Jyoti Duwadi in Conversation

Join artist Jyoti Duwadi in the Western Gallery as he discusses his work, celebrated career, and many inspirations for the exhibition Jyoti Duwadi, Himalaya to Cascadia: Transcending Boundaries. This event is free and open to the public.

About Jyoti

Born into a family of Nepali poets and writers, Jyoti moved to the US to study political science. After receiving a Ph.D., he began creating art in a wide array of media as well as public art installations addressing social and environmental issues.

The artistic rituals that Jyoti absorbed from his native Nepal inform the rich palette of colors and Tantric geometries in much of his work. His later exposure to sculpture by Isamu Noguchi and Constantin Brancusi together with paintings by Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee inspired him to fuse Western contemporary and traditional Nepali cultures in his art.
Jyoti’s sculpture, painting, drawing, installation, and digital art reflect an openness to chance discoveries. He experiments with an extensive variety of natural materials, including bamboo, beeswax, and earth gathered from around the world. Simultaneously, the artist transforms ordinary, discarded objects - from the humble egg carton to industrial sanding belts - into sculptures and paintings. Texture and aroma are often incorporated into his art that can convey humor, playfulness, and a sense of delight.

After moving to Bellingham, Jyoti began making art that reflects his explorations of the Pacific Northwest landscape. In a studio facing the Canadian Coast mountains, compared to the Himalayas by early explorers, he has found new materials and inspiration. Jyoti’s recent paintings and sculptures integrate earth pigments gathered from the region with recycled sanding belts marked by the trees of Cascadian forests.

What unites and ultimately defines Jyoti’s art is his openness to both chance and experimentation. His empathy for the natural world and the practice of Sadhana, a meditative approach to creativity, animates the work. While Jyoti’s art traces a personal journey, it also calls attention to both nature’s beauty and the precarious relationship between humans and the environment. What guides his art is the belief in the potential of creativity to catalyze positive change.