Artist Statement

For the better part of a decade, I lived in a cocoon, keeping art alive in sketchbooks while navigating the demands of motherhood. When I emerged, I felt compelled to share my inner landscape—one shaped by personal transformation, memory, and the rhythms of everyday life. Working with watercolors, oils, and clay, I explore the cosmic within the domestic, finding meaning in the seemingly mundane.

My work is an invitation to pause. I hope that a viewer, mid-task—perhaps while balancing a laundry basket—might notice a hidden detail, trace a ceramic groove with their finger, and feel momentarily transported or reenergized. The subjects are simple but vast: the grooves of motherhood, the shifts of menopause, sacred symbols, garden weeds, compost, cluttered kitchen islands, stuffed pantries, and crumpled cotton saris. These elements, rich with metaphor, embody the play between reality and abstraction, the divine and the ordinary.

While I carry India in my very bones and have lived in many countries, New Jersey is where I call home. Here, I share my studio and life with my husband, grown children, and a wild garden. I am a teaching artist with the Arts Council of Princeton and from my home studio, helping students of all ages find their creative voice. Through my work, I seek to capture the essence of daily life—its beauty, chaos, and spirituality—offering a space for reflection, connection, and quiet wonder.

Biography

Hema Bharadwaj (b. 1974, Bagalkot, India) is a multidisciplinary artist working in watercolor, oils, and ceramics. Her practice explores the intersection of caretaking and creative labor, drawing from experiences of motherhood, migration, and domestic life. Bharadwaj’s work reflects the rhythms of the everyday and the emotional and psychological landscapes they generate.

Raised in the UAE and having lived internationally, she brings a global perspective grounded in her Indian heritage. She holds a BFA from Sir JJ School of Art, Mumbai, and an MFA in Illustration as Visual Essay from the School of Visual Arts, New York City.

Bharadwaj has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at venues including Chashama (Matawan, NJ), the Arts Council of Princeton (NJ), The Center for Contemporary Art (Bedminster, NJ), Studio 115 LB (Long Beach, CA), and the School of Visual Arts (NYC). She is a teaching artist with the Arts Council of Princeton and her home studio. She currently works between New Jersey and Bangalore.

CV

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Hema A. Bharadwaj

Email: hema.bharadwaj.art@gmail.com Cell: (973) 953-3676

Born:  1974, India Lives & works in New Jersey & India

Education

1999 MFA, School of Visual Arts, New York, USA

1995 BFA, Sir JJ School of Applied Art, Mumbai, India

Job

2021-present Teaching Artist at The Arts Council of Princeton, NJ & at Home Studio,

Solo Exhibitions

2023 Tributaries of the Mind, Arts Council of Princeton, NJ

2021 Inner Landscapes, Studio 115 LB, Long Beach, California.

2004 Going Solo, Dancing Goat Cafe, South Orange, NJ
Hey-Ma’s Art, Small World Cafe, Princeton, NJ

Group Exhibitions

2025 Music of Many Colors, The Local NYC, Long Island City, NY
Jersey Artist Registry, Oyster Point Hotel, NJ
Reverse Ekphrasis, Eremita Gallery Cafe, Philadelphia
Creating Confluence, Bridging Cultures, Watchung Artist Center, NJ
dRaw, SVA Gramercy Gallery, NYC, NY

2024 Payne’s Gray, Art Pod, NJ

Intimacisms, Red 225 Art Gallery, Nashville, TN
Dreaming of Me, Evening Star Studio, Jersey City, NJ

2023 Kendra, Center for Contemporary Art, NJ

Member Show, Arts Council of Princeton, NJ

2022 After the Charm: In the Name of Autumn, Alfa Art Gallery, NJ

Beyond the Blue, Chashama, Matawan, NJ. 

Unseen Oyster Point Gallery, NJ. Curated show.

2021 Member Show at Arts Council of Princeton, NJ

Art Heals Curated Group Show by Karkhana Art-co-lab, Pune, India

Holi 7 artists show at The Bridge Art Gallery, Bayonne, NJ

2020 The Ocean and the Beach, Oyster Point Gallery, NJ

In Liquid, Park Towne Place, Philadelphia, PA

2019 Eating our Fathers, Chashama, Matawan, NJ

2018 ArtSee Open Studio Duo Exhibition, Bridgewater, NJ

Myhelan Artists Group Show, The Atrium, Morristown, NJ

2017 Stop and Smell the Roses Duo Exhibition, Clinton, NJ

Myhelan Artists Group Show, The Atrium, Morristown, NJ

2016 Myhelan Artists Group Show, The Atrium, Morristown, NJ

2015 Myhelan Artists Group Show, The Atrium, Morristown, NJ

2014 Myhelan Artists Group Show, The Atrium, Morristown, NJ

2006 Nuli, Lincoln Park, NJ

2004 Faculty Art Exhibit, Montclair Art Museum, NJ

2003 Conversations, Jersey City Studio Tour, NJ

Monroe Art Center, Hoboken, NJ

2002 Art Funda, New Brunswick, NJ

1998 The Art Directors Club, The Turning Page, NYC

Juried/Awards/Events

2022 Personal Geographies, juried work, New York Artists Equity Association, NYC

Little Black Book, juried work, Mills Pond Gallery, Saint James, NY. 

Love Show ‘22, juried work, Small World Coffee, NJ

2021 Images, Patterns & Textures, juried show, Jersey City Hall, NJ

Live Painting Event, curated by Shobhana Hadap, Pune Handmade Paper, Pune, India.

Solo Wall Mural Invitation, Arts Council of Princeton, NJ

2020 Rebirth Exhibition, online show, The Holy Art, London, UK

2019 Tangible Mystery of Fire, CCM Art Gallery, Randolph, NJ

2000 Best in Show Award 2000, 36th Annual Art Show, Bergen County, NJ

1999 American Illustration #18 Book, winning entry, full page spread.

Illustration as a Visual Essay Competition, Playboy Magazine, NYC

Collections In private collections in the USA, Canada, UK, France, UAE & India.