Pantea Karimi - Punctum Caecum

PANTEA KARIMI Punctum Caecum

a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts

PANTEA KARIMI Punctum Caecum

a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts

300 copies printed PANTEA KARIMI Punctum Caecum a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts March 3–25, 2016 University Art Gallery Department of Art School of the Arts California State University, Stanislaus One University Circle Turlock, CA 95382

This exhibition and catalog have been funded by: Associated Students Instructionally Related Activities, California State University, Stanislaus

Copyright Š 2016 California State University, Stanislaus All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

Catalog design: Brad Peatross, School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus Catalog printing: Claremont Print, Claremont, CA Catalog photography: Courtesy of the artist.

Photographs included are used under the permission of the artist.

ISBN: 978-1-940753-17-1

CONTE N T S Director’s Foreword. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Essay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Curriculum Vitae. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

D IRE C TO R ’S FO R E WORD Pantea Karimi’s Punctum Caecum represents a chance to view a wonderful body of work. Karimi’s recent works include using both traditional printmaking methods and computer-graphics programs. She uses computer-graphics programs to prepare manuscript images and create silkscreen transparencies. Karimi then uses silkscreen, ink, watercolor or graphite on paper as well as wood, velum, felt and plexiglass to create the actual works. These are visual and conceptual works that tell the story of her life experience both as an immigrant and artist. Her works wonderfully visualize concepts that are global to local and have an incredible way of including current, historical and relevant events. Her work is both compelling and important and her understanding of medias is brilliant. I am very pleased to be able to exhibit her work for others to enjoy.

I would like to thank the many colleagues that have been instrumental in presenting this exhibition. Pantea Karimi for the opportunity of exhibiting her amazing work, Dr. Staci Scheiwiller for the wonderful essay, the School of the Arts, California State University, Stanislaus for the catalog design and Claremont Print and Copy for the printing this catalog.

Much gratitude is also extended to the Instructionally Related Activates Program of California State University, Stanislaus as well as anonymous donors for the funding of the exhibition and catalogue. Their support is greatly appreciated.

Dean De Cocker, Director, University Art Gallery California State University, Stanislaus

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The Lux of a Dark Age Artist Pantea Karimi Discusses Her Punctum Caecum Series Pantea Karimi has lived, studied, and worked in Iran, the UK and the US and presently resides in San Jose, California. She started her training in painting and classical music at age 14, which led to her decision to pursue art professionally. Karimi earned her MFA in printmaking and painting from San Jose State University in 2009. She also holds a Diploma in printmaking and glassworks from Hastings College of Arts and Technology in England in 2004 and an MFA in graphic design from the University of Art in Tehran, Iran, in 1999. Karimi’s fine arts and graphic works have been featured in several publications in Iran, Italy, the UK and the United States. Her prints and digital works have been exhibited in various venues in Iran, Algeria, Germany, Mexico, the UK, and the United States, including the de Young Museum and the Yerba Buena Art Center in San Francisco, 2012 ZERO1 Biennial, the Triton Museum in Santa Clara, the Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame, the Google Company in Mountain View, the New Bedford Art Museum in Massachusetts, and Platform in Munich, Germany. She is the recipient of the 2010 Distinguished Artist Award by the City of Cupertino Fine Arts Commission; the 2011 Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative Fellowship; and the 2012 School of Arts and Culture Grant in San Jose, CA. Karimi is a faculty member in the Department of Visual Arts at Cabrillo College in Aptos and maintains a studio in Cubberley Studios in Palo Alto, CA. How would you normally describe the body of work that you produce? What kind of artist are you?

Pantea Karimi: I have had a long-term interest in juxtaposed textual and pictorial elements. I am intrigued by the ways in which image and text interact and convey meaning. Following this interest, my current body of work explores the history of archaic technologies and investigates how older scientific knowledge was communicated through both image and text.

I examine medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts—Persian, Arab and European—and the longue durée (long term) exchange of knowledge across these cultures.This process not only provides me with a great means to explore what I love—the relationship between image and text—but also expands my appreciation of science and its role in the visualization of abstract concepts. The scientific manuscripts are dynamic and engaging. Most of them are filled with beautiful drawings and calligraphic texts. Others include interactive devices, such as volvelles (paper wheel charts) that accommodated calculation in many diverse subjects and used beautiful images, calligraphic texts and numbers.

