Minisha Bhardwaj, a Gurugram based artist organised a 30-day online art challenge to help break the Lockdown blues. Several artists, cutting across geographical boundaries took up to the challenge with full gusto.
One of the lesser talked about yet a significant issue during quarantine is that of mental well-being. To be confined within your house premises with no social interaction can take a toll on one’s mental health. Adults and children equally are feeling the pinch of staying confined within the four walls of the house.
So came a creative stimulus for art enthusiasts and even amateurs to unleash their emotions on canvas.
Minisha Bhardwaj, a world record holder and an award-winning artist renowned for her sketching conceptual portraits, predominantly in charcoal, initiated a 30-day art challenge. She curated different themes for each day to spill positivity and uplift the spirit of people leading confined mundane lives in the present circumstances. The participants submitted their artwork online.
A Creative Escape
“I started this challenge around 17th March, just before the lockdown,” says Minisha. “I launched it as an online contest to help children express themselves, but soon adults and even established artists joined in. I initially started with simple challenges – meaning of your name, zodiac signs, pay gratitude to doctors and police, exploring cultures others than yours, mythological themes and so on. The themes were well received and reciprocated by the participants and online community since art is a medium to express.”
The response she received was overwhelming with a close to 80 entries. In the process, various sponsors also associated themselves with the event. Minisha soon began receiving listings from Jaipur, Goa, Lucknow and even Dubai. The entries came through Facebook and Instagram platforms.
“We announce four winners every week, making it a total of 28 winners every month. Uchaan, a prominent Art gallery of Gurugram, has agreed to showcase the winning works after the lockdown. Every winner will get to exhibit one artwork while two grand winners will display 3-4 of their art pieces.
Next in the pipeline is another new art challenge by Minisha. One will be exclusively for children and the second for professional artists.
For details about the contest, she can be reached at 9773976201.
