July 18-August 5 2012

Opening reception Friday, July 20th, 6-9pm

Champa Vaid

Conversations, a painting retrospective

I started writing poetry at the age of 60, at a time when most people stop. I could tell you that I started writing late because a woman of my generation, Indian, with kids raises them until they are done with their studies, and has no time. That is a convenient explanation. But the fact is that creativity has its own clock. It does not see age, or being overworked, or not getting enough time to be with oneself. When it comes it comes.

That is what happened with painting. I started painting, at the age of 76. The reason was health. I could not think or write, so I started drawing on paper. In our family, nobody was a painter. But I had the urge to create, so I took to colors and paper, and then to canvas. Today, I work with acrylics, and my choice of colors reflects my moods. I am very enthusiastic about my work and that energy comes through in my painting. Colors are my best friends. I talk to them in their language before they become one with me for the time I am working. They remain with me in my dreams also. I want to share my enthusiasm and the language of colors.

I came to painting very late in life and with no formal training. But I spent a lifetime seeing and living with art and artists. My husband is also a writer and our passions have always involved art, music, literature, dance and the world of ideas. Our closest friends are poets, writers, artists, dancers, and playwrights. I think that experience of friendships, exhibitions, museums, readings, and concerts both supports and informs my work.

I am still painting and continue to produce a lot of work. Age does not come in my way except when I am sick. There is something that pushes me through to keep going regardless of age. I call it a dialogue with myself. First, it was with words, and now, it is with colors. I am thankful for the opportunity to exhibit my work in Provincetown. Welcome to the show and I look forward to your reactions.

Biography

Champa Vaid is an abstract painter and poet who lives and works in Texas. Born in 1930 in India, she started painting in 2006. Her bold and confident acrylic based paintings are characterized by energetic strokes, experimental style, and a unique blend of color, texture and emotion. Vaid's paintings were featured in three group shows held in New Delhi in 2007. She has had four solo exhibitions in India, two in Delhi--at India International Centre and Ekatra 2008; one at the Alliance Francais in Bhopal 2009, one at Indore sponsored by Sanskriti Parishad, also in 2009. The Art Market Provincetown exhibition will be her first solo show in the United States.

Champa Vaid is the author of five books, including four collections of poetry in Hindi and one collection in English titled, The Music of Bones (New Delhi: Vani Prakashan 2011). Educated in India (M.A. in Hindi from Panjab University) and the U.S. (M.Ed. from Boston University), she is a mother and grandmother, and married to the Hindi writer Krishna Baldev Vaid.

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