Indira Freitas will be facilitating Community Blessings a Rangloi Drawing Project at the Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show, February 8 – March 23 and Writing on Water at Chicago River North, March 22.
Indira Freitas is the artist in residence at the world-renowned Chicago Botanic Garden’s 2025 Orchid Show, February 8- March 23, which focuses this year on Orchids from India.
Join the artist in creating a series of Rangoli drawings that embody wishes for the protection and well-being of the entire Chicago area family and their collective hopes for a peaceful world. The Rangolis will be in the central hall on either side of the main entrance and will be created with traditional materials such as rice flour, turmeric powder, earth, flower petals, and leaves.
While the Rangolis will be on display throughout the Orchid Show, I will be creating new ones on Thursday 2/27 and Thursday 3/13 from 10am- 1pm. Participants and volunteers are welcome!
The Rangoli design incorporates universal symbols such as the circle, lotus, water, hands and feet, which represent life, unity, blessings and peace.
Rangoli drawing is a South Asian folk art tradition, where a woman inaugurates the day by drawing a pattern on the threshold of her home. This tradition is embedded in a ritual practice that is centered around the protection and well being of one’s family.
In addition, the Orchid show is not to be missed. It is quite fabulous!
Writing on Water: March 22nd from 1-3 at the North Branch, Chicago River
March 22 is World Water Day! Artist and community activist Cathi Schwalbe and I are facilitating Writing on Water to celebrate World Water Day and bring attention to some of the critical issues around water. This project is in collaboration with the Chicago Park District and River Lab.
Writing on Water draws deeply from South Asian folk-art traditions and ritual practices that have flourished for centuries. These traditions, rooted in the ideas of sacred space, the fleeting nature of life, and the importance of honoring community and the earth, aim to situate the individual within a broader, universal context. Offerings crafted from leaves and flowers are ceremoniously floated in the rivers and seas of South Asia—spanning regions from India and Japan to Indonesia, Korea, and beyond. At its heart, this tradition is a ritual of hope and renewal, where the meditative process of creation itself brings Sadhana—a state of grace.
Be Mine 2025: 10th Annual Invitational Valentines Art Exhibition
Where: Greenleaf Art Center of Rogers Park
When: February 1-28
Opening Reception: February 14th, 5:30-8:30 pm
I am delighted to be invited by curator Cathi Schwalbe to show my work, Love Me, Love Me Not, at the Greenleaf Art Center of Rogers Park as part of their annual conceptual Valentine’s day show.
Gallery Hours: 11am-4pm, Mon-Fri
Weekends by Appointment