Avantika Bawa is a visual artist and curator. Until recently, she was based out of Atlanta, Georgia and taught Fine Arts classes at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Atlanta campus; starting this fall, she will be an Assistant Professor at Washington State University.

Bawa creates new territory between sculpture and painting, similar to her ability to navigate the borders between two cultures – Indian and American.  She is influenced by: minimalism, or  the reduction of art to basic shapes, colors, and textures; installation art, which is the temporary transformation of spaces; and the interruption of space that brings viewers a new understanding, characteristic of intervention art.

For nearly a decade, the artist has been working with site-specific “interventions.” These works decode the hidden meaning in a site’s unique characteristics, whether architectural, historical, social or environmental, and amplifies it. In this exhibition, Bawa will address the history and architecture of the Columbus Museum, the geography of its surrounding areas, and the cataloguing of art and related information conducted in the institution’s back offices. Various objects from the Museum’s storage areas will be re-purposed to create a transformed visitor experience in the gallery that also hints at the happenings “‘behind the scenes.”

Bawa earned an MFA in painting from the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in painting from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. She has exhibited nationally and internationally in the United States, Canada and India.

Be inspired by Avantika Bawa as she creates her unique Minimalist exhibition at the Museum. Come and learn about her process as an installation artist!

Opening Reception Lecture
6 p.m.Thursday, August 12
Free!

Exhibiting artist Avantika Bawa will provide an overview of her work as an installation/minimalist artist, in which she explores the cultural, regional and geographic influences of time and space.

Following Bawa's presentation in the Patrick Theatre, a reception will be held in the Turner Galleria. Please RSVP to Mary Goff by Monday, August 9th.

This exhibition is made possible by the support of the Edward Swift Shorter Bequest Fund.