Tempered People
: Iron- Sculptures
by
Ahmad Nadalian
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/ironworks/
The endure of
time make us stronger
Every summer
blacksmiths come to Polour. They recycle iron and make tools for
workers. Most blacksmiths who travel around are Gypsies who usually
widespread in Asia and Europe.
Back in the days
Gypsy blacksmiths followed nomad and they made tolls for them. My
ancestors who were Sangsari nomad commissioned some iron tools to
Gypsies.
Nowadays Gypsies
mostly live on the border of the cities and collect plastic and iron to
recycle.
We still can find
Gipsy blacksmiths, one of them happened to come to Polour. Seeing
tempering, rhythmical pounding by sledge and shaping the iron is very
exciting to watch especially when they temper iron.
The life of nomad
changed and it is necessary to find a new platform for this to craft.
The characteristics
of my art work are that I always sought for new media especially those
who are traditional and may have been forgotten. I like collaboration
with ordinary people and children. I document my process as well as
writing a journal of my work.
I began to work with
blacksmiths in summer 2009. Mohammad Reza Ahangar who is a master of
blacksmiths and Fazlolah Alizadeh assisted me to learn their technique.
I continued working with them this summer along with his son and one of
his relatives who joined us this year.
I collected rusty
iron that was peeling paint by the river and I asked the blacksmiths to
shape them as I wanted. I was there as a pupil and in some stages I
shape the iron to human figures.
The
blacksmiths told me that their job was practiced by Prophet
David, but
blacksmithing reminds me of
Kāveh the
Blacksmith.
He is a Persian mythological hero who led a popular uprising against the
foreign demon such as ruler Zahhāk. Kāveh the Blacksmith is considered
one of the national heroes of Persian mythology. He led a popular
uprising against a ruthless foreign ruler, Zahhāk. His story is narrated
in the Epic of Shāhnāma, the national epic of Iran by the 10th century
poet Ferdowsi Tousi. Kaveh is the most famous Persian mythological
character in resistance against despotic foreign leader in Iran. After
losing 18 of his sons to Zahhāk's serpents, he rebels against the
foreign ruler of Persia and leads the people to overthrow the tyrant
king. As a symbol of resistance and unity, he raises his leather apron
on a spear, known as the Derafsh Kaviani. This flag is later decorated
with precious jewels and becomes the symbol of Persian independence,
resistance and resilience, as well as the revolutionary symbol of the
masses in their fight against foreign invaders.
More
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/ironworks/
I experienced
tempering.
Sometime I dance
them around and they make sounds like music.
Blacksmithing is a
difficult job, but love makes it easy.
Rumi says:
blacksmith turned his visage to black, hoping to kiss his beloved at the
dark of night
ی ی ی
My grandmother has a
comb to brush the wool of sheep.
Now in paradise we
have combs like human face that wind combing their chignon and the music
of bell invite me to happiness that is inexpressible.
More
http://www.riverart.net/nadalian/ironworks/
Polluted Paradise: The 28th Environmental
Art Festival - Paradise Garden - Polour- Iran
Report by Ahmad Nadalian
http://www.riverart.net/paradise/festivals/28
The 28th
Environmental Art Festival June 2010
was held in Polour
Paradise Garden located in Northern
Iran.
On June third 2010
Synnove
Rabb the Finnish
Artist
arrived at
Paradise Art Center for the summer artist residency program.
Synnove
Rabb in Paradise Art
Center
Many
International artists spend summer time in the villa and explore their
environmental art in the beautiful nature of Iran. They
also make works from collected material that they bring from their
homelands.
Synnove
Rabb in Polour - Iran
Synnove
works on the
concept of paradise
in a sense of the
best man can imagine and the question of what kind of
world do we want to live
in?
Before traveling to Iran she made a video titled:
My
Paradise.
She decided to travel to Iran to learn about the idea of
Paradise and the words origination in Persian.
She found the Paradise Art Center
when she searched on the internet for an artist residency
in Iran.
She came
to Iran and wanted to film more people questioning, If you could create
a paradise, what would it be like?
In her
admission application Synnove stated:
"Im
simply interested in what people want and value. Are these things
different in different places and cultures? I now live in
two places in
Finland, in Helsinki in wintertime, and in a small
village 450 km
further north in summertime. And I have
noticed that my values have changed the more time I have
spent in the
countryside."
She also noted: "Do we want what we dont have? Not until
when we see a risk that our houses will be flooded environmental issues
become important? We all want love and a meaning of life, but what gives
us most meaning?"
Synnove
Rabb, Ghazi
Mazraeh farm near Polour
Development -
Synnove
Rabb
My own Paradise-
Synnove
Rabb
When
Synnove lived in Paradise she ate many apples. These later became part
of an artwork.
We
discussed these questions when we were out in nature : What can be the
meaning of paradise? How we can make our own paradise?
One day I painted Synooves face with Hormoz red earth.
A few
years ago Australian artist Lyneth Walworse and two other art students,
Ali Rafie and Omid Moshkalizadeh assisted me to make the video titled
Polluted Paradise.
I was surrounded by pollution but I never showed the
video because I was not satisfied with the outcome. Therefore, I asked
Synoove to help make a film with this topic again.
.
Carpet in
Persian language is Farsh, which means: earthly representation of
heaven.
It seemed
that our paradise on earth was being lost.
Among the
smoke of this hell I saw a cypress tree. In ancient Persia it was
believed that cypress is a tree from Paradise.
I also saw
a polluted river.
When
Synnove was in Iran, we both witnessed the demolition of Little
Damavand mountain by a privet company in order to build a factory.
I am
always ashamed when we do not appreciate the beauty of our nature. We
exclude ourselves from paradise when we eat the fruits of our own
stupidity.
Synnove
traveled to Iran and wanted to see the Persian paradise. She also got to
see our hell. Our hell can be our bad action and attitude. We all have
paradise and hell inside ourselves.
Spirituality is not practiced when one does not appreciate God's gifts.
In the old
time Persian worshiped their God on the top of mountains. It was
believed that the heights of mountains are closer to heaven.
It was a
foolish idea to make the mountain flat. I did my best to stop this
demolition.
Some of my
artworks got destroyed along with the demolition of the mountain.
Those who
destroyed the nature and our heritage threatened to kidnap me and made
my family worried for me.
In the
mirror of imagination we can see everything.
I am not
dismayed.
I feel the
pain of time.
People who
have no wishes and memory are dead.
I sought
art that can be romantic and poetic.
But now I
have pain.
The
artists who participated in the festival assisted me to make these
statues.
In the day
of Tirgan and Damavand we installed the statues to dance around little
Damavand.
Little
Damavand is now destroyed.
My friend
Ruud Matthes
from Netherlands few years ago traveled in Iran and made
this piece. He said in Netherlands there is no mountain.
I have
many friends who wish travel to Iran.
My German
friend Sibyll Kalff has sent her little teddy bears to Iran.
One day I took her teddy bears out in nature so we can make our own
paradise.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Artists who participated in the
festival preformed some other collaborative and individual works, to
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
More
http://www.riverart.net/russia
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