When Mukta met Monet!
“Ajoba (Grandpa) in this photo is Claude Monet and he loved to paint water lilies.
In my art class I also painted water lilies just like him, look here Daddy!”
When I heard this from my 5 year old, studying in Kindergarten at KHS, I went from being flabbergasted, then surprised to the core, then slightly conscious since I myself didn’t know much about Monet, finally settled down on feeling proud and overwhelmed that my little girl knew this and had drawn such a beautiful ‘Bridge over the Water-Lilies’ painting!
Saturday morning’s are lazier than the weekdays. Since it’s a school holiday, the usual war-zone frenzy of getting two kindergarten kids ready for the school before the dreaded horn sound at 7:30 AM from the school van, isn’t there. But this Saturday (22 March’25) was different. KHS Pre-Primary had the art exhibition in school and Mukta had been talking about it throughout the week. I will be honest, I wasn’t as excited as she was but then 5 year olds are excited about watching ice melt so.. yeah. I know you get the point! 😉
I have been wrong, many times, about what experience is laid down before us as we are anticipating it but I had no clue that an art exhibition by KHS pre-primary school would be such an enriching experience. Since we have two kids in there, wife and I, are used to visiting the school every month for the parents teacher’s meeting and have always felt the space buzzing with energy and purpose. This art exhibition morning had the same positive vibes and then some more artistic, fun energy floating around with so many enthusiastic and expressive children.
To start off, there were multiple stalls where the ever smiling teachers were guiding little artists on creating their own masterpieces using techniques like vegetable printing, cotton dabbing, drip painting and many more. It’s such a pleasure to see all that pent-up energy in these 5 year olds, actually going into creating something beautiful! Both Mukta and Meera walked away with multiple ‘masterpieces’!
Next came the surprise which I hadn’t anticipated, that opening line of this blog. Mukta enthusiastically telling me about Monet and showing me the ‘Bridge over the Water-Lilies’ painting! I asked her teacher and she explained that the kids from her class were introduced to Monet, shown the presentations/videos of his, style of painting and have created their own art based on what they heard and learned from such lectures!
And yeah, Monet was just one of the artists..
Through out the educational year, kids from different classes have been taught about the Russian painter, Wassily Kandinsky and his famous concentric circle art, Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and his grid style paintings, American artist Jackson Pollock and his drip, splashing and pouring style of painting; which I am damn sure was a big big hit with all the kids, The famous Bindu art style of our very own Indian Painter Sayyed Haider Raza and of course Mr Andy Warhol and his pop art style of painting. Each of these artist is an icon and kids getting this kind of exposure to various forms and ways of expressing through art, I believe, is immensely enriching for these young minds. It was amazing to see renditions from kids based on the style from these well known artists and we clearly understood why our kids loved the art class so much!
Two hours went by in an absolute blink and while walking out we got to experience the sea world and a jungle kingdom, both created from what we usually call as waste material like cardboard, paper cups, straws, plastic spoons. Few months ago, teachers had asked all the kids to bring such waste material from home and these throwaway things being turned into such art installation would not only teach the kids about re-cycling but also stimulate their vision towards finding beauty in seemingly mundane, everyday things, which is quite a life lesson.
Had to literally drag the kids away from the beautiful, detailed and intriguing displays of both these habitats.
I firmly believe that this generation is going to be at the forefront of a tremendous technological shift as they grow up. The prowess and reach of digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence is going to revolutionise every industry within their early life time.
Biggest strength and differentiator for our kids is going to be their imagination while ensuring they remain true to their ‘humane’ side in a exceedingly intelligent and yet ‘artificial’ digital world.
Thanks a lot KHS pre-primary for a top-notch art exhibition and giving these enriching experiences to our Kids and to the Kids in our hearts!
Thank you Shantanu for sharing your thoughts on a commendable initiative from KHS Pre Primary school last weekend with Art exhibition. It is heart warming to even see that Mukta mentioned Monet and understood in her own way to create a painting on the artists liking. It is equally encouraging for me and am sure other parents to get to read and talk about the great artists and the art of their times. It should only inspire young generation to learn more about humanity, society, scientific achievements and have a broader worldview. Congratulations to the school and hope and wish they continue such initiatives.
शंतनु , किती छान लिहिलं आहेस तू हे सगळं ….
Drawing-painting is not just creativity …Its self-expression ,emotional well-being ,hand and eye co-ordination , helps in making decision about colours ,shapes ,compositions . अशी सगळी कौशल्ये विकसित करणाऱ्या या KHS school मधे तुझ्या मुली आहेत ही खूप भाग्याची गोष्ट आहे .त्यातही या शाळेतील art-teachers मुलांना किती प्रकारचं exposure देत आहेत हे वाचून मी खरोखरच थक्क झाले.By the way…मला या शाळेचा लॉंग फॉर्म सांग ना.
आर्टिस्ट Monet च्या पेंटिंगवरून inspire होऊन पाच वर्षाच्या मुक्तानं तिचं चित्र काढलं आहे,तर तिचा मेंदू या वयातही किती सर्जनशील झाला असेल …
चित्रकार रझा हे नांव मी अभिनव आर्ट स्कूलमधे गेल्यावर ऐकलं होतं.हिनं पाच वर्षाची असताना ऐकलंय.शंतनु-अमृता तुमच्यावर किती मोठी जबाबदारी आहे लक्षात येतंय ना…😃जंगल,sea-world बघून वाटलं ….किती लवकर या जगांशी जोडली जाताहेत.आणि त्याबरोबरच एकत्रित काम करण्याचे….टीम-वर्क चे धडेपण घेताहेत.
I was deeply impressed by reading your write-up.Keep writing .