Painted Earth Goddesses: Some Thousands Years Continuation of Tradition
Ahmad Nadalian
www.riverart.net/nadalian/earth_statues
Recently a sinkhole was
dug in my garden. I found some dark blue mud and used it for making
the statues. I also used Hormoz red dirt to paint them, they turn red
when baked. The final color is very similar to the red color of
ancient earthenware.
More
Statues made out of mud
and painted by Hormoz red dirt
www.riverart.net/nadalian/earth_statues
The
27th Environmental Art Festival -
Kotena,
Ghaemshahr -
Mazandaran - North of Iran
Report by Ahmad Nadalian
Tanks to Hajme- Sabz group, Jalal al din Mashmoli and his family
The 27th Environmental Art Festival
in Iran was held in the Kotena-
Ghaemshahr - North of
Iran in May 2010.
More
http://www.riverart.net/paradise/festivals/27/index.htm
A Journey to Khuzestan, March 2010
Ahmad Nadalian
I was invited by the Faculty of Art in Shostar to travel to South West of
Iran, Khuzestan, in March 2010.
More
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/life/khozestan/index.htm
Hormoz Island- The Persian Gulf - March 2010
Ahmad Nadalian
I traveled to Hormoz Island in the middle of March 2010.
Nature was green.
More
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/life/nouroz_89/index.htm
The Home of Hassan: New Residential Art Center
Hassan Daryapeima
is a friend of mine who lives in Hormoz. During all Environmental Art
Festivals he is with us and assists the artists on resident.
More
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/hassan/index.htm
The museum of Environmental Art - Hormoz Island Persian Gulf
Ahmad Nadalian
I expanded the space at the Persian Gulf Residential Art Center and
established the first Museum of Environmental Art.
The museum shows photos of Irans environmental art projects.
More
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/hormoz/museum/index.htm
About kaniz
During past four years I worked with kaniz. We
produce many collaborative art works.
As we were working on the paintings, Kaniz told me many stories. Kanizs
life story is strange and interesting.
Kaniz lives in Hormoz Island.
She got married when she was seven years old. In some small towns, parents
decide the arranged marriage. I asked Kanizs mother why she decided for her
daughter to get married so soon. She said she also got married when she was
seven. Kaniz's mother gave birth to 25 children. Only five of them lived on.
The reason for having so many children was because they wanted to have a
boy. Kaniz's mother has a son now, but he is disabled. When he was only 6
months old, He got a mistaken injection that made him disabled.
I am sorry my story has a sad beginning; in fact this is not a story, it is
real.
More
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/kaniz/index.htm
Artist/Naturalist
Ahmad
Nadalian
by : John Caddy
http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Nadalian.html
John
Caddy is a poet, a teacher, and a lifelong student of nature. John's
heart is hidden under a pine tree in Minnesota's North Woods, where
it steadily beats. John has taught poetry in schools for thirty-five
years. He teaches at Hamline University's Center for Global
Environmental Education in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he directed
the Self Expressing Earth program. John began and directs the
Morning Earth program.
John's heritage is Cornish, and in 2001 he was made a Bard of the
Cornish Gorseth in Cornwall, Britain.
John's poetry has won the Bush Artist's fellowship, MN State Arts
Board fellowships, the Loft/McKnight award and Milkweed Editions'
Lakes and Prairies award. John's teaching has been honored by the
Sally Ordway Irving award for Arts Education.
The Color of Mesabi Bones won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the
Minnesota Book Award. John's favorite award, though, is below, given
to him by Jesse Richards, a second grade poet.
More
http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Caddy.html
I am an aging
poet whose spirit is more lively all the time. I live near
Forest Lake, Minnesota on ten
acres of woods, marsh and ponds, with my wife Lin, and four
excellent cats. I have published several books, mostly poetry,
but also about arts education. I have reviewed childrens books
for Riverbank Review. I've performed my poetry onstage with jazz
musicians and dancers.
http://www.morning-earth.org/John_Caddy.html
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Iranian artist Ahmad Nadalian is a
worldwide emissary of Mother Earth. For many years he has
performed his carvings of fish and goddesses in such diverse
countries as France, Germany, Italy, the US, Kazakstan,
Uzbekistan, Russia, and his storied Persian homeland. Nadalian is
deeply connected to water--streams and tides--and uses them to
enact rituals of rebirth. The streams of his childhood homeplace
have been destroyed. In a kind of compensatory healing, the artist
carves water beings on rocks within streams and on their banks. On
stones rolled smooth by water he incices fish, then cermonially
frees them by returning them to water. This is a kind of
installation art for future generations. Similarly, he buries
other carvings on land in many hidden locations. |
A recurring subject of Nadalian's art
is Anahita, ancient goddess of the waters and fertility.He
has carved her image into many rocks in places united by flowing
waters that surround her image.
He has painted her on
sands using pigments from overlooking cliffs.
Nadalian is an Earth advocate, a true eco-artist. For several years he
has hosted Environmental Art Festivals on the island of Hormuz in the
Persian Gulf and at his home place.
More:
http://www.riverart.net/notes/caddy
About My Friend
Abigail Doan:
The Art Farmer
Ahmad
Nadalian
Abigail Doan
is an environmental artist who lives and works in New York City and
Europe. Thanks to the latest information technology and the realm of
cyberspace, we all have the opportunity to meet people from different
cultures in order to build a better world. Despite critical disputes and
tensions between American and Iranian politicians, Abigail and I have
cultivated a virtual creative collaboration for the past four years. I
feel rather indebted to Abigail, as she has been one of the principal
editors of my English text for my websites and documents.
In
contemporary art, it is a challenge to convey ones idea without a
coherent artist statement. English is one of the common, dominant
languages enabling us to communicate with other artists across the
globe. It is also often difficult to translate an idea from one culture
or language to another, though. Abigail has spent dedicated time to
assist in expressing my works and the works of many young Iranian
artists who have participated in the recent environmental art festivals
in Iran. Beside this, she has interpreted and expressed her own point of
view about my work. In this sprit, artwork in our time can be realized
through interaction and open collaboration. When we attempt to interpret
anothers artwork, we often can expand the meanings.
More
http://www.riverart.net/paradise/artists/abigail_doan/index.htm
Our World: The Vision of Children & My
Petroglyphs
I would appreciate if you
send me the images of drawings and painting by children
to this e-mail.
riverart.news@gmail.com
I will carve the
selected works and the sculpture department of Tehran city council would
support me to make a monument for children. I have already realized a
project in France. More
http://www.riverart.net/petroglyphs/our_world/index.htm
Hormoz Island- Persian Gulf
- March 2010
Ahmad Nadalian
In the middle of
March 2010 I traveled to Hormoz Island.
Nature was green.
I discovered a new
aria in Hormoz Island
The polar bears of my German friend Sibyll
kalff were with me. I install them here, in the salty river. They
seem to be in North Pole!
I expand the space
of Persian Gulf residential art center and establish the first Museum of
Environmental Art.
Now this museum show many photos of
Environmental art project.
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/life/nouroz_89/index.htm
A Journey to Khozestan, March
2010
Ahmad Nadalian
In March 2010 I traveled to south west of Iran- Khozestan. I invited
by the Faculty of Art in Shostar. I reviewed my works and for the Persian New Year the students prepared
ceremony .
The day after I visited Shadegan. From Shadegan, we traveled to Khoramshar. During the war of 1982 when Sadam
Hossien army attacked to Iran they occupied the city. During the war,
when I was student of Painting at the faculty of fine art I traveled to
Khoramshahr. .
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/life/khozestan/index.htm
During the war I made many
drawing showing soldiers.
In April 2006 my students
assisted me to install these kies in one of the street of Tehran
I assume that when the war
started, People in Khoramshahr only could lock the house and leave the city.
When the war finished they wanted go back home. But their house destroyed.
