Sari Wall Art: Born Free

The theme of "Born Free" is depicted in this mixed media art. The background created using vintage sari fabric on a water color paper painted in shades of yellow evoke the freshness of the open green. It makes a perfect setting for the colorful bird and the lovely butterfly to feel at home and to fly freely without constraints.

The images of the bird and the butterfly are been given a 3-D effect with glazes. I have machine stitched four sides of the watercolor paper and affixed it on a gallery wrapped stretched canvas. I have added filigree embellishments above the artwork on the canvas and have added the words "Born Free" at the bottom.

This mixed media piece is available in my Etsy shop.

Thanks for visiting.

Sari Wall Art : All about Love

The inspiration for this artwork comes from the Sanskrit drama Shakuntalam. Shakuntalam (Story of Shakuntala)is considered a masterpiece of the classical Sanskrit Indian drama. Composed by poet Kalidasa, it dates to the reign of Vikramaditya (5th cent A.D) described as the the golden age of ancient India.

The original story of Shakuntala is a small chapter in the Hindu epic Mahabharata. It is basically a love story with all the familiar ingredients such as love at first sight, promises broken and redemption and reunion. Its protagonist is Shakuntala. Born to a celestial nymph and a human, she is abandoned at birth by her parents and is raised in a hermitage. One day, Dushyanta, the king of Hastinapura (Delhi) comes hunting in the forest and chances upon the hermitage. He and Shakuntala fall in love. He gives her a ring with a royal seal and pledges to send for her after returning to his kingdom. And things start going wrong for Shakuntala.

Due to a sage's curse, the king loses all memory of her and fails to send for her. Shakuntala, now pregnant, travels to his palace. However, on the way she loses the ring the king gave her and is unable to show any proof of their involvement. Heartbroken, she returns to the hermitage and in due course gives birth to a son. A few years pass by. Meanwhile, the ring is found and returned to the king and, as soon as he sees it he regains his memory of Shakuntala. Determined to right a wrong he goes looking for her. At the hermitage he sees this this young kid playing with a little lion cub. Impressed by the little boy's courage he asks him his name and the child answers "I am Bharata, son of Dushyanta". Deeply moved, he picks up the child and just then Shakuntala comes looking for the boy. Of course, all misunderstandings are cleared and the couple are reunited. The king, Shakuntala and their son return to Hastinapura and after his father's death, Bharata becomes a powerful and a famous king. It is said that Bharat, another name for India, comes from its most famous king, Bharata, the son of Dushyanta and Shankuntala.

Shakuntalam was the first Indian language drama to be translated into English by Sir William Jones in 1789. It is also the subject of an Italian opera. It continues to be a source of inspiration to dancers, musicians and other artists including my inspiration for this sari wall art

Remaking Art into Art: Sari Wall Art

Whether it is hand woven or made in a textile mill, whether it is natural silk or cotton or polyester, whether it is brocaded or embroidered, whatever its color, style or regional origin, Indian sari is a work of art. It is not only a work of art, it is uniquely Indian and you will not find anything to match its rich diversity in any other part of the world. It survived two hundred years of British rule and has managed to reinvent and thrive despite encroachment of jeans and other fashionable garments.

I love saris and I have tons of them. I got my first sari at age 16 and I still have my silk wedding saris bought 25 years ago. Yet, I hardly get a chance to wear saris these days in the US. The desire to feel the richness of the material and beauty of the design led me to create this collection of Saris as Wall Art .

Indian sari has three sections: body, border and the shoulder drape. The wall art pieces usually depict the body and the border. Every piece develops organically--using mixed media of watercolor, color pencils, permanent ink and genuine sari pieces in cotton, silk or polyester, I let the colors and the materials direct me in my composition. Sometimes, the end product looks very different from what I envisaged at the beginning. But none can be mistaken for anything other than a sari. The two dozen or so sari art in this collection cover a range of saris, from handloomed cotton to Kanchipuram silk and a bright palette of colors. You can view the entire collection here: