In this workshop, Seema will talk about the roots and inspiration of her work, as well as where she sees her work expanding into the future. The discussion will focus heavily on nature as a primer and may include an exercise where the audience can participate in a process of drawing inspiration from nature for whatever their discipline may be.
Seema Lisa Pandya is multidisciplinary visual artist and sustainability expert who explores the intersection between sustainability, art, culture, and the built environment with an aim of connecting audiences with experiential awareness of natural cycles. Her visual art ranges from large interactive kinetic sculptures, slatted light sculptures, site-specific installations, public art, street art happenings, amoeba shaped fractal paintings, and specific series reflecting cultural heritage. Reclaimed and discarded materials are often used in her work as she addresses local sourcing, and the lifecycle of materials. Her current body of work has been refined into two primary series. The “Amoeba” series explores undulating organic form and has used reclaimed wood and felled trees. The “Tabla” series is an exploration of biological form, nature, and music as a visual aesthetic and features used heads of the tabla woven in nature inspired forms. Her sculptural work has been featured in Vogue India 2018, and shown in NYC venues such as Pioneer Works, Plaxall Gallery, BRIC Arts, Wagner College, FIT, Prospect Park, Governor’s Island, and at Leon Gallery, and Revolutions Collective Art Space in Denver, CO. She has also made works for recipients such as Khizr Khan and Chelsea Clinton. Her early curatorial achievements include being a co-owner of Revoluciones Collective Art Space and featuring artists such as Shepard Fairey and was recognized with curatorial awards for Best Alternative Art Space - Top of the Rockies Colorado in 2004, and Best Gallery Award, Go-Go Magazine in 2001. Pandya also has over 15+ years of experience in the environmental building and design industry as she has managed the LEED certification of over 40 green building projects, reviewed over 50 projects for the USGBC as a LEED reviewer, and is a professor of sustainable design at NYSID and FIT in New York City. She is also currently on the Board of the Brooklyn Raga Massive and was instrumental in working with the collective to obtain their 510c3 nonprofit status helping set up BRM’s initial organizational structure.