Having loved the arts since childhood, Hemangi began her career as an Artist Educator in Dubai where she worked as a facilitator with a studio called The Jam Jar. There she designed and facilitated school visit workshops for all ages. Her teaching practice is grounded in an authentic studio approach with a breadth for freedom to create.
Her own artistic practice was spurred when she became a mother in a new country and art became her therapy. She was inspired by her Indian heritage and Indian folk art to make cultural mandalas and zentangles with a variety of inks.
This brought her to delve deep into exploring these global patterns and prints from all over the world. Hemangi says she has found her purpose by focusing on teaching children how to express their own artistic voice while exploring her own.
As an Educator and Coordinator with Blank Canvases Hemangi is able to bring her artistic passion to the children of Toronto from all grade levels. She does this by teaching them about local artists and their art making process while giving them an experience to create in an inspired experiential and supportive environment. She also designs lessons grounded in pedagogical approach using a process oriented student centered teaching practice.
She brings her vast experience in the Corporate world and Clinical Practice into her work as an Art Educator and Coordinator . Her medical practice, which was predominantly treating children, became a catalyst in the transition towards becoming an empathetic Art Educator, enabling a deeper understanding in child psychology and behaviour patterns among children.
Hemangi is currently pursuing Fine Arts Foundation as well as Cartooning and Illustration Certification at George Brown College of Continuing Education.
Her most recent artwork is a series of mixed media Cultural Abstracts inspired by the wide variety of textile patterns and weaves of India. Her work is also influenced by her upbringing in a progressive but conservative Indian family and constantly questioning gender roles defined by the society she grew up in.
She says – “My fondest memories as a young girl growing up in Bombay are the trips to the various ‘kapda (fabric) bazaars’ with my mother and sisters. The colours, patterns, mounds of fabrics, walking through the narrow streets with the smells and sounds of fabrics being cut into pieces, to be taken home and stitched into colourful garments. The conversations around fabrics, sarees, and jewellery are a celebrated part of a girl’s upbringing in India and incite pride in cultural traditions. But, as you transition into a woman, you come to realize that these same objects have also been symbols of oppression and patriarchy over centuries. Through my work I explore these patterns as I revisit my own feelings towards Indian culture, textiles and jewellery to decompose truths of being a woman in India. The interwoven patterns symbolize the complexities of patriarchal structures and modernism where women struggle to find their place and voice while holding on to their cultural self-expression, banishing it altogether. While I find my own voice in society, I look to disconnect patriarchy and culture through my work to showcase the intersections of femininity and fabrics as well as how they connect us to the rest of the world. It also celebrates the rightful place of a woman in Indian society in all its colourful glory.”
Exhibitions
Visual Arts of South Asia
(Brampton) – Arts Festival
Virtual
Aug – Nov 2020
Group Exhibition: Work
For staff and volunteers of Art
Gallery of Ontario, Hashtag Gallery, Toronto Feb 2017
Group Exhibition: Kalagoshthi
Art Lane, Pune, India
Oct 2016