Boredom, besides a little encouragement from her sister made her pick up the brush and start her journey as an artist. After more than 15 years of her artistic journey, she has started making waves in the world of art. Her works reflect her clarity and conviction on issues related to women, children, poverty, development and environment. Good reviews have come from noted artists like Jatin Dass, who once said, “Kiran Soni’s work demonstrates both mastery in technique and sensitivity to social issues. She has the potential to promote art in a big way.”
Presently posted in Bikaner, Kiran has captured her observations and plight of people during her several administrative jobs vividly on the canvas. The All-India Fine Arts and Crafts Society (AIFCS) presented her the national award for her work titled “Famine” in 2003. She has also bagged several other prestigious awards for her paintings.
Her works of art have been put on display at the local Sutlej Club. The exhibition, “A Desert Symphony”, was inaugurated by Mr O.P. Verma, Governor of Punjab, here today. In an exclusive interview with Ludhiana Tribune, she said she had returned to her roots, to the city where she was born and bred, to hold her eighth solo painting exhibition.
The exhibition will continue till May 17. She has dedicated it to her parents. She did her schooling and received her college education in the city. She scored 4/4 grade point average in Master’s in Sociology from Punjab Agricultural University.Then she cleared her IAS examinations and has held several prestigious posts and travelled extensively.
Ms Kiran Soni recalls, “It was a chance incident that proved to be the catalyst for my latent talent and brought out the hidden artist in me. My elder sister was fond of painting and one day she left her work unfinished. I quickly painted a picture of a girl holding flowers with her paints and brush. Out of fear of my sister, I hid it but she insisted on seeing what I had painted. When I showed my first work, my sister was astounded at the beauty of the painting. After applying a few strokes, we showed it to our father. He always encouraged us and promptly took the picture to his office and hung it. Then my teacher in Sacred Heart Convent School, Mr A.K. Dhawan, taught us so well to paint.”
She has had no formal education in painting. Being very experimental by nature, she keeps on trying different mediums of painting. She says, “As an artist, I feel one should not be confined to any medium. Hence I have drawn sketches and moved on to pen and inkwork, crayons, painted on glass, tried my hand at Tanjore paintings and oil paintings. I have had the chance to stay in the rain-drenched tropical forests and beaches of Kerala and the arid dry lands of Rajasthan, I have depicted them all in sceneries and village scenes.
Being an IAS officer, she is acutely aware of her social obligations and feels that through art, one can achieve social objectives. Her initiative to give a social purpose to art was applauded when she contributed Rs 1.50 lakh to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. To provide a platform to local artists, she has been involved in the formation of the Bikaner Creative Artists Society.
Her husband, Divisional Commissioner, Bikaner, is her friend, philosopher and guide. Kiran feels that art is a very powerful medium of communication.
