Negar Assari
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Negar Assari (Persian: نگار آثاری صمیمی, born April 2, 1970 in Tehran, Iran) is an internationally published conceptual artist. Assari was the Invited Artist and promotional poster designer for the Art and Material Culture of Iranian Shiism Conference at the University of Oxford in July 2006 [1] [2], and frequently contributes artwork and text to Iranian.com [3]. She is a member of The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media (WAALM), an organization which promotes various forms of art and awards an annual Persian Golden Lioness Award to artists and scholars [4]. She has also appeared several times as an in-studio guest on Voice of America, speaking in Persian to Iranian/Persian communities on issues of art and culture.
Assari has created art that emphasizes peace, religious tolerance, cultural advancement, and women's and children's issues. Assari uses different media - including sculpting, drawing, painting, photography, and computer graphics - and has been featured in multiple exhibitions in the United States and Europe. In 2000, she founded the non-profit Art of Iran organization, which is an online community detailing the history of Iranian art, as well as maintaining an Iranian artists database [5].
Currently, Assari is the in-house artist and board member for the Children Of Persia charity organization [6]. Since 2003, she has managed the non-profit organization's annual charity calendar by providing artistic direction and creating artwork specifically for the calendar [7].
Assari graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the College of Art and Architecture (Tehran) with a concentration in Educational Visual Communication in 1993. After moving to the United States in 1994, she earned a Master's degree in Visual Information Technology from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) in 1997. She lives near Washington, DC with her husband and three children.
[edit] Works
Assari's most notable works are The Cage (2003) [8], Religion And Tolerance (2001) [9], and Art For Peace (2000) [10]. The Religion And Tolerance work was selected for inclusion at the 2003 Florence Biennale (Italy) International Contemporary Art Exhibition [11][12].
She designed the cover for Sheema Kalbasi's poetry compilation book, The Poetry Of Iranian Women [13], as well as two of Partow B. Nooriala's poetry books - Mihan's Future and Four Springs [14], both of which are in Persian [15]. In 2006, Assari designed the cover artwork for two of Fereidoun Farahandouz's poetry CDs - Sedaaye Eshgh (The Voice Of Love) and Faryaad dar Baad (Cry In The Wind) [16].
In 2007, Assari created the theme poster for the Iranian Women's Studies Foundation (IWSF) 18th Annual International Conference, which was held June 29-July 1, 2007 at the University of Maryland, College Park campus [17]. She also designed the theme poster for the Rumi International Conference [18] held September 28-30, 2007, also at the University of Maryland, College Park campus [19].
[edit] Exhibitions
Assari has had her artwork featured in the following exhibitions:
- Iranian Women Studies Exhibition - June 1998, University of the District of Columbia
- Artomatic - May 1999, Washington, DC
- Art for Peace - September 2000, Washington, DC
- Art-o-Matic - October 2000, Washington, DC
- Emotional Sensibilities - January 2002, Washington, DC
- Images of Protest and Peace - April 2003, Mt. Rainier, MD
- Group Exhibition - October 2003, Dubai, UAE
- Breaking the Silence: Questioning Authority - October 2003, Arlington, VA
- Florence Biennale International Contemporary Art Exhibition - December 2003, Florence, Italy
- Dialogue Through Art: A Pictorial Conversation - February 2004, Washington, DC
- Iranian Women Studies Exhibition - June-July 2007, College Park, MD
