Artist Statement

The Sheesh Mahal (palace of mirrors) was a Hindu-Islamic architectural style from the 17th century Indian subcontinent. Walls and ceilings were encrusted with convex mirrored glass shards in mesmerizing intricate patterns. The resultant optical phenomenon was simple : Each mirrored shard reduced the attractive self-image to a small particle. Yet, if a small lamp were held in the palm of one’s hand, the specular reflection would be multiplied many times to create a hypnotic wave pattern that would cascade across the large chamber as one moved. In turn, illuminating the chamber. With British colonization, the Sheesh Mahal disappeared into oblivion, to be witnessed today only as a monument, a ruin.... an object whose philosophy has been eroded by history. 
     
In a world characterized by complex human vision, portable ideas and mutating, data-driven social landscapes that forget their predecessor, the Sheesh Mahal, how can I make the obsolete relevant to the here and now? This body of work uses the optical phenomenon of the palaces of mirrors to create flexible, open-ended and tensile systems. I seek to implicate the viewer within an object or act's structural framework in the same way that the Sheesh Mahal did. Therein lies the interest in eroding notions of a self-contained object.

Education

Selected Exhibitions

upcoming Particulate Behaviors, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA
upcoming The Five Senses, Sharan Apparao Gallery, Bangalore, India
upcoming {untitled: indeterminacy}, Roy G Biv Gallery, Columbus, OH
2009 Capturing Motion, The Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI
2009 Contemporary India, The Gallery Project, Ann Arbor, MI
2009 Impact 2009, Gallery of Fine Craft at WheatonArts, Millville NJ
2009 The Mini-Shiny Show, Clayspace Gallery, Columbus OH
2008 Fall Juried Show, Ohio Art League, Columbus OH
2008 Questioning Functionality 2, Glenn & Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center, Hillsboro, OR
2008 Erasing Borders, Queens Museum of Art, Hammond Museum, The Guild Gallery,
          Manhattanville College Art Gallery, Tabla Rasa Gallery, NY
2008, 03 Pilchuck Glass School Silent Auction, Seattle, WA
2008 Urbanglass Auction and Glassblowers Ball, New York, NY
2007 The Anti-Thesis Show, Wolcott Street, Providence RI
2007 RISD Annual Graduate Thesis Exhibition, RI Convention Center, Providence, RI
2007 Rain or Shine, Sol Koffler Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI
2007 How is this Glass?, Hillel Gallery, Brown University, Providence RI
2006 Graduate Glass Bienniel, Sol Koffler Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI
2006 RISD Trienniel, Woods Gerry Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design. Providence RI
2006 Sambandh - Indo-Swedish Glass, Norkopping, Sweden & New Delhi, India
2005 International Handicrafts Fair, New Delhi, India
2005 Surajkund Crafts mela, Haryana, India
2004 Art for Vision, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, India
2003 Tisch Galleries, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City NY
2003 History of the World Gallery, Washington
2002 BFA exhibition, Robert Turner Gallery, Alfred University, Alfred NY
2001 I love a good piece of Glass, Whitehouse books, Corning NY
1998 Showcase’98 - Design for Business, Hotel Ashok, New Delhi, India
1997 International Leather Trade Fair, CLRI, Madras, India

Lectures, Demonstrations and Publications

2009 Artist Talk, Sharan Apparao Gallery, Chennai,, India
2009 Co-curator, How is this glass? Of Post-glass artists/Glass Guerillas, Corning NY (catalog)
2009 Fellow, Creative Glass Center of America, Millville, NJ
2009 Studio Talk, Asian Contemporary Art Week, Asian Contemporary Art Consortium, NY
2009 Particulate Devil, New Glass Review 30, Pub. Corning Museum of Glass, NY
2008 Residency, Belluard Bollwerk International, Fribourg, Switzerland
2008 Masterclass demonstration, International Festival of Glass, Ruskin Glass Center, Stourbridge, UK
2007- Visiting Scholar, Glass, College of Arts, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
2007 Particle Activism, MFA Thesis, Pub. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence RI
2007 Visiting Critic, Sculpting Culture, Rhode Island School of Design, Wintersession
2005 Glass Art in India- Lost and Living traditions, Ed. Susanne Frantz, Pub. Glass Art Society Journal
2005 Glass Art in India- Lost and Living traditions, Glass Art Society conference, Adelaide, Australia
2004 Glass Art in India- Lost and Living traditions, Digital documentary feature, New Delhi, India

Selected work experience

Sep 07 - Projects Manager, Ann Hamilton Studio, Columbus, OH
Jun 07 - Jul 07 Instructor, Writing Center Summer Program, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
Jul 06 - Sep 06 Studio Coordinator - Session 4-5, Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA
Sep 05 - May 07 Visiting Artist & Teaching Assistant – Glass, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
Sep 05 - May 07 Tutor and Theses Reader – Writing Center, Rhode Island School of Design, RI
Apr 04 - Jul 05 Glass Artist and Researcher, New Delhi, India
Aug 03 - Mar 04 Production Manager - Jewelry Reproduction, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Jul 01 - Aug 01 Apprentice to Gunne Brandstedt - Pukeberg Glasbruk, Nybro, Sweden

Awards and Grants

2008 Creative Capital / Andy Warhol Foundation Grant for Arts Writers
2007 Grant: The Ruth Chenven Foundation
2007 Glass Art Society Conference Scholarship, Pittsburgh
2007 Tarakhnath Das Foundation Scholarship
2005-07 Friends of Glass Scholarship, Glass Department, Rhode Island School of Design
2005-07 Chirrona Scholarship, Division of Fine Arts, Rhode Island School of Design
2005-07 Graduate Fellowship, Graduate Studies Division, Rhode Island School of Design
2005-06 International Fellow award, American Association for University Women Education Foundation
2005 Grant: Technical Development, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India
2005 Grant:Integrated Design Project,Development Commissioner(Handicrafts),Government of India
2004 Grant: Technical Development, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India
2002 Award for Excellence, Student Exhibition, Glass Art Society Conference, Amsterdam
2002 Glass Art Society Conference Scholarship, Amsterdam
2001 International Internship Award, Alfred University