I am trained as a forester and a conservationist. Born in India, I began painting as a child when my father who worked in the music recording industry would bring home records. I wanted to keep the covers of these albums, they always looked so bright and beautiful. We didn't have color photocopiers back then, and because I couldn't keep the originals, I began copying and painting them.

 

I have now lived in the Midwestern United States for almost 20 years, and revel in its natural beauty: the richness of its mollisols, the flat farming landscapes of Illinois, the forests of northern Wisconsin, and beautiful Forest Park in St. Louis.

I use mostly papers and acrylics. The papers are from junk mail, brochures, museum maps, restaurant menus, cards, photos and memorabilia.

 

List of shows and awards/recognition:

Solo shows

 

• "Cloud Wanderings: Photographs, Paintings, Collage", DZine Hair and Art Studio, St. Louis, August-October 2010
• "Landscape, Memory and Collage", Florissant Valley Community College, St. Louis, March-May 2010
• Washington University Career Center, St. Louis, April-June 2009
• Arts in Transit,/Metro, St. Louis, August-October 2008
•  “The Dreaming”, Big Bend Yoga Center, St Louis, February-March 2008
•  “Terra Nostra: Landscapes Real and Imagined”, University City Public Library, January 2008.
•  “So Much Water So Close to Home” D-Zine hair and art studio, St. Louis, October-December 2007
• St Louis Development Corporation, August-September 2007

 

Awards and recognition

 

• Press mention in conjunction with Alexandria's poet laureate Amy Young, April 2010. See article here.
• Design for art tile selected by International House, New York, to commemorate the classes of 1985-1990; joint project with photographer Markus Hugelshofer, March 2010.
  
• First Place award in 2-D mixed media category, Craft Alliance juried exhibition: Emerging Artists: Works from the Studios, July 2008
• First Place award in the 2-D mixed media category, Craft Alliance juried exhibition: Emerging Artists: Works from the Studios, July 2006
• My work "(Self) Portrait of Mother and Child" was featured in the Craft Alliance’s catalog of classes, 2003.

 

Multi-artist shows

 

• "A Modern Landscape", The Vino Gallery, St. Louis, October-November, 2010
• Landscapes in Mixed Media at Jeane Vogel's studio, St. Louis, September 2010
• One piece accepted at Art St. Louis' juried exhibition "Room with a View", August-September 2010
• One piece accepted at Art St. Louis' juried exhibition "Blink", June-July 2010
• Invited to submit works at Craft Alliance’s Biennial Faculty show in July 2009
• Two pieces accepted at juried show “Women and Environment” Women’s Art Caucus, St Louis, March-April 2009
• One piece accepted at juried exhibition “ Art St Louis XXIV”, November-December 2008
• Three artist exhibition at Fleischman-Hillard Public Relations company, St Louis, April-June 2008
• Two pieces accepted at juried exhibition “Art St Louis XXIII” November-December 2007
• Group show “Closet Artists”, Left Bank Books, October-November 2007
• Invited to submit three pieces at the Craft Alliance’s Biennial Faculty show in July-August 2007
• Mixed media piece “Wisconsin Lilies” accepted in juried exhibition “Forces of Nature” at Art St. Louis, May-June 2007
• VOICES, A Retrospective, with other local artists, at Centenne Building Arts & Education Council, March-May 2007
• VOICES: Artist-in-residence at Dewey International Studies Elementary School (program through Art St. Louis), February 2007
• VOICES: A three-artist exhibition at Dewey Elementary School, February 2007
• Collage piece “Streets are for Running” accepted and exhibited in juried exhibition “City as Art” at Art St. Louis, January 2007