I am a printmaker and painter and I also hold a professional degree with work experience in graphic design, all of which have influenced my fine art aesthetic and practice. For the past few years, I have been using mixed media techniques in my works, mainly a mix of silkscreen and monotype printing with watercolor and graphite on various substrates. Additionally as a graphic designer I have always been intrigued by the design and layout of books and print media. My graphic design capstone project in 1999 was an exploration into the design and layout of nineteenth-century Iranian newspapers.

Which artists and art movements have been important inspirations in your own artistic development? How have you developed your own creative voice?

PK: While medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts are my main sources of inspiration, I am also influenced by the work of modern avant-garde artists. In terms of abstraction and arrangement of my own forms, I draw inspiration from the Russian Suprematist artists El Lissitzky (1890–1941) and Kazimir Malevich (1878–1935). These artists were in search of a style of abstract painting based on geometric shapes, which they believed promoted the supremacy of pure artistic feeling over the depiction of objects. Being influenced by Suprematists, I began the Punctum Caecum series by selecting medieval and early modern Persian, Arab and European scientists who were inspired or influenced by each other’s scholarly works or theories. I then rendered the pages of texts and diagrams of the manuscripts by these scientists into black shapes. These black shapes provide me with a new visual form of engagement with scientific content and offer more compositional opportunities in my works. Like Suprematists’ works, these black shapes aim to engage the “pure feelings” of my audiences through simplicity and absence of didactic information. I want to explore the ways in which viewers respond to form both visually and conceptually.

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I believe that creativity is innate, and it must emerge naturally. Similar to the Suprematists, I want to instill a “pure” process of thinking into my audiences. In this particular project, I have developed and enriched my creative voice through observation and exploration of form and scientific content and the ways I interpret these pieces of information in my work.

How is Punctum Caecum different from your earlier projects?

PK: My series Punctum Caecum, which means “blind spot” in Latin, is the result of my exploration of ancient Arab, Persian and European scientific manuscripts. “Blind spot” stands for both the Dark Ages and for when we turn a blind eye to the fluidity of exchange of knowledge between these various scientists. The scientific books from the medieval Islamicate world and early modern times offer nuanced understandings of the relationship between form and text, and above all, between scientific concepts and their myriad manifestations in visual forms. Medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts were composed of hand-drawn images and diagrams, as well as textual and mathematical explanations. Each page of these manuscripts often separated images and texts through both structural compositions and random layouts as they appear to our eyes. To reiterate, sometimes commentators penned their thoughts as marginalia, thereby initiating a dialogue with the reader. All the above attributions make this project not only different from my previous ones but also very special and fascinating for me to work with. Moreover by revisiting the scientific concepts through the lens of art, I highlight the significance of visual elements in science. In fact, I see similarities between scientific and artistic discovery processes. Both fields share exploration—visually and conceptually—use imagination and communicate meaning. This new project and research have elevated my inner awareness about the ways in which we communicate as humans and the many forms that this communication takes.

What were some of the driving forces behind Punctum Caecum?

PK: I came across an article in The Guardian about a new book, Mathematics and Art: A Cultural History by historian Lynn Gamwell. In the article, I encountered a quotation by Gamwell that deeply resonated with me: To research Math and Art I had to learn maths concepts like calculus, group theory and predicate logic. As a novice struggling to understand these ideas, I was struck with the poor quality and confusing content of illustrations in most educational books. So I vowed to create for my book a set of cogent math diagrams that are crystal-clear visualizations of the abstract concepts. As a lecturer at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, I wrote this book for my students, such as Maria, who told me she was never good at history because she couldn’t remember dates, and for Jin Sug, who failed high school algebra because he couldn’t memorize formulae. I hope they will read this book and discover that history is a storybook and that math is about captivating idea.1 In Iran, high school students are required to choose a major and stay with it for the entire duration of their education. By the age of 15, I had invested most of my free time in fine arts studio practice and had received music lessons on a regular basis.

