Moklesa Shah
U.S.A.
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"It seems that my painting and drawing have their
own life and I let them grow their own way.
I do not have any control over them.
These formative expressions are intended to be simple
visualizations of my thoughts and close to my nature.
I am attracted to the simplicity of the means
to achieve complexity of forms."
own life and I let them grow their own way.
I do not have any control over them.
These formative expressions are intended to be simple
visualizations of my thoughts and close to my nature.
I am attracted to the simplicity of the means
to achieve complexity of forms."
_______________________________________________
The following biography
was compiled from two articles written about the artist:
"Renaissance Woman" ©Christine A. Sheilds, editor, Sage JCA magazine
and "Moklesa Shah" ©Ken Davies, ARTISspectrum, Volume II/6 1999
was compiled from two articles written about the artist:
"Renaissance Woman" ©Christine A. Sheilds, editor, Sage JCA magazine
and "Moklesa Shah" ©Ken Davies, ARTISspectrum, Volume II/6 1999
Moklesa Shah never intended to become an artist. A native of Bangladesh, she originally wanted to become a doctor, but says that, with eight brothers and sisters, that was not an option. In Bangladesh, a young girl's priorities left little room to encompass the supernal aspirations of a future in art. For Moklesa, it was the more pragmatic requirements of work and traditional formal study that defined her reality; and she remained, for a time, unaware of 'the artist within'.
Shah trained as both a nurse and a midwife, graduating from the Dhaka Medical College School of Nursing and working as the supervising ward sister at the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine. After coming to the United States in the 1970s with her husband, a renowned vascular surgeon at Albany Medical Center, Moklesa Shah took up studies once more and enrolled in the nursing program at Sage JCA while raising their son and two daughters.
Quite innocently attending a ceramics course with Tim Martin, professor of fine arts, this was the spark that ignited a long dormant creative spirit. A bit of a sleeping giant, the creative urge suddenly took root and grew quickly. With the professor's encouragement and prodding, she eventually decided to change direction and pursue her studies in the arts. It was a radical move. "In my country," she says, "artists are not thought of as educated people." With a laugh she adds that it was only after she had graduated from JCA with her associate's degree and from SUNY Albany with both a bachelor's and a master's degree in studio art that she dared to tell her father she was an art major!
At Sage JCA, Shah moved on from ceramics to sculpture to painting and, in due course, studied with professor Nance Goren. "I couldn't draw," she says and, initially, struggled with her assignments. One day she quickly dashed off something in her, now signature, organic style, that drew acclaim from both teachers and fellow students. She never looked back.
"It never occurred to me, or to anyone at that time, that one day I would become an artist," she reflects, looking back happily now at more than fifteen years of fulfilling creative pursuit. "Bear in mind that I worked, in fact, as a registered nurse until 1970."
"I suppose winning a first prize award for my ceramics was a good beginning," she offers modestly. "I feel I must give credit to two other professors in particular, with whom I studied for three years: Mark Greenwald and Jo Ann Carson. They too were always very encouraging of my work."
The abstract fluidity and inspired juxtaposition of forms that are now presented in her work marks a very distinct progression in style and content for Ms. Shah: "It was in 1991 that I began to develop a more abstract style in painting and charcoal work, taking inspiration from the wonderful organic forms and shapes of nature. My own garden can often provide the basic inspiration for a piece."
Looking around the lovely contemporary home that Shah shares with her family, it is easy to see where she finds her inspiration. Everywhere you look, there are bowls of gourds and squash, arrangements of pomegranates, and paintings, sculpture and pottery - by Moklesa as well as her husband and children. Her son, an architect, has a more linear style, and her husband favors wood sculpting with several of his works-in-progress scattered around the house and out-buildings. The over-mantel of the fireplace in the ultra-modern living room is decorated with Moklesa's work as are the walls in the kitchen, which feature swirling, rounded forms in gray and black that perfectly pick up the granite countertops. After Shah completed a month-long course in fresco she created an image on one entire wall in her family room.
The house itself is as unusual as her family. Designed by architect Dennis Wedlick, who worked with Phillip Johnson for 12 years, the abode was designed with the input of each family member, inspiring Wedlick to design it in the shape of a six-pointed star with a bedroom wing for each person. A spiral staircase leading down to the first floor has a gigantic, custom designed bird cage hanging down its core which is an elegant home for two of the couple's many animals. The house has been featured in the New York Times, on Home and Garden Television, and in Wedlick's book, "The Good Home".
Wedlick also designed a new barn for the llamas, goats, swans, and chickens that the Shahs raise and a greenhouse for Moklesa, who is an accomplished indoor and outdoor gardener. She raises everything from the vegetables that inspire her work to exotic water lilies.
