|
Singer, violinist, educator, gallery owner, writer – you do it all! How do you manage your many endeavors? How do they all intersect and connect? Growing up, I was used to engaging in various after school activities, including swimming, orchestra, choir, drama club, science fairs, Math Counts, and poetry camps. I have always had a zest for life, and I am not sure that I could ever just do one thing – it’s just not my character! Before I went to MIT, I was part of the International Music Festival as the only high schooler among adults from 30 years and up. At that teenage milestone, I decided that if I wasn’t going to do music in college and professionally, then I wasn’t going to do it all for a while. Various International Science Fairs that I partook in throughout high school drove me to attend the highest technology university in the world. But when I came out of college, I didn’t want to be a venture capitalist or even a biomedical researcher like many of my colleagues – I wanted, instead, to be hands-on in my community while still utilizing my scientific skills. This is what led me to becoming a math and science teacher in 2008 and I still do that today. But by 2015, I felt that there was something missing in my life. I returned to my violin after many years and then I just couldn’t let it go! I kept waking up at 6 a.m. to go teach, but by afternoon and night I started performing in warehouses, bars, banks, and fundraisers. I felt like I had been reunited with my “child” of a violin, and I wanted to play for audiences surrounded by art. Essentially, this is what led me to curate multiple galleries and perform as much as I could in them! As such, I am very proud to be a math, music, art, and science teacher in the schools I teach in alongside leading the 501(c)(3) Out of the Blue Community Arts. Who are some of your artistic influences – music, painting, writing, or otherwise? My influences in music are Tori Amos, Sarah MacLachlan, Herbie Hancock, Yo-Yo Ma, Ithzhak Perlman, Joshua Heifitz, Rabindranath Tagore, Pankaj Udhas, Billie Holiday, Bill Evans, Nina Simone, Howlin’ Wolf, Etta James, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. In essence, I love Classical, Blues, Hindustani, Jazz, and femme fatales! In terms of visual artists, I absolutely love Claude Monet, Frida Kahlo, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jackson Pollock, Banksy, and Yoshitomo Nara. I love visiting the MFA frequently with colleagues as well as my students. In terms of writers who have inspired me, I particularly revel in the poetry of Pablo Neruda, Assata Shakur, Olga Broumas, and Tori Amos. I am particularly inspired by weekly poetry nights at the Little Crepe Cafe in Cambridge where local authors come together to recite their works and make commentary over cappuccinos! You are so good at creating community. Do you have any advice for bringing people from different walks of life together? My greatest advice for bringing people together is to recognize that everyone has a story, and everyone has the capacity to be better than you in some way. This is what inspires me to communicate with so many people and jumpstart multiple communities to work with each other. I feel like I am a constant learner from the various brilliant minds around me. A computer will break at some point or malfunction, a car can end up in the junkyard, but human connection is the only aspect that is everlasting for me. Most of my understanding of the world has come from interacting with others, from housecleaners to professors. Everyone has a meaningful way to connect with others, be it their smile, their handshake, the way their minds tick, or their experiences across cultures or continents. Do you have an artist statement or mission? I believe I strongly align to the mission statement of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery, which I lead as the Executive Director. The mission of the Gallery is to organize, support, and present to the public at large the creative efforts of local artists, musicians, and other creatives from our community, locally, and internationally. Artists of all abilities are given an opportunity to share in the expression of the arts and all of its varieties and forms, whether through painting, music, dance, poetry, story, acting, or singing. The Gallery aims to enable these same artists to intermingle with those of different disciplines, to grow and learn from each other. The Gallery’s purpose is to bring people together in an inspiring, supportive, and empowering environment. What is your philosophy as a teacher of mathematics, music, and physics? My philosophy as a teacher of mathematics, music, art, and physics is to always find the tangible connection between subjects so that the youth I teach can become their own polymaths in the future! Everything in life is connected to each other in some way and everyone can succeed to their fullest potential given positive reinforcement, high standards, lively lessons, and collaboration. I teach with the dynamics of an actress (I have also been a professional actress on the side for quite some time) – I move around a lot, tell stories to my students, even dance sometimes and make rap songs to learn more abstract mathematical concepts. I also believe