Deepak Shimkhada


Deepak Shimkhada is a Nepali American educator, artist, art historian, author and community leader. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at the Claremont School of Theology and Chaffey College. He has previously held visiting and adjunct appointments at several universities in the United States, including Claremont Graduate University, California State University, Northridge and the University of the West. From 1999 to 2011, Shimkhada was a full-time visiting professor of South Asian religions at Claremont McKenna College.
He is the founding president of the Foundation for Indic Philosophy and Culture and the Himalayan Arts Council. He has served on the boards of several organizations, including Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast and the America-Nepal Society of California. He served on the Board of Visitors of the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University as Chair of the Hindu Council from 2006 to 2012. He is also a founding board member of the South Asian Studies Association.
A well-published author of many journal and newspaper articles, book chapters and edited books, he has also exhibited his paintings and graphics in group and one-man shows in Nepal, India, Japan and the U.S. Notably, he has appeared as a commentator in several episodes of the History Channel series Ancient Aliens.

Early life and education

Shimkhada was born on September 5, 1945 in Darkha, Nepal to Ratna Prasad Shimkhada and Kausalya Devi Shimkhada. He attended JP High School in Kathmandu and completed SLC in 1960. He completed IA in Economics from Saraswati College in Kathmandu in 1962.
In 1962, upon receiving a scholarship from Government of India, Shimkhada left for India to pursue higher education in fine arts. He studied at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and received a bachelor's degree in fine arts in 1968. He received his master's degree in fine arts with a focus on art criticism in 1970 from the same university. In 1972, he received a Fulbright fellowship to study art history and moved to Los Angeles in the United States. He is considered among the first few Nepalis to immigrate to the U.S. He earned his Master of Arts in art history from the University of Southern California in 1975. Shimkhada earned his PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University in 2001. His dissertation was in art and religion using semiotics as a methodology to analyze them.

Career

Fine Arts Career

Shimkhada's professional career as an artist began in 1968 when he had his first one-man show of paintings in Max Gallery in Kathmandu, Nepal. In 1971, in the second Triennale of World Contemporary Art held in New Delhi, India, one of his paintings was selected as best work from Nepal and was featured in its exhibition catalog. See catalog entry No. 31 of II Triennale India 1971 Lalit Kala Akademi.

Teaching career

Shimkhada began his teaching career as a lecturer of Asian art history at Scripps College in Claremont, California in 1981. At that time he had just returned from India after conducting his field research for his PhD dissertation under the aegis of American Institute of Indian Studies. Since 1980 he has lived in Claremont and has performed various duties as administrator and professor teaching art history at various colleges and universities in Southern California.
Although his articles in Nepali art, culture, philosophy and religion began to appear in various newspapers and journals in Nepal in the early 1970s, Shimkhada's major research writings about them took place in 1973 when his first paper was published by "Arts of Asia" followed by a series of articles by "Artibus Asiae" and "Oriental Art" in 1983.

Writings

Shimkhada has published four books: The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess: Goddess Traditions of Asia, Popular Buddhist Mantras in Sanskrit, Himalayas at the Crossroads: Portraits of a Changing World, Nepal: Nostalgia and Modernity, and South Asian Studies: Bridging Cultures. He has contributed chapters to The Constant and Changing Faces of the Goddess, Health and Religious Rituals in South Asia: Diseases, Possession and Healing, and Sangama: A Confluence of Art and Culture During the Vijayanagara Period. He is the author of many art historical articles published in journals such as NAFA Art Magazine, Arts of Asia, Orientations, Artibus Asiae, Oriental Art, The Journal of Asian Studies, The Himalayan Research Bulletin, The Journal of Dharma Studies, Voice of Ulan Bator, Himalaya, Folk Dance Scene, The Overseas Times, India West, and The Rising Nepal. He has also written four children's books.

Works

Books (authored and edited)

Awards and honors

Shimkhada married Kanti Shimkhada. They together have two daughters, Leepi Shimkhada-Mahalingam and Riti Shimkhada-Relan.