The Art Loft – An oasis of creativity for kids!

Join me as I tour Sri Lanka bringing to you child friendly places, people and things. As parents we are always looking for foods that our children will like or places that we can take them or products that are good for our children. Mummy Travels will make the job a little easier for you. Also please contact me on [email protected] if you would like to be featured in "Mummy Travels".

My children love being creative, they enjoy drawing, cutting, pasting, painting and bringing a work of art together. It is definitely a cathartic release of their creative energy. Evidence has been formulated that most children are visual learners and art tends to stimulate both sides of the brain. Children learn through their senses and art helps them to do better in other nonrelated subjects such as Maths and Science. The Art Loft, located at 197, Castle Street offers every child and even adult that space to let out their inner artists. Established last year, The Art Loft is the lifelong dream of Minha Musheen, who along with her childhood friend Farha Ibrahim brought this little creative venture to life.

Minha Musheen

The Art Loft team

Minha herself is an artist, holding a Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design, she has had several art exhibitions both in Sri Lanka and abroad. She has also had the privilege of having her work auctioned for Charity at Christie’s in Dubai. Recently having completed her Post graduate certificate in teaching methodology, she has worked as an art teacher in Dubai and Kuwait, therefore bringing her love art and teaching into the mix, Minha has been instrumental in developing these art classes with a twist.

The Loft, so called because it was a weather beaten roof top which now, with Minha’s touch been transformed into a rustic open plan art space. Classes are held throughout the week from Tuesday to Saturday. The Loft caters to different age groups from baby to toddler and to the young budding artists, Parents can either drop off or stay and watch their little maestros at work and play. Farha Ibrahim is the Art Loft’s art and craft coordinator and helps run all the art lessons for the kids.

Minha calls her the heart and soul of the place and credits her for helping Minha, make the Art Loft from a dream into a reality. As the pictures convey, The Art Loft is not your traditional art class, babies and kids are given the opportunity to immerse themselves in the medium of art. It is not just putting pen to paper, the young child is taught to explore their abilities to create through different mediums of expressions. The babies are allowed to roll in paint, getting hands, feet and whole body covered in paint whilst the older children are given certain items and asked to create. Heart, mind, body and soul are dully attracted and it is full filling for even the parents to see their child’s thoughts and imaginations become a reality through the actualization of art.

The Art Loft is a hub bub of creativity and expression, one can also acquire the space for creative birthday parties, hen nights, festivals and even a ladies tea party. Minha and her team create a wondrous space, pleasing to the eye and heart for anyone to celebrate in happiness. They also have plans to expand their avenues of creativity with the introduction of open mike sessions for poetry and comedy.

With April holidays around the corner the Art Loft will be holding many a boredom busting program for the holidaying child. Easter workshops are in the pipeline and more information on the upcoming events can be got from their facebook page, the Art loft. As a parent and always an art lover I am fascinated by the work done at The Art Loft, this will surely be a place that I will be bringing my children to in the near future, I hope you do so too. We wish Minha, and the Art Loft team all the best in their future creative endeavours!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe