Art Of Storytelling: Artist Feature X Shachi Kale
About the Artist :
Born and brought up in Mumbai, India, Shachi Kale trained as a graphic designer and began her career in advertising. She then ran her own successful design studio till 2001, when she moved with her husband to Arizona. The move inspired Shachi to express herself through art as a way to grapple with the feelings of change and loss and regrowth. Her art centers around her daily life, internal dialogue and the desert environment she now lives in. Shachi has recently had successful solo shows and has also shown her work in group shows around the Valley. Her art was selected for the 2019 Governor’s Arts Awards and she was a finalist in the Mayor’s Arts Awards in the visual arts category in 2019.
She continues to work as a designer and has won awards for her designs and art over the years. She has illustrated 16 children’s books, which have been published in both India and the United States.
She and her husband live in Arizona with their two young boys and dog. Her medium of choice is watercolor on paper but she also enjoys gouache, acrylics, oils, fiber arts, print-making and digital art.
About Artist’s work :
Shachi Kale likes to think of herself as a visual storyteller. Her art is an exploration of her internal dialogue and tries to tell the story of her life and the desert environment as seen through her eyes. She embraces her love for color and pattern to bring those stories to life and draw the viewer in with its details. In this lockdown, she has focused her gaze on the quiet moments she has experienced in the company of her loyal companion, her studio dog Buzz. She has tried to capture the slow simple pace of days and the moments of beauty and comfort that were once ignored and now feel so valuable. Her art also explores memories of home and what ‘home’ really means to her.
Shachi uses gouache, watercolors, acrylics, embroidery, print-making, fiber and digital arts. She is fascinated by folk art from around the world, the artists’ use of flat colors, simple perspective, and storytelling. She is also drawn to Indian miniature art and the patterns and decorative elements used in them. The vibrant and rich colors of her palette are a legacy of her Indian heritage, and the narrative elements are an influence from her work as a children’s book illustrator.
An insight to the artist’s creative process/ practice:
I have been making art since I was a child and it continues to give me as much joy today as it did then. My art practise has evolved from being primarily graphic design / communication and children’s book art, to fine-art. Though my medium of expression is primarily watercolor or acryla gouache on paper, I also explore different mediums like oils, acrylics, print-making, fiber arts, embroidery and even doll-making. I find myself drawn to exploring my internal dialogue and find inspiration in my mundane daily life, my environment, and the experiences that move me. I’m endlessly fascinated and excited by a blank page and have discovered that I like to work on a series of images tied together thematically and then play with that theme till I feel that I have explored it to my satisfaction. I often move to new subject matter, but find myself revisiting old themes and trying to express them each time with a new perspective brought about by the passage of time and my evolution as an artist. As a practise I make sure to spend a few hours making art each day. It’s only through making art and playing that you are occasionally surprised and gifted with little personal breakthroughs or new techniques or ways to express yourself better. I truly think of my art as a gift from the universe to me and am enjoying every step of this journey!
Recent work on your #heartlist
Way too hard to have a SHORT list! It’s a long list, but these artists stoke my curiosity and light a fire in me to explore and push myself more. Here goes…Sara Khan @mindforking, Manuja Waldia @manujawaldia, Jill Kittock @jillkittock, Michele Landel @michelelandel, Serena Malyon @smalyon, Lee Ariel @lee_ariel_, Giova Brusa @giovabrusa, Lindsay Stripling etc.
Links to Instagram & Website
You can follow her explorations and journey on Instagram @shachidreams,
Visit her web page shachikale.com, or email her here.
