Fozia Vasowalla, was born and brought up in Bombay, India. She studied and worked as an interior designer in Bombay  and moved to the Boston area about 11 years ago. She holds  a Bachelor’s in Liberal art with a focus in fine art. An interior design by profession, she admits that cut paper art has now captured her time and interest.As a stay at home mom,  she decided to put her creative skills to use by  decorating her children's rooms. It caught her neighbor's attention who motivated her to promote her art. Since then she has held many exhibitions at local art galleries. On March 30th, 2007 she will be exhibitng some of her art work at the Sahayta benefit of South Asian Art .

    * Could you relate a story of your earliest artistic inspiration?

One of my art teachers in grade school, Badri Narayan, was a great inspiration to me – he painted appealing pictures with simple outlines and in a matter of minutes he would have created a story to go with the images he made. A self taught artist and story teller he went on to win many prestigious awards including the Padma Shree.

    * The cut paper technique that you practise in Art - does it have a history?

Examples of cut paper are seen a couple of centuries after paper was invented. This age old tradition spread worldwide over the centuries – techniques and styles varied widely. My mom has a collection of exquisite Chinese cut paper designs which were fascinating to me. Although inspired by her ,my technique is creatively using colored paper and the simple tools of scissors or knife and glue and framing it against a black background.

    * When you work at these pictures is it out of pure imagination and instinct? Do you specialize in Nature alone?’

Most of my work is pure imagination, often based on something that I have seen or studied in the past.I like doing geometric stuff too. Sometimes I mix the geometric forms with my organic themes.I work with universaly understood subject matter – as well as a universal and easily understood and accessible medium. Through these I try and renew a sense of wonder in our often blasé perception of the world around us. My work aims at sharpening our sensibilities to the simple things around us with well defined forms and colors.

    * Are these 3 dimensional pictures? Do you also use black and white paper?

I have experimented with 3-D pictures with great success and I will continue to do so. But most of my pictures are 2-D. I do use blacks and whites if my image calls for it – and have even made black and white compositions but I love color and the moods I can create with it.

I try and simplify my pictures in form and color. I believe this refers to that simplification of form. I avoid painting the papers that I use and cannot blend colors (due to the limitations of the medium I use) thus giving each color a defined boundary. I work with a palette defined by the available shades of paper- relying heavily on form and color to create the mood I have in mind

    * How did you get involved with Sahayta?

Sahayta contacted me to do the art auction after someone in the organization read an article about me in the news.Visitors will be able to see 2- Dimensional art – a combination of geometric and organic forms.It is a great cause and we hope to see a lot of people at this show.

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