Despite all this, my parents wanted me to enter my high school’s natural sciences department, which prepared students for medical school. My parents were great advocates of art; however as pragmatists in a society that mainly praises doctors and engineers, they encouraged me to become a pharmacist. But their wish never came true. As years went by, I faced many difficulties and ended up switching fields of study on entering college. This was mainly due to the fact that the scientific concepts were not explained extensively or in a hands-on way, and rote learning was the main focus at the time. My biology and chemistry textbooks included images (albeit in poor black-and-white quality), and in hindsight, I recognize how those difficult and abstract scientific subjects spoke to me more vividly through images and diagrams. This relationship between visual representations and abstract ideas has continued to captivate me and has become the basis for my current research and work. As an artist, I am naturally driven by my deep feelings and childhood experiences that have shaped my perceptions of the world. So, my unsuccessful encounters with scientific subjects have always endured, and I am still in search of a way to overcome this shortcoming. Consequently, Punctum Caecum is somehow a personal journey.

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Your Volvelles are fascinating, which remind one of astrolabes. Astrolabes metaphorically inscribe the world, making the globe a particular text itself. Are you drawing attention to similar constructions of historical knowledge and intentional mapping of the world, perhaps as they pertain to contemporary issues?

PK: While similar at first glance, volvelles provide more formal possibilities for me than astrolabes. Exploring the form and function of volvelle allows me to imagine myself in medieval times. Made out of paper, volvelles are versatile in forms and layering construction. But there is more to them than just this. Getty curator Rheagan Martin describes volvelles in these terms: As scientific thought progressed, volvelles became increasingly valued not just for their ability to record information, but also for their potential to produce new knowledge. Revolutionary for its time, the parchment calculating device was considered a form of “artificial memory” that freed users from committing large amounts of detailed information to mind.2 It is the volvelle’s artificial memory within the context of manuscripts that makes it all the more different. As an artist, my hope is to remind the viewer of the often forgotten glorious memories of the exchanges of knowledge between the European, Arab and Persiante worlds. In making my volvelles’ imageries, I stack multiple layers of scientific images and textual content. In some, I mix and match Persian, Arab and European medieval and early modern scientific images and information, and by doing this, I aim to construct historical knowledge of various cultural points of view into one form. For example, in one of my volvelles I layered Galileo’s manuscript page on the observations of the moon with the eleventh-century Persian astronomer Biruni’s observation of the moon’s diagram.

What do you want viewers to take away after seeing Punctum Caecum? How do you expect viewers to relate to medieval and early modern depictions of knowledge in a contemporary context?

PK: All the pieces in Punctum Caecum collectively highlight a long-term flow of scientific knowledge and exchange of ideas across cultures. This series aims to initiate a dialogue with the viewer, communicating how knowledge transcends social, political, and cultural boundaries. By highlighting the medieval and early modern manuscripts’ visuals and other contents, I also aim to draw attention to these rich forms and to invite the viewer to observe science and its history through the process of image-making.

What is your next project, or in which direction is your work headed?

PK: I will continue to expand the Punctum Caecum series. Among the projects that I would like to pursue is exploring medieval and early modern manuscripts of botany from the European, Arab and Persiante worlds. A second project involves making ideograms that represent all scientists who made a significant contribution.

What is your advice to artists who are just starting out?

PK: Commit to your art and always stay true to yourself and to your work.

Notes 1

Lynn Gamwell “Why the history of maths is also the history of art” The Guardian, December 02, 2015. Available at http://www.theguardian.com/science/

alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/dec/02/why-the-history-of-maths-is-also-the-history-of-art (accessed December 10, 2015).

2

Rheagan Martin, “Decoding the Medieval Volvelle,” Iris: The Online Magazine of the Getty, July 23, 2015. Available at http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/decoding-

the-medieval-volvelle/ (accessed August 26, 2015).

