Smart Art
Art is stereotyped as chaos, disorder, and madness. But what most people don’t realise is that there’s always a method to the madness. Artist Kavita Rajput’s art classes for kids encourage kids 4 years and above, to learn to “see” before they “draw”, and also the importance of balancing structure and creative flow. Even while she is a firm believer that there is no right or wrong in art, she wants to make sure her students learn the rules before they decide to break them.
Although Kavita graduated with a Masters in Finance from London Business School and worked as an investment banker in New York, she always kept her creative juices alive through various hobbies like singing. It was only after the birth of her first son that she decided to put her financial savviness on the back burner and shine a spotlight on her itch for art. After completing adult education lessons at the New York Academy of Art, Kavita went full speed ahead towards her desire of becoming a watercolour artist. When her family moved to Singapore in 2012, she wanted to take her dream one step further by executing a solo exhibition in an art gallery. And this of course would require funds. Putting her business know-how into gear, Kavita began offering first adult and then children’s drawing lessons from her apartment. And the rest as they say is history.
Kavita’s art studio in Tanglin Shopping Centre is an oasis of colour and calm. Pastel yellow walls add just the right amount of pop to the space which is covered with large white poster papers, most of them showcasing little artists’ handiworks of the day. Giraffes, toucans, eagles and peacocks were apparently the talk of town at the last session. Kavita or Ms. K as her students fondly call her, usually begins the class with a 5-minute warm-up exercise asking kids to copy simple objects on paper and flexing their minds. Then she draws the subject on a large paper on the wall, posts several photos of it from different angles and asks the kids to draw it in their own manner. Finally, students are asked to add their own personal touches to the piece. Uniquely enough, Kavita expects kids up to 10 years of age to draw with thin-tipped felt markers not pencils, emphasising that if they used pencils they would end up erasing a lot more thereby losing focus. She wants to encourage them to solve the problem when they think they have made a mistake by drawing the wrong line and to find another solution to right their wrong. “I want to make them understand that every line is not perfect but it all ends up as something”.
During these classes, younger kids are provided guidance and structure without enticing them to be competitive and judgmental. There are also Drawing and Watercolour and Drawing Fundamentals classes for 8-13 years old where they are introduced to more advanced skills like perspective drawing, proportion, 3-dimensional shading and portrait drawing. This June, Kavita will once again be offering a range of workshops and camps including Art Through the Ages where students aged 5 and above will be exposed to various art periods and introduced to some of its most famous artists. If you’re looking for a class where your kids’ skills will not be judged and critiqued, on the contrary, honed and encouraged then you’ve hit the jackpot.
Tanglin Shopping Centre