An insight of Konkan Art Festival from a participating artist

Hello, I'm Rajgauri Vedpathak - an artist depicting my inspirations through art. I recently exhibited my art at Konkan Art Festival. Here's my experience about it -

"Art belongs as much to the audience that interacts with it as it does to the artist who creates it." As rightly said by Sanjana Shah, Creative Director of Tao Art Gallery, Art needs to reach people. And for it to happen, artists need some kind of platform.

Konkan Art Festival was one such platform. It was a 3-day pop-up exhibition from April 15-17 2022 at Sawantwadi organised by a group of 3 talented girls passionate about art and culture named Surabhi Warang-Naik, Siddhali Warang and Pournima Sawant. Sindhudurga being a hub for creative people for ages, the aim of this festival was to unite these artistic talents and give them a safe platform to showcase their talents. It was their first event.

As soon as I got to know about Konkan Art Festival, I knew I had to participate. This being my first time participating in an exhibition, my main motive was to meet and connect with new people, especially artists and art lovers. I decided to display my original paintings in the exhibition. I also wanted to offer something quirky for everyone who would visit my stall. With this in mind, I started making hand-painted fridge magnets with the scenic beauty of Konkan as a theme. I immensely love Konkan and I am very much inspired by the nature here. I thought it was a good way for the visitors to relate to my art through a common shared love i.e. Konkan. I feel so glad that my fridge magnets were well appreciated by everyone and many of them got sold.

The exhibition had participants from different artistic interests and backgrounds. It had fine artists, commercial artists, cake & pastry artists, fashion and accessory designers, culinary artists, restauranteurs, etc, all in one place, exhibiting their products made with love.

All artists who participated in the exhibition had something unique to display, right from mesmerizing Plein air paintings, landscapes, seascapes, still life paintings, bottle art, home decor items, paper quilling art, hand embroidery, dreamcatchers, fluid art, paper cutting art, readymade rangolis, etc. It was a delight to see their amazing creations and know about them as well as their journey with their passion.

I had a great time interacting with artists and visitors who came to visit my stall. I got a lot of appreciation from them and also got valuable suggestions and feedback which I will definitely work upon.

(There was a moment shared by a visitor which really made me emotional and got me thinking. I'm glad she shared it with me. It definitely calls for another blog.)

The highlight of the event was the Live Painting demos from 3 eminent artists - The treescape demo by Mr. Akshay Sawant, Painting demo by Mr. Pratap Chalke and the Portrait painting demo by Mr. Satyam Malhar. It was truly a wonderful experience to watch them paint live and I also learned a lot through their demonstrations. It was nice to interact with them regarding art.

My family and friends played a major role by helping me throughout the event. I am so grateful for their support in my art journey.

"The journey of thousand miles begins with a single step." I had a great time at the event and I'm glad I participated! Meeting and connecting with new people has definitely instilled more confidence in me and I'm excited to chase my creative pursuits.

Thanks for reading!

You can see my work on my website as well as on IG & FB.

Rajgauri Vedpathak,

Artist @The Art of Rajgauri,

Sindhudurga, India. http://www.theartofrajgauri.in