that my students can teach me sometimes, and I often have them collaborate with me to teach a class or have them deliver their own mini lessons on the subject material. Can you share a bit of what it’s like running an art gallery? Both the more chaotic side and the joy… Running an art gallery is always an impending struggle as well as a continual joy. Art and music, theatre and poetry are all aspects of the Out of the Blue Art Gallery experience. To recognize that so many others celebrate my love for these fields excites me to the fullest. I start with a blank canvas to jumpstart art galleries wherever I go, and I dream in color, rhythm and meter until that blank canvass pops! I feel blessed that I have a wonderful team, formerly with the Founder of the Gallery, Tom Tipton, who very recently passed, as well as current Maintenance Manager and Art Installer Steven P. Asaro. We build spaces out to serve our communities and this endeavor feeds our souls. However, the biggest obstacle with running art galleries is that folks usually do not feel the desire to buy art, and so promotion can take a lot of time out of one’s schedule. In addition, performers feel that they should always be able to perform free, which I agree with too, but you can not keep the actual physical structure of a Gallery alive without some form of monetary compensation. At this point of time, I mostly pay for the Gallery out-of-pocket from my teaching positions, but I need help understanding how to get grants as well as how to stay strong sometimes to be compensated for my time, expertise, and talent. You seem to bring passion and love to everything you do. What do you think are some of your driving forces? My driving forces are youth, animals, education, seniors, music, and visual arts. No matter what my every day struggles may be, I wake up and remember that these wondrous entities exist around me. I love my animals, which include two cats named Che Guevara and Antigua as well as two toy Pomeranians named Chicken Wing and Peppa. They provide me with the comfort and rest I need between multiple jobs and so many interests. The youth that I teach are very difficult to manage every day, but their humor and innocence inspire me continually. Seniors are always teaching me something new, so I find time to volunteer with them or just casually hang with them in coffee shops and parks. How has your background, and specifically Indian music, influenced you as a person and influenced your work? I had the great fortune of Tagore Indian music training by the illustrious Banani Ghosh as a child. I also spent several months in India learning Hindustani taals. Later, I focused on classical music on the violin, but as an adult I was able to retrain my mind to play microtonal and polyrhythmic music by pairing Hindustani training with Classical Western Music training. The most exciting aspect of learning Indian music paired with hindustani prayer music (bhajans) was creating my unique style for Parma Chai. My music pairs East with West, traditional American music with jazz, and blues with bhajans! You trained at New England Conservatory Prep School and studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. How would you say these institutions shaped you and your work? The New England Conservatory Prep School was highly demanding yet a lot of fun. I was surrounded by top musicians from all around New England in a historic facility. I had to balance advanced placement classes in school with advanced technique lessons and orchestra practice on the weekends. Swimming was another aspect of growing up that gave me a competitive edge, not with others necessarily, but with myself. I acquired hundreds of medals swimming throughout the nation, but really my drive came from breathing, gliding, and beating my own records in breaststroke. This same drive led me to MIT, where I worked hard to keep up with a demanding academic schedule, while reveling in the extraordinary talents of fellow students and professors. I am no stranger to working hard, and enjoying every bit of it. Music is my contemplation through all of it, and when I finally do make it to water to swim, nothing re-energizes me more! Each completed lap is a blessing to overcoming obstacles and keeping on with all my goals! Is there anything you’ve learned outside of school that you think school doesn’t do a good job of preparing us for? Faith is what I’ve learned outside of traditional school. And by faith, I believe in the power of loving people and finding the strengths in all religions. I frequently find strength in my soul by going to Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue, or a Catholic church. In all of these places of worship, there are folks wanting to connect with others and finding ways of making life more meaningful and ethical. Do you have any advice for young artists? My advice for young artists is to move forward in their artistic forms with joy and celebrate other artists in their journeys as well. Music, art, theatre, and poetry has no home if it is done singularly. Each verse, bowing, brush stroke, and stage will blaze that much more powerfully if it is done with loving collaboration. Let community always inspire your artform.
Comments are closed.
|
Search Site |
Email
Follow Us |