Childrens Day special: Heres how you can raise a young connoisseur

The Kapadia children Soham 9 and twins Vihana and Vedita 65 show their artwork inspired by MF Husain SHacircAcircAcircAcircAcircRaza and Claude Monet Their mother Manjari Gharodia Kapadia enrols them in art classes that help them better appreciate artists and their styles PicSneha KharabeWhile Soham Kapadia is yet to pin down his favourite there are two artists whose works have resonated with him I like the Mona Lisa for its brush strokes and MF Husains Horse series for his use of warm colours says the nineyearold At his Nepean Sea Road residence we are flipping through his most recent art book in which he has painted pieces inspired by Edvard Munch and SH RazaHis sixandahalfyearold twin sisters Vihana and Vedita potter around excitedly with their art books and lead us to a painting hanging near their dining table The women are playing Holi in this pichwai and if you look really closely you can see the threads of the cloth says VihanaBeyond school and playground activities the three Kapadia children attend select art appreciation sessions across the city they have recently finished classes with Aashika Cunha assistant curator with the Jehangir Nicholson Art Foundation and an independent art educatorArchitect Sonal Sancheti chats with her daughters Ira and Kyra about Paul Kleeinspired portraits they made of each other as part of a free workshop at the Zentrum Paul Klee in Switzerland PicPradeep DhivarTheir mother Manjari Garodia Kapadia a former strategy consultant says I wanted to enrol them in an art class that went beyond the kunji mdash a Delhi term for exam study guides mdash method They have learnt how to draw shapes and use colours But whats next Looking out for classes that lead children to better appreciate the visual arts Manjari has now enrolled Soham in a Meet the Master series by The Art1st Foundation an art education platform The first workshop in the series to be conducted in conjunction with exhibitions at contemporary art gallery Tarq in Colaba took off yesterdayThe art hobby class is no longer as we knew it mdash an hour long drawing playgrounds and butterflies It has become more sophisticated but retains the flavour of what a hobby is supposed to be Cunha who mentors about five children in each batch at her Malabar Hill residence says that these sessions sit somewhere between the regular afterschool drawing classes and the professional art ones It is not a copydraw class I teach children about artists their techniques and themes And I never give homework which ceases to make such classes fun she saysOne of her students is eightyearold Anjani Lakhani who proudly shows us an oil pastel creation of two aliens under a starry sky It is not hard to guess which Vincent van Gogh masterpiece has inspired the piece Anjani offers us trivia that goes well beyond namedropping mdash how Husain spent money on art materials rather than shoes how van Goghs black was a deep blue and why Georgia OKeeffes Red Canna is her alltime pick We found that most drawing classes arent child driven and do not allow them the freedom of expression Why does an elephant always have to be grey Why cant it be pink says Anjanis mother a Montessori schoolteacherAnjani Lakhani 8 shows two works by her one from a drawing class she used to attend and another inspired by Vincent van Gogh PicPoonam BathijaOpportunities everywhereSonal Sancheti and Rahul Gore practising architects in Kalina have similarly enrolled their teenage daughters in art sessions such as those conducted by The Pomegranate Workshop A couple of weeks ago Sonal hosted a bunch of her friends and their children for an Indian art history session by Ritu Khoda founder of The Art1st Foundation Khoda has coauthored two books mdashRazas Bindu and Eye Spy Indian Art Using the latter Khoda led the participants through a twohourlong session that led them through Indian art movements right from Raja Ravi Varma to Tyeb MehtaThe session say Sonals daughters Kyra and Ira opened their eyes to Indian artists They are familiar with the Wests biggest names having accompanied their parents on travels abroad We make it a point to explore art museums no matter where we go While we are familiar with the West Indias art history is not explored enough in classes out here says Sonal Kyra and Ira fish out their portraits made at the Zentrum Paul Klee the Swiss museum dedicated to the famous abstractionist who influenced VS Gaitonde The siblings have painted each other in palettes as Klee might have Kyra shows us her rendition of Ira mdash in green orange and yellow mdash and says I saw these colours on her face when the sunlight fell on her Prod her for a different answer and she does not budgeOnly for someHowever is the newage art appreciation class a luxury All the parents strongly disagree Manjari for instance rations pocket money for her children every week and asks them to buy art supplies they like Anjanis mother believes that children just need the opportunity to go wild on paper and canvas so why not indulge them Sonal says Workshops in museums are free most of the time And as parents we keep in mind that enrolling them in these art classes costs less than two hours spent at the mallThe one thing that parents and mentors keep in mind is dealing with nudes and controversies The children are kept safe from all the hullabaloo surrounding Husains more controversial pieces they will learn of them eventually say the parents Nudes pose a special problem but one that Anjanis mother isnt too worried about We were at The Museum of Modern Art MOMA New York earlier this year and Anjani saw some nudes by Edgar Degas She just went Oh thats not nice Well talk about it at some point she says