Dedham Senior Center Exhibit - Art exhibition featuring the work of Kumaran Kolandaivelu and Barbara Sawin

“Visionary and Realistic Approaches to Art” 
Bringing together two distinct yet harmoniously aligned artistic voices, visionary and realistic, this exhibition explores themes of nature, transformation, and the search for meaning. Through oil paintings, colored pencil works, and rich observational studies, the show invites viewers into spaces of contemplation—where inner and outer worlds meet.

Opening Reception Wednesday, December 10, 4:30 – 6:00 pm. 

The exhibit is free and open to the public. Works on display are available for purchase. For more information, contact Leslie Bowen at DedhamArtAssociation@gmail.com.

Kumaran Kolandaivelu

Kolandaivelu’s work traces an evolving mythopoetic arc, guiding viewers through love, loss, spiritual awakening, and symbolic integration. His images weave myth, dream, and devotion into a visual narrative in which the self is continually undone and reborn.

Born from lived experience—including moments of rupture, visionary insight, and synchronistic astonishment—his paintings gesture toward something universal: the human longing to find coherence and connection in the midst of fragmentation.

“These works are not answers,” Kolandaivelu writes, “but offerings—visual prayers that seek to hold space for wholeness, even in the presence of mystery.”

Barbara Sawin

A lifelong creator, Sawin approaches art as an act of participation with the natural world. Whether through her florist shop, studio practice, or time spent immersed in New England’s landscapes, she has always felt most alive when creating.

Though versed in many media, Sawin is especially drawn to oil painting in the Boston School tradition, where careful observation and emotional truth come together. Her training with Master Artists Thomas Dunlay, Evelina Brozgul, and Christina Mastrangelo deepened her connection to this lineage and sharpened her eye for the subtleties of light, texture, and atmosphere.

Sawin’s work is inspired by the natural wonders of New England and her “home away from home,” St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands—places whose beauty and lessons appear throughout her paintings.

Ames Senior Center 450 Washington Street, Dedham, MA 02026
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Wednesday: 8:30 am - 7:00 pm
Friday: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm