BETHANY CLANCY
Staff Writer
On Jan. 26 an inspiring artist from India, Sharbani Das Gupta, spoke to Visual Arts and New Media students for the Visiting Artists program. She got her start by completing school in Kolkata, India and then college at the National Institute of Design in Gujurat. Even though she has a graphic design degree, working with clay is what she really loves.
In 2000, she moved from the bustling city of Bengal, India to New Mexico, and then to Houston, Texas in 2006.
A lot of her work is based on the sky, clouds, sand and water and specifically the distribution of water. Besides the nature that inspires her work, she did pieces about the Iraq War and her feelings about war in general. When Hurricane Rita hit, she made installations based off of that. Throughout her lecture she kept getting at how important it is to take care of the earth by comparing it to taking care of ourselves and our own bodies. “The comparison of our cells and nature put everything into a new perspective,” said one student attending the lecture.
Even though she does a lot of travelling, Das Gupta never loses sight of her roots. While visiting back home during a trip, she made statues for a festival going on in her village. She explained the process that went into the design, painting, and the finishing of these intricate statues. These statues are white washed, painted, and then put on display for five days. At the end of the festival the creations are placed in the river for traditional reasons.
In New Mexico, the river is very important to everyone residing there. She even called it a “lifeline,” inspiring a piece which made the river look like a human lifeline.
After her lecture, sophomore graphic design major Rey Kelleher talked about how much she loved the original pieces the artist showed. She mentioned how interesting the artist was and loved that the art program was finally starting to bring in diverse artists.
Karissa Lubberts, a junior visual arts and new media major with a concentration in sculpture, had a lot to say about the artist.
“I believe that Das Gupta is an important artist conveying important messages. Her lecture Thursday night, her catalog and the messages in her art seem well-timed for our current political state. She emphasizes the intersections between ourselves and the earth in a way that really resonates with your heart,” said Lubberts. “My favorite piece is ‘In Hindsight,’ where clouds are projected onto unfired ceramic columns. It has a soothing and nostalgic quality about it which I deeply appreciate.”
She further commented on the program’s overall diversity which has been a continuing focus as it changes. Lubberts says that “last year there was a big push from the students for diversity in [the program], and rightly so. The Visiting Artists Program typically invites artists who are white and male. By doing so … our predominantly white institution is then only exposed to artists that look like us. I am especially pleased to see not only a female artist, but a female artist of color who was not born in the United States. I hope that this program continues to invite a diverse array of artists – not for tokenism, but simply because they are great artists.”
Das Gupta has installations all over the world including the United Kingdom, a permanent exhibit in China, Greece, Israel, and the United States. Her latest project, “Out of Step,” will be at the Marion Art Gallery until Feb. 26.