Mohan Tenuwara
“I am a freelance artist and musician, with my primary career being an architect. Born and raised in the coastal town of ‘Galle’ in Southern Sri Lanka I moved to Canada in 2005. I presently live in Winnipeg, Manitoba with my wife and two sons. The prairie sky and landscape inspire my works in all my pursuits.
As a self-taught artist I have been working in graphite and ink for many years. I got a start in painting as a teenager where my work was first exhibited in 1985. My free-hand ink renderings have appeared in several publications, including Architecture of an Island (2002), C. Anjalendran (2009) and Canadian publication Mimar. I now spend most of my time painting in oil and acrylic. Capturing light and celebrating it with texture has been instrumental in most of my work. As a painter, I see my role as part of a storytelling tradition. I supply a setting, sometimes add characters, and hope viewers will use their own experiences to build the story.
At the age of 11 I joined the school orchestra, and have been exploring different types of music ever since. I have performed as part of ‘Estelle & Rage’ band playing a variety of styles, from pop to country and R & B to folk, in plenty of night clubs and hotel lobbies along the way. But when I played in the Scottish Folklorama Pavilion in Winnipeg I discovered my true passion for fiddling. From 2008 onwards I have honed my fiddling skills. One of my future goals is to start a journey with a bluegrass band.
I chose architecture my primary way of earning a living because of its parallel nature to my other areas of artistic pursuit. In this way I can continue my engagement with music and art, as these are all areas where my heart has led me. In 1993, I enrolled in the architectural program at the University of Moratuwa in Colombo, earned a Bachelor’s degree in the built environment followed by a Master’s degree in architecture in 1998. I obtained professional qualifications as a licensed architect in 2004. While still in Sri Lanka, I opened my own architectural practice. Presently, I practice in the province of Manitoba with Canadian accreditations.”