by Yasamin Lotfi<\/p>\n\n
On a quiet Sunday afternoon, in a two-story apartment complex behind IKEA, everything seems droll and sedentary.\u00a0 But as I get closer to the small studio apartment on the second floor, I hear the sound of Bach through the walls.\u00a0 Intrigued, I walk inside, and find myself first in a dark room, a small living space with a fridge, a table, and a futon.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
There are paint palettes in a small sink next to used coffee mugs, some knick knacks and decorations here and there.\u00a0 I continue into the main studio area, a modest sanctum with a bare window that overlooks a vast church parking lot and lets in lots of natural light. The room smells like paint and dust, and there are sketches and pictures taped to the walls.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A few semi-finished canvases sit on easels, and gingerly earmarked books take up lots of the floor space.\u00a0 In one particularly messy corner stands a child\u2019s easel and painting supplies, and the child\u2019s handiwork proudly displayed.\u00a0 In the middle of this perfect disorganization, I see the artist herself, wearing some old nondescript clothes, hair up in a messy bun.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She turns the stereo down so we can have our interview.\u00a0\u00a0 I pull up a chair from the other room and take out my note pad.\u00a0 Having noticed the children\u2019s corner, I think of my first question:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yasi:\u00a0 When did you start painting?<\/p>\n
Noushin:\u00a0 When I was 12.\u00a0 I remember buying my own supplies for the first time.\u00a0 Drawing became my strongest subject in school.\u00a0 I followed that to a B.A. in interior design, but my first real painting classes didn\u2019t start until I had my degree, had gotten married, and in fact had my first child.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 What was the class?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 A tidy and structured class taught by Nami Petgar.\u00a0 I learned sketching, pastels, colored pencils and oil and paint, and every lunch break he guided a group discussion on subjects related to painting.\u00a0 I was there for about five years, on and off.\u00a0 When I felt I had gleamed all I could, I found Aydin Aghdashloo.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 What was his class like?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 It was always a few degrees too hot, and eternally messy. Students sat or stood elbow to elbow.\u00a0\u00a0 I loved it.\u00a0 It was an environment to be inspired in, and he was a great teacher.\u00a0 He taught me to be bold, and to paint with fervor and purpose.\u00a0 I did a lot of watercolor there for the next two years. By then it was the height of the Iran-Iraq war and in 1987 we left for America.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Oh yes, you lived in Houston for six years before you returned to Iran again right?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Yeah, longer than we had anticipated.\u00a0 It was a hard transition, and once again painting was my solace.\u00a0 I took a few semesters at Glassel School of Art.\u00a0 I remember the joy I felt drawing live models for the first time.\u00a0 This was never allowed in our sketch classes in Iran!\u00a0 I also found a great teacher, Ardeshir Arjang.\u00a0 I worked mostly with oil and paint, and in two years painted enough to have two shows, one private and one at Rice University. I also used to run an antique booth for a while and learned ceramic painting from a colleague, which I loved.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Then back to Iran?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Yes, and I was back in my element \u2013 I started with Aghdashloo again, this time learning about Miniature painting.\u00a0 I built a studio in the backyard and spent hours there every day.\u00a0 I would turn on the music, tracks from Beethoven and Bach, and Mozart\u2019s famous Requiem, and be happily absorbed.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 With this new space to grow in as an artist, did you seek out other teachers?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 I did some portrait drawing with Mr. Katouzian, and fell in love with Gouash at Mr. Shafeyi\u2019s class.\u00a0 During that period I had a few group shows, at Seyhoun Gallery, Golestan Gallery, and Niavaran Farhangsara. In the late 90s I had a couple of individual shows at Seyhoun Gallery.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Did any of them feature the \u201cGolden Samovar\u201d?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 (laughs) No that was before the revolution.\u00a0 The French embassy hosted an art exhibit, and select artists had one painting featured, and mine was of a gold samovar filled with flowers.\u00a0 They had a picture of it in Keyhan magazine.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Back in Iran you started a business too, right?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Yes, I met a talented lady named Shahla Etefagh, and she taught mural painting at her house.\u00a0 So for about two years I would go there with a group and we would basically paint on the walls.