Today we’d like to introduce you to Mangala Tata.
Hi Mangala, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I came to the U. S. from Pune, India, in June of 1971, after my marriage to a computer programmer based in N.J. I had a Master’s in Sociology and had vague ideas on how I would get a doctorate in the U.S. and teach. As they say, Man proposes, and God disposes, so I didn’t end up doing that.
Instead, I had two children, and I moved with my husband from the East Coast, with brief periods in the mid-west, and ended up on the West Coast in San Diego.
I came from a background of both parents being highly educated, a father a Mathematician/educator/U.N service and a mother who was a doctor. But my passion had always been Art! Actually, I wanted to go to a famous Art Institute, but that idea was not entertained by my parents, especially my mother. Anyway, I ended up with a degree in English and a Masters in Sociology.
Back in the U.S., time went by, and with my liking for the Medical sciences also there somewhere in my head, I decided to take courses in that field to work as a Medical Assistant. Great!! But my love for Art was still unsatisfied until we moved to Thousand Oaks and finally, after my children had grown up, away in college, my husband encouraged me to take Graphic Design classes at U.C.L.A.
That’s when my journey of Web Design & Animation started. Digital Age had not quite descended upon us, but there were rumblings of magical things in the making.
Yes, I did get my certification and started freelancing as a graphic designer.
For the last ten years, I have retired from the profession, but I got involved with Thousand Oaks Art Association, and the artist in me took wings!! I am painting and creating, and my soul’s calling is being fulfilled at last! I have been on the board as a newsletter chair, and thus, my writing skills were also honed. I am a free bird in the sense that I don’t like constraints of time now and thanks to my husband and God’s grace I have that luxury to follow my passion to my heart’s content.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life for anyone is never smooth, and it wasn’t smooth for me either. I had thought I was getting married into a family based in the U.S., so I expected the new family to be modern in their approach to life, but I found that was not quite the case. I was expected not to work outside the home once I had children and a few other small things. I went along with these ideas.
After all, even my own parents had their own ideas about why Art was not a career to be pursued, so here’s another obstacle in Life. I just rode these ups and downs as part of life.
Even the fact that I had to settle down in a new country with different norms, customs, and ways of life was very different, but I accepted these changes as part of life and even enjoyed the challenges. I suppose being young (22), made it easy to be flexible, heck I even started enjoying my stay in a new country. A big thanks to my parents for having sent me to an English convent school which made it so easy for me to adapt to the language and culture of this country.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a self-taught watercolor artist, but I have always grabbed the chance to take classes/ workshops from well-known artists like my mentor, Milind Mulick from India, or watch John Sargent’s work and many other artists on U-Tube, which I watch regularly to get better at my own skills. I also love to dabble in Alcohol Inks, which I find fascinating to work with. The other medium I am using is an App called Procreate on my iPad, and I love to create little animations and GIFs on it. I love these formats for my creations.
I love to challenge myself and learn new techniques and always draw, draw/sketch, which I think enhances whatever art form one chooses.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Don’t wait; start early in life! Time doesn’t wait for anybody, and I learned this lesson when I realized that had I started my journey in art earlier in life, I could have gone really far, but I also believe that it’s never too late to fulfill your soul’s calling.
Contact Info:
- Website: maggietatawatercolorbliss.com
- Instagram: @MangalaTata
