Arsh Pal had bold ambitions when he started selling his artwork at age 8: He wanted to raise $1,000 for charity.
Art
Arsh Pal, 12, sells his art for charity. He’s raised about $15,000. – The Washington Post
Four years later, he has far surpassed his goal. Arsh, now 12, has sold hundreds of his acrylic and watercolor paintings, the proceeds of which have totaled more than $15,000. Apart from a small portion he takes to buy supplies, every dollar has gone to charities that support children.
“Young people have the power to change the world,” Arsh said from his home in Dubuque, Iowa, which is also his art studio.
Arsh has always been artistically inclined, his mother said. When he was a young boy, Divya Pal and her husband, Sanjeev, signed their son up for extracurricular activities such as piano, karate and gymnastics, but “he would lean toward art,” Pal said.
For his eighth birthday present, the Pals bought a watercolor set for Arsh. He spent all his spare time in front of an easel.
“That’s how I started painting,” he said.
Soon, a stack of completed canvases began piling up, “so I decided to give them away to friends and family,” said Arsh, adding that he also displayed some pieces at his school, which people asked to buy.
Around the same time, Arsh was frequently visiting a local nursing home, where his mother works as an occupational therapist. Spending time there inspired him to start selling his art for a good cause.
“Just by talking to the residents and the people there, it just made them smile and that really made me smile at the same time,” he said. “That thought made me want to help people in need through my paintings.”
And so began his fundraising initiative, which he called “Art by Arsh.” He sells his paintings at local art shows, restaurants and libraries, as well as on his Instagram account and Facebook page.
He donated his first $1,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2018, and has since expanded his reach to support various other charities, including Easterseals, Compass to Care, the Riverview Center and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Arsh mainly contributes to child-focused organizations, he said, because “I wanted to help kids.”
Although he stopped counting long ago, Arsh said he estimates that he has sold about 500 paintings in the past four years.
The price of his work, he explained, ranges based on size and complexity. For instance, small pieces have sold for $10, while larger paintings — which can reach five feet — have sold for $800. He auctioned two pieces at a charity event last fall for a total of $10,000.
“That is very impressive,” said Pal, adding that she and her husband are blown away by their son’s commitment to the project. “He is doing amazing work. When he started doing all of this, we never thought it was going to go in this direction.”
Arsh mainly uses acrylic paint to produce his art, but he also works with watercolor and mixed media. He particularly enjoys crafting abstract pieces.
“You can express yourself through abstract art,” he said. “Everybody thinks differently about it.”
Arsh now mostly makes commissioned pieces, and several of his customers have come back wanting more.
That includes his neighbor, Jolene Schaver, who has five of Arsh’s creations hanging in her home and has purchased many more for friends and family.
“I can’t stress enough how amazing he is,” said Schaver, who is retired and lives next-door with her husband, and has known the Pal family for seven years. “I was amazed at how talented he was at such a young age, without any formal training.”
Plus, she added, “he has such a generous and giving heart.”
Arsh’s artwork is scattered around their home, and Schaver’s favorite piece is a silhouette of two elephants, which is on display in her dining room.
“I would never know that it was done by a child,” she said.
Arsh aims to be detail-oriented in his art, and larger pieces can take a month or more to complete. Although Arsh never took art lessons as a child, “my mom helped me,” he said. “She’s probably my main teacher. Me and her learn techniques together. She just helps me get better.”
Pal and her husband also manage the logistical elements of Arsh’s initiative. They coordinate with customers, deal with shipping and supplies, and ensure all the funds go to charities of Arsh’s choice.
“It’s teamwork, but it’s all worth it,” Pal said. “We want to support him, especially if it’s helping someone.”
“He has never asked us if he can keep the money,” she continued, adding that Arsh has been asked by his peers why he doesn’t buy himself some expensive new gadgets and toys with his hard-earned funds. “He is not getting impacted by what others are saying, he’s impacting others with what he’s doing.”
He has earned several accolades for his community service, including the Diana Award in 2022 — which is presented annually to a group of young people around the world for their humanitarian work.
“I feel very honored,” Arsh said.
The organizations that he has supported are grateful for his contributions, too.
“I’m always so encouraged to see the enthusiasm of a kid wanting to do what they can to help out other kids in need,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., president and chief executive of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. “Kids like Arsh help raise funds that ensure families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live.”
“By channeling his generosity through his creativity, it’s even more meaningful to us because art therapy is part of the holistic treatment offered at St. Jude and helps inspire and warm the hearts of so many of St. Jude patients,” he said.
Along with selling his paintings to benefit nonprofit groups, Arsh also teaches art lessons at Stonehill Communities — the nursing home where Pal has worked for nine years. His younger brother, Yuvan, 7, assists with instructing the classes, which are held several times a year.
“They’re always excited when I come teach them,” said Arsh, who has also volunteered at other nursing homes to teach art lessons.
“It just touches my heart,” said Pal, adding that the nursing home residents regularly inquire about her sons, and look forward to their visits. “He’s a kid, and he’s inspiring adults.”
Arsh’s lessons have made him think about accessibility, and how not all people have the resources to make art — which has the capacity to comfort and heal.