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Nexus (Averroes and Avicenna), 2015, silkscreen on paper, 30”x22”

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Nexus (Newton and Khayyam), 2015, silkscreen on paper, 30”x22”

Nexus (Kepler and Alhazen), 2015, silkscreen on paper, 30”x22”

Nexus (Dioscorides and Razi), 2015, silkscreen on paper, 22”x30”

Nexus (Copernicus and Tusi), 2015, silkscreen on paper, 22”x30”

In my silkscreen prints, Nexus, I feature the medieval and early modern Persian, Arab and European scientists who were inspired or influenced by each other’s scholarly works or theories. I present these scientists’ textual works side by side to showcase the circulation of knowledge across different cultures and periods. I then render the pages of texts and diagrams of the manuscripts by these scientists into black shapes. I utilize mainly black and white to connote our current neglect for such a vibrant flow of information that took place in the Dark Ages. These black shapes provide me with a new visual form of engagement with scientific content and offer more compositional opportunities in my works. These black shapes aim to engage the “pure feelings” of my audiences through simplicity and absence of didactic information.

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Lore, 2015, plexiglass and pins, 6 x13 feet

Lore, 2015, plexiglass and pins, 6’x13’

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Lore; detail

In Lore, I display the black shapes extracted from Nexus, my silkscreen prints, in a horizontal composition using plexiglass and pins on the wall. The horizontal composition suggests a long-term flow of scientific knowledge and exchange of ideas across cultures. The color black, again, indicates our current disregard for this long-term exchange. The installation initiates what appears as an organized composition that gradually moves towards a systematic disorganization as a commentary on the loss of information, and reinterpretation of scientific concepts.

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Lore; detail

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Copernicus and Biruni, 2015, silkscreen on paper and velum, 15”x11”

Ocular i-iv, 2015, silkscreen on plexiglass, graphite on wood, telescope and magnifiers, 12.5”x 8.5”x1” A Tribute to Kepler and Alhazen on Optics

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Averroes and Avicenna, 2015, silkscreen on paper and velum, 15”x11”

Kepler and Alhazen, 2015, silkscreen on paper and velum, 15”x11”

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Khayyam-Pascal, 2015, silkscreen on hand-cut felt triangles and magnets, 10’x4’

In Khayyam-Pascal installation, I slikscreened layers of mathematical diagrams and binomial coefficient (numbers), Khayyam’s mathematics manuscript page and Sierpiński’s triangle patterns on 160 hand-cut felt triangles. The pyramid pattern of the installation resembles Pascal Triangle. In mathematics Pascal Triangle is a triangular array of the binomial coefficients. It is named after the 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal. However, the 12th century Iranian mathematician, Khayyam, had studied it centuries before Pascal. Through this installation I pay homage to both mathematicians.

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Volvelles 1–4, 2015 After Jean du Temps of Blois’s 16th c. Volvelles, Organon Astronomicon ex Hypothesibus Copernici Extructum 8”x12”, 12”x6”, 12”x12”, 8.5”x12” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

Volvelles are the first paper analog computers from the medieval period, which were made by hand and installed inside the scientific manuscripts to offer different astronomical calculations and to make the manuscripts interactive. The original volvelles used circle shapes fastened to a leaf in the center which held various layers in place so that the discs could spin independently. I create variously-sized volvelles that are composed of geometric shapes using silkscreen, ink and watercolor on paper-disks. I assemble these paper disks on wood panels and connect them by fasteners to allow independent spinning and interactivity. In some, I mix and match Persian, Arab and European medieval and early modern scientific images and information with the aim to construct historical knowledge of various cultural points of view into one form.

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Volvelles 5–8, 2015 After Johannes de Sacrobosco’s 16th c. Volvelle, De Sphaera Mundi 17”x18”, 8.5”x8.5”, 17”x17”, 17”x17” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

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Volvelle 9, 2015 After a 16th c. Equatorium, Southern France or Northern Italy 12”x12” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

Volvelles 10 & 11, 2015 A Tribute to al-Qazwini’s 13th c. World Map, Wonders of Creation (16th c. edition) 7.5”x7.5”, 13”x9” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

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Volvelles 12–17, 2015 16.5”x23”, 15.5”x17”, 13”x13”, 17”x17”, 15.5”x18.5”, 10”x8.5” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

