Tooran Zandieh
Audio of the Entire Interview
Interview Transcript
Part 01
An Interview with Tooran Zandieh
the Contemporary Painter
Childhood, University, Teaching
I am Tooran Zandeih from the Zandieh family
My father was one of the members of the then Oil Company and willy-nilly
we were living in the oil districts but when the number of his children exceeds than two
he had no choice but to leave us in Kermanshah to go alone to oil districts
Therefore, I was born in Kermanshah in 1939. For 12 years we were living in that city and
I must confess that those days were the happiest days in my life before stepping into social life
My father was a sport man and a man of thought and indeed very healthy from any view and
my mother was from a noble family and originally she was from Azerbaijan
and despite the fact my father was far from us
my mother cherished us in an environment full of compassion
and sympathy in such a way that I always felt I am flying
Nevertheless, our lives were not free from topsy-turvies due to the fact
that the events of the world war II affected us
The English oil managers dominantly controlled everything and
since my father was an independent stubborn man,
he had many troubles with them and we faced many problems both politically and financially.
In spite of steady decline in my father’s position, owing to the conditions
, that my mother had provided us,
we never feel we have any shortage in our life.
I think I was 12 that we were informed my father had a mountain crash
He lonely had climbed the mountain on a snowy day and
because of the height of snow he could not see beneath his feet and
unfortunately he had stepped on a vacant point and had tumbled down
in a deep valley and passed away
When my father left us forever, my brother who was the student
of Tehran university was replaced him
He was eleven or twelve years older than me. At that time,
he insisted to leave Kermanshah for Tehran and to live with him
And we accepted to live under his guardianship
I believe my brother was a wonderful man
Whatever we are today is the outcome of his programs and his activities
First of all, owing to my mother’s wisely management, we lived amorously together
We were really an untied family and our cooperation was at culmination
My mother was an assiduous woman she worked incessantly
. I remember when she sent us to school or university,
she did not remain jobless; after finishing her house holding affairs
she used to spent her time for crochet working or sewing forty patches to cover our bed clothes
My pillows were covered by these colorful patches and I always told her: “Aziz Joon!”
I called her Aziz, “Please prepare my bedclothes with these colorful patches.
I studied in the Asadi high school in the Absardar square, near the Jaleh Circle
Those days it was one of the best high schools in Tehran, of course after American school
which was the best throughout the country, nevertheless I had no interest to study there.
After finishing the high school course by the insistence
of my brother without any interruption I became a teacher
I remembered I cried bitterly that I do not like the job of teaching
unaware that the same job later made my future
As if working as a teacher was a platform to fly towards the life that I was supposed to step in
At the same time, I took part in the university entering examination and I succeeded.
I told my family that I like to study painting because from the time I was very child
we were painting with the help of my brother. His painting was very good,
and he encouraged me to draw some sketches for interior decoration
Before it when I was child, since we have not any toy, we made earthen dolls
The arms of the doll were stuck to its sides as well as its feet; and then we colored them and draw eye
eyebrow, nose and mouth for them. It was our playing toy
My mother used to sieve some soil in the corner of the yard and
taught us how to add water to it but not too much and to rub it so far to it turns to a knead and
when it did not stick to our hand anymore we started to sculpturing
It was one of our pleasant entertainment.
Besides sculpturing we had another entertainment too
We made various toys of the lid of the tin container
On that days, oil was carried by a cubic tin container that its lids
were rectangular and in the corner of it there was a small circle lid
Since these lids were out of use and regarded as waste materials, my father brought them for us and
with this flexible and malleable tins we made various toys like beds
chairs and something like these for our dolls. They were the source of our enjoyment and happiness
These were the only thing that we had in our life.
Part 02
University, Marriage, Art Teaching
After passing the entering university examination,
my brother advised me not to enroll in the Faculty of Dramatic Arts and
it is better to study philosophy or attend in the Faculty of Training Sciences
Fortunately, I received the required grade to attend in both branches
Therefore, I attended both in the faculty of training sciences and in the painting classes of
the faculty of Dramatic Arts to see if I can come along with the difficulties of the faculty of Dramatic Arts
I entered the faculty of arts by the confidence that my family had granted me
On the first day of arrival to the faculty, my heart was beating fast,
because the boys of the faculty formed two lines and I was obliged to pass through them
As I stepped at the beginning of the line, they bowed and murmured something.
Out of stress I was stumbling and I could not walk properly.
