CHENNAI: From the nuances of everyday life to its complexities, artists find their muse everywhere. When Abinaya Devakumar, founder of The Art Hive, Anna Nagar, started her venture in January last year, the goal was to cater to anyone who wants to create art.
With their recent masterclass Wear Your Art, a session on customising denim outfits, the self-taught artist and architect hopes to expand the possibilities of artistic exploration in daily life.
“Art helps us to grow and connect with ourselves, and be more realistic. This masterclass is meticulously planned and it takes different sessions to understand the intricacies of art. Diya, who is closely associated with the organisation, came up with the idea. She painted on a pair of denim jeans for her mother inspired by the Queen of Hearts collection from the House of Khaddar,” says Abinaya.
They chose denim as it is an easy fabric to work with and is versatile because of its closely knit nature.
The participants are made to understand why a particular medium or art form is important. They also get an idea about the medium, paint, and brushes — more like a market study that makes it easier to choose the materials they want at warm-up sessions, which usually run for an hour or two. “I concentrate on technique and pass exercise sheets for participants to get a hang of it,” she says.
Painting with hands gives a personal touch thus making the outfits unique from the usual clothes in the market and this is their major agenda. Even though the process is repetitive, the founder affirms that it is soothing.
The next focus is on scaling and proportion. Real references are taken and simplified so that people with no art background can get it. “Structuring is very important for a masterclass; even for a beginner, it should be easy. This is our USP,” says Abinaya. A step-by-step guide of tracing, drawing, and copying the real structure of an object, whatever they did on the exercise sheet is followed. “By doing this, they get a holistic approach to how to collect the medium, how it works, and get a hang of it,” says the artist.
Usually, masterclasses are for seven hours split into two days of three-and-a-half hours each. On day 1, exercise and warm-up sessions, scale and proportion sessions are covered and on day 2 is when they get a hands-on experience. “Though it is for seven long hours the response I have gotten is that they enjoy the process and that the structured segments help them break this fear that art is something that is applicable for them,” she says.
The intention is to connect with the participant. “We have to come up with something creative and innovative with every workshop and masterclass,” says Abinaya. The studio also conducts programmes for toddlers, after-school programmes, pottery and a few more. They plan to conduct a Wes Anderson movies-inspired workshop in August.
Instagram: @theart_hive