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Volvelle 18, 2015 After Johannes de Sacrobosco’s 16th c. Volvelle, De Sphaera Mundi 34”x21.5” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

Volvelle 18, detail

Volvelle 19 & 20, 2015 A Tribute to Tusi, Newton, and Galileo and to Copernicus’s Heliocentrism 17”x17”, 15.5”x15.5” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

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Volvelles 21–25, 2015 After Martín Cortés’s 16th c. Volvelles, Breve Compendio de la Sphera y de la Aite de Navegar and a Tribute to Bartolomeu Velho’s 16th c. Figura dos Corpos Celestes, the Illustration of Ptolemy’s Geocentrism 17.5”x17.5”, 11”x10.5”, 12”x12”, 20”x15”, 18”x15.5” Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

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Volvelle 26, 2015 After a 18th c. Astrolabe, Safavid Dynasty, Iran 14�x12.5�

Wood panels, watercolor, ink and silkscreen on paper and fasteners

Volvelle 26, detail

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PANTE A K A R I M I CV Education: 2009 2004

1999 1996

Masters of Fine Arts: Printmaking and Painting, with honors, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA BTEC National Diploma in Art and Design: Printmaking, Painting and Glass, with distinction Hastings College of Arts and Technology, Hastings, UK Masters of Design: Graphic Design, University of Art, Tehran, Iran Bachelor of Design: Graphic Design, Al-Zahra University, Tehran, Iran

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions: 2016 Punctum Caecum, a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts,

California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, CA (solo) 2015 Mediated Senses, Google Company, Building CL5, Mountain View, CA (Solo) 2014 Mediated Senses, Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA (Solo) 2014 UNNATURAL SELECTION, Mohr Gallery Finn Center, Mountain View, CA (two-person) 2013 Disappearance, Art Ark, San Jose, CA (two-person) 2012 Monotype & Silkscreen, commercial building via Bay Van Gallery, Oakland, CA (two-person) 2010 Mediated Senses, Mohr Gallery, Finn Center, Mountain View, CA (solo) 2009 Empire, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA (solo) 2008 When the Medium is Not the Message, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA (solo) 1998 Forms and Shadows, Xorshid Gallery, Tehran, Iran (two-person) Traveling Exhibitions: 2015 Living with Endangered Languages in the Information Age, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

Endangered, Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA 2012 Mexico-California, A Bridge Beyond Borders: Innovations in Contemporary Printmaking

Galeria Ajolote Arte Contemporaneo, Guadalajara, Mexico

Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey and Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA Group Exhibitions: 2016 Impulse, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2015 Felt Encounters with Past and Present, Inspace Curatorial, San Francisco, CA

Bearing Witness: Surveillance in the Drone Age, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA

50 and Looking Forward, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA

Connect and Collect, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art Auction, San Jose, CA

SF Bike Coalition Art Auction, Metreon, San Francisco, CA

A Tribute to Mondrian, Land Art Project, Twisted Wish Studio and Ranch, Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz, CA

Artik’s 20th Annual Exhibition, Artik, San Jose, CA 2014 Theory of Survival: Fabrications, Night Markets Events, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA

No War, Niavaran Art Center, Tehran, Iran

SF Bike Coalition Art Auction, Metreon, San Francisco, CA

Ruth’s Table Art Auction, Ruth Asawa Center, San Francisco, CA

Connect and Collect, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art Auction, San Jose, CA

Art Party SJ, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San Jose, CA

Community Matters, San Jose City Hall, San Jose, CA

The Other, Mediterranean Biennale of Contemporary Art of Oran, Algeria

The Chasm Arena, Yerba Buena Art Center- Front Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Deep Reading, Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA 2013 Creativity, Change, Commitment, Triton Museum, San Jose, CA

SF Bike Coalition Art Auction, Metreon, San Francisco, CA

Our Veterans, San Pablo Art Center, San Pablo, CA

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12x12, Cabrillo College Art Gallery, Aptos, CA

Don Quixote, Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran

Glyph, Art Ark, San Jose, CA

War and Healing, Euphrat Museum of Art, Den Anza College, Cupertino, CA

Exploring Urban Identities in De-Industrialized Cities, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA 2012 The Future Imagined: What’s Next?, 2012 ZERO1 Biennial, The Performance Art Institute, SF, CA