At those days I was 18 and it was difficult
for me to conform myself with these approaches
Later I found out that such unethical and
amoral behaviors are not popular and only the girls who let them,
they are treated in this way and if a girl do not permit them,
not only they are not unethical, but also they are very helpful too.
When I enrolled in the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, the deceased Momayyez,
deceased Kiarostami and Mr. Mo’tabar were my fellow students
It is interesting to say that in the session of entering examination
the chair of Mr. Nami was placed in the same row that I was sitting and
one of the subjects of the examination was English language
I faced the word of “exhibition” and I do not know its meaning and
ceaselessly asked the other students what it means and
no one knows or at least no one liked to help me, finally Mr. Nami told me the meaning of the word.
In the first years, we did not even say hi to each other
I was very serious and behave very formally, but when
we started to work in the workshops of the faculty
some formal relations were established between
us. Mr. Heydariyan was our master and Mr. Javadipour
was the master of our Atelier and later in the final year,
when we were senior, Mr. Vaziri joined to the faculty and he
tried to keep his distance with the girls of the faculty
He had an Italian wonderful wife who was the master of history and
art indeed she was very well learned and I believe she could
be a good friend and an intimate companion for us.
The years of education were on the way
When I was sophomore on December 28, which was the
day of the anniversary of my father’s death
I was very gloomy and I had lounged on the desk of the atelier and looking at the window
. Nami came towards me and asked: “Why are you lounging here and did not work?”
I replied: “Today I am full of sorrow; I feel that the world with its all griefs
has been located on my shoulder.”
He compassionately asked: “Why?” I told him: “Today is the anniversary of my father’s death.”
He compassionately advised me: “When you are sorrow,
the best way to release yourself from it is to work
When you work your attention turns to the issues other
than the one which has made you grievous
He talked to me so beautifully and so compassionately that
I submitted myself to his advices and deftly
I left the desk started to work
The same simple dialogue between us placed the first hallmark of our friendship
No need to say that in the high of the same day I told my mom that
I have developed a relation with a boy of the faculty and I have a good feeling to him.
Mom asked me: “Would you like to marry with him?”
I replied: “No. Only it is a feeling without any clear destination.”
My mom praised me: “I appreciate you, never make a hasty
decision in such a great issues and try to be a lover
and before being loved and being a lover, never marry.”
I told mom: “I wish to meet him out of the faculty.”
My mom said he can come here on any Friday, as you know on Fridays
the door of our house is open to any friend who wish to visit us.
On Friday my mother used to prepare more food
owing to the fact that she knew a few people would join us
On those days my mom used to place back the furniture and stretched a table cloth
on the floor and we all sat around it to have lunch.
Every Friday Nami with heart’s desire was in our house
What is interesting in this issue, when one of our akin asked us who is this young man
we answered earnestly that he is Tooran Joon’s friend and we replied
so definitely that no one dare to ask any other question
Assume it is how odd for the people of around 50 years ago to receive such reply
At length when we became familiar with all the bas and terse of each other’s life we got married.
Before marriage, Nami received a scholarship from Ministry of Culture and Art
The scholarship was granted to Nami not as a painter but as an employee
Nami suggested it is better to marry sooner and then depart to Italy
so we would have a pleasant honeymoon in Italy
I agreed with him and within a week we arranged all the preparations for marriage.
We held a simple wedding ceremony our guest where only the closest
members of our family and of course the folk of our atelier.
On those days our house was in Tehran Pars quarter
and we held the wedding ceremony in the beautiful yard of our house.
In Italy we had a comical honeymoon
Since we had not enough money we were obliged to take
a hostel rather than a room in a hotel
Living in hostel is a form of student living. Namely a hostel is a dormitory with say,
I slept in one flat and he slept with boys in another flat
Now you can assume what type of honeymoon we had passed.
Nevertheless, we had beautiful days, every day our main job
was visit the museums or galleries and we had sweet days
Residing in Italy was really full of jollifications
Finally, the course of scholarship came to end and we returned Iran to start our married life
After two years we had a child
I must say at the same year that we returned from Italy
my project was approved too and I was graduated from the university
Then we rent a house. Before it we were staying
at my mom’s house, but when we rent a house
it turned to a center for the students of dramatic arts
We were the only couples who had married, they came our house
without observing the any formality they came for breakfast, lunch and dinner
For instance, the house of one of our masters was very close to ours,
he used to come at 6 A.M. and say I have brought fresh bread and I want to have breakfast with you.
