Hello Wonderful People!
My name is Arpana, I was born in Delhi, India in 1988. I am an Artist, Designer, and Content Creator.
Plato’s theory of imitation which is “art imitates life” applied very well to my art career. In other words, I was always interested to draw things around me even objects, nature, or people. During my school days, all those colourful pictures in my books were so fascinating to me and I always tried to replicate them.
I remember as a kid, one of my neighbours was very good at drawing faces of gods, and goddesses. Her art influenced me so much and I was also trying to draw portraits of deities as beautifully as possible. Not only did my parents support me but also my teachers provided me so many opportunities to participate in art competitions and exhibitions. As a result, I won some art awards at the school level which includes Avantika group contemporary artists intellectuals. Those warm encouragements made me realize to pursue my career as an artist.
I went on to study in the college of arts, where I earned my qualifications in Bachelors of fine arts. As a result, I expanded on my expertise in various mediums and methods. Also, I developed my design skills there. In 2010, I won second prize in a competition organized by BJP (Bhartiya Janta Party). After that, I obtained a Masters’s in Art History at the National Museum Institute, New Delhi where I learned more about history, old master’s artworks, and the theoretical part of art. In my last year, I worked as a researcher and also as an Artist in Kalam Memorial Project under Dr Daljeet Kaur (Late Head of the Painting Dept. of National Museum, New Delhi). In that project, other than research my contribution was some of my drawings and an oil painting of APJ Abdul Kalam was a great pride for me.
I participated in various group shows which includes exhibitions in Twin Art Gallery at IGNCA, All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFACS), Artizen Art Gallery at Pyare Laal Bhawan. Also in 2016, I hosted an art exhibition “Essence “with a few of my friends and a group of artists.
After finishing my education, I worked as an art tutor at Mother’s Global school. After that, I worked as a guest lecturer at the Meerabai Institute of Technology in Delhi. Meantime, I started my Youtube channel “ Arpana’s art room “, where I begin sharing my artwork process. Read more about it here. A few years later, I moved to New Zealand where I start working as a freelancer and explored different aspects of art. I set up my online business and took more commission work of portraits of people and pets. Also, I focus on selling my handmade products in local craft shows.
Art is like food for my soul. However, Photography is always my second love. Previously I was just enjoying taking photographs of nature and the people around me. But now I decided to go deeper and take it seriously. At that time, I also worked as a photographer in Sky Tower, Auckland for a few months. Everyone was appreciating my photography skills at work. So I decided to work as a freelance photographer. I begin to take projects on the newborn baby photo shoot, baby showers, and other events.
Above all, I enjoy working and exploring all types of mediums. I am also fond of different types of craft tools and techniques such as Paper mache, quilling, greeting card making, polymer clay, or resin. I love to explore and experiment with everything. However, when I was in India, I was working more in oil colours. But currently, I am working more on acrylic colours and watercolours. I always love to capture the elegance of life and nature in my paintings and sketches. You are open-armed welcome to join me here or on another social platform.
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