About
“Participants are much more expressive. Earlier teachers used to tell them exactly what to do and they did it. But now they think on their own. Usually they don’t want to talk about themselves but now are expressing their vulnerable side through all these different mediums."
- Hasina Khan, TARA Homes coordinator
Tahsin Akhtar
Artist Tahsin Akhtar led our 5th Teaching Fellowship for 2019-20. Through the Teaching Fellowship, Tahsin introduced participant to the fundamentals of visual art, animation and digital media. With a focus on visual storytelling, Tahsin led the group from drawing out their own stories to create their first ever animations. He has also been taking regular workshops with the participants during the lockdown period, encouraging them to make art during this time with simple materials around!
Tahsin Akhtar has an MFA in Painting from College of Art, Delhi and a BFA from Jamia Milia Islamia, Delhi. His art practice incorporates new media and technology through the use of photography, videos, Graphic Interchange Format, VFX and 2D animation. Tahsin is also well versed in mediums such as painting, sculpture and paper making.
"This fellowship gave me a chance to experience teaching as a simultaneous process of learning, besides delving into new dimensions of art education."
-Tahsin Akhtar, Teaching Fellow 2019-20
Established at the initiative of the avid art collector Kiran Nadar, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (knma.in/) opened in January 2010, as the first private museum of art exhibiting Modern and contemporary works from India and the sub-continent. Located in the heart of New Delhi, KNMA as a non-commercial, not-for-profit organisation intends to exemplify the dynamic relationship between art and culture through its exhibitions, publications, educational, and public programs. The museum has hosted critically acclaimed exhibitions that have celebrated Modern and contemporary art in the country and abroad. KNMA upholds the tradition of art patronage and continues to expand that definition through its education initiatives and collaborates with schools, colleges, NGOS and Trusts. KNMA has become a place for confluence, through its curatorial initiative and exhibitions, school and college workshops, art appreciation discourses, symposiums and public programs.
“For us funding the Artreach Teaching Fellowship is to extend our support for art education at grassroots level. It is also to support experimentation and development of informal ways of art learning, what classroom structured education at times fails to do.”
- Roobina Karode, Director, KNMA
Artreach Teaching Fellowship
A foundation course in art for young people in care
Through a year of intensive workshops the carefully selected teaching fellow leads about 20 participants from one care home through a comprehensive experience of art education. They explore techniques, media, art history and aesthetics. The artist-educator takes them on field visits to art colleges, exhibitions and art fairs.
Beyond the teaching of technical skills and insight into art history and aesthetics the artist encourages participants to use art as a tool for the critical exploration of the world, seeks to cultivate their imaginative, creative and reflective skills and encourages them to find an individual expressive voice.
The sustained contact between the students and the artist, who becomes a mentor figure, is unique and powerful.
The artist is guided by an expert panel of artist-educators who meet at least three times during the fellowship year. The advisory panel includes Atul Bhalla, Susanta Mandal, Kristine Michael, Deeksha Nath, Akansha Rastogi, Anni Kumari, Vandana Kothari, Sonam Chaturvedi and Megha Madan.
The fellowship encourages the artist educator to reinvent and relook at their teaching methodologies, sensitively catering to the needs of the participants. Artreach team mentors and works closely with the Teaching Fellow to make this possible through the year.
Read more about the Teaching Fellowship
Artreach India (artreachindia.org/) is a charitable trust established in 2015, with a mission to reach children, young people and women from marginalised communities in India, and transform their lives through art. Artreach's core team is Ita, Anarya, Shivangi, Charty, Sonam and Sophie.
This programme is supported by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA). KNMA has partnered with Artreach since 2016 to support our Teaching Fellowship.
“Our hope with the Teaching Fellowship is that young people’s eyes and minds are opened to new ways of seeing themselves and the world around them and that they find confidence, support and direction to pursue their artistic journeys, whatever they might be.”
- Charty Dugdale, Founder, Artreach India
18 talented young adults of Tara Homes, Delhi, are the creators of all the artwork of Moving Worlds. Aged 12-18, and a mix of boys and girls, they are keenly exploring their individual relationships with art making and have worked through the year with passion, joy, and dedication.
They are: Noorjahan, Kamaljeet, Sharwan, Manoj, Raj, Vishal, Vanshika, Noorie, Sikander, Shyamu, Rashid, Lokesh, Nandini, Sachin, Sameer, Piyush, Roshni, Jyoti
TARA (taraindia.org/en) is an NGO offering a residential service in Delhi with an emphasis on education for children in need of care and protection. They run 4 homes: TARA Boys (6-18 years old boys), TARA Girls (6-18 years old girls), TARA Tots (2-10 years old children) and TARA Big Birds (after care program for young adults). TARA homes ensure quality education, security, complete health care and a real opportunity to carve a bright future. Their homes are not institutions!