“One of my future goals is to make art accessible for kids who want to express themselves,” Arsh said.
He has already started offering free art lessons to local children, and he hopes to expand his classes further in the future, including on his YouTube channel.
“I want to help the community and spread kindness,” he said.
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A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.
Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.
She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.
Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”
Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.
They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.
In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.
“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.
“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”
The shortlisted artists are:
Pio Abad
Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.
The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.
The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.
Jasleen Kaur
Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.
The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.
Delaine Le Bas
Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.
The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.
The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.
Claudette Johnson
Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.
She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.
Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.
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Turner Prize shortlist includes art showcasing Scottish Sikh community
A Scottish artist who uses cars, worship bells and Irn-Bru in her work is among the nominees for this year’s Turner Prize.
Glasgow-born Jasleen Kaur’s work reflects her life growing up in the city’s Sikh community.
She is up for the prestigious art award, now in its 40th year, alongside Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas.
Turner Prize jury chairman Alex Farquharson described it as a “fantastic shortlist of artists”
Works by the nominated artists will go on show at London’s Tate Britain gallery from 25 September.
They will receive £10,000 each, while the winner, to be announced on 3 December, will get £25,000.
In a statement, Farquharson said: “All four make work that is full of life.
“They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.
“In the Turner Prize’s 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever.”
The shortlisted artists are:
Pio Abad
Manila-born Abad’s solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford included drawings, etchings and sculptures that combined to “ask questions of museums”, according to the jury.
The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines, where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.
The title of his exhibit is a nod to Mark Twain’s 1901 essay To the Person Sitting In Darkness, which hit out at imperialism.
Jasleen Kaur
Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which included family photos, an Axminster carpet, a classic Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic handbells.
The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema.
Delaine Le Bas
Worthing-born Le Bas is nominated for an exhibition titled Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning. Staged at the Secession art institute in Vienna, Austria, it saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.
The 58-year-old artist was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.
The jury said they “were impressed by the energy and immediacy present in this exhibition, and its powerful expression of making art in a time of chaos”.
Claudette Johnson
Manchester-born Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at the Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.
She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour, and was praised by the judges for her “sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects”.
Johnson, 65, was appointed an MBE in 2022 after being named on the New Year Honours list for her services to the arts.
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Claudette Johnson has been nominated for this year’s Turner prize for her work, which includes a portrait of the African-American slavery abolitionist Sarah Parker Remond commissioned as part of the Guardian’s award-winning Cotton Capital series.
Pio Abad, Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas will compete for the £25,000 prize, while the nominated artists will each collect £10,000 as the prize returns to Tate Britain for the first time in six years.
Colonialism, migration, nationalism and identity politics are the key themes running through the 40th edition of the Turner prize, which the jury described as showing contemporary British art “is appealing and dynamic as ever”.
Alex Farquharson, the director of Tate Britain and chair of the Turner prize jury, said this year’s nominees were exploring ideas of identity and would be exhibited from 25 September, before the jury’s final choice.
He said: “This year’s shortlisted artists can be broadly characterised as exploring questions of identity, autobiography, community and the self in relation to memory, or history or myth.”
The Turner prize, regarded as one of the art world’s most prestigious awards, is presented to an artist born or working in Britain for an outstanding exhibition or presentation of their work over the previous year.
Abad was nominated for his solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, with the jury commenting on the “precision and elegance” of his work, which takes its title from a Mark Twain poem of a similar name that critiques American imperialism the Philippines, his homeland.
The show also contains references to the Benin Bronzes, after Abad discovered that the punitive expedition of 1897 – during which British troops sacked Benin City and looted thousands of objects, of which about 900 are in the British Museum’ – set off from his home, Woolwich, in south London.
Johnson was nominated for her solo Presence exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, which the Guardian said “brilliantly questions depictions of non-white figures by such revered painters as Gauguin and Picasso”. She was also recognised for her New York show, Drawn Out, at Ortuzar Projects, which included her Redmond portrait.
She is the latest black female artist who emerged in the Black Art Movement of the 1980s to be recognised by the Turner prize, following in the footsteps of Lubaina Himid (2017 winner) and Veronica Ryan (2022), while Ingrid Pollard and Barbara Walker have both been nominated.
The jury said Johnson had been nominated because of the “renewal of her practice”, after she stopped making work in the 1990s, and the fact she was still “taking risks and trying new forms of practice”.
Kaur’s work in the exhibition Alter Altar, which was shown at Tramway in Glasgow, features sculptures and soundscapes, including a red Ford Escort covered in a huge doily, which references her father’s first car and ideas of migration and belonging in Britain.
Kaur grew up in Glasgow’s Sikh community in Pollokshields, and the jury said the exhibition was a breakout show that was “generous, celebratory, moving and alive to timely issues, speaking imaginatively to how we might live together in a world increasingly marked by nationalism, division and social control”.
Le Bas’s work, shown at the Vienna Secession exhibition, was described as a “response to social and political turmoil” and includes immersive performance art with theatrical costumes and sculptures.
Farquharson said there was a chance the show may travel to Bradford during its City of Culture year, following the precedent set by Coventry, which hosted the awards in 2021, although that was still “to be confirmed”.
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