Rajny Krishnan can remember her childhood in fits and starts whenever she came across natural beauty such as flowers, plants, little animals and of course whenever she played in her garden at home in Poona with clay. Her parents sensed her keen interest in art and encouraged her by presenting her with paper, colors and plasticine.

With Sreenivasulu Sir

Rajny took keen interest in observation. She studied almost everything around her minutely though earlier in life in her own childish way. But the little snails she played with in her garden, the flowers, the leaves, the nature all sank into her as a spiritual experience of oneness with the world and as a discovery of happiness within herself.

Silently she watched people, speaking very less. By the time she was fifteen she was sketching portraits of her family members and friends guided by her first teacher the noted painter (Late) K. Sreenivasulu at the Art department at Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts, Madras where she joined a year earlier after giving up her Bharatanatyam dance lessons that also interested her deeply but not more than painting and sculpture. People, animals and nature true to their own selves were what fascinated Rajny.

At the studio in 1987

Learning

Rajny’s education was regular and well attended to. Her interest in dance, music and painting and sculpture led her to take special classes until the age of 20 and after her graduation, she could totally devote herself to her training in art.

Training

Rajny was taken as an apprentice and then as an assistant by noted Sculptor Kalasagaram Rajagopal. He then had a studio in the Kalakshetra campus. Within a year of apprenticeship she began assisting her Guru in his various Portrait commissions.

The rigorous regime under this Guru moulded her into a full- fledged sculptor. She became an expert in handling all the intricate and complicated techniques and procedures of handling moulding and casting.

With-Piet-Slovan's-head-1987

She worked with various materials for sculpture such as plaster, cement, wax, bronze, fibreglass and also learnt to carve in wood and stone.

Qualification

Later in 1999, Rajny went on to complete her Master’s degree in Fine arts in 1999 from the Stella Maris College, Madras. She is a gold-medallist and rank holder. She has subsequently qualified under the UGC for lectureship in Visual Arts and has worked as a part time or full time lecturer intermittently since 1999 to 2004.