“Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

I have two passions in life. The first is creating art, and the second is teaching. At an early age, I discovered my love for art while watching my mother paint. I drew my first realistic portrait at the age of 11 on a dare from my uncle. After that, my family and friends bombarded me with requests for drawing portraits. In my early days, I would sketch profile portraits of anyone who would sit for me. I felt very comfortable and happy to capture people on paper. I took the next step by getting a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, honing my craft while simultaneously expanding my horizons.

Over the years, I moved to America and, while looking for a job, spent all my time creating art (that included commissioned work), learning from various artists, and freelancing as a Web and Graphics designer. I took a break from my career for over a decade to raise my two children. Now that my children are more independent, I decided to return to my professional career and achieve my lifetime dream of becoming an artist and a teacher – thereby fulfilling both my passions. My Indian roots mostly inspire my art. I love the colorful clothes, dances, and exotic mustaches of the people from my birthplace. I primarily work in Pastels, Ceramics, Mixed Media, and Photography.

Teaching Philosophy:

As an artist and educator, I care deeply about the value of an education in the arts. My philosophy of teaching is anchored by a personal goal to be a lifelong learner - consistently improving and evolving my pedagogy. My personal and professional growth informs my teaching, and therefore, I strive to be well versed in new developments in the field, to be an ongoing participant in the art community, and actively exhibiting my artwork. A philosophy of art education must involve an understanding of student learners, child development, artistic development, and how each student learns things a little differently. I believe that each student is unique, individual students are driven by different means and to different ends; therefore, there is not a “one size fits all” approach that will match all students’ needs. What might work for one student may not work for another. Finding and making personal connections with a diverse population of learners is something I would like to develop through collaboration with students, parent, educators, community, as well as my own reflection and professional development. My focus is on teaching the whole student, which includes essential life skills used outside the classroom like social-emotional learning, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, stress management, leadership, and so much more. Teaching these skills don’t only create successful students but successful people. Teaching with mindfulness is an embodied pedagogy; it allows us to pay full attention to the ongoing pedagogical process and having these in our toolbox can help us manage students and ourselves more successfully.