Kalpna Hamilton

As an artist and microbiologist, the study of life has always fascinated me.  Art represents a possibility to contemplate life while microbiology provides the opportunity to explain it. I've focused my lens on everyday objects, treasured possessions, human movements, emotions and passages that compose life experiences; shared and unique, serene and vibrant, familiar and abstract. Art and science exist in a polarized state today, unlike Leonardo DaVinci's time. Science explains feeling while art transmits it. In my experiment with colors, my works do not always define recognizable forms and shapes but explore multifaceted realms of memory and experience and let the observer independently interpret them. Using various forms of mixed media, my objective is to create a physical manifestation of a mind's eye. As DaVinci famously said, “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” I've loved painting since childhood. My father, a chief state architect to the President in my birth country of India, was a gifted artist and poet in his own right. It was with his encouragement that I first picked up a brush. He motivated me to always practice and instilled in me a life long love of painting. After completing a Master's Degree in Microbiology, I was able to get back to my art, my original true love! I have studied art in India and here locally at Westchester Community College. I have exhibited my art in several galleries in India, Westchester Community College, and John C. Hart Library. My work has been featured in several newspapers as well. My art is vibrant and ever evolving. To me, art is not just looking at a "pretty picture". I strive for a sense of meaning, to reason a thought.  I want my art to evoke a feeling of poetry, sometimes soft whispering and sometimes steadfast and compelling. Each form or stroke has meaning.

Master of Science in Microbiology Art Studies at Westchester Community College and India