By Jon Chown
BEN LOMOND — Bela Ravikumar is practically putting her entire life up for display in Ben Lomond with her first local solo exhibition of her art at the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Center, which holds an opening reception on Aug. 29 from 5-7 p.m. and will be featured through Sept. 21.
Ravikumar, who lives in Aptos, immigrated from India in the 1990s after graduating from the University of Bardo Faculty of Fine Arts. In India, she often painted or drew imaginary landscapes. After moving here, she said the natural beauty of her environment sparked new creativity.
“After I moved to California, the whole world opened up for me,” she said.
Through all of her travels and transitions in life, she has experimented with different mediums: pen and ink, watercolor, pastels, serigraph prints, mono prints and more. Her exhibition, titled “Drawn to Nature, A Retrospective: My 50-Year Journey in Art” reflects this and you can follow the different periods of her life and work as you walk through it.
“I’m drawn to the atmosphere — rainy days, moonlit nights, that kind of thing,” Ravikumar said while putting the finishing touches on the exhibit three days before it opened. “Nature has always been my inspiration.”
Which is why she feels so inspired while in Santa Cruz County. The region’s beauty is what drew her here and keeps her here. There’s an endless amount of scenery to draw and paint — no need to imagine the beauty.
“Just look around,” she said. “It’s everywhere.”
She credited the instructors and art program at Cabrillo College for driving her career forward and giving her the opportunity to learn new techniques and gain more inspiration. A lot of the artwork in her exhibition is easily recognizable. The wetlands around Watsonville, the Elkhorn Slough, the Pacific Ocean waving in the distance behind redwoods, and scenes from local parks.
“I really like to draw trees,” she said, pointing out how trees were a central theme in her imaginary landscapes she painted in India, and they continued to be a focus in every medium she experimented with. They are often bare of leaves, the branches stretching for the sun in any direction they can find.
Ravikumar has shown her art across the world, but this will be her first local solo exhibition and she is excited to be able to share her life’s work with the community. Every year a different member of the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Center is allowed to have a solo exhibition and this is her year.
“I feel fortunate for a life that is filled with both artistic expression and natural wonder,” she said. n
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The gallery, located at 9341 Mill Street in Ben Lomond, is open Thursday through Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m.