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The Art of K.P. Singh

by Henna Kaur Singh

Chances are that even if you do not know of K.P. Singh, when you see his artwork, you will recognize it. You will feel as if you have seen it before, and perhaps you have. You have seen it - in real life.

K.P. Singh is an Indiana-based artist who has been featured in the 2007 Sikhpoint.com Calendar. The calendar shows religious buildings - both Sikh and non-Sikh - from all over the world. Of course the Golden Temple is featured, but so are Christian, Muslim, and Jewish holy places. The calendar's conclusion, in the form of the month December, is a collage of many holy places all on one page. This artwork titled the "Cathedrals of Spirit" is a hand-colored composite drawing that Singh had completed without the calendar in mind and it partly inspired the theme of the 2007 Sikhpoint Calendar.

Singh is a benign gentleman who moved to the United States in the 60's for higher studies. At the time, he knew that people were unfamiliar with Sikhs but he thought to himself: "Before I expect people to know what my faith is, let me learn something about theirs." And so began Singh's journey of learning and respecting the traditions and history of the land that he has come to call "home".

At the very beginning, Singh became especially interested in historic landmarks with his educational background in architecture and city planning. When he moved to Indiana, he found that many beautiful old buildings in his town were to be torn down to make way for parking lots and high-rises. The sentimental artist in K.P. Singh was appalled and he felt that he had to do something to change the situation. So he started drawing these landmarks so that even if they were torn down, at least people would remember that they had been there. Slowly, people in Indiana started to notice that someone who wasn't native to the state was appreciating its architecture more than they were. From this beginning, K.P. Singh began to attract notice in ever widening circles. Upon noticing his artwork, families commissioned Singh to draw their homes; college graduates asked him to visit their campuses and draw them. Then, in 2003, a book was published: The Art and Spirit of K.P. Singh ~ Selected Drawings and Writings.

And, it is this book which finally led to K.P. Singh's artwork being featured in this year's SikhPoint calendar. In 2003, Bicky Singh, the creator of this series of calendars, was walking through Barnes and Noble and as he was about to exit the store, a book on the ‘New Releases' table caught his eye - The Art and Spirit of K.P. Singh. Bicky liked the artwork and bought the book on the spot. He later contacted K.P. and the two became good friends. Bicky sent him an edition of the Sikhpoint calendar every year. Eventually, in 2005, he convinced K.P. to contribute his unique artwork to an edition of the calendar.

The year 2007 marks the 10th anniversary of Sikhpoint and Bicky was convinced that K.P. Singh's artwork would make that issue of the calendar especially brilliant. In 2004 Sikhs were still suffering from the misunderstanding and backlash that was the result of 9/11. They suddenly learned that people from the very country that they considered "home" did not know very much about them or that they even existed! Sikhs quickly realized that it was important to educate others about who they were. Both K.P. and Bicky realized that there was also an urgent need for Sikhs to educate themselves and to know who their neighbors are in the communities and neighborhoods that they live in and serve.

Hence, the Interfaith Sikhpoint Calendar.

The 2007 Sikhpoint. com Interfaith Calendar was launched in California at the Annual Sikh Heritage Gala on November 17th and will be distributed through events and institutions all over the world ... free! The aim of this calendar is to bring people together while displaying the artwork of K.P. Singh. You can find out more about the calendar at www.sikhpoint.com. If you wish to know more about K.P. Singh and his artwork, check out www.kpsinghdesigns.com.

 

To order a copy of the K.P Singh Calendar, click on http://www.ethnicisland.com/Calendar-C93.aspx

Conversation about this article

1: Arvind Narale (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), February 02, 2015, 8:32 PM.

Hi KP: I happened to see your beautiful article and thought of saying hi! Satish Rao and Ravi Jain are now settled in Toronto. If you have contact info of any of our classmates, please let me know. www.upsidedownsideup.com

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