Seema Kumar

I am professionally a Designer, an Artist at heart and Writer for the soul.

I draw and paint intuitively and spontaneously, moving from chaos and void to order, balance and rhythm. I go with the flow, painting only something that I connect with, relate to, or something that comes from deep within. For me, art is like meditation and music. It blocks out all negativities and pressures, putting me in a state of “flow” (as stated by Mihaly).

I love to create using lines and bright, bold colours, often combining them. When I won a state level award in 1997 for “After Study”, a collage which was made using kite paper, a keen interest in collage and mixed media was ignited within me. I like to work with mixed media and work with the “collage feel” even while painting. While working as a Designer for many years, I frequently worked with lines and dots. I enjoy drawing freehand, where every freehand action, every mark created, leads to the next one, and next, creating a poetry with lines, a story in rhythm. The bright, vibrant colours and free-flowing lines and figures of Mithila/Madhubani painting also inspire me.

I see art as an expression of the self, communicating with the viewer through the underlying meaning; the meaning depends...

• Ph.D., CEPT University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India.
• Master of Design (M.Des.) in Knitwear Design, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), India.
• Bachelor of Arts in Drawing and Painting (Hons.), Banasthali Vidyapith [University], Rajasthan, India.

• Pursuing second Master's degree MAPW - M.A. in Professional Writing with Creative Writing concentration from Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA.

• 2015 - Public art: Painting of 900sq. ft. wall area at the railway station of Chennai Central. Painted the wall in three parts, as three different paintings, from 31st Jan 2015 to 23rd Feb 2015. Acknowledged by News 7 (Tamil) in their prime time news (4th Feb 2015), and by Indian Express newspaper (7th Feb and 19th Feb 2015).
• 2014 - Exhibited paintings and artwork in "Hues", an exhibition of artwork of NIFT faculty during 'Fashion Spectrum 2014', NIFT, Chennai, 28th Feb- 1st Mar 2014.
• 2013, 2011 - Conceptualised and organized ‘DEZINSPIRE’, an exhibition to showcase work of my students of "Apparel Design and Merchandising" program at Institute of Apparel Management, an exhibition inspired from history and interpreted into different ideas and mediums; 7-8 December 2011, and 17th January 2013, at Apparel House, Gurgaon, India.
• 1998 - Exhibited paintings, Artist Prints and sculptures in ‘Pancham Group’ exhibition (a group five young women artists), at Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, 1998.
• 1998, 1997, 1996: Drawings, Artist Prints and sculptures exhibited at Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademi’s Annual Students’ Art Exhibition, Jaipur. Awarded for a collage titled "After Study" in 1997.