Meet Vidya Lakshmi Nikesh | Visual Artist and Instructor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Vidya Lakshmi Nikesh and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Vidya Lakshmi, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I firmly think that becoming an artist was my calling.  I have always been artistic. I started learning South Indian classical music from the age of 6 and still practice. I started off knitting, crocheting, and embroidering but eventually gravitated toward sketching and drawing. I used to sketch a lot, but I never kept any of my early sketches or drawings since I didn’t realize how important they were to save them. I had a preference for fashion and textile design during my undergraduate years. Despite being unable to continue my education in that sector, I continued to create and draw. After graduating, I began experimenting with various painting mediums, and I’ve been addicted ever since.

Making a career out of painting wasn’t an easy journey. I earned my MBA, graduated, and worked as a human resources professional for more than ten years while also practicing art and participating in exhibitions across the world. Even though I was good at my job and enjoyed it to some level, I did not feel completely content with my decision to pursue art on the side. In 2016, I left my corporate job to pursue my full-time career as an artist and art instructor. I graduated from my master’s program in visual arts while this was going on.

Being an artist and being able to create is satisfying in and of itself. It is my intention to produce works of art that are both familiar and unfamiliar, yet intriguing nonetheless. In addition to being able to interact and engage with my paintings, I want people to enjoy viewing and experiencing my art.

I think what made me the artist I am today was an innate desire to understand and communicate my visual and mental experiences, fuelled by the creative environment of my early years.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

-I am a Multi Disciplinary Artist meaning I not only work with different mediums but I also incorporate concepts on different branches of science in my art. I am an avid nature lover and constantly in awe of its wonders-Landscapes, seascapes, flora and fauna and those subjects predominantly reflect in my art. I go by my intuition while working on a subject and choose the medium based on that.

This, I also found to have help my clients because when they have a specific artwork wanting to be made , I am able to suggest which medium could help in better expression what exactly they want. They also get options based on their budget and the turn around time.

I paint in an impressionistic style evoking the desired emotions by the combination of color and strokes rather than the appearance of the subject. I transcend to a different world when I communicate with my mediums and this allows me to paint the subject’s essence. It is my purpose to create art which are both familiar and unfamiliar but intriguing either way. I want people to enjoy seeing and experiencing my art and be able to have a dialogue and connection with my paintings.

-The fact that I am able to create and be an artist itself is very rewarding. I am always excited to teach too. During my stint as a teacher in India as an IGCSE Art teacher, I came across children with special needs. Most of them were not in the higher spectrum but still had lot of challenges.
I used to observe during my classes and how they used art to express themselves and how peaceful they were when they knew they could trust you with their process. That moved me a lot. It gave me a sense of great responsibility as an artist and an art teacher. I want to use my knowledge in art to help children with special needs.

-I believe my desire to pursue painting as a career began when I completed my tenth grade year. Another event that contributed to the idea’s development was when, in the 10th grade, I joined a singing group that represented the Indian state where I was living. Being a part of the group under the direction of a renowned music director was a wonderful experience. I was then really considering pursuing a career in the visual arts, design, or music because I was aware that I didn’t want a regular education.
But the trip wasn’t easy; in fact, it was trickier than I anticipated. My parents believed I was crazy to want to pursue something because I was the first artist in my family of bankers and government professionals.

I ended up receiving my degrees in mathematics, electronics, and computer science in 2003. A few months after receiving my degrees, I got married. After that, I studied and eventually completed a Master of Business Administration. After that, I spent more than ten years working for a few HR consulting companies. I continued to do art while I was working in the corporate world. After nearly 8 years, I finally had the guts to exhibit and took part in my first group show in 2013. Since then, I have participated in exhibitions in India, London, Burma, Egypt, and now the United States.

2014 saw the abrupt death of my mother, which was a devastating blow to me. In order to care for my father and my son, I had to shut down the HR consulting business I had been running. After taking a significant break of around two years, I made the decision that I didn’t want to return to the corporate world and began to pursue art full-time while also teaching.
I successfully maintained a studio with students, and I constantly received commissions.
I relocated from India to the US in December 2020. It was mentally taxing because I had to close my studio in India, leave my work as a teacher, and let go of all the commissions that came in order to move to a new country and start over.

A 2.5-year learning and adjustment process in a new country that felt like riding a roller coaster. In Texas, I filed “Vidya Art Studio” as an LLC in October 2022, and I’m just glad and appreciative of that. Both the commissions and the student population are slowly increasing. I have participated in the Art Expo in New York as well as several events in and around Dallas. I am the Vice president of the Plano Art Association as well as a member of other art organizations in Dallas.
I am also one of the members of The Cove Gallery ,McKinney.

I will always be indebted to all of my new artist friends and other friends who helped me out by giving me the information I needed. I appreciate my family and my close friends for always being there for me.

Through all of my experiences, I’ve discovered that success is not a one-size-fits-all concept and that it requires a person to have unwavering confidence, tenacity, hard effort, a strong will to keep going, and a grounded sense of reality.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

I believe my best friend will enjoy the places I take her because we have similar interests and tastes.
We both adore the outdoors and enjoy taking long walks. Therefore, there will inevitably be a trip to one of the many trails in and around Dallas. I find the charming ambience of the Downtowns of other cities fascinating, and I enjoy the unique little coffee shops and restaurants there.
Driving around is worthwhile for the coffee at the 1418 coffee shop in Downtown Plano and the sandwiches at Patina Green Home and Market in Downtown McKinney.
A day will be set out to drive through Downtown Dallas and also go to the Dallas Museum of Art.
Additionally, we would travel to Deep Ellum to admire the impressive murals painted on the building facades.
There are many sites I have yet to personally explore, so perhaps we will do that together.
I’m going to take her to local art exhibits, galleries, and meet other friends of mine who are local artists.

No get-together with a best friend should conclude without pizza, and Taverna Rossa in Plano is my go-to spot.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?

Any amount of success an individual achieves is never by themselves. There are certain people who enter your life, and the appropriate things they say or do give you the confidence and the strength to urge you forward on your predestined trip. I am very appreciative to the people who have paved the way for me in my journey and provided me with a lot of assistance, such as mentors, chance providers, and constructive critics.

I can’t express enough gratitude to my family, especially to my grandfather and son, who serve as my staunchest supporters. My grandfather, who is 90 years old, shares each of my posts on Facebook. Just take note that he has 20 friends, the majority of whom are family members. What a cute thing that is!

I have a small group of close friends who are constantly supportive of me and express their pride in all I accomplish. To have such folks in my life is a blessing.
The new artist friends I made in US after I shifted here in 2020. Thank you for welcoming me with open hearts and helping me.

Shoutout to friends and social media acquaintances, some of whom I haven’t even met but who consistently click the like button and give heartfelt congratulations and encouraging notes. I appreciate you everyone.

I’d like to thank everyone of my students—past and present—for having faith in me to teach them. Without you all, I would not be the instructor I am.

Forever Grateful!!

Website: Www.vidyaartstudio.com

Instagram: https://instagram.com/vidyaartstudio

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vidya-lakshmi-957b6515

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vidyaartstudio

Facebook: https://facebook.com/vidyaartstudio

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@vidyaartstudio

Other: Pinterest: https://pin.it/5QaBoCW