ART AND MEDIA |

PAVIDA RUJATIKUMPORN

Biography

Pavida grew up in a family that surrounded her with art and music. From a young age, her father took her to various art galleries and concerts. She learned to play the piano by the age of nine. After two years of playing piano, Pavida appeared on a Christmas program, performing a duet along with her sister on Thailand's National Television. She got her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, majoring in painting, from Rangsit University in Bangkok. Her expressionist painting was put up for display at the National Gallery of Thailand in 1995. However, having immersed herself in art, Pavida never once stopped playing the piano, and took regular private lessons and was also accomplished classical pianist. During her five years in university, she set up her very own folk band and participated in various inter-university folk music festivals. Apart from being the band leader, she was also the band's singer and songwriter. She won the hearts of audiences with her sensual voice and skill, not only on piano, but on guitar and harmonica as well. She recalls one particularly memorable moment when a person in the audience came up to her after a performance and told her that he had moved and inspired by one of her pieces that he had written lyrics just for that piece, while she was playing it! After graduation, Pavida spent some time as an illustrator for a magazine. She also taught at The YAMAHA Music School.

In 1996, encouraged by her father, she decided to move to New York and improve an her skill and broaden her horizons. Upon arrival, Pavida enrolled at the Art Student League of New York . Being interested in jazz, she also enrolled in a part time course at the New School. " Jazz and Expressionism are alike", she said, " they both have colors and rhythm that contrast, but I get them harmonize eventually."
After take jazz lessons for awhile, she decide to enroll full time at BQCM ( Brooklyn& Queens Conservatory of music). In her spare time, she joined the Asian Student Group "165"...1st show ...6 lives ...5 professions, where she kept up her painting. At these art exhibitions, she express her feelings through her collective art work and original piano performance. In her own words, "There is no border between Art and Music, art is something we see with our ears and hear with our eyes. That's all there is to it really."