Left to right: Celebration of Nature, a fiber wall hanging by Boisali Biswas, and Pakistani Truck Art, a photograph by Michael Foley.

Beautiful Women, a giclée print of an original watercolor by Ranita Lahiri.

The public is invited to an artists’ reception and mini-festival at the Walkers’ Gallery this evening to celebrate the current exhibit, “Shilpa: colors of India-Pakistan-Bangladesh.”

The event, slated from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., will include traditional snacks, film, poetry, music, and dance. A poem by India’s most famous philosopher-poet, Rabindranath Tagore, will be sung and Austin teaching artist and ethnomusicologist Amie Maciszewski, Ph.D. will perform classical Indian music on sitar, among other performances. A short film based on Indian mythology by Sushma Khadepaun-Parmar will be shown.

The program for the reception may be found here.

Described as a first-time cultural event, the Walkers’ Gallery exhibit includes about 130 artworks by more than 35 artists from as close as San Marcos and Austin to as far as California, New Zealand, Paris and Bengal.

“The current exhibit at the Walkers’ Gallery, is busy and diverse — like the cultures it celebrates,” said Linda Kelsey-Jones, an organizer of the exhibit and reception. “Patterns and traditions as old as civilization itself combine with and complement contemporary motifs and explorations.”

Gifted, a photograph by Meena Kadri.

The exhibit includes the textile works of Chicago-based artist, Boisali Biswas; Houston artist, Piyali Sen Dasgupta’s contemporary subjects using the same ancient techniques as Rajput and Moghul miniatures; large format woodcut prints by San Marcos artist, Debangana Banerjee; A Bombay video installation by internationally known film-maker, Asa Mader; and selected images by three award-winning photographers.

The exhibit will be on display through March 2 and is free and open to the public during regular San Marcos Activity Center hours. Art exhibits at the Walkers’ Gallery are sponsored by the San Marcos Area Arts council and the City of San Marcos with support from the San Marcos Arts Commission.