Sunday, February 27, 2011

Memory in the Raw

First Glimpse Digital photography

Long Day  Digital photography

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. 
 ~Eudora Welty

Last month, while visiting family in Coorg in southern India, I stopped by to see the Golden Temple at Namdroling Monastery, a Tibetan Refugee Settlement in Bylakuppe.  Its been impressive to see how the settlement has grown and thriving over the years as they have added buildings and expanded.  I was glad to capture a few more moments in the monastery with my camera and add to my collection from previous visits :). 

Sunday, February 20, 2011

A Day In The Life

A Day in the Life- Sketchbook Fiction Project 2011 cover w-i-p


I signed up for the Fiction Project/sketchbook project by the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn, NY.  My moleskine cahier journal arrived about two months ago but my travels, the big bad flu and of course my worries of 'how am I going to fill the book with some kind of  an illustrated story?'- kept me from working on it. I spent a few days researching and experimenting on the paper with different mediums, pens and pencils and have decided color pencils work the best for me. I am not brave enough to change the look of book or papers completely, so will have to contend challenging myself with filling up book with some drawings and words. The theme I chose is "A Day in the Life"  and I have the first few pages percolating in my imagination. I finally started on the front cover today working with color pencils.  Wish me luck --I  have to fill up a book of 40 pages. 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Nostalgia

Urwa Market  pencil sketch 3 1/2 x5" 

Urwa Market Digital Photography

Last week I made a trip to my home town Mangalore after many years. Parts of the city were changed beyond recognition- gone were the paddy fields that littered the city, the old landmarks, the independent small houses and in their place were high rises, shopping centers and apartment complexes.  Here and there I recognized a building or two from my school days. I was totally lost in the city until we came to my old stomping grounds, where the house I grew up still stood, the small market that served the community, the temple by the house, the little algae filled pond, the fields and the coconut groves beyond that -- here the time had stood still.  I know this pocket will soon be gone too so I got very busy with my camera -- I needed help to tuck it all away in my memory!    

The sketch is of the market that still looks exactly like it did when I was growing up. Even though I had visited my city before, it had been 30 years since I last went to this market and I was tickled to see it looked the same! The only change I noticed was the ad for the cell phone service provider.  I think there were a few more plastic baskets piled high with fresh produce  and fewer cane baskets. Alas, there were also a few plastic bags flying around too. The fish market side is to the right of the camera and I was happy to see the cats were still there enjoying the morsels from the fishmongers :)  Having grown up completely vegetarian, it was my first time going near the fish market -to capture the fishmongers as I remembered seeing them from afar! 

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Pink Umbrella

Somewhere between Chennai and Bangaluru  digital photography

Half the fun of travel for me is the unexpected surprises I find as I look of the window of the car, bus, train or plane.  What do you think is the story of this man with the pink umbrella who is sitting on the train tracks?  I couldn't stop my imagination from running wild the rest of my train ride :)

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Magical Bloom

Christmas Cactus in Bloom, Digital potography

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope"  wrote Lady Bird Johnson in 'Public Roads:Where Flowers Bloom.'  Last month, as if on cue, soon after christmas, when we were buried in a snow storm,  this plant in our sunroom gave a spectacular display of beautiful deep pink blossoms.  Was nature laughing at her own wonders? No matter -  What a treat for us to see the magic outside as well as indoors! 

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Making Art is Discovering

China Town Gate, Washington D.C. 

I have been down with fever.  So, a sketch from a few days ago to the rescue :)  I also want to share a saying that I think fits my feelings about making art:

I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. -Robert Frost, poet (1874-1963)   

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Starting Right

Sunrise digital photography
 Airplane Seat back 

Yet Another Sleeping passenger in the Transit lounge

New Year started with a most gorgeous sunrise.  Later in the day more time was spent in the airplanes and airports.  After delays, long flights and missing luggage  everything is back to normal.  Time to get back to more sketching and painting.   

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Universal Acceptance

At the Art Institute of Chicago, digital Photography by Meera Rao

Newly opened in May 1893 as the Permanent Art Palace, now known as the Art Institute Chicago was used as the World's Congress during 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. The World Parliament of Religions opened on September 11, 1893 with Swami Vivekananda from India giving one of the inaugural addresses in the Hall of Columbus. In the next two weeks Swami Vivekananda drew the largest crowds of the World Congress 's meetings.  108 years later, on September 11, 2001 another key historical moment shook the world.  Jitish Kallat's Public Notice 3  a site specific installation at the Art Institute of Chicago connects the two historical events.  The Art Institute web site explains : With Public Notice 3, Kallat converts Vivekananda’s text to LED displays on each of the 118 risers of the historic Woman’s Board Grand Staircase of the Art Institute of Chicago, adjacent to the site of Vivekananda’s original address. Drawing attention to the great chasm between this speech of tolerance and the very different events of September 11, 2001, the text of the speech will be displayed in the colors of the United States’ Department of Homeland Security alert system. Opening on September 11, Public Notice 3 explores the possibility of revisiting the historical speech as a site of contemplation, symbolically refracting it with threat codes devised by a government to deal with this terror-infected era of religious factionalism and fanaticism. 

I shot the photograph above showing the staircase as I walked away  from it towards the Asian Gallaries -- I loved how the words and statues of Buddha reflected on the glass doors.  Below is Swami Vivekananda's speech that Jitish Kallat converted to LED display on the stairs: 

Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.

I pray for  peace, tolerance and universal acceptance in 2011 and beyond.  Happy New Year !

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Home For the Holidays

Home For the Holidays  watercolor on Yupo 14x11"

And the rug was vacuumed just in time :) Our suitcases all have a red ribbon to make it easy to identify them.  So, for me it is really very appropriate: any time we go home to India to visit our family there, return from India to our home here and when our kids come home - thats all a  precious gift!  This holiday season I wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous and peace filled times with your family and friends! 

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Grand Spaces


Sketches from a lunch time concert in Chicago
 The Tiffany Dome at Chicago cultural Center
Chicago Cultural Center interior

I had ducked into the Chicago Cultural Center to warm myself up on my way to the Chicago Art Institute from my hotel on that bitterly cold morning last month but ended up spending most of the day there exploring the art that hung in the galleries and corridors and stayed on to listen to a lunch time concert of Jazz songs. The impressive building completed in 1897 was originally the public library as well as a memorial to Civil War Union Army Veterans. The rare imported marbles, polished brass, gorgeous hardwoods, and sparkling mosaics of Favrile glass, mother of pearl, gold leaf, and colored precious stones bring to mind palaces but themes relating to books, printing and authors in various vast light filled spacious rooms remind you that this was really built as a temple of knowledge! I was also dazzled by the third floor - most dramatic place with walls covered by sparkling mosaics and topped with the world's largest  Tiffany Dome of 30,000 pieces of glass! 

The exhibits that were showcased there for December were impressive too. Polaridad Complementaria: Recent works from Cuba had cutting edge paintings, drawings, sculptures, video etc from Cuba's contemporary artscene. Another exhibit by Chicago artist  Jeff Zimmermann : God particle   was large scale murals of pop culture and dramatic portraits. The artist had spent a month publicly painting the murals on the walls of the Gallery!   

It doesn't take much for me to plunge into existential angst about my art and after seeing all the creativity there I had a hard time opening my sketch book but I did and filled a few pages with my humble drawings.
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