Nishan Patel, a 2005 graduate of High School South, has published an art anthology created with a group of High School South students. A professional illustrator, Patel completed his master’s degree in education and served as a student teacher at South. The book, “Southology,” is a compilation of WW-P student artwork, and all proceeds from book sales will be directed to the High School South’s art department for additional art supplies.
“The purpose of this book is to bring my vision of fine arts forward — to showcase the amazing things that the visual arts can do for an individual,” says Patel on his website www.nishanpatel.com. “This anthology is a collection of stories, memories, quips, and experiences of the everyday, fantastical, and the mundane. Each page is but a glimpse of the artist’s soul — the beginning of a conversation that he or she is putting out there for you.”
He also says, “The process of art-making allows and requires us to delve within to uncover lost treasures and share; to find a voice and an understanding of who we are as individuals and how we can inspire the world around us.”
His next publishing endeavor is another art anthology with recent university graduates who are now working professionals. “Process and Progress: Recent University Graduates in Pursuit of the Visual Arts” is available through Barnes and Noble.
Born in Glen Rock, Patel and his family moved to West Windsor in 1992. After attending Dutch Neck, Village, Upper Elementary, and Grover Middle, and High School South, he received a bachelor degree in fine arts from Syracuse University.
Patel’s love of art began when he was visiting India at the age of four. His uncle’s friend taught him the basics and he remembers drawing a turtle shortly after the first lesson. “I’ve been drawing every since,” he says. He continued drawing and painting, some serious, some political, some humorous through college. Although he entered college as a business major, he switched first to graphics and then to illustrations during his freshman year.
Patel’s first book, “Sammy’s New Home,” was self-published. Sammy is a sasquatch, a hairy creature often referred to as Bigfoot. The book’s heroine, Mallory, is based on Patel’s sister, Pooja, also a graduate from High School South. “I did not tell her that the character was based on her — but the minute Pooja looked at the character design, she knew right away and was very excited,” says Patel. (The News, December 18, 2009).
Their mother, Sangita Patel, an interior decorator, owns Kalakar Interiors. Their father, Kiran Patel, owns several hotels in northern and central New Jersey.
Patel, an illustrator and designer based in New York City told the News in 2009 that he considers himself lucky to create art for a living.
