Being in the American Museum of Natural History after hours with dimly lit corridors and life-size elephants herd in middle of the hall is not a casual everyday experience and I thorougly enjoyed the deviation it provided from the cliched routine. The fellow 9–10 classmates for my new art class fitted pretty closely in the vision of my expectations — no desis, thin-lean reclusive individuals mostly with spects carrying big bags/sketch-books (which left me wondering how did they carry those), looking intently at everything that encountered their eyes and speaking extremely softly. With my backpack smallest in the group and formal shoes, I did feel out of place for a while but the lack of overfriendliness and unpretentious zest in the people was comforting. The instructor Stephen C. Quinn, the AMNH’s Senior Project Manager in the Department of Exhibitions and author of Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History, a long-term artist was a pleasure to learn from. He neither professed nor tried to instruct anything. Again, I hadn’t expect him to. After a bit of informal introduction to the class, everyone was left to find what they liked and draw. So, there we were in the Hall of African Mammals gazing at wildlife diorama showcasing some beautiful, some funny, some weird creatures. Everyone used their visions, their choice of medium and imagination to create whatever they felt like. And some of the sketches I glanced at were mesmerizing (hopefully will upload mine sometime soon). Mostly, the diversity in ideas and perspectives was the biggest takeback from the class and the small chat with the instructor was highly insightful. I found him encouraging and reasonable. He talked in a logical way that made sense to someone like me and used the abstract vocabulary, that artists usually incline towards, to a minimum. I think I am going to enjoy the class a lot and hopefully will be a meaningful addition to summers at NYC, which I hope comes soon.
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