Today we’d like to introduce you to Maryam Lavaf.
Maryam, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran in 1977. I studied painting in Tehran and have been doing over 20 years of Painting It’s been seven years working on ceramic in Houston. Moved to Houston straight from Tehran with my husband back in 2004. My husband works at md Anderson since then. Which he is my hero and my number one support. As you know it’s hard to survive as an artist. He always been there for me. We have a 12 years old son Houston born. In 2004 I joined visual arts Alliance and met artists around Houston and winter street studio opened up. I was lucky to show and sell around Houston.
My works are considered a reflection of inner insight and a perception of the soul of nature. I never intended to paint the details, but instead to create a symbol and vague understanding of nature, so that they would have the feeling of nature in them. Everything went fast forward and went well till pandemic and 2020 started adding so much new stress to our people’s life. Unbelievable! How come this little virus can shake the world. Poor and rich we all sitting in our home. Zoom is the only option to socialize. It’s sad to see people are struggling.in other hand I really wanted a pause in my life to think and experience some stuff that I never had time for. Spend some more time with my family.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
During my Artist career I have hit a few roadblocks but busted through them. It is a challenge to deal with the art industry, Going through recession and selling but I was lucky to have my husband as a big support.
Please tell us about your work.
I have been painting for over 20 years and doing ceramic for seven years. My structure of painting is based on earth, sun plants and nature’s elements. On the other hand, my paintings respond to my emotional response to nature.my ceramics are functional and non – functional I love playing with mud and being messy.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Events and occurrences, which have their own logic, are the accidents which I reveal in my work and through them I discover a new layer of myself. Most of my works the footprints of nature can be traced, Nature stimulates the primary sense and the essence of life in me, a sense that we experience in love. The projection of me to nature arouses the ecstasy of existence in me, and in this way. I connect to inner elements. I begin each piece with a sound; it can be the sound of a leaf dropping, each work Needs its own logic and guide lines and has to be unique and be ruled by its own laws. I know a work is complete when its finds its own life, at which point I prefer to hide my intentions and allow viewers to come up with their own conclusions.
Contact Info:
- Address: 7475 Brompton St
- Website: www.maryamlavaf.com
- Phone: 8326549181
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlavaf/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mlavaf?ref=bookmarks
Image Credit:
Zack De Maleki
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