Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee: Calm Water Color Storm
February 26 - April 02,2022
From Heidi Vaughan Fine Art:
"HEIDI VAUGHAN FINE ART is proud to announce the opening of Calm Water Color Storm, an exhibition of immersive and interdisciplinary fine works of art by marine conservation artist Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee. The exhibition opens February 26, 2022, and runs through April 2, 2022, at the gallery, located at 3510 Lake Street at Colquitt in the Upper Kirby Galleries. Hours for the opening will be from 11 am to 8 pm. The artist will be present from 4 pm until 8 pm for a reception. Calm Water Color Storm will feature oil paintings, lenticular works of art, three-dimensional objects, as well as textile, projection, and other installation works. An artist talk with Mahimtura Folmsbee, Steven Matijcio, Director and Chief Curator of the Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston, and GP Schmahl, superintendent of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, will take place on Saturday, March 12, 2022, at 1 pm.
We welcome you to an immersive art experience of marine ecosystems from opposite ends of our planet, a portrayal of the connective tethers that exist within water, art, and the marine world beneath the waves.
Included in Calm Water Color Storm will be paintings and installations inspired from Mahimtura Folmsbee’s dives and travels in Egypt, Greece, the Maldives, the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in Texas. The artwork is shared and dedicated to the pure beauty and color of these locations.
Throughout time, the marine world has been a part of the art world, from the hieroglyphics in Egypt at the Temple of Hatshepsut, to the ancient carvings that represent marine life from the Red Sea in the tombs in Saqqara. Vincent van Gogh’s paintings, masterworks of the Renaissance, and sixteenth-century Dutch still-life vanitas abundant with shells and crustaceans are referenced in this body of work. As an artist and observer, Mahimtura Folmsbee sees the connection where water and the marine world repetitively embrace one another through patterns and imagery in historical works of art. She is drawn to these marine symbols and with the spiritual energy with which they are conveyed.
By working with marine scientists in the global community, the objects in this exhibition are created with scientific research to span a bridge between science and art. The resulting all-inclusive, educational experience demonstrates the ability of art to help save and highlight a natural resource. Marine life needs our help now more than ever.
Mahimtura Folmsbee sits on the Flower Gardens Sanctuary advisory council, appointed through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.) as a voting member. In conjunction with this exhibition, she will be installing Aquarius Art Tunnel, a 240-foot passageway to the International Terminal (between D and E) at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston that will be completed later this year. Her winning design is inspired by her dives off the Texas Coast. It has been endorsed by the N.O.A.A. Sanctuary offices in Galveston.
Mahimtura Folmsbee creates fine art objects to share her love of scuba diving. Whether figurative or abstract, the focus is always on marine life and carries a positive message. She creates ethereal, intricate shapes she calls characters that are meant to invite viewers into the world and the moment from which they originated. Her interdisciplinary art installations transform spaces and create relationships between objects and spectators to evoke a sense of real closeness to the marine world. The work is always uplifting, educational, color driven, and immersive.
Inspired by her local Texas and worldwide dive expeditions since 2007, Mahimtura Folmsbee becomes one with her breath, invited into a world of pure beauty where she is not judged but encouraged to view and experience the world under water. Her art is about recreating that meditative moment for the viewer.
Mahimtura Folmsbee has created large fine art murals throughout Houston, such as Rail to the Sea, which can be found on Google Earth. Her public works also include a significant commission from the Red Cross Society in Mumbai, India. She collaborates and works with marine organizations like the Galveston Bay Foundation, the Correa Lab at Rice University, Maar Alliance, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A), and the Coral Restoration Foundation to help preserve our oceans. She has created artwork used in scientific papers, including work published in the Global Change Journal. Mahimtura Folmsbee also engages the general public through her official artwork for the 2017 Super Bowl, the 2019 Houston Chevron Marathon, and the FIFA World Cup 2024.
Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee wants to live in a world where everyone can experience the beauty of our oceans. She was born and raised in Mumbai, India, in a home overlooking the Indian Ocean. She is a 2009 graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (S.A.I.C.). She currently lives and works in Houston. Mahimtura Folmsbee has shown her works of art in Mumbai, Beijing, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Dubai, and throughout the United States. Her art objects have been featured in international fairs, including Kunst Rai, Art Rotterdam, the Indian Contemporary Art Fair, the Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Arte Dubai, and in print media, including Harper’s Bazaar, The Times of India, the Houston Chronicle, Houston Modern Luxury, and Verve in India, as well as on radio and television interviews.
HEIDI VAUGHAN FINE ART represents Texas artists based in Houston. HVFA artists live in Houston but are from all over the globe. The gallery represents, embraces, and celebrates equity with projects that support local creative communities and ideas. HVFA also represents important Houston collectors and sells secondary market art. A significant part of the gallery’s business is also devoted to valuation and appraisal of works of fine art. More can be found at www.heidivaughanfineart.com, and on our YouTube channel, and our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages. "
Reception: February 26, 2022 | 4-8 pm
Heidi Vaughan Fine Art
3510 Lake Street
Houston, Texas 77098
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