchanged their ideas and views. Also, the artworks will be preserved for tourists and young artists to view and appreciate. Sitting on the banks of the river, sipping innumerable cups of sweet, raw tea and exchanging views with fellow artists, the five-day art camp was a memorable experience for the participants. The placid river, the tall trees with their dark leaves and the dappled sky were indeed an idyllic setting for the enthusiastic painters. The paintings materials had been provided for, and working at leisure was like a picnic for the artists.

Bimal Kar said he had come to Bangladesh earlier, when he worked here in Nawabpur Government High School and got Zainul Abedin's autograph on one of his paintings. He was born and brought up in Comilla. He had done a series of paintings on the Liberation War called The rape of Bangladesh which he had exhibited in the US. "I progressed from realistic to cubic and impressionistic work to abstract ones with time and find that there are patrons for abstract work aplenty," he said. His composition was in gray, yellow and green squares, rectangles and other geometrical motifs. The second creation also had simple but attractive motifs.

Septuagenarian Uma Sidd-hanata, is from Kolkata. When she entered the Art College in 1951 there were no sculpture students. She wrote a book on her experiences and has two national awards to her credit. "I've been working for 50 years and occasionally face problems but enjoy overcoming them too. I've studied the art museums of Europe and went to various workshops. Encouraged and inspired by the wonderful setting here in Savar, I've done two pieces in plaster of Paris so far," said Uma.

Nasreeen Begum, talking about her work, said, "I've done new types of landscape, taking my subject from my surroundings. The backgrounds of my work are green and I've created a new texture with acrylic. I made study sketches before I went on with my painting." She had brought in the neighbouring village along with the jade-green waves and people at work along the river banks. She too had high praise for the open camp atmosphere.

Monoj Dutt, a self-taught artist from Kolkata, painted romantic images like a flying horse with the crescent moon and toy birds brought to life in flowering branch of kodom. Rokeya Sultana from Dhaka too had romantic images on her canvas and spoke of how the Savar atmosphere inspired her to work freely, with a new burst of inspiration.

The participants made as many as three paintings each and were all in high spirits, despite being immersed in their work.