A local group is working to spark an Artist Exchange program between San Antonio and India. Visiting from there is one of its principals, DevanshiAgarwal. She met San Antonio artist Bill Fitzgibbons when he was in India on a previous Texas Arts exchange.
"He hired me as an assistant curator so I was coordinating the exhibit for them.”
Agarwal is an artist herself, but didn’t start out that way.
“I wanted to be a journalist, but then my father always said no, through art you are making us smile and you are showing us the world through a very different lens.”
Borne out of that Fitzgibbons collaboration was the idea of something more interactive and continual—a recurring artist exchange between Texas and India. That effort is called The Lone Star Art Alliance, and it has secured her to seek out possible artists and resources, starting in a place in India that has a relationship to San Antonio.
”Our first city to collaborate with, right now we are thinking it will be Chennai, which is the sister city to San Antonio.”
I asked for her projected timeline as to when they’re going to have their first exchange of students.
“We are thinking about 2016. So we start with Chennai. And we even do a mentor program, where we could have students come from India and be mentored by artists here. Because it would be nice for upcoming artists to work in the studio of an established artist and understand the business of art.”
She says their objective is a simple one.
“The main mission is to help upcoming artists, and to give them a chance to see the culture outside their own country.”
We will keep you updated on their efforts.
