JAGATH WEERASINGHE

Professor, Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, 407 Bauddaloka Mawata, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka | +94714488733 | j_weerasinghe@hotmail.com

EDUCATION/ TRAINING
American University, Washington D.C.
M.F.A. Degree in Painting 1991
Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, USA
Conservation of Rock Art 1988
International Center for the Scientific Study and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM)
Conservation of Wall Paintings 1985
Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
B.F.A. Honors in Painting (Second Class Upper Pass) 1981
Minor: Sculpture

AWARDS
ICCROM Fellowship for Conservation Studies, ICCROM March 2008 – May 2008

Visiting Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, University College, London January 2001 – May 2001

Hirayama Silk Road Fellowship, UNESCO 1994                                     

'Bunka' Cultural Award, Japan- Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund  1996                                          

David Lloyd Kreeger Award, Art Department, American University, 1991                                 

Graduate Fellowship, American University 1989 – 1991                          

Italian Government Scholarship to study in Rome  1985

ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS (CURRENT)
Chairman, Theertha International Artists Collective 2000 to present
Member, Board of studies, Postgraduate Institute of archaeology 2005 to present
Memebr, Board of Directors, National Crafts Council 2006 to present
Member, Board of advisors to the Director General of archaeology 2007 to present                                     
ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS (PAST)
Chairman, Vibavi Academy of Fine Arts 
Member, Board of Directors, Independent Television Network
Assistant Director of Archaeology, Central Cultural Fund
Co-Director, registration and Documentation of Monuments and Sites, Dept. of Archaeology
Member, Presidential Committee for the Collection of Contemporary Sri Lankan Art
Member, Arts Council of Sri Lanka, Department of Cultural Affairs
Member, Advisory Board, National Replica School, Ministry of Cultural Affairs                                   

TEACHING EXPERIENCE: CONSERVATION/HERITGAE MANAGEMENT/ARCHEOLOGY
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya
Senior Lecturer – History of South Indian Art 2000-to present
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya
Senior Lecturer – History and Theory of Archaeology and Heritage Management 1998-to present
Deaprtment of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya
Visiting Lecturer – Conservation and Heritage Management 1997-to present
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya
Lecturer – Conservation of Mural Paintings 1988/1992-1995
Department of Architecture, University of Moratuwa
Visiting Lecturer – Documentation of Murals for Architectural Concervation Program 1993-1996/ 2001-2002
National Research Laboratory for Conservation, Lucknow and ICCROM
Work Site Assistant for Conservation of Mural Paintings Regional Program 1991-92
Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology, University of Kelaniya
Assistant Lecturer – Conservation of Mural Paintings 1987/1988

TEACHING EXPERIENCE: ART/ART HISTORY
Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya
Visiting Lecturer – History of European Art: Neo Classicism to Modernism 1994-1996/ 2007
Institute of Aesthetic Studies, University of Kelaniya
Visiting Lecturer – Finale Year Art Projects 1994-1997
National Institute of Education, Padukka
Visiting Lecturer – History of Modern Art 1994-1995
American  University, Washington D.C.
Adjunct Faculty – Drawing 1991 Fall
American University, Washington D.C.
Teaching Assistant in Print Making to Prof. Marge Hirano 1991

EXHIBITIONS AND ART PROJECTS (SELECTED)
Group Show of the Opening Show of Theertha Red Dot Gallery, Sri Jayawardanepura,
With Anoli Perera and Sarath Kumarasiri,       2007
The Reading Room: thousand shivas and thousand mikes.
Singapore Biennale’, Curated by Fumio Nanjo, Sharmini Perira, Eugene Tan and Roger McDonald 2006
‘The Celestial Underwear’,  Phenomenal Space Gallery, Colombo     2005
Ten Artists from Sri Lanka, Group show. Milles Garden, Stockholm, Sweeden    2005
Private Drawings’. Exhibition of drawings at Thambapanni Gallery, Colombo    2004
 ‘Aham Puram’ Exhbition. Group show at Jaffna Library, Jaffna     2004
‘Urban and the Individual, Group Show,  Phenomenal Space Gallery, Colombo    2004
Recent Paintings, Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo      2003
A preface to Anxiety, VAFA Gallery, Ethulkotte      2003
Arts South Asia show, Liverpool University Gallery, Liverpool. Curated by Sharmini Perera   2002
'(my) Inability of Painting Woman', Gallery 706, Colombo      2000
Traditional Craft Villages of Sri Lanka. Video film. Contract awarded by UNESCO, Delhi Office   2000 
'Shrine of the Innocents': Monument to commemorate the victims of political violence in Sri Lanka
 Funded by Presidential Fund, Sri Lanka       1999
Asia-Pacific Triennial, Queensland Gallery, Australia      1999
Recent Paintings, Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo     1997
'dialogue', two person exhibition with Dr. Christa Webber,
Gallery Mount Castle, Colombo. Organized by Goethe Institute of Colombo    1997
'Yantragala and the round pilgrimage', Heritage Gallery, Colombo     1997
Recent Works, Heritage Gallery, Colombo       1997
'Die welt zu gast', Travelling exhibition in Germany. Organized by Spiel Bank, Dortmund   1996
Recent Works, Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo      1995
'New Approaches in Contemporary Sri Lanakn Art, National Art Gallery, Colombo    1994
4th Asian Art Show, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan     1994
Anxiety, an exhibition of paintings and drawings. National gallery of Art, Colombo    1992

