30 June 2015

They are speaking. Are we listening???

An amazing workshop attended on Child Sexual Abuse. One of the sensitive issues we face in India but never feel comfortable enough to talk about such topic. Most of us live relatively simple lives. We wake up, have our coffee, run to work/school and then around five or six o’clock we begin our slow march home where we can finally take off our shoes sit back and relax. But for most of the world such is not the case. It may be strange to ponder, but you are much closer to the one percent than you may think. I think it's time we need to break the silence.

Experts suggest children as young as three or four should be made aware of different types of touch in simple language which does not frighten them. This is the time when children can understand a good touch and a bad touch

“Bad touch”, a term used by child psychologists to describe sexual abuse,  is not limited to the handling of a child’s private parts.

Children often show us rather than tell us that something is upsetting them. There may be many reasons for changes in their behaviour, but if we notice a combination of worrying signs it may be time to call for help or advice.

What to watch out for in children:
  • Acting out in an inappropriate sexual way with toys or objects
  • Nightmares, sleeping problems
  • Becoming withdrawn or very clingy
  • Becoming unusually secretive
  • Sudden unexplained personality changes, mood swings and seeming insecure
  • Regressing to younger behaviours, e.g. bedwetting
  • Unaccountable fear of particular places or people
  • Outburst of anger
  • Changes in eating habits
  • New adult words for body parts and no obvious source
  • Talk of a new, older friend and unexplained money or gifts
  • Self-harm (cutting, burning or other harmful activities)
  • Physical signs, such as, unexplained soreness or bruises around genitals or mouth, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy
  • Running away
  • Not wanting to be alone with a particular child or young person
Any one sign doesn't mean that a child was or is being sexually abused, but the presence of several suggests that you should begin to ask questions and consider seeking help. Keep in mind that some of these signs can emerge at other times of stress also.

As an adult the role is not only to spread awareness or identify the signs but also safeguard the interest of the victim but also report the case.

Thanks Team to make me aware of my role as educator.



“Adults need to teach the children they love about sexual abuse so they know what to do if they encounter it. We need to prepare them so they know who to tell, should a violation occur, so they don't have to live with a painful secret, long into adulthood.”
― Carolyn Byers Ruch

29 June 2015

Welcome back to School!



Hello! I hope you all had a great summer.  I am happy to have the opportunity to work with all the students in arts this year. It’s time for all the students that have been for summer months to gather and share your sketch books from the places you have visited.

I look forward to working with my young artist as their minds and artistic abilities blossom over the course of school year. I hope you will always feel welcomed in the Art room and that you will enjoy all the artwork this session brings.

Eagerly waiting to begin classes and meet new faces!

23 June 2015

Visual Arts Education



Visual Arts education provides opportunities for students to develop higher order thinking and problem solving skills. It enables them to enhance imagery and spatial learning, individual, cultural, global and aesthetic awareness.

Visual Arts education enables the child to explore alternative ways of communicating with others. It encourages ideas that are personal and inventive and makes a vital contribution to the development of a range of intelligences. A purposeful arts education at primary level is life- enhancing and is invaluable in stimulating creative thinking and in promoting capability and adaptability. It emphasis the creative process and so ensure that the child’s work is personal and has quality.

Objectives of Visual Arts

Students through this curriculum would be provided opportunities to develop the ability to:
  • Learn to appreciate art
  • Explore a variety of art materials while learning new techniques and processes
  • Analyze, reflect and apply the structure of arts with its core elements
  • Perceive and respond to work of arts, objects in nature and events
  • Create work of art by using their skills of observation and response
  • Place objects in space, understand dimensional perspectives and thematic drawing
  • Recognize and analyze works of art from various historical periods and diverse cultures
  • Establish a constructive and positive environment conductive to creative experience
  • Recognize their own ideas, values and beliefs and communicate them through Visual Art
  • Make enriching connections and integrate Visual Arts and other curricular areas
  • Develop and promote self-expression

My personal aims for an art program also include:
  • Introducing art as a visual language
  • Developing personal aesthetic awareness and visual literacy
  • Generation of personal and relevant ideas through a variety of mediums and approaches
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Higher order thinking skills involving analysis, evaluation, and synthesis
  • Encouragement of students to learn through experimentation
  • Development of creative potential
  • Development of self-expression and cultural identity
  • Fostering of an understanding of other cultural heritages
  • Promotion of co-operation and collaboration
  • Encourage creativity and experimentation with a variety of media, materials, techniques and processes
  • Develop intellectual and expressive potential through art experiences

22 June 2015

Redefining My Art Experience through Meditation



Art has given me an opportunity to learn how to reach a meditative state when expressing creativity on the other hand meditation has given me the confidence and the creative skills to make beautiful pieces of art.

In my childhood, I would spend hours doodling or making something out of piece of a paper. I felt so relaxed and completely immersed while other kids of the same age used to play video games, I was completely absorbed in creative something on paper. This is how art became one of the chosen relaxation practices that I did on regular basis.

No matter how scattered my mind might be at that moment, when I start any kind of work of art, it relaxes my mind and takes me into a meditative state. 

When I sink into the creative process I experience similar stages of feeling connected or oneness with the activity, deep joy or peace, distraction and panic. In mediation I try to seat through difficult emotional states and crazy making thoughts. Art making evokes the same effort from me. And it is blissful!


“Art can permeate the very deepest part of us, where no words exist.”