A 175-year-old barn on the property serves as Shah's cozy studio and is filled to the rafters with works she is readying for upcoming shows. Her work, described for an exhibit at the Pace Gallery in Soho, features "black caverns, oblong shapes sliced in half, cut off tubes, rounded forms opening up their insides for viewing, dissected punctured matter, that can't contain it's substance." Here and there a solitary nose or an eye appears in the background. She works in watercolor, gouache, charcoal and mixed media.
"Mostly," explains Moklesa, "my ideas come from my immediate environment and situation. I experiment with many sorts of forms and media. An experiment in one piece can provide the foundation for the next. Essentially, I have a very basic ethic behind my work. Basic shapes, lines and images give me a wide variety of building blocks from which to create life. Each of these simple formative expressions of visual thought is an external realization of things readily produced in nature. It seems that my works have their own life. I let them grow their own way."
With numerous shows and awards to her credit here, Moklesa has exhibited successfully throughout the northeastern United States; but she has also had the opportunity to share her art, informally, on several occasions in Bangladesh, where she has been welcomed with open arms. It is her forthcoming visit, however, that is most exciting: "I am hoping to have the opportunity to have an exhibition of my work in Bangladesh and, of course, I'm very thrilled at the prospect." There is a sense, in this, that Moklesa Shah has really come full circle.
Shah trained as both a nurse and a midwife, graduating from the Dhaka Medical College School of Nursing and working as the supervising ward sister at the Institute of Post Graduate Medicine. After coming to the United States in the 1970s with her husband, a renowned vascular surgeon at Albany Medical Center, Moklesa Shah took up studies once more and enrolled in the nursing program at Sage JCA while raising their son and two daughters.
Quite innocently attending a ceramics course with Tim Martin, professor of fine arts, this was the spark that ignited a long dormant creative spirit. A bit of a sleeping giant, the creative urge suddenly took root and grew quickly. With the professor's encouragement and prodding, she eventually decided to change direction and pursue her studies in the arts. It was a radical move. "In my country," she says, "artists are not thought of as educated people." With a laugh she adds that it was only after she had graduated from JCA with her associate's degree and from SUNY Albany with both a bachelor's and a master's degree in studio art that she dared to tell her father she was an art major!
At Sage JCA, Shah moved on from ceramics to sculpture to painting and, in due course, studied with professor Nance Goren. "I couldn't draw," she says and, initially, struggled with her assignments. One day she quickly dashed off something in her, now signature, organic style, that drew acclaim from both teachers and fellow students. She never looked back.
"It never occurred to me, or to anyone at that time, that one day I would become an artist," she reflects, looking back happily now at more than fifteen years of fulfilling creative pursuit. "Bear in mind that I worked, in fact, as a registered nurse until 1970."
"I suppose winning a first prize award for my ceramics was a good beginning," she offers modestly. "I feel I must give credit to two other professors in particular, with whom I studied for three years: Mark Greenwald and Jo Ann Carson. They too were always very encouraging of my work."
The abstract fluidity and inspired juxtaposition of forms that are now presented in her work marks a very distinct progression in style and content for Ms. Shah: "It was in 1991 that I began to develop a more abstract style in painting and charcoal work, taking inspiration from the wonderful organic forms and shapes of nature. My own garden can often provide the basic inspiration for a piece."
Looking around the lovely contemporary home that Shah shares with her family, it is easy to see where she finds her inspiration. Everywhere you look, there are bowls of gourds and squash, arrangements of pomegranates, and paintings, sculpture and pottery - by Moklesa as well as her husband and children. Her son, an architect, has a more linear style, and her husband favors wood sculpting with several of his works-in-progress scattered around the house and out-buildings. The over-mantel of the fireplace in the ultra-modern living room is decorated with Moklesa's work as are the walls in the kitchen, which feature swirling, rounded forms in gray and black that perfectly pick up the granite countertops. After Shah completed a month-long course in fresco she created an image on one entire wall in her family room.
The house itself is as unusual as her family. Designed by architect Dennis Wedlick, who worked with Phillip Johnson for 12 years, the abode was designed with the input of each family member, inspiring Wedlick to design it in the shape of a six-pointed star with a bedroom wing for each person. A spiral staircase leading down to the first floor has a gigantic, custom designed bird cage hanging down its core which is an elegant home for two of the couple's many animals. The house has been featured in the New York Times, on Home and Garden Television, and in Wedlick's book, "The Good Home".
Wedlick also designed a new barn for the llamas, goats, swans, and chickens that the Shahs raise and a greenhouse for Moklesa, who is an accomplished indoor and outdoor gardener. She raises everything from the vegetables that inspire her work to exotic water lilies.
A 175-year-old barn on the property serves as Shah's cozy studio and is filled to the rafters with works she is readying for upcoming shows. Her work, described for an exhibit at the Pace Gallery in Soho, features "black caverns, oblong shapes sliced in half, cut off tubes, rounded forms opening up their insides for viewing, dissected punctured matter, that can't contain it's substance." Here and there a solitary nose or an eye appears in the background. She works in watercolor, gouache, charcoal and mixed media.
