Walking the untraded path, and developing her own techniques, this nurse-turned-artist Clarice Vaz successfully established herself as the first syringe artist in India, a compassionate writer, heritage conservator, and a pottery painter besides being the founder of a weekly village market in Saligao that offered a platform to several villagers to showcase their home-made products and earn a living
Popular as an Indian artist from Goa who actually experimented and came up with unique ideas and techniques, Clarice Vaz wears several hats – a former nurse and a midwife, she became a self-trained contemporary artist, renowned for her unique style of painting with the tools of her trade – mainly a syringe. This is how her creative love affair with the colours in a loaded syringe on canvas, began. She is known to be the proponent of her syringe technique which came about by chance after years of experimentation.
A creatively inclined child who was forced to take a career in academics, Clarice excelled in her studies and could choose any career she wished. But inspired by Mother Teresa she preferred to be in the noble profession of a nurse. Trained at St Martha’s College of Nursing in Bengaluru, she embraced the profession gracefully to offer her servings to the society. She dedicated her life to her nursing profession, until she voluntarily stopped practicing to enjoy being a mother to two sons.
“I stopped practicing professionally and decided to volunteer as a nurse in my village Saligao as there were barely any hospitals around,” shares Clarice. But as time flies faster than anyone could think, her sons grew up and flew out of Goa for higher studies, leaving behind an empty nest. It was then that Clarice returned to her childhood hobby towards art in 2009.
However, her career as a professional artist began later in life due to a sudden personal loss in 2011. Her hobby now held a promise of filling a void she felt. At age of 47, she chose to become that ‘accidental’ artist signing each work in memory of her late son, Craig Vaz. Today, at 60, she looks back in delight at the six solo exhibitions that were well received and more than a dozen group exhibitions over the last 13 years.
“I believe that art can emerge from almost anything. Being a nurse I was trained to handle syringes and I experimented with this tool that I had mastered,” says Clarice who mostly used the fluid painting technique, initially. She came up with the idea of creating this very liquid to a desired consistency and loading it into the syringe, she began to use needles, cannulas to ‘administer’ paint on canvas, creating little subtle flicks, firm strokes, caressing the white canvas giving it an aesthetic experience, matching and mixing the various shades of colours. She works fast and furiously, poetically covering every inch of the canvas space.
On some days she uses the soft hollow infant or adult feeding tube of varying size depending on the need to paint with texture. Painting with a syringe can run into complications too. A certain amount of pressure needs to be put on the piston so that blobs do not appear. It is a struggle, a challenge, a slow process but the final euphoria of every artwork she births fills her studio with its grace, bringing joy.
Accidental artist
Beginning her journey as an artist in 2009, within a span of four years Clarice was ready to exhibit her work as a self-trained contemporary abstract artist. Her work also found place in private collections of art enthusiasts from Goa and abroad. “I began to sell my artwork from my studio, mainly to NRI clients,” adds Clarice who loves to experiment with colours, textures, gels and mediums – using non-traditional tools and never following any art rules. Her work can be divided into these prime categories – syringe painting, fluid painting, spin painting and abstract Goan art.
So far Clarice has had group shows and solo exhibitions across art galleries in Goa. The first group exhibition was in February 2014 followed by the second in the same year. The following years she was busy holding solo and group exhibitions across Goa. So far there have been 19 exhibitions, the latest being in April-May 2024 at Instituto Camões in Panaji.
A storyteller, documenter & custodian of oral history
Her real-life visual stories with a lot of information were very popular on social media. It was another hobby. She eventually became a documentor and custodian of oral histories. A few established writers encouraged to compile her stories in a book and this gave birth to her first visual story book ‘A Song for Saligao’ which was released at the 10th Goa Arts and Literature Festival in 2019. Thereafter, during the pandemic, she authored another book Romalina: Goodbye Africa, Adeus Portugal, Namaste Goa! This was released at the GOA Heritage Festival in 2022. She has made them available as a free download for now on her website www.claricevaz.com to reach as many readers as possible. The hard copies are all sold out. Being visual story books, they are expensive to print and own, she says. She does take pre orders for ‘Print on Demand’. Clarice is currently exploring another visual story book on her ancestral roots - Sao Mathais - Divar and Moira/Aldona lineage.
Preserving Goan heritage through ‘Ancestral Weave’
Her recent solo show was one where Clarice challenged herself for over seven years to recreate the patterns and decorative dobby border of the ‘Kunbi’ fabric worn by the indigenous Kunbi/Gawda community in Goa, thread by thread using acrylic paste. “I decided to relive their story and I did a whole lot of work which took me years on canvas and eventually on terracotta pots as well. It was a crazy idea for me to literally painstakingly ‘weave’ these drapes in their warm natural dye colours on canvas but I figured I needed to do this for it was a piece of our culture and our heritage,” says Clarice. The exhibition of this work was held in 2024 as ‘Ancestral Weave’.
Founder of ‘Made in Saligao Market’
Using her huge platform as an artist/writer and multilayered projects in the form of books, community events in her village and State, Clarice created over the years, she promoted the careers of many individuals. She founded the ‘Made in Saligao Market’ with a group of locals in 2019 at the Saligao institute eventually resigning in May 2022, to focus full time on her art projects and writing projects.
‘Vaz’s Clay Collection’
Since her painting technique demands many hours of her time, they are not easily affordable for a local Goan, so Clarice began allowing them to pay her in instalments over a period. She came up with an idea of using her technique on ready indoor clay pots which she primers first turning them into a canvas. She uses resin or gloss varnish for a smooth finish. She aptly calls the collection as ‘Vaz’s Clay Collection’.
“It was tricky at first because pots are fragile and do not have a flat surface. But at least my family, friends or clients could afford a syringe painting! My ‘Kunbi design pots are very popular. I use the fluid painting technique to create abstract designs depending on the client’s choice of colour combinations. It gives the person a little trophy of their past. Since my technique is time consuming and a physical challenge, I only take pre-orders for now,” she discloses.
Azulejo tiles on canvas & pots
Recently, Clarice has experimented on creating the Portuguese form of art - azulejo ‘tiles’ on canvas and on pots with great success. Her clients are from Goa and various countries including France, Japan, UK, USA and Canada. Her artworks and pots are available at her studio in Saligao.
For her, art is not a way of earning money. “I have tasted success all around and I know that creativity can be profitable if only one knows how to invest in creating its value first. This means it is more than creating material value - but emotional and spiritual value too. Money being a store for value will come as a reward.” That is her message to new start ups!
