Challenge your creativity

DO THE NEW

The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good sense’, Pablo Picasso once said. Those of us who grew up in the eighties know the profound truth in this statement. There is something very familiar about being told that if we were bad at maths and science, then we weren’t going to be successful people!

The intense pressures of preparing for various competitive examinations for admission to reputed engineering, medical and management colleges began early, and our rehearsed replies to queries about our ‘future plans’ always had the same answer — medicine, engineering, finance or law. This, despite the fact that most of us did not really know what we wanted to do in the future.

Children stopped attending art and craft classes because parents believed that other pastimes like chess or abacus would nurture their offspring’s ability to reason and ace complex maths problems.

Similarly, middle and high school children were driven to excel at their studies and those among them who were labelled ‘successful’ were typically those who represented their schools in quizz competitions.

Now, three decades later, there is a pressing need to be able to ‘think out of the box’.

Art of the matter

From routine design and art courses to specialised programmes, India’s media boom has thrown open doors to students who wish to experiment and carve a successful career out of their creative talent.

Programmes in the field of communication and art are attracting young talent in large numbers.

The prices commanded by Indian contemporary art are  twenty times higher than they were in 2001. Collectors from all over the world are eager to invest in Indian talent.

Amateur and professional art students of the country’s finest art schools are happy with this trend.

Kamala, a fourth year student at Shristi, the art and design school in Bangalore, says: “My course has equipped me to be flexible in my thinking and explore my imagination without fear.” To Sharayu, a third year student at the same college, taking a course in art meant learning life skills, developing the ability to think differently and gain hands-on knowledge.

Opportunities in the fashion and art capitals of America and Europe are twice as many, with colleges offering scholarships for those who wish to take their talent across the seas.

Sangeetha, a student of The Art Institute of Chicago, expresses her concern about the need for art therapy in the field of mental health, a path that is  unheard of in India.
After a graduate course in visual communication from a popular Chennai-based college, Sangeetha decided to go abroad.

“I decided on art therapy because I want to use my skills to help people who are in need. This field has helped me critically analyse issues in mental health as well as issues pertaining to race, class, gender, sexuality and other social disparities that we often tend to ignore,” she explains.

Open and inclusive

In Bangalore, students from various backgrounds are opting for short courses in basic design.

Institutes such as Wigan and Leigh that offer diplomas in Management & Design are a popular alternative to those that offer a full-fledged degree. Lianna Dias, who has experimented with Fashion & Textile Design, made a transition to Management & Graphic Design. “The course structure has helped me to create visuals and market them,” she says. She hopes to work in the creative education sector.

Placement is not an issue, Lianna insists. “Reputed companies visit the college to recruit promising talent.”

Keerthana Devdas, a photography student of the Light and Life Photography Academy in the Nilgiris, says her class consists of engineers, lawyers and management graduates. “The only common factor is that we are driven by passion for photography,” she says. “Photography was certainly not what I wrote my ‘what I want to be when I grow up’ essay on,” she says with a chuckle.

Design outsourcing is in

Thanks to the popularity of social networking sites, showcasing work and marketing it online can be done from a desk anywhere in the world. The blogosphere has also given people the power to  sell their work to a global audience. Students can now easily log on and create their portfolios on sites such as Flickr, Picasa and Google.

Design outsourcing too has taken a whole step forward with a lot more countries focusing on emerging economies like India and China. Early this year, The Independent in Britain reported that even during the recession, it was cultural industries that kept the economy going. Various design firms in Britain are  outsourcing their design needs to the talent pool in India and China.

Hail the entrepreneur!

Similarly, creative entrepre-neurship too is taking a whole new turn as students are taking the risk of standing on their own feet. Rashmi Watwani, a student of Fine Art in Chennai’s Stella Maris College, yearned to carve a niche in the world of art on her own and co-launched a label called ‘Madras Ka Bag Kompany’ with husband Sunny Watwani and friend Anubhav Agarwal. “I felt the need to stand on my own feet and test my potential,” she says. “It is difficult but it was worth the risk,” she adds. Her successful luxury bag company has attracted much attention in Chennai and other cities. On the whole, the creative sector has  promising prospects for those who have the will power and the talent.