By Anishka Gogoi

On May 23rd, Deepti Designs participated in the Northwest Folklife Festival once again. The Northwest Folklife Festival gives our youth artists the chance to share their artwork and the beauty of Madhubani art, while also teaching visitors how to create a meaningful keepsake for themselves.

Participants loved the stall and were inspired by all the beautiful artwork and powerful stories behind them. As quoted by @deeptidesigns on Instagram, it was a "beautiful weekend that was wonderfully filled with art, connection, learning, and community."

By Jahnavi Shukla

Let’s congratulate Parishi and Myra Garg, the students who rose to the challenge of running our school’s Madhubani booth for our sixth consecutive year, and achieved an impressive outcome!

Leading up to the fair, both students worked together to create a wide variety of Madhubani products, ranging from photo frames to bookmarks.

But even as the fair day arrived, their work was far from over! For four hours, Myra and Parishi ran the booth, interacted with attendees, and made sales. And their handmade pieces were appreciated by many, because by the end of the event, they had sold out all of their inventory!

We commend Myra and Parishi on running such a successful booth!

By Jahnavi Shukla

Our students constantly challenge themselves in Madhubani class, but some take it further and apply their Madhubani skills outside of class as well!

This year, Varsha Subramanian did just that! Varsha, an 8th grader who attends the Evergreen School, entered their annual yearbook cover design competition. Her design integrated Madhubani elements that she thought represented the yearbook's theme “Building Blocks of Evergreen.” When asked why she chose Madhubani, Varsha explained that it allowed her to share a bit of her culture, as well as spotlight the Evergreen School's diverse values.

Varsha’s thoughtful designs did not go unnoticed: her school chose her design as the official cover of their yearbook for this year!

In her cover, featured below, you may recognize some signature Madhubani designs, such as the twin leaf border and mandalas. Varsha states that the layered borders represent the different stages of learning at her school.

 Congratulations, Varsha on this achievement! We can’t wait to see where our artists take us next.

 By Manavi Shukla

On June 13th, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation hosted a block party in honor of the Stimson-Green Mansion's 125th anniversary. The trust is dedicated to its mission of preserving heritage and empowering local communities. 

The mansion brought people together through an amazing event with food trucks, live music, arts, and crafts. Deepti Agarwal was invited to represent Humanities Washington and bring some lovely artwork to the block party. She brought two jigsaw boards for show, and both were bought by another artist! 

The party was a great experience in meeting people from all over Seattle who share an interest in art and the humanities. Here are some pictures from the event!

By Manavi Shukla

Speaktank is a great opportunity offered by Deepti Designs for students to build their confidence in public speaking and develop stronger presentation skills. Each cohort is three months long, and it culminates in a public presentation. 

On June 14th, Speaktank’s current cohort delivered their presentations at the Bothell Public Library. Here, the nine youth speakers presented five-minute-long speeches to over fifty people each. Congratulations to these speakers for creating such great speeches and presentations!