Today we’d like to introduce you to Shailee Thakkar.
Hi Shailee, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
Art has been a part of my life since childhood in India. I remember taking art lessons and being actively involved in my drawing classes at school. I grew up watching my dad make and distribute Diwali cards every year. It was our big yearly festival, and we went all out with our celebrations. Most Hindu households would decorate their porches with Rangolis, intricate designs with colored sand. Watching my mom, uncle, and dad surround a Rangoli and fill it with steady hands gave me something to aim for. After moving to the US, we tried to continue that tradition as best we could. Art has always remained a constant hobby, something behind the scenes of my childhood, schooling, and college. When I became a teacher, my favorite lesson in Biology was teaching the kids to differentiate between plant and animal cells. While it was a crucial lesson for the students, it allowed me to share something I was passionate about. At that particular school, the only extracurricular activities available were sports and theater, so it was exciting when I could bring an art club to our school for the first time.
In 2020, I decided to step away from the classroom and pursue my interests in the arts. It was a big risk, given that I was leaving a secure job during the pandemic without a goal other than wanting to take some art classes at ACC. Luckily, the knowledge I gained and the skills I developed pushed me to want to do more. I was encouraged by the faculty and was nominated for a student show after my first semester of taking classes. I kept thinking it was a fluke and that I would be a one-hit wonder, but that didn’t happen. I kept learning more about printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture in addition to my traditional classes, and I loved it all. I also joined the community by interning at Slugfest Printmaking Studio and ICOSA Collective. I got to show my work publicly in 2021, and I’ve tried to show more work since. I genuinely enjoy the work I’m doing professionally and personally while building my portfolio. I’ve worked as a Gallery Assistant at The Art Galleries (TAG) at ACC since last year. I’ve learned and gained experience in installation, design, and archiving, all crucial aspects of exhibits. This experience has been invaluable as it has impacted how I do my work, not necessarily regarding the content, but how it would be installed or viewed. It’s a constant visit to the drawing board, literally.
All of this has led me to today. I continue to build my body of work, develop my style as I experiment with different media, and grow as an artist.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Most definitely not. I was a teacher for seven years, so leaving a job I genuinely enjoyed due to getting burned out felt disheartening. I had to overcome some professional hurdles and some major personal ones as well. During the summer after I left the classroom, I was lost and had low self-esteem. It hurt my ego, and I kept thinking I had failed at a job where I had committed so much time and effort. Luckily, once the classes at ACC started in the fall, that doubt went away, and I haven’t regretted my decision for a second. Another big struggle came after I started taking classes. I went into my classes with some experience but a lot of self-doubt. You set yourself up for failure when you have a single narrative of what good art is or what it should look like. You end up comparing your work to others and judging yourself with a biased opinion. Self-confidence isn’t something you can gain overnight; it builds up with tiny successes. I’m grateful for those small victories that helped me gain confidence in my technical and conceptual skills. My family supported my decision to take this huge risk, and professors at ACC gave me the opportunities to grow. Other artists in the community took me under their wing and provided valuable feedback about my artwork and website. I’m grateful to them.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My current body of work includes pen and watercolor drawings on paper. I’ve started with the most basic tool: a pen. It’s practical and forces me to use the eraser a lot less. It also forces me to work smarter and more efficiently. I’m still experimenting with materials and seeing how they work together to help me execute my vision. I like to create busy works that contain expressive and repetitive marks. Strangely, even though I don’t plan on making my work look the same, subconsciously, they end up with similarities, which helps find my style. It also helps my work be more cohesive without trying too hard to fit artwork within a narrative.
I’m most proud that I’ve experimented with different materials enough to know what I could do if I chose to work with them in the future. I’m glad I have that in my arsenal. I feel proud that I’m confidently moving forward with my chosen medium. No matter my class, I always returned to paper and pencil drawings, knowing that’s what I enjoyed working with. I’m proud that I’m relying more and more on my instincts to come up with concepts for my work, even though I often get feedback on the way to the execution of the idea.
We all have different ways of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I think success is achieved by reaching many smaller milestones you set for yourself. I’ve set one long-term goal and a few short-term goals for myself. At the moment, I’m working on finishing one piece at a time. When I finish a piece that matches what I had in mind, that’s a success. Once that finished artwork is named, photographed, documented, and rolled away to be stored, that’s another success. I’m also trying to improve my gesture drawing skills by observing people. At the end of a 2-3 hour drawing session, if I have at least 4 or 5 good reference sketches that I can use in my work, that’s a success. Eventually, when my portfolio is completed for graduate school, that will be another success. I think the point is to set milestones for yourself and work towards them constantly. It also helps to have people in your corner who will give you challenges outside of your comfort zone, and it’s up to you to take on those challenges to constantly improve and progress.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shaileethakkar.com/
- Instagram: _shaileethakkar
Image Credits
Revanth Anireddy
