Recycling, Upcycling and more - A chat with Chitra Mandanna

Starting with this month, we're going to have a new feature in the blog - The featured artist of the month!

We wanted to get going with the action here and we thought the best way to do that is to catch up with an extremely talented crafter from amongst us. A multifaceted artist who works with any medium that catches her fancy, Chitra Mandanna has had many art exhibitions with media ranging from water colors and acrylics to pastels, oil, charcol, and stone sculptures. The pictures below are a true testament to how strong a promoter she is of up-cycling and establishes her knack for converting unusual objects into works of art. Here's a little chat with our very own ChennaiCrafter. All the photos below are subject to copyright and belong to its rightful owner (Chitra). Please do no use the photos without the written consent of the owner.

 1. Brief intro to who you are / what you do 

I am from Coorg and now settled in Chennai. Hailing from a family of artists I was exposed to art at a very young age. My father was a very good artist but however did not take it as a profession. My mother is also very artistically inclined and used to be very good at fabric painting, embroidery, tailoring etc. My brother is also a qualified artist and now runs his own gaming and design company.

I experiment and work with any medium that catches my fancy. I have been trained under several eminent artists and have had many exhibitions of my art works. My works include charcoal sketches, pastel paintings, knife paintings, water colours, oil paintings, folk paintings, stone sculptures, portraits, soap and vegetable carvings and upcycled art to name a few.

2. What got you started? Can you remember how old you were when you discovered art?

I remember painting from the age of 3. I have been largely inspired by my mother who, like I told you earlier is a very creative person. At the age of 6, I started using her sewing machine to sew dresses for my dolls. Later at the age of about 10 my brother introduced me to DIY craft books and from then on I took a keen interest in painting and handicrafts.

3. Is there any one particular artist who inspires/influences you the most?

I cannot name any particular artist who has inspired me.

4. What made you choose such a creative method of recycling?

I have been upcycling most of the things from a very young age along with my mother. Through my parents, we were well informed about the environment and conservation topics way back in the 80s when such things were not in the mainstream like they are now. She used to convert old shoes and gumboots into planters, water bottles into painted flower vases and broken pens into pencil holders.

When I was around 10, I started making toy trucks and cars out of small cardboard cartons which were very popular among kids in the neighbourhood. Now my main concern is the environment and I am trying to spread awareness about recycling and upcycling through my works. The moment I see any of the so called 'junk' many ideas pop in my head. Most junk in our house is recycled or upcycled.

5. What is it that keeps you motivated?

If you are living in art, everything is motivation. You tend to see beauty in everything. My mind is always saying “what next what next”? It also gives me a lot of satisfaction to see that I am inspiring many people especially children to rethink waste.

6. What’s your favorite piece of work that you have created? 

All my works are unique and have individual souls in them. I cannot point my finger at any one, but of the recent works some of my favourites are the planters made out of tyres and the large “3D collage” owl made out of old magazines and newspapers.

7. What are you working on at the moment?

I am currently working on streamlining my concept studio where I recreate used stuff into customized products for customers. For example customers can get their favourite T-shirts, jeans, shirts etc converted into personalised dresses, bags, scarves, skirts, aprons, cushion covers, art works etc. They can even get their old furniture turned into refurbished radical forms or art work. I provide a creative solution to recreate all their favourite things. The studio also offers customized design solutions for homes, offices and gardens. I am often approached to design specific art objects.

A recent example is for Savera’s restobar Bay 146. I wanted to make something unique and thus made assorted cocktails with wax. These look great when backlit. Then there was an invite to create my signature style work for an Earth day road show. I created three works of art using egg cartons for one of them and old audio tapes, an old atlas and card board for the other. The third work is the favourite I mentioned earlier.  You can see these and most of my customized works on my Facebook page.

  8. Do you have any tips or inspiring words for others?

People who have a flair for art and creativity can definitely excel if enough hard work is put into practice. Creativity is not a one off event but a way of life. Never give up and do not let others deter your creative pursuits.

Hope you liked reading and knowing about this gifted crafter. We will be featuring a lot more artists from Chennai and around every month and also be posting a lot of DIYs, tutorials, crafting trips and trivia and a lot more! Do subscribe and keep visiting us often!