The first time I ever thought of taking classes was around November
2009. I was trying to get into the field of art, since I did not have a proper degree in arts then and I wanted to pursue more of it in any way I could. That is when the thought occurred to me about teaching what I had learnt. When I was younger, I had a few lessons in Roman Calligraphy. It was the ancient traditional kind of script, not the current brush lettering or copper-plate nib calligraphy.
The content was set, all I needed were some students. I put out a few fliers in my neighbourhood about this and honestly, it did not yield much. But I did not give up, there happened to be an elementary school right across my home, and I wanted to give it a shot. I met the headmistress of the school and she happened to be incredibly generous and recognised my zeal towards art. She kindly offered me a position of an art teacher in their school as the school did not have one at that time. I was ecstatic to take it up and things like the pay did not matter much. In fact, I had proudly used that money to pay for my internet and phone bills. It was a time when I did not even know what kind of art supplies to invest in. So, this was my first toe-dip into teaching. It was a lot of fun but sadly I could not continue it for longer as I had to prepare for my finals in the course that I was actually studying in.
Later, the teaching continued at my home. The guest bedroom had become a classroom of around 20-25 students. Hearing from the students’ parents about how their children had improved their drawing skills brought a lot of joy to me. After a while, I had to discontinue the classes as I had started pursuing my proper education in Digital Media.
Around 2012-13, I had joined the Books and More activity centre where I taught miniature painting on alternate days and conducted various other art workshops. The response to that was overwhelmingly well and that added to my experience. Parents of the students from the activity centre invited me back as they saw improvement in their kids’ creative skills. Even after discontinuing the job, people recognised me in the neighbourhood and requested that I join back. I was pleased with their warm words.
Fast forward to the time I collaborated with a friend of mine who owned a café. The newly opened café was buzzing as I had conducted an art workshop at the place and it was a flattering experience. This opportunity gave rise to a whole new set of opportunities and collaborations with other cafes and locations.
2018 was a busy year regarding the workshops, I took upon many challenges and continued my teaching journey. One of the highlights had been getting invited to teach at the creative week organised by Uber. I had an audience of 100-120 students and I had taken three different sessions on a particular day. It was exhilarating. Another workshop was conducted at the Shri Venkateshwara Arts College. In number, I had the privilege to teach to about 300 students in the year of 2018.
In 2019, I could finally establish an art studio/space and that is where I conducted all of my recent additions to the workshop list. It has been a decade in this journey and I hope to continue it as long as my heart is in it. I am planning and looking forward to the many more workshops that are about to take place soon. Such as the advanced watercolour workshop, called the Master Class, which will be held soon. People with prior knowledge of watercolours or who have attended the basic watercolours workshop are eligible. So, watch out for the dates!
