Accomplished South Fayette artist opens new studio
With the availability of AI art generators, anyone with a computer or similar device can lay some kind of claim to creativity.
Selva Priya Sahadevan prefers to cultivate actual talent.
In March, she celebrated the opening of her Getitfromnature Arts studio on Millers Run Road in Bridgeville, after nearly five years of teaching at her South Fayette home.
“We were thinking that moving to a bigger space and having our own studio would be nice, and I’m established enough and have a large number of students,” she said, and many have been with her from the beginning. “They want to continue, year after year. I’ve seen them since they started to engage, and now they’ve come so far.”
Some, in fact, are doing commissioned portraits.
“I’m very proud of them. Learning those techniques at this age is something remarkable,” Sahadevan said. “I learned all of these when I was an adult.”
When she was young, she won awards for her art in her native India, working with watercolors. She revisited the avocation several years ago, making quite an impression: the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival presented her with Emerging Artist scholarships in 2019 and 2020.
As a teacher, she wants to instill a sense of philanthropy in her students — including twin daughters Kavya and Oviya Yuvaraj, accomplished artists in their own right — by involving them in community art projects and acts of generosity. Most recently, they donated 300 hand-painted eggs to the National Aviary for Easter.
This year, 23 students earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award, coming on the heels of 21 in 2023.
“It’s impressive that, at this young age, they want to do volunteering and they want to donate,” Sahadevan said. “I’m happy that I’m able to influence that many young kids to do all of these projects.”
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