Artist Biography

Raised in South East England and being of East Indian heritage, Supria Karmakar has always displayed an inclination to artistic creation from her childhood to her adult years. Her inspiration comes from her diverse life experiences of the Eastern and Western cultures coming together. Drawing and painting and now more recently the encaustic collage medium are avenues Supria utilizes to work out her pondering, relationships and meaning of life. Her move to Canada in 1981, her subsequent travels, her love of nature, her daughter and life partner are her greatest teachers; these connections deepen her process of art making.

Specifically, the roots of her East Indian culture, which is rich and alive with a multitude of colour, textures and scents influence her work and is captured with the encaustic medium. This medium provides the scope and opportunity to embed a variety of textures, colour and collage materials into the beeswax such as organics, metal, paper, photographs, which are all integral components to Supria's work. The use of colour is used to bring to life the richness seen everywhere and in every living thing around us. The organic material reminds her and the viewer of the connection that we all have to this earth. The layered approach brings depth and life to the pieces to conjure images and meaning symbolic and unique to the viewer.

Though Supria has been engaged in the artistic process informally for the last 35+ years, her career as an artist is just now emerging and growing with the connections she is making with other local artists and her environment. The discovery of the encaustic mixed media and collage medium has inspired Supria to seek the creative muse in her studio in Fergus, Centre Wellington County. The richness of this encaustic medium and the greenness of the surrounding country are all awe inspiring to create and emerge art pieces that give her an outlet for healing in this journey, on this earth.

UPDATED February 2010

Photo by Sheri Visakaly