X-Libris, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

NY Beats, Discourse on Art, Politics and Aesthetics: International Occupy Video, PLATFORM, Munich, Germany

La Gran Pachanga Art Auction, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, CA

DYAD, Art Ark, San Jose, CA

directly indirect, Kriewall-Haehl Gallery, Portola Valley, CA 2011 Caution: Vegetable Garden, Land Art Project, Willowside Ranch, Pescadero, CA

Summer in the City, Branch Gallery, Oakland, CA

(Political) Love Letters, ArtPad SF in Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Spring Group Show, Focus Gallery- Artik, San Jose, CA

Fiesta Night Gala, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA

Night Market, Artist Reading Room, Oakland, CA

The Collector’s Room, Togonon Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Small and High Quality, Art Ark, San Jose, CA

Visual Territory, Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS

Works on Paper, Community School of Music and Arts Gala and Art Auction, Menlo Park, CA 2010 Illusion, Climate Theater Gallery, San Francisco, CA

Mid-Spring Evening Gala, Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA

Monotype Marathon 2010, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

Works on Paper, Community School of Music and Arts Gala and Art Auction, Menlo Park, CA 2009 Traces of Being, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Warhol Now and Then, Wilsey Court, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA

Lift Off, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA

Unseen Unsaid, Climate Theater, San Francisco, CA

Works on Paper, Community School of Music and Arts Gala and Art Auction, Menlo Park, CA 2008 Local Color, Art Ark, San Jose, CA

Works on Paper, Community School of Music and Arts Gala and Art Auction, Menlo Park, CA

Works on Paper, Orchard Commercial ART Space, San Jose, CA

Winter Art Exhibition, Sobrato Center, Milpitas, CA

Art Auction, Works, San Jose, CA 2007 Iranian Alliances Across Borders, Ellipse Arts Center, Arlington, VA

SJSU Art Exhibition, Art Ark, San Jose, CA 2006 San Francisco Open Studios, Gate House, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA

Art On the Wall, SomArts, San Francisco, CA 2001-2003 UK

Visual Art Exhibition, Pier Gallery, Hastings, UK

Challenge the Nail, Salon Des Arts, London, UK

Summer Art Exhibition, New Riviera Gallery, Hastings, UK

Fourteen Annual Conference of the Iranian Women’s Studies Foundation, The School of Oriental and African Studies

(SOAS), London, UK

Spring Art Exhibition, New Riviera Gallery, Hastings, UK

Human Rain, Lauderdale House, London, UK

Challenge the Nail, Salon Des Arts, London, UK

Visual Art Exhibition, Conquest Hospital Gallery, Hastings, UK 1994-1999 Tehran, Iran

Fifth Annual Exhibition of Iranian Women Artists, Niavaran Art Center

Fourth Annual Exhibition of Iranian Women Artists, Niavaran Art Center

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Still Life, Haft Samar Gallery Third Annual Exhibition of Iranian Women Artists, Niavaran Art Center Third Annual Exhibition of Graphic Design Works, Museum of Contemporary Art

Honor and Award: 2012 School of Arts and Culture Grant, Collaborative Community Art Project, San Jose, CA 2011-12 Multicultural Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI) Fellowship, School of Arts and Culture, San Jose, CA (Organizational skills

and knowledge, participation in community-wide forums, initiatives and task forces) 2011 Creative Capacity Fund Grant, San Francisco, CA 2010 Distinguished Artist Award, Fine Arts Commission, Cupertino, CA 2010 Creative Capacity Fund Grant, San Francisco, CA 2009 Orchard Commercial North First ArtSPACE Scholarship, San Jose, CA 2009 Nominee: Artshift Award, visual arts, San Jose, CA 2009 Nominee: The Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, visual arts, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 2008 Orchard Commercial North First ArtSPACE Award, San Jose, CA 2008 School of Art and Design Teaching Assistant Scholarship, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA Press: 2015

