VIDYA VIVEK, ARTIST

“I had the first solo exhibition of my paintings in October!” says Vidya Vivek, a self-taught 36 year old artist from The Nilgiris who turned her hobby into a full time profession. Vidya worked briefly in the IT world before taking a break to raise her two daughters, now 14 and 8 years old. With encouragement from her husband, she kept learning techniques, styles and mediums from the internet. After many trials and errors, many hours of hard work and times that tested her patience, she settled on her very own style that has come to be much appreciated and sought after.

It is evident that Vidya has a passion for art. She also believes that we need to nurture art appreciation in children. To enable that, she organizes a program, cleverly titled ‘Vidaarty’ through which she takes kids to museums and galleries to introduce them to the history of art, various artists and their styles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With no formal training, Vidya started out making conceptual work but somewhere along the way she began comparing her work with other accomplished artists. She admitted she was not confident. After a few group exhibitions, however, she received feedback from senior artists and public that they missed her originality and that was when she decided to focus on her own ideas, build on it with confidence and not worry about the outcome.

What Vidya has learned on the way is that, “There is no shortcut, you work hard every single day and you will reap the benefits on the way.” She knows the importance of women being there for each other and hopes to help those reading this feature cement belief in themselves. Ending on a wise note, she urges us not to, “Live only to build your kids future, do something for yourself, pick a hobby, learn some craft. It is never too late to begin anything!”