by Arlene Wright-Correll

This weekís artist is International artist Renuka Pillai

When one door closes another one always opens and that is what fortunately happened to Renuka Pillai lost a good job she had for many years. She picked up her old paint brushes and went to work as a professional artist and has not stopped since then. She said the hardest thing was learning how to re-draw and re-paint.

Renuka was born in Kandy Sri-Lanka and always enjoyed drawing and painting. She says, “When I was 9, I moved with my parents to Ethiopia. My Dad got a job as a school teacher there. It was 1969 and Emperor Haile Sellasie ruled. Three years later my parents sent me back to Sri Lanka to study, I lived with an Aunt. I took part in Art contests in school and always won first place. In the eleventh grade, I went back to Ethiopia, where I completed High School and was accepted into the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa. I graduated in 1985 with a BFA in Art. On the Home page of my web site you can see paintings I did in Ethiopia, describing the way of life there etc. In 1993, I was accepted into the Dept of Art at the University of Montana. I graduated in 1996 with an MA in Art.”

Renukaís work spans majestically colorful landscapes and seascapes, abstracts, colorful ladies and portraits. The broad strokes of her work are filled with masterful feelings and you can see many of her works on her website which is listed below.

Renuka Pillai Solo Exhibitions

1999 *One-Person Show, Dana Point City Hall, Golden Lantern, CA 92677 (Nov 2-Nov 28)

1998 *One-Person Show, Laguna Niguel City Hall, Laguna Niguel CA 92677. (May 1- June 31)

1996 *Victims of War, MA thesis Exhibit, The Gallery of Visual Arts, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59801 (Dec 5-19)

1996 *The Real & the Surreal, Bojangles, 103 E. Main, Missoula, Montana, 59801. (Oct 1- Oct 31)

1991 *One-Person Show, Elanders Tryckeria, Kungsbacka, Sweden. (September 9-27)

1989 *Exposition Renuka, The Alliance Ethio-Francias, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (November)

1986 *One-Person Show, the American Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. (July)

Renukaís Invitational/Juried & Selected Exhibitions from 1982 to date are not only International Exhibitions, but too numerous to enter here.

Renuka currently lives and works in Lake Forest, CA and can be reached by email at GPi4817852@sbcglobal.net Her website is renuka.pillai1.googlepages.com and you will have to cut and paste that address into your browser without any www or anything else inorder for the google pages to work correctly.  

(Contact Arlene Wright-Correll at 270 524 9567 or email her at askarlene@scrtc.com  if you want to be next weekís column of Whoís Who in Artís and Crafts)