So they don't needed these keys anymore.
More than 25 years ago war
finished. But the house in Khoramshahr show the signs of Bullets.
I saw birds who made their
nest inside these foramens.
Yet there are many more birds who need nests.
This wall remind me the work
by artist Charles Simonds . Artists are against vandalism and
politicians destroy the world
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/life/khozestan/index.htm
The
Magic of Colors and Memory of Objects 25th Festival of
Environmental Art in Iran- Hormoz Island Persian Gulf
Report by Ahmad Nadalian
Photos by Shahnaz Zarkesh, Fereshteh Zamani,
Atefeh Motehayer, Atefeh Khas, Hamed Karimipour, Azarnosh Nazari, Elham
Yazdanian, Armin Lotfi Fard, Amin Salmanian Tayebeh Mojaradian, Mithra
Soltani and Ahmad Nadalian
Persian Gulf Environmental Art Center
The Persian Gulf Art Centre on Hormoz Island in the Persian Gulf was
established in March of 2009. This new arts center is
a host for contemporary environmental artists and is linked to
Paradise International Residential Center for Environmental Art.
In January 2010 invited artists who participated in the 25th Festival of
Environmental Art in Iran stayed in this centre and used colored earth and
natural pigments to ornament the buildings. In some instances the work was
conceptual and readymade objects were used to convey site-specific ideas.
For this restoration project, we also used nanotechnology, which made the
colors even more solid. More
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/persian_gulf
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/festivals/25
.
During the summer months, Paradise Art Center usually receives
international and local artists in the north of Iran, and now in
autumn and winter months we can also receive artists on Hormoz
Island. The artists who have residencies during the winter can
stay in our center to realize their environmental art in the
nature and landscape of Iran. They can also experience living
with Iranian families, take part in the local cultural and
society, and enjoy traditional food.
My room
Thanks to all of the inspiring artists who gave new life to this
space
This image shows the interior space of my room when I first
bought this building.
This was a sift, but now is a bird cage
We preserved portions of inscriptions and the old texture of the
buildings walls.
Persian Gulf
Residential Art Center in Hormoz Island
I was also inspired by the primitive drawings of Kaniz and her life, and
produced a number of painting behind glass. I used organic, colored earth.
I found this damaged doll on the street
I asked Kaniz to clean the doll and prepare local traditional cloths for
dressing it
Now the doll lives in the Persian Gulf Art Centre
Despite all of her suffering, Kaniz seems to have a childlike happiness.
This is what I admire and wish for
The children of Hormoz Island also participated in our festival
Artists who participated in the
festival preformed some other collaborative and individual works, too
Collaborative Project by New Art Group
photos by Shahnaz Zarkesh
A German traveler and musician, Jonas Fedrbe, participated in
our festival and wrote this statement: "You will not regret
anything you ever did, but you will regret everything that you
didn't"
http://www.riverart.net/hormoz/festivals/25
Journey Across Russia: Swimming Against the Tides
Ahmad Nadalian
http://www.riverart.net/russia
Thanks
to Oleg Buryan, Antony Malolin, Marina Moiseenko, Elena
Malozyomova, Alexander Eremina, Nikolay Petrov, Simona
Ermina, Yaroslav Misonzhnikov, Maria Aprasidi, Marina Tsay,
Nikita Timoshenko and Nastia Titova.
A
German philosopher said: "The fish that flow the tide is death"
 A
My fish
swim against the tides, and they are alive.
They cross
borders. I am artist and for me it is important to expand my art beyond
space and time.
The border
where I live cannot define me. I am trying to define my personal border
myself.
I desire to be like flowing water.
Still water
has a bad smell, and flowing water tends to be purer and is cleaner.
***
In
September of 2009 I traveled to Russia and was able to meet people and
perform a collection of environmental art projects in several regions of
this vast country.
During the
flight to Moscow I saw the Volga River, which is one of the longest
rivers of Europe.
