strongHER Exhibition
Octoberber 2023 – A Collaboration of Women Artist
A collaborative art exhibit celebrating five Charlotte artists: Holly Spruck, Melissa Herriott, Veda Saravanan, Liz Haywood & Varsha Pradhan.
Artist Bio:
Liz Haywood
Liz’s earliest memory of creating art was painting her beloved rescue dog, Sammy. He is painted on a fuchsia background framed in gold macaroni in her Charlotte, NC childhood home. Liz graduated from Appalachian State and The Portfolio Center in Atlanta. She completed her studies in design and illustration, winning several student awards. She developed her professional skills as a graphic designer in New York for seven years. She established herself as an independent artist in Atlanta working in spray and latex paint on canvas and painting murals in public spaces to voice her social concerns. She now has several murals in Charlotte and the surrounding areas. Liz was chosen for the 2022 class of Charlotte ArtPop. Her artwork has been displayed nationally on billboards and across Charlotte everywhere from the Airport to The President’s Cup.
Melissa Herriott
Melissa Herriott is a self-taught artist from Western New York. Melissa put her paintbrushes down for 20 years, only to pick them back up five years ago, at age 38. The decision to start creating again changed everything in her life. Melissa went from an 18-year corporate career to becoming a full-time creative entrepreneur. While she appreciates realism in art, she gravitates towards the abstract. Her hope is to make you FEEL something. What Melissa loves most about art is the mystery. The unpredictability of what emerges. She believes that art speaks to places deep inside of all of us that can’t be reached with words and that it isn’t art if there isn’t some sort of imperfection.
Varsha Pradhan
Varsha Pradhan is a fine artist and has studied painting in college and privately under nationally and internationally known artists. Originally from India, Varsha has displayed and sold her paintings nationally and internationally. She has traveled extensively and is fascinated by architecture all over the world. She likes to explore styles of twentieth century masters like Pollock, de Kooning, Picasso and Rothko. Her style has evolved to abstract expressionism, using oils and acrylics and mixed media on canvas. She finds new textures by blending colors with palette knives. She is always inspired by colors and shapes in nature and how harmoniously balanced nature can be. Varsha has displayed her paintings in Charlotte, Gastonia, Spartanburg, Raleigh, Kings Mountain, Mint Hill and internationally in India.
Veda Saravanan
Veda Saravanan has always been self-taught and experimental with her color palette. She doesn’t hesitate to let her colors speak to her and bring brightness to her different forms of art. Veda loves to see the surprise element in the outcome of using different colors and designs. Traveling has really impacted the different ways she uses colors and culture in her work. She has been traveling since a young age and continues to do so as a passion towards her art. Her distinctive style and cultural upbringing allowed her to become the artist that she is today. She has been all over the world and it continues to inspire her work. As for sculpting, she likes to mold day to day movements and expressions. She focuses on masks and small figurines of humans. Facial expressions have always inspired her because she feels like the smallest expression can speak volumes.
Holly Spruck
Holly was born and grew up in Westchester County, New York State, just north of New York City. Her paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in galleries across the United States and abroad and her work is included in private collections across the US and around the globe. Her paintings have been featured in publications including THINK magazine, Creative Loafing, and on the cover of The Main Street Rag. In the ART IN HAND project, her painting is featured as the joker in a deck of 53 cards by regional artists in North Carolina.