No matter what happens, keep moving, nothing will stop us: Amrita Tiwary

Shilpa Mitra

Kreative Minds is an Art and Culture school founded by Amrita Tiwary in the year 2016, after so many years of struggle, Amrita opened this school, before starting as an Art Teacher, she started working in the year 2005, immediately after completing college. She continued to work in the corporate world for almost 11+ years. The fields she explored in her work career – Back office administration, Sales and Business Development. At the time of resigning from her last company, she was appointed as the Head of Business development leading a team for the Southern and Eastern Region of India. The year 2016, Amrita started to work for her passion and decided to teach some young learners in Art and Craft and Design.
Amrita has completed various courses in the field of Art and Design. She is not only a teacher to the learners of Kreative Minds but also a mentor to few private students who have opted for Art as their professional course in their schools and colleges. In the phonic interview with Artist Amrita Tiwary she said she starts her new year on a very positive note. She shared her experience of 2020 and also her future plans for Kreative Minds.

1. We have started our journey again in 2021, what have you learned from 2020, as it was a challenging year for everyone, especially for the artist?
Ans: Yes, 2021 is here. It’s just the beginning of it. 2020 – the most challenging year I have ever experienced in my life. I think I can say this for the entire world – what a challenge we all experienced in 2020. It did teach us a lot. 2020 changed the entire work culture in every industry. Especially in the Art field, we saw a major change in the way artists – painters, dancers, musicians, singers and all – had to adapt to the New Normal. Singers, Dancers & Musicians who enjoyed and loved performing in front of live audiences, are today performing in front of cameras. We painters, who love to hear about their artworks directly from the admirers and viewers, have now settled down to the fact that, even which will be done online through WhatsApp, YouTube/Facebook/Instagram comment sections and etc. We artists had to adapt to the new normal to keep moving on. Presenting, exhibiting and teaching any art form online is not a possibility – was the thought. Now, we learnt and we adapted to the new techniques and now we are implementing those in our daily life, art and etc. So it’s not difficult. It’s just that we have to do it. Most important learning of 2020 – “No Matter What Happens, No Matter Comes Our Way, Keep Going, Keep Moving, AND Nothing will Stop Us.”
2. Will you continue with your online class after the end of the pandemic?
Ans: Oh Yes, absolutely. Along with regular offline classes (whenever it starts), online classes will definitely continue. This pandemic, though it had disadvantages, but it also had a lot of advantages. Especially, it broke the barrier for teachers/mentors/guides like us, who were unable to reach out to many and teach or be with them as guides due to distance, place or time. In Kreative Minds, we have been taking online classes for the last 3+ years. But these classes were only for overseas students mostly. As on date, learners from not only all over the country but also from small villages are able to learn from the comfort of their homes. Thanks to this government who saw the importance of digitalization. Earlier, it was a major issue to travel to various places on a regular basis, but today, we are travelling every second of our life with our knowledge being imparted to every art interested/lover/enthusiast soul and mind with the help of Digital World.
3. When will you start with your offline projects?
Ans: Regular offline classes will begin not before August-September 2021. The fear of coming together in a closed classroom – where it is difficult to maintain the distance between learners, especially in this field – is still there. We still do not know how this virus works firstly, and secondly, we now have an extended version of this virus. So we will wait and see how the entire process can be worked out. Maybe we will begin with senior batches towards July-August (understanding the strength of students are less compared to junior batches). Let us wait and watch for now.
4. What are the viewers/audience reactions you have received in an online Art Exhibitions which you conducted last year?
Ans: To be very honest, the reactions were good and feedback was positive. Where we lost is to provide the actual feel of viewing an artwork physically. The admirers of artwork always prefer to look at the artwork physically. It gives a clear understanding of what has been done in a painting/sketching. The texture, the surface, the detailing, the expressions expressed, directly connect with the artwork cannot be felt in the same way in an online exhibition. What we could achieve was, we were able to reach out to more numbers of audiences across the globe. It was not restricted to any particular district, city, state or country. We received enquiries and yes, were able to send them pictures of our artworks. May be slowly-slowly, we will see a growth in online art exhibitions too.