We explained for him that last night we were in a party and we had
slept too late and we need to sleep, but he insisted that
I can sit here, you can go and sleep
Now you can suppose how we can sleep when we know that he is waiting for us
When I was a university student I was teaching too
I told myself it is better to teach the students of the first grade of primary school,
lest to be obliged to teach in other classes due to the shortage of teacher
For this reason, I was sent to a school in a poor quarter located
in Shahbaz Street in the south of Tehran
I accepted this school for the sake that I only could teach in the afternoons and
in the mornings I had to be present in the faculty
In the first session I saw 45 boys all were poor with shabby clothes
but all clean with shimming eyes that had been fixed on me
I can’t say how I kept myself from shedding tears
I told you that I love to teach,
at the same time I told you I hate to be a teacher
From the depth of my heart I knew I love teaching, I loved to teach from very beginning
I felt I love to teach and I knew
I should be helpful for these needful students
Then with all my potentiality I started to work on them
I follow assiduously the affairs of the students both their
classical assignments and their out of school affairs.
For instance, I am told one of these children is the victim of
sex abuse and I wrote a letter to all the related center to stop it
One day when I was getting out from a taxi someone throw
something intimidate towards me to harm or at least to intimidate me
But I resisted and followed the issue. One day the principal of school
summoned me and said that he is the bearer of a message
If Miss Zandieh does not stop her perseverance she will be faced with a calamity
that would never forget it up to the end of her life.
Then I was transferred to a school for girls
But due to my fighting spirit, nowhere I remain silent against maladies
in this school I had new problems too. I used to have a good relation with my students,
I try to be a real friend for them to understand them and as much I could to solve their problems and
to assist them to overcome their difficulties.
Any how we passed the university course with the salary of teaching in these primary schools
When I submitted my university certificate to the manager
of the office of education of the district notwithstanding
his name was not Zandieh, he said he is a member of Zandieh household
I told him having a household bears no importance, what is important, who am I.
He was very helpful and told me wherever you wish I would send you
Since on those days painting was not one of the subjects of high schools
he ceaselessly sent me to the non-public high schools like
Hadaf Educational complex or Mameghani high school
They arranged an atelier for me and invited the students who like to learn painting
I was the only teacher who taught painting
as the result any invitation letter from biennales which was sent to the Ministry of Education
was transferred to me and fortunately it was impossible to participate
in a biennale and receive not an award
Even once among 46 countries I gained the second position
As a whole I receive 18 medals, and honor diploma
In this way I satisfy the inner feeling that I wished to be a painter
but I could not find the required condition.
Then our society started to violate against the Shah and all the
affairs were at the edge of topsy-turvy and
finally the street clashes turned to revolution and before long the fire of war flamed
In the war time you imagine the number of painting trainees would reduce
but their member enhanced and many of them came to me
and said your classes are an asylum for them
to due the feeling of security and calmness
The parents of my students told me in this commotion, my classes are like a paradise
When I closed the class, I have no heart to leave there.
Part 03
Training
From the beginning of teaching, while I was only 18
I felt that in the absence of a close and intimate relation with children
I could not help them to overcome their difficulties and solve their problems
Therefore, I tried to establish an emotional relation with them
Nevertheless, I cared not to trespass the red lines, because first of all I was a teacher and
I should move in a designated framework. Consequently
most of the times I check my emotions with the help of
an inner force and naturally I did not permit any one employs my sentiments abusively
With regard to these considerations I started to help the children
At first I felt that I could not help them effectively despite the fact
I believed as a teacher I should place a deep impact upon them
but when I started to teach the art
I understood by the help of art I could discover many things in
my student and I could discover their innermost desires
their real aspirations and their thoughts without establishing close relation with them
I understood when I offer them a subject for painting and they start to
work it would be enough for me to understand them
Therefore, I started with children and I changed the angle of my view
Thereafter I did not try to make an artist of them, because everyone could not easily be an artist
but my main purpose should be to teach them how to know their ownselves
We know that there are many weak points in the methods of our trainings.