2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2012 2012 2011

2010 2010 2010 2009 2009 2009 2008 2007

2003 2001 1999 1997 1995

South Bay Arts: Extinct and Dying Languages the Focus of a New Euphrat Museum of Art Exhibit, Mercury News, Cupertino, CA The Science of Imagination; Unnatural Selection Exhibition, Pelleh Magazine, Tehran, Iran Featured Artist & Selected Artworks on the Cover, Red Wheelbarrow Literary Magazine, Cupertino, CA Don Quixote Group Exhibition; Looking at Artists’ Works in Aun Gallery, Honaronline, Tehran, Iran, Between the Two Worlds, Bahar Newspaper, Tehran, Iran, The Iranian Don Quixotism, Tandees Contemporary Art Magazine, Tehran, Iran, Breaking Silence: A Review of War & Healing at the Euphrat Museum of Art, ULTERA: EXTRA, London, UK Euphrat Museum’s latest exhibit coincides with Silicon Valley Reads 2013, Sunnyvale Sun, Sunnyvale, CA Grit and (faded) Glory: new photography exhibit at NBAM, SouthCoast Today, New Bedford, MA Who is That (artist)?, ULTERA: EXTRA, London, UK Artist Pantea Karimi’s Political Mad-Libs, Sociecity, San Jose, CA Art galleries are popping up everywhere in Silicon Valley, San Jose Mercury News, San Jose, CA Modernity, Sexuality, and Ideology in Iran: The Life and Legacy of Popular Female Artists, Selected Artwork on the Cover, Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, NY The Artist in a Cyber-World, ARTSHIFT San José, San Jose, CA Turning Words into Arts Earns Local Artist Top Honors, Cupertino Courier, Cupertino, CA Visitors at Triton’s Gala Watch Artists Create, Santa Clara Weekly, Santa Clara, CA Iran on My Mind, Exhibition Catalog, Los Angeles, CA Traces of Being: Iran In The Passage of Memories, Los Angeles Times, Los Angles, CA The Artists as Nexus, Exhibition Catalog, San Jose, CA Here Come the Candidates, ARTSHIFT San José, San Jose, CA Looking at Printmaking/Part II: Exploring a Personal, Political and Psychological History through Printmaking, ARTSHIFT SanJosé, San Jose, CA Art of the Week, The Local Rag, Hastings, UK Iran Rivoluzionarie In Conrnice, Iodonna Speciale Gioielli, Italy Manifestation of Feeling, a selection of paintings by Iranian female artists, Exhibition Catalog, Tehran, Iran Manifestation of Feeling, a selection of paintings by Iranian female artists, Exhibition Catalog, Tehran, Iran Iranian Women Exhibition, Iran Journal, Tehran, Iran

Panel, Presentation and Artist Talk: 2016 Jan, Artist Talk, Punctum Caecum, a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific

manuscripts, University of Art, Tehran, Iran 2015 Dec, Panel Discussion, Felt Encounters with Past and Present, Inspace Curatorial, San Francisco, CA

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2015

2015

2014 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2010 2009 2009

Oct, Artist Talk, Punctum Caecum, a visual exploration into the magical world of medieval and early modern scientific manuscripts, Los Altos Library, Los Altos, CA Mar, Artist Talk, Through Different Eyes, SJSU and Alzahra Photography Collaborative project, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose, CA Sep, Artist Talk, Mediated Senses, Peninsula Museum of Art, Burlingame, CA Mar, Artist Talk, Contemporary Iranian Art Scene, California State University Stanislaus, Turlock, CA Sep, Artist Talk, Disappearance, Art Ark, San Jose, CA Apr, Presenter, 10th Arts In Your Classroom: Professional Development Conference, San Jose, CA Mar, Artist Talk, War and Healing, De Anza College Auditorium & Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA Feb, Artist Talk, mixed-media prints, Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA Dec, Artist Talk, monotype and silkscreen, California College of the Arts (CCA), Oakland, CA Nov, Artist Talk, Postmodernism & Postcolonialism, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA Oct, Panelist, Traces of Being, Morono Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Teaching Experience, College and University: 2013-present Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA: Two-Dimensional Design and Color Theory, Silkscreening Techniques I &II 2008-present De Anza College, Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA: Digital Arts & Design 2010 San Jose State University, Co-Teaching, San Jose, CA: Silkscreening Techniques 2008 San Jose State University, Teaching Associate, San Jose, CA: Two-Dimensional Design Concepts 2009 San Jose State University, Teaching Assistant, San Jose, CA: Color Theory & Beginning Painting 2007 San Jose State University, Teaching Assistant, San Jose, CA: Representational Drawing & Two-Dimensional Design Concepts Teaching Experience, Art Center and Art Institution: 2015-present Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA: Digital Arts, and Silkscreening Techniques 2012-2014 Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA: Digital and Visual Arts 2011-present TechShop, San Jose, CA: Textile Silkscreening Techniques 2006-present Community School of Music and Arts, Finn Center, Mountain View, CA: Visual Arts 2002-2003 Education Action Zone, Hastings, UK: Internet Applications and Graphics Arts 1993-2001 Art Studio, Tehran, Iran: Visual Arts Previous Professional Experience: 2009 Graphic Designer and Art Director, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA: the 2009 issue of Lift Off, a 72- page

