Art Show, Spring 2015

Under the tutelage of the most wonderful art teacher/mentor, Marianne Lettieri, I made and exhibited several pieces of mixed-media; found-object and book art at CSMA, Mountain View in Spring 2015. One of the pieces, ‘Medusa’ was also shown at the historic Rengstorff House in Mountain View. “Universal Love’ was showcased in the CSMA catalog for Fall 2015.

Medusa: Fiber Art

Materials used: Cloth; fiber; wire.

An image of sea lilies from the classic book “Art Forms in Nature” by Haeckel is the inspiration for this piece. The perfection of that form and the tiny details captured so well by Haeckel, led to the making of this fiber art piece. I wanted to make something that would look alive or like it had lived once. The challenge of getting close to that form has given me a renewed appreciation for art and beauty intrinsic in nature. I have named this piece Medusa – like the Greek mythological figure, because of the live form nature of it.  In Greek mythology, Medusa was a woman with living snakes instead of hair on her head and anyone who looked at her directly turned to stone. The fronds in this piece I imagined as the live snakes on Medusa's head.   

“Universal Love” - Spring 2015

Mosaic Art: Metal/mosaic vase with fiber art

Materials used: Found objects. Old metal pitcher (bought at a yard sale); Mosaic tile work; painted branches; thread.

For this work, I used an old metal pitcher found at a yard sale and used old found tiles to create a mosaic. A piece in the center of the mosaic work on one side of the pitcher has the following quote by the memoirist/writer, George Sand: “There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.” As the work took shape, I started thinking about love that is universal – something that goes beyond love for our immediate circle of friends and family.

I decided to use rainbow colored thread to cover the tips of the branches - the rainbow colors signifying the various shapes/shades and hues that humanity comes in. 

Art Show 2022

In Fall 2021 I took a Mixed-Media Workshop at CSMA with the artist, Shirley Bunger. Shirley had an unusual challenge for us. We had to create work in miniature on three wooden blocks about the size of a human palm and on three yardstick rulers as well. Shirley asked us to think of our pandemic experience and see if we could bring that to both these pieces. Both these pieces were exhibited in a show that ran in March-April 2022 at CSMA.

Yardsticks & Blocks Art

Materials Used: 3 Yardstick Rulers; 3 Wooden Blocks; Old found ephemera; found vintage paper; dried leaves and flowers from my garden.

For both these pieces I focused on the three things that kept me grounded through the pandemic: Nature, Family & Stories. Walks in nature and being outside gave me a lot of comfort during the pandemic. Family was an essential part of it too - I was stuck in India for the first six months of the pandemic, which gave me precious time to spend with family there. The pandemic also gave me the luxury of time to stay with words – with stories, poems and novels that I had meant to read and could now finally get to.

For the three yardstick pieces, I mostly used found vintage paper (old magazines; old books; old handwritten letters and stamps found in estate sales) that I either painted or drew on – several of the leaf prints are of leaves from my garden (ferns, fig leaves, ivy leaves) as are the yellow dried nasturtium flowers. With the color theme, my eye was drawn to greens and yellows with some bursts of reds and oranges - which to me, represented nature’s soothing powers. I believe words have immense power, so in the yard stick project there are some quotes on nature and on storytelling that speak to me.