Thursday 14 March 2013


My AS and A Level Art

For my AS Coursework, I really had no idea what I was doing at first. It was the first time I took art as a proper subject and my teacher had very high expectations from me. I knew I wanted to do something with fashion and drapery, while my teacher suggested that I pick a topic relatively easy to research on (so I could get a lot of primary sources). So I thought Fashion + India = Sari. Ah the sari, 5 meters of elegance, beauty and tradition. I researched thoroughly and created many small pieces on saris as supporting work.

We took a field trip to a Kerala Mural art exhibition during July. Mural art are paintings that depict Hindu gods and mythologies. I was fascinated by the bright colours and careful techniques used to create them. I had seen them before, on the walls of popular Hindu temples. They are so enjoyable to look at, each piece telling a different story. I knew I wanted to include this style of painting in my coursework.

My final piece is set on the night of Karthika, a Kerala Hindu festival, where we light candles, diyas and lamps to place them outsides of our homes at night. Wearing a traditional Kerala settu sari with a kasavu (gold) border, I am sitting in front of a wall with mural paintings. The mural shows parts of the Ramayana.




Final piece 

My Control test exam paper was the May/June 2011 paper. Out of all the options, I chose the topic “flowing” because I immediately thought of flowing cloth, flowing light, flowing water etc… It was a little tricky finishing the final piece in just 15 hours, over a span of 5 days of course. I painted the sea part twice but still wasn't very happy with it, but the overall painting I think turned out to be a beautiful calming painting. 


Final piece 

Before my senior year started, my mother got a job at a school in Bangalore. After 6 years, I was moving to a different state! It was hard at first, but my new school was SO much more lenient and “chill” as my new friends said. I really had a blast, until it was mid second term and I didn't have much art work to show. Once I got all my college applications and interviews done, I started working on my A Level coursework more seriously.

 While trying to pick a theme, I still wanted the element of drapery and wanted to focus more on different prints and such. At this point, I had been offered a place at London College of Fashion and I knew I was moving to London next year! Keeping that in mind, I wanted my final piece to represent my past. I've lived half my life in India and in half in Africa. For my final piece I represented the African side with masks and thread art on the border, the Indian side with Madhubani style paintings along with a dress that I designed and created (including the tie-dye). I posed as if I was “looking back” at my past. I am very happy with it, and Cambridge thinks so too cause they gave me an A!!! 



Originally by Edgar Degas 
Cloth collage 
Cloth collage 
The kiss – Gustav Klimt







Madhubani art
Screen printing 
Final piece 


4 comments:

  1. The tie and dye pieces reminded me of all those paint you had splattered on your floor. I remember, my favorite white shirt spotted with tie and dye colours , because I left it out to dry on the same clothes line you used t dry your master pieces. The entire line had blobs of paint, which was transferred to everything .

    ReplyDelete
  2. hahaha...that was cause we used very cheap dye lol it ruined some of clothes too

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've admired the saree lamp picture since the firsst time I saw it Deviks! :D But wow.... everything else is soo good too man. Keep going!! ;) All the best Devikaaa!

    ReplyDelete