Closing Reception and Conversation: Thursday, April 21, 7-8pm.

Creative Conversations @ MCC Art Gallery

Join us for our next installment of Creative Conversations @ MCC Art Gallery on Thursday, April 21, from 7-8pm for an engaging dialogue between Shachi Kale and Swapna Das about their creative process, the journey that they’ve each had in the artworld and the role that identity plays in their work. At the conclusion of the talk we will open it up for a Q&A about their current exhibitions here at MCC followed by a walk-through to hear about the inspiration behind their two solo exhibitions, Shachi Kale: Conversations With Myself and Swapna Das: Encountering the Self. This talk is FREE and open to the public.  

Shachi Kale: Conversations With Myself

Shachi Kale is a visual story teller whose images are personal, poetic and rich in symbolism. Whether reappropriating stories from western fairy tales, imagery from her native country of India, or inventing new myths to talk about her present concerns, Kale’s work is centered around the journey of personal growth and spiritual development. In the past, this has taken the form of honoring her heritage even as she moved between cultures, all the while becoming an acute cartographer of the human condition. Most importantly however, is the way that Kale uses all of these motifs to create a sacred space of reflection in a world of endless distractions.

Bio: Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, Shachi Kale trained as a graphic designer and began her career in advertising. She successfully ran her own design studio in Mumbai till 2001 and then made the move to Arizona with her husband. She has made Arizona her home for over 20 years. The move inspired Shachi to express herself through art as a way to grapple with the feelings of change, loss of identity and regrowth. Her art centers around her journey, her internal dialogue and the desert environment she now lives in. Shachi has recently had several successful solo and group shows in Arizona. She has shown her art at the Chandler Center for the Arts, Tempe Center for the Arts and through Scottsdale Public Arts and the City of Chandler. In 2019, her art was selected for the 2019 Governor’s Arts Awards, and she was a finalist for the Dr. Eugene Grigsby Visual Artist Award, at the Phoenix Mayor’s Arts Awards. In addition to her active art practice, she continues to also work as a designer and has won awards for her designs and art over the years. She has illustrated 16 children‘s books, which have been published in both India and the U.S. She and her husband live in Arizona with their two young boys and dog, Buzz. Her primary medium is watercolor, but she also works with mixed-media, gouache, acrylics, oils, fiber arts, print-making and digital art.

Swapna Das: Encountering the Self

The work of Swapna Das represents an evolving journey of self-exploration that resonates with many different spiritual traditions. The most prominent among these is Buddhism, which describes ten different states in the cycle of life that one can encounter throughout all of worldly existence. Whether thought of separate stages or states that are enfolded into one another, these ten worlds include six lower realms and four higher ones that lead to the path of Buddhahood. Thus, in Das’s art, you will see interwoven motifs that are reflected in each and every state, ultimately pointing to the perpetual transformation of human perception, depending on the level of awareness and being that one aspires too.

Bio: Swapna Das is a visual Artist (Painting/ Drawing), currently living in Phoenix, Arizona. She was born and raised in New Delhi, India where she did her Bachelor of Fine Arts and later worked as an freelance artist. After moving to USA in 2011, she studied Master of Fine Arts (MFA) at Arizona State University (ASU) which offered her a new dimension in life.  It also allowed her to share her diverse background through art while enhancing the skills and knowledge through meaningful interaction with talented artists in the valley. After her graduation from ASU, she has been working as an adjunct faculty at ASU and MCC. Swapna Das has also been actively participating and showcasing her artwork around the valley since 2013. She was featured in YabYum music+arts in 2017. Her Thesis Exhibition “Ten Worlds” featured in The State Press on 03/ 28/2016. She was also invited to attend Visual Artists and Writers Residency at Vermont Studio Center in 2016. Her charcoal drawings were showcased in Arizona Biennial 2018 exhibition in Tuscon Museum of Art and History. She has exhibited her at Blue Door Art Center in New York in 2017. She has also travelled to China for Inverse Conversation Exchange Exhibition with Renmin University of China in 2016. She is currently teaching 2D Design and Drawing I at Mesa Community College.