For the Love of Art
Calling young explorers to discover the world of contemporary art

A course by The Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) designed and developed in collaboration with artist and educator Nilanjana Nandy

• Ages: 7 – 11 years
• Date and Time: 2nd Saturday of every month, 11am – 2pm, May 2016 - April 2017.
• Venue: FICA Reading Room, D-42, Defence Colony, New Delhi and other venues in case of site visits.

Registrations are on first-come basis and confirmed only upon payment of fees. This is a one-time annual fee, and includes all material costs. Please note that part the fee will also support five gifted students in this programme. If you would like to register please write to us at info@ficart.org with the name and age of the student, and we will get back to you regarding the registration procedure.

The For the Love of Art course offers students the opportunity to engage with the world of modern and contemporary art in India through sessions that are focused on the exploration of mediums, materials and artistic language.  Spread out over a period of a year, with a session on every second Saturday of the month, the course aims to engage the students in an extended conversation about understanding and navigating the world through the visual medium.

FICA has collaborated with Nilanjana Nandy to design this course. Nandi is a visual artist and educator with over eight years of experience in teaching and working with students. Nandi graduated with a specialisation in Painting from MS University of Baroda, one of the premier arts institutions in India, and has carried forward the critical approach that the school is known for through her own work. She believes in using art education to create points of deliberation, make connections and generate enthusiasm, in order to help children learn through exploration, play and processes. As an art educator she has worked with several schools in Delhi and NCR including St. Mary's, BTWS, Suncity World School; conducted workshops at Sriram School, IILM Institute; worked as visiting faculty at College of Art, Delhi and Sushant School of Art and Architecture. In her own artistic career she is deeply involved in developing projects with children.

The course: 
The basic premise of the course is based on the belief that art education is not only about skill-building but also about the overall development of the child, in academics and life. Each session will thus take up one medium or material or thematic and explore it through the works of well known artists and by encouraging students to try their own hand at it. The different skills or criterions undertaken during the entire course include:

• Critical thinking and problem solving skills: Analyzing; Comparing & contrasting; Asking questions; Defining(largely deducing one's own definition based on the experience gathered);Describing & explaining; Trying to find cause & effect; Making connections
• Subject specific: Observation and Focus building; Visual spatial understanding of concepts; Drawing, colouring & composition; Cutting pasting; Designing; Reading-Writing; Listening
• Group and individual learning: team work and collaboration; independent research
• Inter-personal skills: Group participations; Negotiation skills; Sharing and Speaking
• Direct learning: through studio or gallery visits; one-on-one engagement with artists/designers/artisans

The Course Structure bases itself on ideas of participation, relationship building, inquiry, and play-based learning, and is strongly dependent on the child’s interests to create meaningful learning experiences. As this requires the group to be small and the teacher to work closely with students, the course structure, as it is laid out below, will be subject to modification and custamization as the course develops. The course details of the first five months have been provided below, and the remaining sessions will be developed as per the capabilities and interests of the student group.

Field trip: The course will also include visits to exhibitions/museums, or an artist’s studio, which will be scheduled closer to the actual dates of the class. Parents will be notified via email or telephone to bring their children to the respective venues for these special visits.

Final display: at the end of the course Nilanjana Nandi will work with the students and develop an exhibition of their works from this course. This will be on view for a full day so that the students can share their experiences and work.

Course structure: The course structure is subject to modification. Thus the first 5 months' schedule has been provided below, and the details of the remaining course will be provided once the course leader, Nilanjana Nandi, can meet and assess the interests and needs of the group.

Session 1 + Orientation for parents and students
Date:  Saturday, 14 May 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Artist books & graphic novels
Artists explored: Sarnath Banerjee , Orijit Sen, Tanmoy Samanta

Session 2:
Date: 9 July 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Miniature - and /in - contemporary art (Part 1)
Historical examples : Mughal, Rajasthani, Japanese
Artists: Nilima Sheikh, Shahzia Sikandar, Pascal Monteil

Session 3:
Date: 13 August 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Miniature - and /in - contemporary art (Part2)

Session 4:
Date: 10 September 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Diagrams -  in/as -  contemporary art
Artists: Susanta Mandal, Goutam Ghosh, Shreyas Karle

Session 5:
Date: 08 October 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: What goes on inside ourheads?
Artists: Himmat Shah, FN Souza

Session 6:
Date: 12 November 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Foliage Study
Artists: Hemlatha Pradhan, Chameli Ramachandran, A. Ramachandran, Karl Blossfeldt

Session 7: Winter Session
Date: 10 December 2016
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Saket
Artists: Jeram Patel and abstraction

Session 8: Winter Session
Date: 07 January 2017
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: National Gallery of Modern Art, Delhi
Artists: multiple artists

Session 9: Winter Session
Date: 04 February 2017
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: India Art Fair 2017, NSIC Grounds, Okhla
Artists: multiple artists

Session 10: Spring Session
Date: 18 March 2017
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Vadehra Art Gallery, D53 Defence Colony
Artists: multiple artists

Session 11: Summer Session
Date: 8 April 2017
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Vadehra Art Gallery, D53 Defence Colony
Artists: multiple artists

Session 12: Summer Session
Date: 17 and 20 May 2017
Time: 11am – 2pm
Title: Vadehra Art Gallery, D53 Defence Colony
Artists: multiple artists