Awaken and Asleep
Creating work of Art is like giving birth to a child, as Kavita Nayar explains. Kavita was born in Amritsar in 1957, her schooling was in Kolkatta, Bachelors of Arts from Santiniketan, Masters in Painting from Delhi and to acquire proficiency in Printmaking she went to France in 85-86, to Luxemburg in 1990 and on Charles Wallace fellowship went to Oxford Ruskin school of Arts.
Kavita attended a painting competition when she was in 8th standard. That was the time Neel Armstrong stepped on moon. To celebrate the occasion participants of painting competition were supposed to imagine the space and draw and paint. Whoever wins the competition will get a chance to visit Russia for 13 days. She was upset that she could not win. That instigated her to take Fine arts specialization against the advice of parents and teachers. To express positive and negative feelings through art had been initiated on that day itself for Kavita. She says she should be called an artist not a print maker though she achieved fine tuning in printmaking. That is true, whether one is a singer, dancer, painter, whom so ever one may be everyone is an artist. She goes to her studio every day, works every day. Making a figure is like writing daily dairy for her. Her art works are her dairy written with figures and forms. Image is like being awaken in the sleep or living in the dream for her.
Many a people groom their thoughts when they are in the lone spaces. Artists represent their thoughts through the creative arts. When Kavita looks at her painting she does not feel that is the representation of her thoughts. She feels those figures are continuity of she herself but that is like a chain connecting her with her image. She was painting from 2006 to 2008 and only portraits of her daughter whom she lost. She finds solace in nature and thinking through nature and within the nature she forgets the sorrow of life.
Kavita is the important support and founder member of Kalasakshi trust. She does much for art through this platform to award fellowships to young artists and giving opportunities to them on various levels. She says society has given her so much and she should give back to the society. She teaches as a visiting faculty in Delhi and many national and international art institutions, conducted workshops to teach and popularize printmaking and exhibited nationally and internationally. Many of her works are in important Museums, one of her work is in Indian Prime Minister’s house. She believes in spiritualism read more about Budhhism. She lives in Delhi.