The air in the lobby of the Asian American Cultural Center, 1210 W. Nevada St., was thick with the smell of aloo parathas, sudal, paruppu vadai and mango halwa. Those are spicy Indian potato pancakes, chickpea salad, Indian falafel and a mango dessert, respectively.

People bustled about the room, with a few actually taking a seat at the provided tables, each ornamented with a colorful flower or bamboo plant.

On Wednesday Feb. 7, the Indian Student Association and the Asian American Cultural Center hosted the South Asian Art Night. The primary attraction was the opening of artist Umeeta Sadarangani’s exhibit “Journeys.” Anil D’Souza, president of the Indian Student Association and senior in Engineering said the focus of the event was spreading knowledge of South Asian culture and bringing people of all cultures together.

“This is the best way to show our culture,” D’Souza said. “We see a lot of people focusing on the sciences. This gives you a side of things that you don’t get from science.”

Sadarangani’s art featured watercolors, photography and the mix of acrylics and collage. Almost all of her images had colors of extreme brilliance that contrasted greatly with the beige walls on which they hung.

“The works in this exhibit are a celebration of the everyday and are inspired by my love of color,” Sadarangani’s statement read. “In some cases, they are the results of actual journeys to places far away and to my own backyard. In other cases, they represent journeys from my past to my present.”

Many of the photographs were taken in Mumbai and Calcutta, India.

“Color unites all of my work, and India saturates you with color,” Sadarangani said.

Her photographs of India particularly contained bright, attention-grabbing shades of yellow, blue, green and pink. The images of her work ranged from women and women’s fashion in India, flowers and other natural images, and the Goddess Durga.

Sadarangani was born in Mumbai, India and spent her teen years in Kuwait. Now a professor of English at Parkland College, she said she always saw art as something she would pursue in her retirement. Yet, in the past few years she began to create art once again, and her work is becoming well known in the community.

Her art has been featured in group galleries at Verde art gallery, which recently closed in 2006, and she also donated her work to the Greater Community AIDS Project (GCAP), Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Parkland Foundation.

Sadarangani’s partner Marilyn Ryan, also a professor at Parkland College, said she is a big supporter of her work and that Sadarangani actually began working on her art after they met.

“It’s so exciting,” Ryan said. “To see the photos and paintings that are usually hanging in our home, they look beautiful here.”

In addition to Sadarangani’s exhibit, the night also promised authentic South Indian Cuisine from ASHA’s Sam Bar, and performances by Indian student a cappella groups, Illini Chandani and Chai-Town A cappella.

The South Indian cuisine provided by ASHA’s Sam Bar is one fundraiser that ASHA for Education runs to raise money for the education of unprivileged Indian children. “Asha” translates to “hope.”

While ASHA has existed on campus for around six years, the Sam Bar is only a semester old. They serve authentic South Indian cuisine which cannot be found in Champaign-Urbana, as they are the only organization that sells South Indian food within a 40 mile radius.

The Sam Bar’s food will now be available to the public at Red Herring, 1209 W. Oregon St., starting with their grand opening Tuesday, Feb. 13. They will be serving regularly on Tuesdays.

Linda Luk, the program coordinator of the Asian American Cultural Center, said Sadarangani’s exhibit was displayed as a result of the suggestion of an artist whose work had previously been featured there.

“We want to feature Asian American artists who are students or who are from the community,” she said.

Sadarangani’s exhibit can be seen at the Center until spring break.