The name of
Moscow itself is derived from the name of a river. My fish enjoy
swimming in a new territory.
Russian
artist Oleg Buryan helped me to find my way. He welcomed my arrival,
showed me Moscow, its biennial and told me all I needed about history,
life and present situation of this environmentally rich but challenged
country.
In this
world everywhere I see new landscape, new perspective...
My new frog
also jumped into the water of a pool.
Cherta River
At this
location, I installed some fish in the river and carved three fish on
the rocks by a holy spring. For me these tree fish, were a
reference to the Miracle of Jesus
In Moscow
Antony Malolin and Marina Moiseenko accompanied me, and we visited
several museums and exhibitions.
I continued
my journey to the north and in St Petersburg, where I met artist
Alexander Eremina, his sister, and their friends.
Russian
artist, Simona Ermina accompanied me and suggested some location for my
environmental art.
I gave one
of my carved stones with the image of a fish to Simona.
She
promised to install this fish on the frozen river of Nava in winter.
I have
already done this project in Finland. It is very exiting to imagine that
this spring, when the ice melts, my fish will carry my memory to the
bottom of Finlands Gulf.
In my
environmental art, I always try to involve local artists, and I am happy
that the order of universe and changing seasons will complete the
process of my art.
In St.
Petersburg I visited The Hermitage Museum. Beside visiting arts of
different nations, I studied the holiness of the female figures in the
art of ancient Persia. There I met Elena Malozyomova. She is very kind
scholar who sent me some images that I needed.
One night
Simona Ermina invited me to an art event. There I painted faces.
Nikolay
Petrov accompanied me we went toward to North St. Petersburg, near the
border of Finland. There I carved my designs on large stones and rocks.
My
hammer and Russian sickle.
During my journey and on many occasions I saw this Soviet logo on the
buildings.
I extended
my journey towards the north of Russia, and I dropped more fish.
Nastia
Titova is from Murmansk, the most northeast part of Russia.
When I came
back to St. Petersburg, I installed and dropped fish on a little island
in the middle of the Neva River.
Young
artist Yaroslav Misonzhnikov come there and assisted me. Very
soon his friends joined us.
Yaroslav Misonzhnikov, Maria Aprasidi, Marina Tsay,
Nikita Timoshenko
We had
wonderful day. After I finished my work, we had launch. We also visited
the city and Russian museum. Finally they took me to the local Academy
of Art. They were very kind to me, and at the end of day I said
good-bye
This was
the last day of my stay in St. Petersburg.
I went to a
supermarket. When I wanted to pay, my purse (all of my money) was
stolen.
I ask the manager of the supermarket to review
the security camera. The one who rubbed me was a girl who was wearing
boots.
While on the street I decided to take photos of
all girls who were wearing boots. This was all I could do. The
same night I come back Moscow.
Fortunately I had
my passport, ticket and I have already had already paid for my accommodation in
Moscow. During the last three days of my trip, I had no money to pay for meals,
nevertheless I continued my works.
In
nature I saw a pigeon that was dead and more pigeon that alive
I
carved a bird on a stone. I ask Oleg to suggest a nest for this bird
in the nature of Russia.
I
have already sent birds to USA and UK
I
told the story of my stolen money to Oleg. He referred to this saying of
Kazanowa (17-18 Century) who said: If you are invited by the Czar (king)
to Russia, you are well paid for everything. If you take a risk to come by
yourself, be ready for troubles.
I travel to most
countries across the globe after invitation, though I decided travel to Russia
by myself.
I had
good reason. How I can be land artist and not
see the largest country who is a neighbor?
It doesn't matter what can be the cost and risk
of a journey. It is important that I am trying to suggest a better
world. We always can find solutions.
I collect some coins on a rock in forest and near
a Church in Moscow and could buy bread.
What can be difficulties; can also be a ladder
for more progress and good memory.
Now I am happy that I could use this story to
make a new art project.
When I returned home some coins were left. I made
art works to remember my time in Russia. I know that my art and my life
are truly linked together.
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