Mostly in all the societies the children possess not the required self-confidence and
usually try to cheat each other and even their teacher
For example, they sneakily look at the examination sheet of their classmate and
most of the cases they do not offer their works to their teacher out of coyness
or many other things
for instance their parents threated them if they break or
lose their crayon they would be punished
as the result when they lose their crayon they rob their friend’s crayon
while their parents could tell them that a crayon would not resist forever
I tried to remove all these problems and also to establish social relation between themselves
because I beheld clearly that they were more successful
in individual jobs but in team work they were really weak
After working on them to overcome their psychological problems and
gain the required self-confidence, I encouraged them to know their own potentialities and
by knowing themselves they can find the path of their future.
I encouraged them to work together
I believed team working guarantees their social relation
To push them to team working, I used to buy paper in roll form
The length of the roll was 12 meters and its width was 1.5 meter
I ask them to perform a project that they themselves had designated its subject
To perform their project, I recommended them to consult with each other to reach to a single subject
Then I cut the roll into two 6 meter sheets and ask them to work together.
In most cases the children were success in designating a subject
but after this process, due to the fact they had
no experience in team working, they quarreled with each other
Then I recommended them to divide the job between themselves
It was very difficult for them to divide the affairs of the project
They came to me and asked me how they can divide the job
I explained for them that any one of you who could draw the feature of a man,
better, ask him to draw it and the one who could draw a tree better
assign him to draw it
I insisted them to learn to consult with each other to set a single and common target
Gradually they learnt to work together I had a special technique for myself
I permit no one to use pencil, because due to lack of self-confidence
, when they work with pencil they erased it ceaselessly
I insisted that they work with marker
I myself used to buy black marker for them
I recommended them to draw the outline of the figures and then color its center with crayons
Those days, acrylic was not known yet and we bought plastic pigment
I bought the tins of plastic pigment and pour it in the small bowls
and ask them to color the works that they have designed
The outcome was really beautiful. Indeed, on those days
I was almost the only one who used this manner
I say “almost” because a few other people were follow this method
The first thing that I observe in my training
was asking the trainees to draw their own family as a model
Why? In order to know whether their family is a united one? Is their father at home?
Is their mother the one who care of them?
How many brothers they had and so and so
Those pure minded children introduced themselves wonderfully.
I wish to put forward a mental issue
I can claim that art is the most essential issue of the life
In the process of understanding the life, when the children’s insight
and world view gains deeper infiltration,
they could solve their problems more reasonably
By the help of painting I try to teach them to strengthen their relation with their family
When I ask them to depict their family, they concentrated on their members of their family
they focus on everything that were happening in their family, the happenings such as divorces,
reunions and so forth
Softly and gently I step forward towards the wider arenas
and this approach enriched the insight of the children.
My private classes were held in a large hall
The hall was very extensive
Around 100 meters, a flat hall with a few columns
I have allocated a space in the floor of atelier to be covered with moquette
The young children like to work while they are laying on their stomach
They lay on that space. They had small desks for two persons and the bigger ones for four persons and
even I had provided them with a round table that they could sit and work around it
The trainees were free to sit wherever they wish.
As a non-written convention, a day in the week all the trainees came together and had a congregation
Usually they gathered in these days
They came regardless their ages and sexes, such congregation possessed a special zest and zeal
Sometimes you could see a 65 years old woman chose to sit
by a young children and they were focusing on their own work
Even in the first years of the revolution that separation between men and women was mandatory
our classes were mixed and despite the fact that the name of my classes had gained a good fame
no one makes any problems for me
The days of congregation were the busiest day.
The elders sat around the columns of the hall and drew various models
They chose especially the soulless nature, a group was drawing imaginary models and
they work with oil and paint and when acrylic became popular
they work with this pigment and some of them were designing the various structures of the atelier.
The trainees were working by themselves and they do not try to imitate others
and indeed the spirit of intimacy and friendship hanged over the space of atelier.
Every morning at 10 A.M. and every afternoon at 5 P.M. we all come together to have a break
At first we had a samovar then I provided them with kettle and tea pot and
usually the trainees or their parents bring us cookie in such a way
that usually we have a lot of more than of our needs
Our tables for gathering around them were a number of stools that
we placed them in the middle of hall and place upon them the cookies
Every day we have a new subject for discourse naturally
the subjects of discourses were about the family issues
But it was not a predefined issue but an impromptu one. Why?
Because it depends upon their mood of the participants in the discourse
Anon they were happy and full of passion I should calm and ready them to work
anon they were insipid and weary and I should inject them energy and enthusiasm
Even sometimes I changed the music of the class and by the help of music
I change the mood of the group.
