Ashm Verma. Photos: Chris Emeott
Artist turns her passion for education into her own studio and teaching space.
Ashm Verma has never questioned that art is her calling. “It was always my passion. I started learning art at age 4,” says Verma, who grew up in India and has called Plymouth home for five years, along with her husband and two kids.
Even when she was a pint-sized artist, Verma had a supportive family and the space to develop her talents. “My dad was an artist,” she says. “He used to paint, and he painted when he was a child. I got a lot of skills from him and learned from him.” Her dad also helped her discover that she especially wanted to branch out from traditional paintings.
A painterly technique adds texture to this peacock feather painting.
“He bought me some mediums, and I used them to create some three-dimensional sculptures,” Verma says. “Then I wanted to sculpt, more than just two-dimensional paintings. It stimulated more imagination. Three-dimensional paintings push the boundaries of conventional art and offer more connectivity.” The figures reaching out from her signature canvases—an elephant in sunlight or the figure of a woman in water—are lively and textural. “I love capturing the sense of movement in 3D space,” she says. She works with everything from Plaster of Paris to clay to oil paints.
In this painting, the woman’s skirt is sculpted, adding an additional dimension to an otherwise two-dimensional painting.
Although she never had any formal training, Verma has exhibited and sold her work in galleries and shows in the U.S. and India. Even while she completed multiple degrees in microbiology, she kept making art. During her doctoral work, focused on biotechnology and cancer research, Verma would often encounter kids in the local park on her walks home. She started talking with them about art, and it reminded her how much she loved it.
Soon, Verma found that what she really craved was sharing the artmaking experience with others. “I dropped everything in 2009 and started teaching art,” Verma says. “I wanted to enhance the inner talents and hidden creativity of each child.” She now teaches art classes full time in her Medina studio, ART-orium, mostly to kids, although she also offers some parent-child and adult-only classes. Her philosophy puts each student’s creativity at the fore. “I want kids to imagine on their own and just use the skills and techniques I’m teaching as tools,” she says.
Verma offers classes on fundamentals like sketching and sculpting, as well as seasonal, project-oriented classes. She’s developed her own stepwise curriculum, so returning students can progress as they learn new techniques.
Her own daughters, ages 13 and 10, love art, too, and often attend their mom’s classes. “I love teaching, especially smaller kids,” Verma says. “They feel so proud when they create something on their own.”
At the ART-orium
Ashm Verma’s ART-orium studio in Medina offers a variety of art classes for kids, usually on weekday evenings and Saturday mornings. There’s a sculpting camp, textured painting and knife painting classes, one-day workshops, birthday parties and classes for grandparents and parents with their little ones. “I also offer custom, private classes for kids and adults,” Verma says. Interested artists can contact her to talk about what they’re hoping to learn.
ART-orium
825 Meander Court, Medina; 763.607.7480
Facebook: Ashm- ART orium
Instagram: @ashm_artorium
