Creative entrepreneur and visual poet Kavita Bali, founder of UrbanPeacock.com moved to the US from Allahabad, India in 1971. An intermedia artist working in film, design, visual arts, experimental performance and poetry, she's been involved in the creation of art for over 20 years.
A 1987 graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), has also studied product design and photography at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland. Bali spent 2 years in the Graduate Film Program at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before jumping out into the wild west of the Internet a decade ago, where she started to create navigational journeys for users.
A multifaceted artist, Bali’s focus on painting in recent years has resulted in shows across the Bay Area including, among others, group shows here at WORKS, at the distinguished d.p. fong gallery in San Jose, and at CBS MarketWatch in San Francisco.
In 2004, Bali was included in an Anthology of South Asian films, “Beyond Bollywood: The Cultural Politics of South Asian Diasporic Film ” (2004). Here all 7 of her short films have been chronicled in the context of the new South Asian Cinema explosion. Throughout her life, Kavita has served as an Indian-American pioneer in the arts for her generation, creating art and films dealing with cultural identity issues as early as 1987 ‘Passages‘. Her powerful short films include : Birth of a Butterfly (1993) , Distant Souls (1993), Namaste Papaji (1997), and To Serve One's Country (1992).
Locally she has been featured and shared her film 'Birth of
a Butterfly' (1993) at San Francisco's World
Affairs Council in honor of International Women’s Day, ‘Women’s Work Series’ presented by Footloose at Venue 9, 'Girls on Film' Series at SF’s ATA, SOMARTS Gallery, KSW’s APAture, LOCUS 1640 Post, Mango Mic at PUSOD and in the early days of the Red.D. Lounge's “Viv and a Movie” venue.
On a wider scale, she has lectured on her films at UC Berkeley, Seattle’s Northwest Asian American Film Festival, UCLA, Theater Off Jackson, Oseao Studios in Seattle, Washington, the Everest Theater in Dallas, Texas and at the University of Nebraska, where she was honored as a Guest Artist Resident. Here, in addition to sharing her film, art and poetry, Kavita also spoke to graduate business students about integrated design practices in the product development cycle leveraging off her extensive design career, spanning NYC, Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
Also a versatile performer, in January 2003, Bali made her acting debut in San Francisco bringing to life a 30-something South Asian character at the Noh Theater. Her latest venture is a collection of poetic media. The final medium is yet to be determined.
Kavita recently returned from an inspirational journey of Greece. She is looking forward to working with her images from this memorable cultural adventure.
Bali, when not creating art, is an expert in user centered interaction
design, information architecture and visual systems for complex Internet applications. Recently she completed defining a User Interface Design / Navigational Infrastructure System for an Identity Management Dashboard styled Community Network for La Leache League International. Bali also created a series of lively illustrations for Marcia L. Conner's book 'Learn
More Now' available internationally on amazon.com.
Another print design project which recently hit the online music scene in early December, was her photography and package design for her sister, Vandana's latest CD, "The Power of Love" The CD contains Broadway, Jazz and Power Ballads is available on CD Baby, iTunes and Yahoo Music. Kavita cheered on her sister at the sold out CD Release Party at Martuni's in San Francisco on December 10, 2005.
Today, Kavita divides her time between her design-consulting studio in Silicon Valley, travel, and creating new forms of expression. She creates under the philosophy that there are no limits to what one can achieve, that limits are artificial. "If you can imagine an idea," she says, "you can make it happen. Getting to the point where you can imagine the idea comes through observation, analysis and interpretation. And that comes from the number of ways that you can see. The only true limit is how far your perseverance will take you."
For art collaboration inquiries, please
contact me at kavita@urbanpeacock.com.
Thank
you for visiting.
(Updated:
April 27, 2006) |