Masters of Fine Arts exhibition catalog 2006 Graphic Designer, MIT, Boston, MA: the fall 2006 issue of thresholds: ACCESS, a 120- page bi- annual critical journal of

architecture, art, media and culture at MIT 2006 Program Specialist, Children’s Discovery Museum, San Jose, CA: Responsible for facilitating programmatic activities and

educational projects in the Art Studio and the Art Loft 2001-2003 Artist Assistant and Studio Manager, Alan Rankle Fine Art Studio, Hastings, UK: Murals, large format easel paintings,

studio-project management and gallery administration 1998-2001 Graphic Designer, Tehran, Iran: logo, catalog, poster, brochure and commercial advertisement at Bamdad Emruz

Advertising Agency, Arc Design Firm and Bolour Shisheh, Savveh-Jaam Glassware Manufacturing 2001-2002 Volunteer Art Studio Assistant: Conquest Hospital, Children Ward’s Art Studio, Hastings, UK 1989-1997 Musician and Volunteer Music Instructor: classical guitar, xylophone and flute recorder,

Private and Orff Music Institute, Tehran, Iran Judging Panel, Committee and Board Member March-May 2015 Committee Member, Student Equity Pilot Program , Cabrillo College, Aptos, CA 2011 Board Member, Artshift San Jose, online arts and culture publication, San Jose, CA 2008 Committee Member, Foundation Courses, Students’ Exhibition, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 2008 Judging Panel, Euphrat Museum of Art, De Anza College Students’ Art Exhibition, Cupertino, CA 2007 Judging Panel, San Jose Downtown Doors art project, San Jose, CA

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AC K NOW LE D GE M E N TS California State University, Stanislaus

Dr. Joseph F. Sheley, President

Dr. James T. Strong, Provost/Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. James A. Tuedio, Dean, College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Department of Art

Dr. Roxanne Robbin, Chair, Professor

Dean De Cocker, Professor

Daniel Edwards, Assistant Professor

Jessica Gomula, Professor

David Olivant, Professor

Gordon Senior, Professor

Richard Savini, Professor

Dr. Staci Scheiwiller, Assistant Professor

Nikki Boudreau, Gallery Assistant

Meg Broderick, Administrative Support Assistant II

Andrew Cain, Instructional Technician I

Jon Kithcart, Equipment Technician II

University Art Gallery

Dean De Cocker, Director

Special Thanks I would like to thank Dr. Staci Gem Scheiwiller for her unwavering support and contribution to this catalog. I am grateful to Gallery Director Dean De Cocker for granting me the opportunity to exhibit at the California State University, Stanislaus.

I would also like to express my gratitude to the incredible gallery staff for their responsiveness and their assistance with the installation of the show and the design of the catalog. Finally, this project could not have been accomplished without the support of my family, Hamid-Reza Karimi, Dr. Pamela Karimi and Dr. Robert Fisher.

The Stanislaus State Dept. of Art gallery installation crew: Keira Henderson Ezra Ibrae Victoria Johnson Terry Mack Nieko McDaniel Cristal Tadeo

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