17 year old Saiyara Fahmi is the featured artist at Town Hall this month
Come and meet this amazing young woman at the opening of her show at the Gallery at Town Hall, March 14 from 5 to 7 p.m.
Orange Live caught up with 17-year-old Saiyara Fahmi on Feb. 26. as she and Lucia Bloom from the Orange Arts and Culture Council were hanging her art work in the Gallery at Town Hall.
Once you’ve seen Saiyara’s work, you don’t forget it. She did a show at the Davis Gallery last October and each piece is so unique, perfect and beautiful it’s hard to believe that the artist is so youthful.
Saiyara told me that she started painting when she was in sixth grade and took art lessons from Audrey Galer. She’s worked with several mediums, including watercolors, oils, pastels, and etchings.
She also takes part in Galer’s annual art show at the Case Memorial Library, so if any of the photos of her work in the slideshow below look familiar…they are. Like I said, her art is unforgettable.
“Most of my subject matter is nature — nature scenes — and I do a lot of portraits,” Saiyara said. “I was really into flowers in 9th and 10th grade. I love doing flowers.”
Of her painting depicting an elephant adorned in brightly colored ornate blankets, she said, “I often draw on elements of my culture, I’m from Bangladesh, but Indian and Bangladesh cultures are similar in many ways, and I love elephants in general. I did that picture right after I drew my mom, so they go together.”
A senior at Hopkins School in New Haven, Saiyara began taking art classes in 11th grade. She takes the AP art class with five other students with under the instruction of Peter Ziou.
Each of the watercolors, sketches and paintings in the gallery will catch your eye, but easily the one you won’t miss is the first one in the display as you walk down the hall toward the Town Clerk’s office a stunning peacock, that seems to have textures in the feathers.
Saiyara said this one is her favorite. She created it without the benefit of a real peacock modeling for her, but referenced several pictures of peacocks to capture the essence of the bird.
The technique she used is known as Politique, which is usually done on cloth, but she used rice paper, melting wax off of the design using an iron. “I love this one,” she said.
She won “Best of Show” in the children’s division of the 2011 Orange County Fair and “First Place” in the adult division of the 2012 Orange County Fair.
In addition to her artwork, Saiyara also is a talented musician, playing both violin and piano.
Originally published on: Mar 4, 2013 @ 2:41
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