Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.



Nicky Nodjoumi was born in 1942 in Kermanshah, Iran and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He earned his B.A. from Tehran University the Faculty of Fine Arts,  and his M.F.A. from the City College of New York. Nodjoumi’s work has been the subject of several national and international solo exhibitions including a 1980 Retrospective at The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran, Iran. Nodjoumi’s last solo exhibition, The Formulaic Nature of Appearances (2009) at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art, New York, was accompanied by a full catalog. Nodjoumi’s forthcoming show at Priska C. Juschka Fine Art will be in Fall 2010.



Sudi Sharafshahi is a painter, sculptor, and cartoonist. She is graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tehran University. Sharafshahi received her M.F.A from Royal Academy of the Hague, Holland in 1974. In 1975 she continued her training at New York University, Pratt and School of Visual art. She has won several painting and graphic awards. Gertrud Mill Award, 2001, Paul Revere Award for graphic excellence 2001. Art Direction Magazine, International award, New York City, 1986, 1987.  Sharafshahi has extensively exhibited in United states and other countries. She is part of several collections including Modern Art Museum of the Hague, Holland.

www.sudisharaf.com



Nasser Vaziri is an artist/photographer who developed and changed the way we look at a photograph. He studied in Tehran University, Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and Lisbon University in Portugal. In 1967 he started teaching Scenic Basic Design in Architecture and Art Department in Tehran University. In 1972- 74 Vaziri taught Art of Theatrical and Design at Michigan University in Graduate Department. In 1975 he started teaching Visual Language and Sound in the University of Montreal. From 1977 to 1981 he taught Visual Art and Communication at Farabi University in Tehran. In 1983 Vaziri returned to the United States and continued his professional as a photographer. He lives and works in NYC.



Shahram Karimi is a visual artist and film production designer who works and lives in the United States and Germany. He has collaborated with Shirin Neshat, Shoja Azari and Mohammad Rasoulof as the key production designer in more than ten films. In 2006 Karimi and Shoja Azari collaborated for the first time on the Stalker Series. In doing so, they created what they call video paintings –Karimi a painter and Azari a filmmaker. Shahram Karimi had numerous one man and group exhibitions in Iran, the United States, and in most countries in Europe. Karimi’s paintings portray the dilemma of the contemporary bicultural Iranian who seeks his historical and personal identity by wedding his personal past with contemporary form. Each one of his paintings relates a fragment of his memories and national history, and his personal past. The misty background of his paintings force the viewer to witness how we see as memory still lives on in us to control, influence and shape our present.

Hadi Hazavei is a visual artist, researcher and author who graduated from Tehran University, the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1968.  In 1969 he came to New York to continue his study and received his Ph.D in Art Education from Columbia University. Hazavei continued his study at New York University in Museum Research up to1989. He has had numerous solo and group shows in Tehran and in major cities in the United States. His recent solo exhibition was at the Maheh-Mehr Gallery in Tehran in 2009. Hazavei is the author of many articles and books on the subject of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Education, and study and research of murals in different locations across Iran. He lives and works in New Jersey and Tehran.



 Nahid Hagigat is an internationally exhibited artist, curator, art teacher, and art therapist.

After graduating in Fine Arts from Tehran University, Nahid continued her studies in the United States. She received her Master of Fine Arts from New York University, and continued her study in Art Education at NYU in 1978. She recently received her Ph.D from Huntington Pacific University in Behavioral Therapy, specializing in Emotional Healing through Art. She is the founder and former Director of the Center for Iranian Art, New York, and former Art Director of Gallery 24, New York.

Nahid frequently exhibited her art in Tehran during the 1970s and was instrumental in introducing Etching to Tehran art galleries.

She has had multiple solo and group exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., including exhibitions in the Queens Museum in New York, Heckstcher Museum in New York and Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California.

Her work is in numerous private and public collections including the Tehran Museum of Modern Art. She lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

www.nahidhagigat.com

Born in the Philippines to Iranian parents and raised on the upper west side of Manhattan, I, like most immigrant children never felt like I fit in.  While I didn't appreciate it at the time I now realize that being 'different ' was a blessing and not a curse, were it not for my beloved 'X-MEN', I would never have put pen to paper and discovered my passion for drawing.   However, I have never liked referring to myself as an artist.  'Gordieh Nasseri – Artist  has never felt organic to me ..I  rather be , Gordieh Nasseri - Self proclaimed graphic novel and animation aficionado who suffers from bouts of intensely focused doodling sessions'. 



