Life & Work with Vidisha Bajpai

Today we’d like to introduce you to Vidisha Bajpai.

Vidisha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born and raised in India, and moved to the US 20 years ago. I’m a self-taught visual artist, and have been painting since I was 5 years old. In my school years, I have won many awards in various art contests at the city and state level competitions. I have also won the Indian Presidential award organized by Nehru Bal Samiti in third grade. I still remember the title of my artwork was “My class Teacher”. Painting is a spiritual journey for me wherein each of my artwork reflects my love and passion. It’s like meditation.

Born in a family of academicians and professors, I have always been inclined towards higher studies. I have a BA in Mathematics and have pursued advanced certifications in Computer science.

Art has been always my passion, an outlet to express myself as I was an introvert in my childhood.

My parents always encouraged me to practice my art, snd several pieces of my artwork adorn the walls of their home in India.

I have been living in Orlando for almost a year now, and lived in Dallas for 19 years before moving to Orlando. I have been teaching art for the last 10 years, and I love working with kids. I opened my art studio called “Vidisha Art Studio” six years ago in Dallas. My website is www.Facebook.com/vidishaartstudio

For the past couple of years, I have been practicing Indian folk art called Madhubani. Madhubani art has been practiced by women in rural India since ancient times. It’s their only way of earning their livelihoods. Hence this art form is a source of empowering underprivileged women in South Asian villages.

Besides practicing my art, participating in a beauty pageant was also one of my childhood dreams as I used to enjoy watching the Miss India and Miss World beauty pageants! Back in 2014, I got the opportunity to participate in Mrs. South Asian Texas beauty pageant, and I won the Mrs. Photogenic award and had reached the final five contestants.

Recently, I have been selected as Mrs. Orlando 2022. I will represent city of Orlando at Mrs. Florida America 2022 in May this year. Mrs. Florida America is not just a beauty pageant but every contestant has to represent a platform. Being an artist/ art teacher, I have selected my platform as Arts in Education and Women in Arts. I am looking forward to having my own art exhibit of Indian Folk art to raise awareness about it. I am also writing a book about this beautiful art form.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
After our first kid was born, I decided to be a homemaker and got very busy with my family, and more so after our second kid was born. Since we have no extended family here in the US, I was completely engrossed at home with little time to spare for myself but always found ways to volunteer in my community and children’s schools as volunteering has always been my passion. Once my kids became independent, I started practicing my art and got involved with Visual Arts Guilds in the Dallas area. I started my own efforts of giving back to the community through my art. I have donated several of my artworks to support various charities in the Dallas area as well as in Central Florida. I have been fortunate to have raised tens of thousands of dollars for the several charities I have supported. Along this journey, I learned that building awareness and appreciation for the Arts is not trivial. Whether it was motivating a group of students in my daughter’s elementary school or inspiring my neighbors to join me in creating holiday cards for our city’s first responders, I had to spend a considerable amount of time and effort coaching and training the volunteers on how to create the artworks in those endeavors.

My husband has been super supportive all along and has helped me get out of tough situations. 2020 was hard on all of us and I had to shut down my well-established and thriving art studio. My husband gave me an idea to start my classes online with the appropriate tech setup to enable an interactive teaching setup. At first, I was little skeptical first but then I received good responses from students. Soon I had students not just from my city, but from all over the US. Following are my internet/social media platforms:

www.vidishabajpai.com
www.facebook.com/vidishaartstudio
www.instagram.com/vidisha_bajpai
www.mrsorlandoamerica2022.com
www.instagram.com/_vidishabajpai_

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have worked with abstract art, Indian folk art, and Tuscany art, Floral art and I love to work with oil and acrylic paints. My artwork includes various kinds of style like impressionistic using pallet knife, impasto, fine art. My work has been exhibited at various prestigious juried art shows and galleries like Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando International Airport (MCO), Fusion Fest at Dr. Phillips Convention Center, Dallas Bishop Arts District, Frisco Discovery Center, McKinney Performing Arts Center, Irving Arts Center, Dallas Latino Cultural center, Bath House Cultural center, Charles W. Eisemann Center in Richardson, Coppell Art Center, and Texas Visual Art Association.

Being an art philanthropist, I feel responsible to introduce this beautiful art form to masses and promote it on the global platform. I’m most proud of the fact that my daughter got inspired by all the community service work I have been doing and 3 years ago she opened her own non profit called Anika Art Foundation. It was fun to experience mother-daughter partnering on several global volunteering initiatives like hosting an art workshop for an orphanage in the Bahamas and an art camp for hundreds of underprivileged students in India. My daughter and I also raised thousands of dollars for charitable organizations and served senior living centers, children’s hospital, and first responders. To be able to pursue my childhood passion of creating beautiful artwork and channeling that passion towards charitable causes and serving my community is somewhat unique based on my experiences.

How do you think about happiness?
Spending time with nature makes me happy. I am an avid gardener, and I love to spend time gazing trees, flowers and birds. I get my art inspiration mostly through nature as it’s so peaceful and calming. I feel happy in giving back to our community. I have been involved with many non profit organizations and have served their boards as well.

In Texas, I was the board member of Visual Arts Guild of Frisco, board member of Moms Club of McKinney, board member of Frisco women’s league, Frisco Garden Club, Art in Education Chairperson in Ashley Elementary, FISD.I have served board positions in Southlake Garden Club, Southlake Women’s club, Durham Intermediate School, Carroll ISD , Art Docent Chairperson , Women council of Dallas Arboretum, After moving to Florida, I have become a member of Winter Garden Rotary Club, Central Florida Women’s League, Orlando Museum of Art, Council 101, Indian American Chamber of Commerce, Asian American Chamber of Commerce and The Women’s Club of Winter Park.

I love serving our community by participating in the events organized by these organizations, as well as creating artwork and donating it to charitable organizations for fundraising efforts. I get immense joy in donating my artwork for charitable causes. So far, I have raised over ten thousand dollars by donating my artwork to following charities:

American Heart Association, Power of the Purse organized by Central Florida Women’s League to raise funds for the scholarships for the underprivileged high school girls, Festival of Trees and Art in Bloom organized by the Council of 101 to raise funds for Orlando Museum of Art, Love and Hope Gala organized by Community Enrichment Center, Grace Grapevine, Spring Luncheon organized by Southlake Women’s club, Wild Flower Luncheon organized by the Garden Club of Frisco to raise scholarships for students who want to pursue Horticulture studies in college, donated my painting to Southlake Chamber of Commerce Annual fundraising awards dinner event, SEWA DFW organized Diwali dinner to raise funds for Hurricane Harvey victims.

As Mother Teresa once said, “ It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving”. For me, this quote beautifully captures the essence of happiness.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.vidishabajpai.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/vidisha_bajpai | www.instagram.com/_vidishabajpai_
• Facebook: www.Facebook.com/vidishaartstudio