Biography

Ushani Nanayakkara spent her early childhood in Sri Lanka, where painting was her preferred pastime. From the start, she's focused on depicting nature’s abundance in color and forms. Moving to Germany to attend school, her hopes and dreams of being an artist were discouraged by a system that rewarded abstract experimentation. While this experience swayed Ushani from choosing an artistic career, after coming to the United States she picked up her paint brush again, simply for the enjoyment of the process.

In 2004 and 2005, Ushani completed the Drawing Foundation Program and Painting Foundation Program with the Gage Academy of Fine Art in Seattle. Since then Ushani has focused on landscape painting. With these paintings she hopes to convey feelings of peace, harmony and oneness with nature. She treats the features of these landscapes the way she would treat portraits of people, applying the principles of figure painting to bring out the unique characteristics and personality of the main subject of the painting.

Ushani currently resides in Renton, Washington.

Art Education

Foundation Painting Certificate, Seattle Academy of Fine Art, Seattle, WA

Foundation Drawing Certificate, Seattle Academy of Fine Art, Seattle, WA

Shows

2009 City Of Kent Summer Show: Juror

2008 Lynnwood Convention Center

2007 Solo show: Kent Art Commission Centennial Center Gallery

          Solo show: Suburbia Coffee, Kent

2006 Gage Academy Alumni Show

          Gage Academy of Fine Art Plein Air Show

          Gage Academy of Fine Art Annual Student Competition

          Gage Academy of Fine Art Show “The Art of Romance”

          Issaquah Front Street Quarterly Art Walk (juried)

2005 Seattle Academy of Fine Art Show “Self Portraits”, Honorable Mention,

                curated by Lisa Harris, Lisa Harris Gallery

          Seattle Academy of Fine Art Show “Studio Figures”

          Seattle Academy of Fine Art Show “Still Life Realizations”

          Seattle Academy of Fine Art Annual Student Competition

          Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, Edmonds, WA

          Edmonds Art Walk (juried)

2004 Seattle Academy of Fine Art Show “The Abstract and the Real”

          Seattle Academy of Fine Art Annual Student Competition

          Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, Edmonds, WA

2003 Seattle Academy of Fine Art Annual Student Competition

          Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, Edmonds, WA

2002 Eastside Association of Fine Arts Annual Juried Exhibition, Bellevue, WA

          Seattle Academy of Fine Art Annual Student Competition

2001 Eastside Association of Fine Arts Annual Juried Exhibition, Bellevue, WA

          Ocean Shores Annual Juried Exhibition, Edmonds, WA

2000 Edmonds Arts Festival Juried Exhibition, Edmonds, WA

          Seahurst Gallery Annual Juried Art Show, Burien, WA

Professional Associations

Artist Trust