We had nonstop music. When the trainee arrived full of passion and energy
I recommended them to take 3 or 4 marker in various colors in their fist in
such a way that all their tips were in one level and
then start to drawing something, anything that they wish
One may draw circle, the other direct lines, the third horizontal lines and the fourth vertical and so forth
any one anyway that he wishes, after a few seconds I ordered them it is enough
now place the lids of the markers, not to be dried and
now coloring the features have been formed through those lines and beheld what is the outcome
When they were drawing those lines
their passions were evacuated and when they started to
color the feature they gained a kind of calmness
and then I can push them towards the designated subject.
Part 04
As a whole from the very beginning that I started teaching
I studied any psychological books which were placed at my reach.
My sister was the student of philosophy
and training science and she was a learned psychologist
She was the principal of Hadaf Educational Complex and I consulted with her too
But after a while I came to this conclusion that none of these
psychological book could be helpful
Indeed, as if the authors of the psychological books, choose an isolated place and
start to write and write without take a look at their own environment,
without any actual experiences
The only books that I can say were useful and helped me to have
an infiltrating look into the other’s mind were a series of leaflets by Hiime Ginat
The author instructed the experimental psychology
Of these small books I learnt a lot. For instance, when your child commits a mistake
your reflex would be to emit a shrill and cry out why have you done it?
But what is the right reaction. I had prepared some copies of these
books and ask the parents to study them.
I should say my job essentially based upon experience
In the mid of all the terms, especially in the summer terms
that the number of the trainees increased conspicuously
I started to teach sculpturing
I knew a man who lived in the quarter of Behesht-e-Zahra.
I called and asked him to send eight or ten packages for one of my students to prepare clay.
The clay was nearly 10 kg, namely a cubic of 10 kg.
they themselves have sieved, rubbed and made it ready for sculpturing
They placed the cubic clay in a pan that I had ready in advance and
covered it with a wet gunny to keep the clay alive.
Then I gave them various items like fork, knife and spoon and sometime plastic tool and
ask them to take clay as much as they like and
they create wonderful status with their small beautiful hands
What beautiful statues!
One of the other works that I taught in my classes was the work of collage. Why did I it?
For the sake that collage makes you to think
, make you to choose, grant you the power of selecting
It is not as easy as it seems. For the beginners I started with pea,
bean, lentil, split pea and sometimes macaroni
I spill these colorful items before them
With this warning that be careful do not blend then
Them I ask the children to draw their design
Usually they offer a tree. It was easier for them
But I asked the children with more ability to draw the body of a man or something else
but I never insisted the mediocre children to choose a difficult design
they usually made the trunk of the tree with macaroni
Sometimes I asked the children to bring the scraps and
snippings from their houses and these items were heaped in the corner of the atelier
Then I asked them to make a collage with these scraps
We had provided them with cart board. The big ones 70×50 cm
I ask them to work on these cart boards.
They usually prefer to create a landscape with scrap
Their landscape was very suitable for the collage, because it had sky,
hill, meadow, flower and so forth
I usually chose the subject of the collage with regard to the snippers
For example, when the design of a snipper is flower I used it for a flowerbed,
it means that a patch of a land was full of flower.
It filled them with enjoyment
They usually use blue snippers for the sky of the landscape,
they make clouds with the blue scarps
and gradually they gained required experiences
It was a type of collage and then I asked them to work with paper
We had a lot of wax colorful papers
I recommended them to use the small scraps of paper or cut the papers with scissors
I told them they have two choices:
cut the papers with scissors or with hand in the form and size that they liked.
Of course when you cut a paper with hand, its white edges would come
out and you can use these white edges for various purposes.
Then I bought crepe paper. Those days this kind of paper with various colors were found
Then I cut them in small squared pieces and explained
for the children that today we plan to work with mosaic
I have learnt it when I was in Italy
The children usually reply that we have no mosaic
I use to tell them we can produce mosaic in another way
Then I show them how to cut the crepe papers into square form
and how to fold them to gain volume
then we smear the cart board which was used as background with glue and stuck the mosaics on them
The outcome was very beautiful, as if you have placed
small pieces of colorful mosaic on a surface
It needs a great patience to fold the papers and smear the background with glue and
place these small pieces one by one
The implementation of project needed more than two weeks, but the outcome was very beautiful.
