Sharmistha Ray (b. 1978) studied studio art at Williams College, and holds a dual degree M.S. in Theory, Criticism and History of Art, Design and Architecture and M.F.A. in Painting from Pratt Institute. She has won the Joan Mitchell M.F.A. Grant (2004), TED Fellowship (2009) and Montblanc Young Artist World Patronage Award (2012), and was nominated for the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship in the Visual Arts category in 2014. She has held previous solo exhibitions at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in Mumbai and Aicon Gallery in New York and participated in over 30 group shows. In 2013, she delivered a TED Talk focused on how the cultural complications of gender and sexuality have impacted her artistic practice at the first official TED Fellows Retreat in Whistler, Canada. She continues to be an active member of the global community of TED Fellows and an advocate for LGBT causes in India. Ray has worked on art and design commissions and projects with organizations and corporates in America and India including Berklee College of Music, Godrej, JSW and Mahindra & Mahindra. In 2014, Ray founded Bellevue Salons to encourage public dialogues that integrate creative disciplines and further collaborative modes of engagement. Since its inception, she has conducted salons in Mumbai and Goa, and collaborated with practitioners from fields as diverse as the performing arts and world music, experimental gastronomy, ecology and rural farming. In 2015, On the Seashore of Endless Worlds, her debut 3D sculptural painting on steel was unveiled at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, the largest urban arts festival in Mumbai, and acquired by JSW for their corporate collection.