Ruben Marroquin is an American born Venezuelan artist. He studied Fine Arts at the I. U. E. S. A. P. Armando Reveron in Caracas, Venezuela, specializing painting. He received a 2year AAS degree on Textile and Surface Design, from the Fashion Institute of Technology and is currently in the BFA program for Textile and Surface Design at F.I.T.

His work has appeared in publications such as the Village Voice, The Icon and the Hue Magazines from F.I.T. And has formed part of group exhibitions at the Sala Mendoza Gallery in Caracas, Venezuela, The Umbrella Gallery in New York City, and The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

He lives and works in Brooklyn

"I weave found objects and bamboo rods into a sort of skeleton structure. After that I embroider over the structure, the threads raise and sink from the surface unevenly. The body of my work consists of an exploration on how to approach painting using alternative materials, predominantly threads, bamboo and found objects. This work was inspired by three of my favorite American artists: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Willem de Kooning."





Dean has been making miniature sculptures and animal creations called “tin things/foil sculptures” Each sculpture is a unique homage to creatures domesticated and wild. His highly detailed aluminum foil origami are startling example of miniature impressions. He constructs his pieces in a rapid fire series of movements capturing miniature portraits full of personality and innate character. As a child Dean started making aluminum foil and sponge replicas out of necessity in the dark.

Influences range from cartoons, action figures and movies.

His works can also be view at the J Crew flag store in Madison Avenue, Manhattan.





GRANTS/SCHOLARSHIPS/AWARDS

Calrow Memorial Scholarship, Pratt Institute, September 2008-May 2009

Assistantship Award, Pratt Institute, January 2008-May 2009

Catharine Ellis Scholarship Award, Penland School of Crafts, May 25-June 7 2008

Peters Valley Scholarship, Peters Valley Craft Center, August 15-19 2008

Post Baccalaureate Grant, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, August 2006-May 2007           

Drs. Paul and Laura Mesaros III Scholarship, West Virginia University, August-December 2002

Drs. Paul and Laura Mesaros Scholarship, West Virginia University, September





Founder of Weaving Hand, LLC

Weaving Hand is an organization that embraces global weaving traditions, fosters working partnerships with an international community of weavers and operates as a healing arts studio.  By engaging with artists from both historic weaving and contemporary fiber arts backgrounds, Weaving Hand celebrates a fusion of ideas and techniques through travel, studio classes, workshops, outreach programs and gallery shows.

In addition, Weaving Hand is a healing arts studio.  Weaving Hand uses weaving as a creative tool to enhance a range of development for children and adults with intellectual, emotional and physical disabilities.  Weaving Hand works with Guatemalan Back Strap, Bhutanese, Tibetan and Middle Easter Carpet Weavers, Museum of Arts and Design, Stepping Stones Museum for Children, Children’s Museum of the Arts, Prospect Park Zoo,  as well as the League Artists Natural Design (LAND), The League Treatment Center, AHRC – New York City,, The Brooklyn Autism Center.

www.weavinghand.com



Roya Farassat was born in Tehran, Iran. She studied welding at the Sculpture Center and received a B.F.A in painting from Parsons School Of Design. In 2007 she was awarded residencies from Henry Street Settlement, Makor Gallery and participates in the viewing program at The Drawing Center. She was nominated for Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize in 2009 and was recently included in the Jamm Auction in Kuwait. Her work has been exhibited at Asian Contemporary Art fair, Scope Miami Art fait and numerous galleries, including  the LTMH gallery, The College of New Jersey, Current Gallery, Abrons Art Center, Makor Gallery, Ernest Rubenstein Gallery, BWAC and 450 Broadway Gallery. Roya currently works and resides with her family in New York City.





abstract works

My abstract work is a reflection of my experiences combined with emotion. Each abstract creation is one of a kind, and has a unique significance, which emanates an essence and an aura of its own. The life-like creations from stone, chiseled meticulously to perfection, form a visual extravaganza as well as an intellectual playground of wonderment. Each time you look at apiece, you see something different, allowing you to draw in its beauty through your individual perspective. The true beauty of abstract art is not just what appears to the naked eye, but what lies
beneath the surface.

“Energy of Life” title of her sculpture