We recently connected with Vidya Lakshmi Nikesh and have shared our conversation below.

Vidya Lakshmi, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I explored arts from a very young age and have learnt and practiced many forms of art. My maternal grandmother has been a great influence on me. Every summer vacation I visited my grandparents, my grandmother used to teach me , my sister and my cousin embroidery, knitting and crochet. My sister and my cousin never liked to do all that and I was extra joyous that I could use all their materials too. I think that phase was important because it helped me hone my designing and drawing skills. Watching my mother weave baskets and getting trained in South-Indian classical music has also been a great inspiration to my art.

I think it was post my 10th grade that I wanted to pursue art as my career. One other incident which pushed the idea forward was that, during my 10th grade I was part of a singing group representing the state I lived in India. It was a great experience being part of the group under the guidance of a renowned music director. I knew then that I didn’t want the traditional education and was seriously contemplating to study visual arts , design or music.

The journey wasn’t simple though, it was more complicated that I thought it would be. Being the first artist in the family of government employees and bankers meant that my parents thought I was crazy to want to pursue something as Art as a career because according to them it was just supposed to be a hobby. Hell broke loose and so I ended up graduating in Mathematics, Electronics and Computer Science in 2003 and got married few months after graduating. Post that I pursued my Masters in Business Administration and graduated that too. I then worked for some HR consulting firms for more than a decade. During my corporate stint, I was still practising art. After about 8 years I got the courage to display and participated in my first group show during the year 2013 and since then I have displayed in shows in India, London, Burma, Egypt and now in US too.
I lost my mother suddenly in 2014 and that was a huge blow for me. I closed down my HR consulting firm I was running, in 2016 to look after my dad and my son. After a long sabbatical for about 2 years I decided that I didn’t want to get back to corporate and started pursuing art full time whilst teaching too.

I ran a successful studio filled with students and had continuous commissions coming in. addition to this, in 2019 I graduated in Masters of Visual Arts- Painting, Sculpture and Art History.

I shifted from India to US during Dec 2020. It was mentally exhausting because I had to close down my studio in India, quit my teaching job and let go of all the commissions which came by to come to a new country and start everything afresh.

2 years of roller coaster ride of adapting to the changes and learning. I am just happy and grateful that I registered my studio “Vidya Art Studio” as LLC in the state of Texas in October 2022. Students are coming in slowly and so are the commissions. I have done multiple shows in and around Dallas, participated in the Art Expo at New York. I am a member of many art organisations in Dallas and the Vice President of Plano Art Association.
The journey continues….

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a self – taught artist. I started to knit, crochet and embroidery at a very early age but slowly drifted towards drawing and sketching. I used to sketch a lot but never saved any of my early drawings or sketches (didn’t know the importance of it). During my college years I was inclined towards fashion and textile design. Though I couldn’t pursue my education in that field , I still kept drawing and designing. My mother always caught me either sketching or reading a book without studying. Post graduation is when I started exploring different painting mediums and I fell in love with the oil medium. I believe that through oil paints I could express myself better.

Later through the years I also got hooked on to other mediums like Soft Pastels, Color pencils, Mosaics and also do lot of Mixed Media art.

I am an avid nature lover and constantly in awe of its wonders-Landscapes, seascapes, flora and fauna and those subjects predominantly reflect in my art. I also work on concepts based on different branches of Science.

I paint in an impressionistic style and use the impasto technique, evoking the desired emotions by the combination of color and strokes rater than the just appearance of the subject.

I don’t believe in restricting myself to work in a particular medium. I go by my intuition while working on a subject and choose the medium based on that.

This, I also found to have help my clients because when they have a specific artwork wanting to be made , I am able to suggest which medium could help in better expression of what exactly they want. They also get options based on their budget and the turn around time.

What do I do ?

– [ ] Landscape Paintings
– [ ] Flora &Fauna Paintings
– [ ] Conceptual Abstract Paintings
– [ ] Utility Art

My paintings are created in different sizes starting from 3” x 3” mini paintings to be kept on desks or on the fridge as fridge magnets to bigger sizes like 5ft by 6ft to adorn the walls of both commercial and residential spaces.

My conceptual paintings are based on different branches of Science and are in abstract style.

The objective of utility art form is to design and manufacture objects that are both aesthetic and functional. When I thought how I can incorporate the art form I practise into utility art, I came up with variety of products.
My products in utility art ranges from coasters made using mosaics, ornaments/ charms, number and name boards, art on furniture. I am looking into exploring more such utility objects which I can incorporate my art into.

I transcend to a different world when I communicate with my mediums and this allows me to paint the subject’s essence. It is my purpose to create art which are both familiar and unfamiliar but intriguing either way. I want people to enjoy seeing and experiencing my art and be able to have a dialogue and connection with my paintings.

I also conduct regular art classes and workshops. I believe art is for all and teach any age groups of people. I find teaching very fulfilling and also adds to my purpose of creating art.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I did not for a very long time even know if I had a goal or mission driving my creative energy. I didn’t know I needed one. For a very long time my goal was only to learn better and create beautiful art. I was naturally inclined to nature and so my artworks predominantly conveyed the beauty of nature in its different forms. The kind of conviction I had to create art personally meant there had to be a reason or a path I have to take, Call it the purpose of my life.
I am grateful to have listened to some beautiful compliments from people who have viewed my art or have bought them. The joy of creating art which added such value in someone’s life was satisfying.
Adding to that, When I quit corporate and took up teaching, I realised how much I enjoyed teaching art. It was so wonderful and made me very happy, especially teaching children.

Well was that it? Teaching art was my goal… no… yes it made me very happy but I felt there was something more which is driving me. During my stint as a teacher in India as an IGCSE teacher, I came across children with special needs. Most of them were not in the higher spectrum but still had lot of challenges.
I used to observe them during my classes and how they used art to express themselves and how peaceful they were when they knew they could trust me with their process and also being themselves That moved me a lot. It gave me a sense of great responsibility as an artist and an art teacher. It also affected me that those children were not accepted by the society, their friends, their teachers and some case even their parents and other family. I really wanted to do something.
That’s when I realised that that’s my purpose. I wanted to use my knowledge in art to help children with special needs.
Post relocating to the United States, I have been researching and learning more about Art Therapy and how to become Art Therapist specialising in the field of Special Needs.
It’s quite a long journey but I am determined to work towards it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the fact that I am able to create and be an artist in itself is very rewarding.
There were many instances which added to the whole experience.
Situations when some artists and also non-artists have seen my paintings and say that it reminded them of seeing a Van Gogh’s or Monet’s painting. Well, what can be more rewarding than that. I know , I am not even close but that keeps me motivated to do better.
I have had situations when some children saw my artwork or watched me giving a demo and told me …” I want to be like you, I want to be able to paint like that”. Another reason, for me to work towards being better. As it is said , you never know who you are inspiring.
I feel inspired to do better and my inspiration also comes from all such experiences. It’s a two-way street.

I am just grateful to be able to evoke such positive emotions in people.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.vidyaartstudio.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vidyaartstudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VidyaArtStudio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidya-lakshmi-957b6515
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/vidyaartstudio
• Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/41o9EAx.it/3C4oeM2