\u00a0 Eventually a friend and I went off on our own and started a business.\u00a0 She bought an apartment and we painted everything in it, walls, floors, furniture, plates, \u2026and then we had a successful show to put it on display.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 These were obviously prolific years.\u00a0 But at the turn of the century something changed.\u00a0 Tell me about that.<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Both my kids were abroad, and that had left an obvious hole.\u00a0 We had also moved from our old house with my beloved studio.\u00a0 In the next few years I lost both parents and a brother, and also had major back surgery.\u00a0 Throughout this difficult time, as I tried again to find comfort in painting, a voice in my head would say, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point\u201d?\u00a0 I tried to continue, but I felt that my inspiration was gone.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 How did you get it back?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 We moved back to Houston permanently a couple of years ago, and I guess in a way I had to get my studio back first.\u00a0 I rented a small apartment and, feeling a spark, put it all together in a matter of weeks.\u00a0 I turned on my music and picked up my brush and voila!\u00a0 Since July I have thirteen finished works and a few in progress.\u00a0 Sometimes I can\u2019t believe it myself!<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Having done this for decades now, do you have any inspiring words for a fledgling artist?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Don\u2019t take it for granted, when you\u2019re young and time is expansive, and life is more boundless.\u00a0 And don\u2019t let anything discourage you.\u00a0 Persevere.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 What inspires your paintings?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Nature\u2019s calm.\u00a0 Animals.\u00a0 I\u2019m inspired by my memories of life in Sanandaj.\u00a0 We would go fishing, horseback riding, and spend almost all our free time exploring the countryside.\u00a0 We watched the harvest, and sometimes travelled to distant villages.\u00a0 I owned lots of animals, from my own horse to a porcupine!<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Can you pick a favorite genre from the many you\u2019ve mastered?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 I think it would be hard.\u00a0 I can\u2019t just settle on one thing; must have something to do with being a Gemini!\u00a0 I think portrait drawing is on top of the list.\u00a0 But really I\u2019ve enjoyed them all.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Favorite media you\u2019ve worked with?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Probably gouache, and oil and paint.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 If you could have done anything other than painting, what would you have done?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Hmm\u2026animal husbandry?\u00a0 Or maybe Egyptology.\u00a0 Is that a profession? I\u2019m obsessed with it!<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 What beliefs do you carry with you in life?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 I believe in destiny, that things happen for a reason.\u00a0 I believe I was meant to go through everything I did in order to be sitting here now.\u00a0 I believe in love and nature.\u00a0 I believe that how you act will come back to you in this life, here on earth, so you have to be kind and compassionate.<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 Can we look forward to a show sometime in the near future?<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 Absolutely!<\/p>\n
Y:\u00a0 (I remember what prompted my first question and ask my last): Tell me about all the children stuff in the corner.<\/p>\n
N:\u00a0 That\u2019s where my daughter\u2019s two kids come to paint, usually once a week.\u00a0 The older one, Parsa, is especially fond of it, excels at it really.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of my great joys, to watch their excitement, and teach them a little of what I know and love.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And with that, our interview is over.\u00a0 I close my notepad and get up to leave.\u00a0 She follows me back through the dark anteroom and stands at the doorway as I walk downstairs and toward my car.\u00a0 As I\u2019m getting in I look up and watch her slowly close the door.\u00a0 I ponder the events of the last hour and think how refreshing to have met a true artist, someone who paints as she lives and loves.\u00a0 I get in my car, and with Bach\u2019s Mass in B minor still swirling in my head, drive off.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yasamin Lotfi<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Yasamin Lotfi On a quiet Sunday afternoon, in a two-story apartment complex behind IKEA, everything seems droll and sedentary.\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[42,79,94,120],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-icf-events","tag-artist","tag-local-houston-artist","tag-noushin-lotfi","tag-yasamin-lotfi","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n