Mihira Karra, a fabric collage artist residing in Vienna, Virginia, was born in 1958 in Calcutta, India, and spent her childhood in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. In 1979, she moved to the United States to attend graduate school in the sciences. She now holds the position of senior public health scientist with the U.S. government.
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She started sketching and using pastels as a child and realised her passion for portraiture and figurative art as a twelve year old when she sketched her first portraits of her great aunt and grandmother. She focused mainly on portraits of family and friends early on as she used them as live models to pose for her. Her recent work in International Development has also inspired portraits of women, men and children from her travels around the world.

More recently, Dr. Karra has developed into the world of Fiber arts. She is fascinated with the potential of fabrics as a medium thanks to an inspiring workshop under the tutelage of renowned fabric artist Laura Breitman. She sketches the outlines of her portraits free hand on the canvas and then paints in gluing in small pieces of fabric.

She is available to do commissioned portraits like the ones you will see on this website. This is perfect for personal presents to your loved ones or even for yourself.

She is a member of the Vienna Art Society, The Potomac Fiber Arts Guild and The Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, VA. She has exhibited in several shows of the Vienna Art Society and The Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery.

See more of her work at Teravarna and Artsy and Artnet.