Venvi Art Gallery thriving in spite of pandemic

By St. Clair Murraine

Outlook staff writer

 Finding a finishing point when it comes to painting her art isn’t something that Brinda Pamulapati rushes to do. It could take a week, a month or even a year.

Nothing gives her a sense of completion like the feeling she gets in her soul – a sense that Pamulapati said she developed as child painting anything she could.

Over time, she’s figured out why some paintings take more time than other to be completed.

“It happens because you never feel it’s finished,” Pamulapati said. “You go back to it, go back to it, keep adding to it and enhancing it. When your soul feels content, happy, that’s when a piece is finished.”

A lot of Pamulapati’s work is on display at Venvi Art Gallery, a business that she started five years ago in the Places on Park location at 2901 E. Park Avenue.

Pamulapati, a mother of two children who opened the gallery with backing from her husband Veernag Pamulapati, made Venvi a popular spot for local artists. It was the place that art lovers gathered on the first Friday of every month until this past spring.

The coronavirus has changed that, of course. Bringing the event back is a goal for Pamulapati, who relishes memories of what used to be before she had to adjust the hours that the gallery is opened.

“I really do miss it,” she said. “This Friday I was at home and I messaged an artist saying I felt so weird staying at home.”

For now, though, the hours of 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday through Sunday will have to suffice.  The gallery is open 24/7 on its website (www.venviartgallery.com), featuring a room with work by guest artists.

Veteran artist Ray Burggraf, whose emphasis is color theory, is the featured artist though Jan. 10. In addition to in-person visits to the gallery or its website, Burggraf’s work can be seen on Facebook and Instagram links to the gallery.

Walk into the gallery and the first piece is the optical work of Burggraf. From the lobby of the gallery, a piece near the entrance creates the feeling of an illusion bursting in color.

Go farther into the gallery and there is work by Leon Hicks and Pamulapati.

Burggraf, 82, is an emeritus professor of fine arts at FSU. His work is influence by Julian Stanczak, who was one of his instructors when he attended Cleveland Institute of Art.  

He spent 47 years as an instructor at FSU before retiring in 2017 and is now an emeritus professor of fine arts. Burggraf earned a masters degree in fine arts from the University of California-Berkeley before coming to FSU.

Most of the work featured in his show at Venvi is from his early years, some dating back to the 1970’s. His style of smooth hand brushed color is consistent throughout his optical work that captures a lot of what he sees in the environment.

“When I look at the landscape, that’s kind of what I see first,” Burggraf said. “I like the skies and the ocean. They are things that lend themselves to that simplicity.”

Art collectors have seen Burggraf’s work at the FSU Museum and other similar venues around the state, including the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. He’s also had exhibits in New York and Miami.

Considering the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, Burggraf expresses appreciation for having Venvi Art Gallery as a place to show his work.

“They’re really doing the job,” he said. “Way, way beyond what you would expect, trying to stay alive during the pandemic and I’m just really impressed with that.

“I’m really impressed with this gallery. Because of them I got back to this work from 40 years ago and put it on the wall. Nice clean wall, good light. They really take care of the place. It’s a beautiful space.”

The wheels were set in motion for Burggraf’s exhibit at Venvi immediately after a conversation that he had with Pamulapati when she sought him out at a Council on Culture and Art (COCA) event at the Capitol.

Pamulapati has standard that Burggraf’s work met the moment she saw it at the Capitol.

“The artwork has to speak to me,” she said. “It should be pretty unique and vibrant.”

Pamulapati had learned to make those qualities part of her art, using bright vibrant colors in the heavy texture of acrylic paintings. Using that technique, she produced paintings such as an Indian silk sarees and jewelry. Her passion for colors and movement is especially obvious in her painting of a wood duck and spring time hibiscus flowers.

Pamulapati didn’t have to be motivated when she started painting in her hometown of Chennai, India. Painting was natural to her and the sight of art “was like sending a kid to a candy shop,” she said.

By the time she came to Tallahassee in 1999 and earned a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in mathematics at FSU, she was already doing some of her best work.

However, she split her time between painting and being a member of the on-line faculty for Southern New Hampshire University.

Meanwhile, she thrived to be a better artist and eventually found Jacob Pichhadze and over a two-year span took lessons from him in Toronto, Canada. During her visits, she’d spend hours daily in his tutelage and at times audited his classes.

The experience enabled her to take her craft to another level.

“I always thought I was very good in painting but then I saw there is more and I was just a baby in art,” she said. “I could see more and I saw I’d have to learn more. It was a watershed experience.”

Uncertainty caused by the pandemic has Pamulapati thinking of ways to keep her gallery afloat. One way of doing that is to expand what the gallery is doing virtually, although she knows the better view for art collectors is in person.

 “I’m thinking it would in the future if we could do it with a bigger on-line platform and show it to bigger cities,” she said. “I’m sure that when people see this (artwork) they will want to own it.”