Behind The Scenes
“Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” - Claude Monet
Vision
To inspire a global appreciation for the enduring beauty and cultural significance of Madhubani art by seamlessly blending tradition with contemporary aesthetics.
Mission
To shape Creatively Dynamic, Culturally Rooted and Socially Sensitive leaders!
Deepti Agrawal
Founder
Deepti Agrawal, a Governor’s Art and Heritage Award Honoree in 2022, is an artist and designer from India is a specialist of Madhubani Painting, a folk art from the state of Bihar. She has been into learning, teaching and exhibiting this art form since 1992.
She is a TEDx speaker, a heritage art ambassador with Humanities Washington, a culture and art educator at Seattle Art Museum, a speaker at the Washington Speaker Bureau, Master Artist at Heritage Arts Apprenticeship Program by WACulture for last 4 years, a trustee on the board of Humanities WA and the President of Friends of Asian Art Association.
An MBA Finance Gold Medalist and a corporate professional, Deepti couldn’t let her obsession with art lay dormant for long. She jumped to embrace it as almost a full time profession at the first given opportunity.
Deepti Designs is a means developed by her to fuel this passion. Every single art piece under the banner is unique and painted or designed by Deepti. She is a fast emerging and versatile artist who is uniquely experimental in her approach.
Although not being professionally trained in art, she uses it to her advantage and creates pretty imperfections along her way which have now become her style and ‘artentity’.
Nikita Thakalth
Director
Events & Outreach
Capable of seamlessly blending artistic prowess with unwavering advocacy, Nikita stands tall as a distinguished art ambassador. Exceptionally passionate about the heritage art and all that we do, she wears multiple hats in our organization. As an artist, an art educator, an outreach pro, an events lead, programs coordinator, she has fostered strong creative connections both within and outside communities for our youth artists.
After Graduating in Naturopathy with specialization in Homeopathy she practiced for a year in Mumbai before moving to Seattle. Love for art started in elementary school when she explored different art forms on and off throughout the school years. Nikita continued her passion for art with multiple workshops in ceramics, hand pottery, wheel throwing at Kirkland Art Center.
She worked as an art Docent at NSD for 4+ years and was instrumental in designing, planning and executing end of year auction project in elementary school.
Meet the Team
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Shilpa Sherigar
ADMINISTRATIVE HEAD
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Nikita Thakalath
TEACHING ARTIST
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Vrinda Rathi
TEACHING ARTIST
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Anushka Bains
TEACHING ARTIST
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Anvika Bheemarasetty
TEACHING ARTIST
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Prisha Mundra
TEACHING ARTIST
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Srinidhi Kodemala
TEACHING ARTIST
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Sai Keertana Ganta
TEACHING ARTIST
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Aadya Bommineni
TEACHING ARTIST
KALAKRITI
Where it all began, 3 decades back...
In the year 1992, a foundation was laid for an accelerated and everlasting growth of one of the finest art-forms from the rurals of Bihar known as Madhubani Painting. The origin of Madhubani Painting a.k.a Mithila Painting is shrouded in antiquity. Some say, it dates back to the time of Ramayana and has been passed down through generations since then. Whether or not that's true, the baton of raising awareness about this beautifully intricate and detailed art was taken up by a husband and wife duo - Priti Agrawal and Rajat Kumar Agrawal, almost three decades back.
They started an institute called Kalakriti at their home in Darbhanga, Bihar, which worked towards empowering and promoting the local less-privileged womenfolk. It began with a group of twelve women who worked together to learn, unlearn and fine-tune their home-grown art skills. After 2 years of hardwork, some samples were made ready which, with much skepticism, were taken to the up-market boutiques and store owners in the metros across the country. The response was incredible. Orders started pouring in and this group rose exponentially in strength, confidence and artistic caliber.
Today, the first of its kind, Kalakriti stands tall, in the same exact house, doing exactly what it did then, BUT with much more confidence, valor and pride in its 25th year.
Following the tradition of the art-form, Priti and Rajat Agrawal passed this legacy down to their daughter Deepti who is based in Seattle and runs her own label Deepti Designs internationally. She practices, trains and exhibits Madhubani Paintings by self and her students at the most prolific and diversified platforms to help raise its awareness at a global level.