SPECIAL ART PROJECTS
Art and design committee for the National Program for the Introduction of Constitutional Changes,
With Sudunelum Movement        2007
Peace Train Projec,
With Vibavi Academy of Fine Arts, funded by Neelan Thiruchelvam Trust    2003
Artists Against War/ Artists for Peace Flag Painting Projects.
Organized by Vibavi Academy of Fine Arts      1997-2000

CONSERVATION/HERITAGE EXPERIENCE
Curriculum Development: Postgraduate Diploma in Heritage Studies
Postgraduate Institute of archaeology  2006 
Curriculum Development: MA taught course in Archaeology
Postgraduate Institute of archaeology  2002 
Coordinator of Conservation and Heritage Programs, Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology 1994 to present
ICOMOS Expert to proposed World Heritage Site of Hiraizumi, Japan 2007
ICOMOS Expert to proposed World heritage Site of Majuli Island, Asam, India 2005
Murals Preservation Management Plane for Hari Mandir Sahib, Panjab, India
For Gurmeet Rai, the consultants for preparing the WH Nomination plan for Golden Temple 2003
Revival of Buddhist Sanga Project, UNESCO Bangkok Office’s Laos Project 2003
Heritage Maps and Monitoring report for Sri Lankan World Heritage Sites 2002
Curriculum Development: Certificate Course in the Conservation of Cultural Property
Postgraduate Institute of archaeology  1986
Acting Head, Conservation of Murals painting 1986-1988
Assistant Director of Archaeology: Murals, Central Cultural Fund 1994-1998MEMBERSHIPS
Member of the Executive Committee, ICOMOS Sri Lanka
Member, Sri Lanka Council of Archaeologists
MEMBERSHIPS
Member of the Executive Committee, ICOMOS Sri Lanka
Member, Sri Lanka Council of Archaeologists

PUBLICATIONS: JOURNALS AND  EXHIBITION CATALOGUE ESSAYS (SELECTED)
Art of Rohan Amarasinghe
Exhibition Catalogue, Red Dot Gallery, Theertha International Artists Collective 2007
Asian Art Today: Exploiting the Code, A Critique from the Margins
South Asia Journal for Vulture, Volume 1, pp.83-89 2007
Visivani siyawas drushya kalava (Vissual art of 20th century Sri Lanka)
Exhibition Catalogue, Theertha International Artists Collective 2006
A Survey on the “Presence” of Cubist Sign/Idiom in Sri Lankan Art
Cubism in Asia: Unbounded Dialogues, Singapore Art Museum 2006
The Hand-Made Realities: A facet of the Contemporary Sri Lankan Art
The Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale 2005, p. 167 2005
‘Made in IAS’
Exhibition Catalogue, Barefoot Gallery, Colombo 2000
‘No Glory’: recent works of Sarath Kumarasiri
Exhibition Catalogue, Heritage Gallery, Colombo 1998

PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS AND CHAPTERS (SELECTED)
Contemporary Art in Sri Lanka
Art and Social Change, Ed. Caroline Turner. Pandanus Books, Australian National University 2005
‘Chitraye anek patta’ (The other side of the painting)
Vibavi academy of Fine Arts 2000
Living Sacred Sites and the Concept of Authenticity
Living with Cultural heritage, National Research Institute for Cultural Property, Tokyo, pp.180-5 2006
 ‘Upasthiti vadaya nohoth mahathvarunge kalawa (Impressionism, the art of the gentleman)
Theertha International Artists Collective 2007

CONFERENCES/SEMINARS AND MEETINGS (SELECTED)
Seminars on the Conservation of Asian Cultural Property
National Research Institute for Cultural Property, Tokyo 2003-2006
Restoration of Bomb Damaged Murals of the Sacred Tooth Relic Temple, Sri Lanka
Conservation of Painted Earthen Plasters Symposium, Getty Conservation Institute 2004
Round pilgrimages and the religious landscape)
South Asian Landscape Conference, Institute of Archaeology, University of London 2002
Politics of conservation and destruction
‘Patenting the past’ conference, Institute of Archaeology, University of London 2001
'Burials of Ibbankatuwa’
64th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeologists, Chicago,(with P. Karunarathne)           1999 

Bio Data: born 1954, Sri Lanka