Artist and Philanthropist - Arsh Pal

In Their Words | Digital Short
Jun 8, 2023 | 4 min

A talented young artist who aspires to give painting lessons to pupils of all ages, Arsh saw a need in his community. He began selling his artwork and donating the proceeds to charity. His fundraising efforts have earned him numerous domestic and international accolades.

Transcript

Hi, my name is Arsh Pal.

I'm 13 years old
and I'm an artist

and I sell my artwork
and donate the money to charity.

Today we're going to be painting

a landscape
painting with flowers.

I used to go to work
with my mom,

and when I got into painting,
I decided to

teach the residents at her work.

You can try making them
just a little bit longer.

This will be our sky.

Paint the rest of the canvas
side to side

with our green.

That's really good.

One of my first paintings
I taught there was around

five years ago, and they always
enjoy having me there.

Most of my paintings
are really simple, so

a lot of people enjoy
it and always want me back.

When me and my brother

and my family go there,
they get really excited

and it just makes me happy
going there.

So we made a mountain

landscape
with flowers and birds.

Yeah.

The first painting I sold was to
my piano teacher for like $10,

and it was a painting of a tree,
and I was really excited.

Now I don't even know
how many I have made

because I've made so many
and sold so many.

I don't.

I don't keep track anymore.

For the past four years,
I've been donating to St Jude's,

Easter Seals, the Riverview
Center, Make-A-Wish Foundation,

and many others.

I recently won

the Diana Award
and receiving the award

made me feel really good because
Princess Diana helped kids

with illnesses just like how I
am helping kids with cancer.

The amount
I've raised is $16,000.

I see her legacy in all of you.

My Facebook, Instagram and
YouTube channel is Art by Arsh.

And now for the final layer,
I'm going to add some texture.

A lot of other people
can see my work

and what I'm doing, and I
have inspired other people to

either donate or start painting
and have painting

as their hobby.

My family is always
supporting me.

That also keeps me motivated to
donate more and to paint more.

I know that
I am helping other people

and helping the community
through my artwork.

So this is my art studio

and up on this wall over here,
I have all my awards.

This is my High Flyers 50 book.

A lot of other people
were philanthropists, doctors,

so I was kind of excited
and happy to be there because

I was the youngest person.

I like exploring
many other things to paint.

I don't usually just paint
one thing.

Reflections
are a distorted version.

So it took me a lot of time
to do that, but

I'm happy of how it turned out.

This is one of my more
recent paintings and

the thing I like about it
the most is all of the colors

and the flowers,
and it didn't look good

until I started

doing the flowers and the little
lines and different shadings.

In the future,
I want to make art

more accessible for kids
because right now art lessons

are either expensive
or really hard to find.

They're going to start
at the green

and go up

and go down.

Go screen time for kids.

Now it's just like too much
like they're on their phone.

24 seven.

So if you're off your phone
for a little bit,

you can maybe even express or
find your hidden talent in that,

and you can use that
talent to help the community.