"Mostly," explains Moklesa, "my ideas come from my immediate environment and situation. I experiment with many sorts of forms and media. An experiment in one piece can provide the foundation for the next. Essentially, I have a very basic ethic behind my work. Basic shapes, lines and images give me a wide variety of building blocks from which to create life. Each of these simple formative expressions of visual thought is an external realization of things readily produced in nature. It seems that my works have their own life. I let them grow their own way."
With numerous shows and awards to her credit here, Moklesa has exhibited successfully throughout the northeastern United States; but she has also had the opportunity to share her art, informally, on several occasions in Bangladesh, where she has been welcomed with open arms. It is her forthcoming visit, however, that is most exciting: "I am hoping to have the opportunity to have an exhibition of my work in Bangladesh and, of course, I'm very thrilled at the prospect." There is a sense, in this, that Moklesa Shah has really come full circle.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:2002 - Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York, NY 2002 - Papp Gallery, New York, NY 2001 - Agora Gallery, Soho, New York, NY 2001 - Gallery Allexi, New York, NY 2001 - Papp Gallery, Soho, New York, NY 2000 - Diette Gallery, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY 2000 - Lulu Gallery Cafe, Albany, NY 2000 - Gallery Alexie, New York, NY 2000 - Spencertown Academy Juried Show, Spencertown,NY 1999 - Fulton Street Gallery, Troy, NY 1999 - Agora Gallery, Soho, New York, NY 1999 - Fulton Street Gallery, Troy, NY 1998 - Broadway Gallery juried exhibition, Troy, NY 1998 - Lulu Gallery Cafe, Albany, NY 1998 - Soho International Art Competition, Soho, New York, NY 1997 - Artists of the Mowhawk Hudson Region Juried Exhibition, University Art
Museum, Albany, NY 1997 - Rathbone Gallery, Albany, NY 1997 - Bethlehem Public Library Gallery, Bethlehem, NY 1997 - Canterberry Gallery, Albany, NY 1996 - Planetary Renaissance International Art Spectacular,
Shukangala's Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 1996 - Dietel Gallery, Emma Willard School, Troy, NY 1996 - Schenectady Museum of Planetarium, Schnectady, NY 1996 - Stockade Art Show, Schenectady, NY 1995 - The Gallery Chapel and Cultural Center, Troy, NY 1995 - Comart II Gallery, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 1995 - Schenectady Museum of Planetarium, Schnectady, NY 1994 - "Passion" National Juried Visual Art and Poetry Exhibition,
PeconicGallery, Suffolf Community College, Riverhead, NY and Rathbone
Gallery, Sage Junior College of Albany, NY. Juror: Ann Philbin,
Director of The Drawing Center, New York City 1994 - Albany Airport, Albany, NY 1993 - Guilderland Public Library, Guilderland, NY 1991 - Albany Medical Center Annex, Albany, NY 1990 - Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY
AWARDS:1997/1998 - The World Who's Who of Women, 14th Edition 1997/1998 - The Marquis Who's Who of American Women, 20th Edition 1996 - First Place, Stochade Art Show, Schenectady, NY 1994 - Academic Distinction in Graduate School
PUBLICATIONS:2001/2002 - New Art International, vol.VII. Book Art Press, New York, NY
pgs 142-43
EXPERIENCE:1990-93 - Independent study in painting with professor Wilson, professor
Carson, and professor Greenwald; SUNY, Albany, NY 1968-70 - Supervising Ward Sister, Institute of Post Graduate Medicine,
Dhaka, Bangladesh 1965-67 - Senior Staff Nurse, Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh
EDUCATION:1995 - MA, (Art Studio) SUNY, Albany, NY 1990 - BA, General (Studio Art) SUNY, Albany, NY 1985 - AAS, Sage Junior College of Albany, Albany, NY 1965 - Senior Midwife Certificate, Dhaka Medical College School of Nursing 1963 - Senior Nursing Certificate, Dhaka Medical College School of Nursing
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES:Member of the Institute of History and Art Member of Center Gallery Member of Albany Artist Group Member of Upstate 88 Artist Group Member of Green County Council on the Arts Member of Boston Museum of Fine Arts
HOBBIES:Gardening (indoor & outdoor), cooking, sewing, and raising small birds
and animals
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Museum, Albany, NY
Shukangala's Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
PeconicGallery, Suffolf Community College, Riverhead, NY and Rathbone
Gallery, Sage Junior College of Albany, NY. Juror: Ann Philbin,
Director of The Drawing Center, New York City
AWARDS:
PUBLICATIONS:
pgs 142-43
EXPERIENCE:
Carson, and professor Greenwald; SUNY, Albany, NY
Dhaka, Bangladesh
EDUCATION:
SOCIAL ACTIVITIES:
HOBBIES:
and animals
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