I am not an awarded personality like other madhubani painting artists nor do I know any impressive writing techniques. So what I will write about me is right, short and simple.
I am Kamini Kumari but I would love to write my name with my Gotra (A system of Classification of Brahmins) as Kamini Kashyap. As I am writing this post especially keeping Madhubani art into consideration. That’s why I am not writing much about my school life and it’s not related to Madhubani art too.
I had started making Madhubani painting in the form of aripans at the age of 10 and started helping our family members in making Kohbar on the mud walls in marriage functions. Though I had been in touch with the traditional Madhubani painting since my childhood days but started learning Madhubani art with the help of teachers in 2007 at Mithila Chitrakala Prashikshan Kendra by the great artist Veena Mishra.
Then, in 2008 I had enhanced my learning of Madhubani art by a Mithila painting artist of Ranti village. Ranti like Jitwarpur has always been a place for a number of national awarded and internationally recognized artists.
Then I heard about Mithila Art Institute’s Test for Madhubani Art Interns. I was very happy to know about such an institute that teaches the local amateur artists in becoming professionals. I had qualified for the Madhubani Art Interns consecutively in 2011 & 2012. I had to leave that opportunity in 2011 due to my BCA final year exams and I am happy that I had accepted the suggestion of the interviewer of Mithila Art Institute. I joined the Mithila Art Institute in the year 2012 after got relieved from my course curriculum.
I want to share my feelings about the Mithila Art Institute. This is the institute which is giving the local learning artist, each & every help that helps them in getting a knowledgeable, learnable, and professional artist. And the most important is the teaching provided by the guest faculties from various other countries. It’s an absolutely best institute founded by Parmeshwar Jha and sponsored by the Ethnic Art Foundation.
I got the opportunity to become a student of Cheyenne Tasneem Bsaies, a graduate student in Museum Studies at Syracuse University. She is teaching photography and computer skills at the MAI this summer. The goal is to teach students how to take good photographs of their paintings, put them on a flash drive, and set up their own basic website using Tumblr. I love her teaching style and the art of trying to teach us in our own language. She is the one who helped me in knowing about blogging. I would like to include my brother’s work in the field of Madhubani painting or Mithila or Madhubani. I have two brothers, one is studying engineering & another one is an engineering graduate. Awadhesh Mishra, my younger brother who is more a social worker than an engineer. He made a free website named Mithilanchal in 2008 to help those artists in giving a platform to sell their paintings through webstore and to help those artists showcasing their talents through the photo gallery. His aim is to provide every artist an opportunity to attend workshops, to participate in exhibitions, and to take Mithila art & handicrafts at the international level. Apart from that, the website gives all possible information about Mithila, its visiting places, its culture, its festivals. I am cutting in short- It’s all about Mithila or Mithilanchal. As an elder in my family, I should think about earning from Madhubani Painting because my father, who is a high school teacher is the only person earning in my family. But he had never made us feel like that. I am seriously dedicated to the preservation of our ancient and cultural heritage, Madhubani art. That’s why I am also encouraging my younger sister, who is an undergraduate student towards learning the local art whether it is Madhubani painting or handicrafts etc. I think I wrote a lot. See you in the next blog post.
Contributed by: Kamini Kashyap
Produced by MithilanchalGroup
