Shanthi Chandrasekar

Shanthi Chandrasekar is an American artist of Indian ancestry.[1] Her artwork is strongly influenced by her training in the traditional art form of Thanjavur painting.[2] She resides in Maryland, in the Greater Washington, DC area. She was born in Tamil Nadu, India.[3]

Education

Chandrasekar studied at the Women’s Christian College, in Chennai, India and then received a Masters in Psychology from Annamalai University, Chidambaram, India.[3]

Artwork

Chandrasekar’s art has been exhibited mainly in the Greater Washington D.C. area. She has twice been awarded the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award (2013 and 2016),[4] as well as three times winner of Individual Artist grants from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, MD in 2009, 2013 and 2016.[1] In 2012 she was awarded the gold medal as well as "the fan favorite" medal at an art competition known as "The DC Art Decathlon" staged by the District of Columbia Arts Center.[5][6]

The Washington Post has noted that her work "uses a central theme of weaving to explore everything from parallel universes to technological advancements to her own brain."[5] The newspaper's art critic also noted, in a different review, that she "arranges women’s faces into designs rooted in the traditions of southern India."[7] The same critic had observed earlier, in a review of her 2013 solo show at the District of Columbia Arts Center that "perhaps art, craft, science and religion are different manifestations of the same fundamental thing. That’s how it seems in the multimedia work of Shanthi Chandrasekar, which is derived from Hinduism, theoretical physics and family history."[8] In a more recent 2019 review of her work at a group show at The American Center for Physics in College Park, Maryland, the Washington Post stated that her sculpture “Wormhole” was "the closest thing to a real-world diagram in the show, twists fabric into a narrow tunnel that links two circular nets."[9]

The Kolam Project

In 2021 Chandrasekar led a nationwide project to create raditional South Indian kolam to honor Vice President Kamala Harris. The kolam featured contributions from about 2,000 people around the United States. It was initially planned to be displayed near the Capitol during the inauguration, but due to security issues it was featured virtually as part of the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s virtual welcome event.[10][11][12]

Collections and awards

Her work is in the permanent collection of the city of Washington, DC,[13] and the Works on Paper Collection[14] of Montgomery County, Maryland. She is also a Fiscal Year 2020 announced winner of an Artists and Scholars Project Grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County to create a series of science inspired drawings. Some of those works have been installed in the Prayer and Meditation Room at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD.[15]

Books

Chandrasekar has illustrated Katha Sagar: Ocean of Stories, 2016 Skinner House Books ISBN 978-8480174008, Sri Ramanujan - An Illustrated Biography and most recently Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us ISBN 978-0544432932 by Ruth Kassinger.

References
  1. "SHANTHI CHANDRASEKAR". Maryland State Arts Council. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  2. "A Portrait of the Artist: Shanthi Chandrasekar". Gaithersburg, MD Patch. 2011-02-25. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  3. "Indo-American Arts Council, Inc". www.iaac.us. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  4. "The Betty Mae Kramer Gallery Presents Shanthi Chandrasekar and Susan Goldman Immemorial". East City Art. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  5. Merry, Stephanie (2012-01-19). "Art in focus: DC Arts Center Decathlon". The Washington Post.
  6. Posts |. "DCAC DecathlonJanuary 13 – February 5 – District of Columbia Arts Center". Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  7. Jenkins, Mark (2015-11-13). "In the galleries: Getting 'Personal' at King Street". The Washington Post.
  8. Jenkins, Mark (2013-01-31). "'Journeys' to the intersection of mind and matter". The Washington Post.
  9. Jenkins, Mark (2019-03-29). "In the galleries". The Washington Post.
  10. Page, Sydney. "To honor Kamala Harris, these women are bringing a traditional Indian art form to D.C., made by thousands of hands". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  11. "People across U.S. made over 2,000 pieces of Indian art to welcome Harris". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  12. "This 1,800-piece crowdsourced art project for Kamala Harris honors her Indian heritage". SFChronicle.com. 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2021-01-26.
  13. "Results | Search Artists | eMuseum | dcarts". dcarts.emuseum.com. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  14. "Montgomery County Public Arts Trust Seeks Contemporary Works on Paper". East City Art. 2019-04-09. Retrieved 2019-09-10.
  15. "Our Mental Health is Important in these Times. Here's How Creativity Can Help". Artists Circle Fine Art. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
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