Hi! I am Kanika Khurana. Nice to e-meet you!
I paint, design and illustrate. If you want to see this kind of stuff from your comfortable couch, find me on Instagram @kanikaart
To commission work, please write to me at mail@kanikakhuranaart.com
For art prints, greeting cards, and stickers, please click the link to my store: www.kanikaart.com
B I O
Kanika Khurana is a British Council & Ken Sprague Fund award-winning Indian artist, illustrator, and surface designer is known for her unique focus on themes of natural history and our connection with Mother Nature and one another. Her work, which she began teaching and exhibiting after graduating from Western Connecticut State University in 2017, is a heartfelt celebration of tradition and life, evoking a sense of connection and nostalgia. The beauty of everyday life, objects, surreal imagery, vibrant colors of her Motherland India and nature inspires Kanika. She designs and sells greeting cards, stickers, and calendars.
Fun fact: Illustration is Kanika’s second career. Although art has always been her passion since childhood, she initially chose a more practical path of studying Physical Therapy at Manipal University, India. She had a career in Physical therapy before moving to the US to study art for the first time. Kanika graduated with an MFA in Illustration from Western Connecticut State University in 2017 and has been making art and teaching since.
A R T I S T S T A T E M E N T
MIXED MEDIA WORK
My work is a celebration of tradition, using watercolor and colored pencils on hot-press paper to capture movement and life. The brush becomes a dancer, and the colors a symphony. Everything is captured in the spontaneous dance and movement of the brush as it meets the paper. There is no going back and correcting when painting with watercolors, a testament to the purity of the process. I like to finish the pieces with colored pencils as I enjoy the subtle mark making.
DIGITAL ART
My art is a manifestation of my passion for creating life. I meticulously hand-paint various art elements using watercolor and colored pencil, and then digitally collage them using Photoshop. I chose Photoshop as my medium because it allows me to manipulate the color and transparency of each element, creating digital art collages that are indistinguishable from hand-painted works. This process allows me to create living environments that evoke the same excitement I feel when I paint with watercolors. Original compositions are done in Photoshop and printed on Archival paper and inks—small editions of signed and numbered prints.
M Publishing, Little People magazine, Domus Gallery, Wardrobe, Brookfield Craft Center, Guilford Arts Center, Umiya Dham temple, India Sajawat & Puja Hut, Nessim & Associate, Central Christian Church
T E A C H I N G
Western Connecticut State University, Brookfield Craft Center, Society of Illustrators NYC, NYC Parks Arts Culture & Fun
A R T I S T
T A L K
SI Spring Art Week, Society of Illustrators NYC
Society of Illustrators NYC Merit based Membership 2022-Present
Art Residency Award-Central Christian Church 2017
Ken Sprague Fund Award, British Council 2010
E D U C A T I O N