I want to conclude from whatever I have said about the children education and training
in the era which is called the era of computer,
the era of living in the world of digitals
Not before long that the brain of men would evade from working
owing to the fact that the hard disk will replace it
Against such a dangerous trend we have art. Art is a path that needs a deep contemplation
in a world like it we need to encourage our children to think
and art is one of the best ways to realize this goal
First of all, we should grant him a strong in sight. The teachers of the private training and
educational institutions are trying to gain the content of the parents; for this reason
they started to teach collage after a short time to receive parent’s appreciation,
while the teachers themselves make half of that collage
Unlike this approach I believe that the teacher the teacher
should push the child to contemplate through
choosing the most suitable patches, should try to enrich his world view.
Through this approach they will learn how to face the difficulties
Therefore, whatever we show through art is much deeper than what it seems
We should walk with them step by step to learn the visual designing
so that they could turn the volume to the surface namely to record it
These are the points that I recommend to painting teachers
I have a treasure of experiences which have been collected from 1960 up to the present time.
Through this approach they will learn how to face the difficulties and how to solve them and
and indispensably I closed my classes, my trainees are lovingly following me
and they have not forgotten me at all
Part 05
Migration, beginning of Painting
I migrated to Canada. It was a compulsory and involuntary travel.
My daughter is living there and we were waiting for a grand daughter and
I had no help but to close my class despite the
fact that the classes were placed in the center of my heart
Indeed, it was a great sorrow for me to leave my trainees
but the only factor that made me calm, was my granddaughter then
I gladdened my heart that I would transfer all my experiences to her
Fortunately, it was a successful approach, me and
my granddaughter became two close friends
and before she experiences the age of two, she became my bosom companion
I never heard her cry and before she could talk, she could understand whatever you talk to her
After a while I experienced a very bad feeling I asked myself:
“This is me who has turned to a woman who do nothing but babysitting
, the woman who once worked from dawn to down?
Is it right for me to be a babysitter?” I felt I want something beyond the present condition,
but I do not know what I want.
Something was cooking in my mind
I thought that leaving the class is the main reason of my sorrow
but it never occur to me turning to painting after 37 years that I was far from the world of this art
It never occurs to me that at the age of 63 I can start a new artistic work like painting
I told myself: “It is impossible because my hands
could not meet the aspirations of my mind they
could not realize my imaginations.”
My mind was a treasure of whatever
I have seen, studied, researched and experienced
active as should be.
One night after implementing all the duties of I went to that section
of the house which was allocated to me
I tried to sleep but as if asleep flew from my eyes
There were three colorful journals in that room. I cast a glance at them
Unconsciously I started to snipping their pictures and place them before myself
Then unconsciously I classified the scraps into five groups
I placed all the classified scraps on a long leg table which were used in the yard at summers days
I took involuntarily one of scraps and placed it as a model and then the other scraps
I did not know what I am doing, as if I was merged in a world of trance
And then the next scrap and the next scrap
For a moment my hand stopped from moving to evaluate the outcome of its effort
I stared at it and I felt that I won’t, to do any other work but it
In that condition I did not know where I am, it lasted a long time that
I came back to myself to understood where I am
After a while I came back to myself, I wanted to cry, I wanted to fly
I wanted to show to someone else the product of my hands that was formed out of my control
I wanted to know what is the others’ evaluation.
At the first days that I have completed 25 collage, a seminar on the Persian literature
was held in Toronto and Dr. Mojabi the celebrated novelist was invited too
We fixed a date to have lunch together and after lunch suddenly without any plan
I suggested Dr. Mojabi to take a look at my handy products.
He hesitantly said: “let’s go to see.”
At home I placed the three or four collages in front of him
And at first he cast a look at them and then he showed more attention
saw he seems restlessness
He sat at the edge of his chair and eagerly looked into them and said:
“wonderful! excellent! wonderful!”
And all the time he was studying those colleges retorted these praising words ceaselessly
At length he interpreted: “These works are supported with great idea
they bear mysticism, love, womanly nature
It is clear as crystal that they are the works of a woman and no need to sign a signature under it
It contains music, theater, cinema and all the exalted imaginations.
His appreciations made me full of exhilaration but
his confession was more important than his appreciations.
He confessed: “When you invited me to your house to take a look at your works
since I knew you did not work before, I told myself what can
I say if her works were really poor
in any case I could not say that they are not worth a straw
For this reason, I was hesitant and do not know to accept your invitation or not?
At length I felt that I could not decline your request and
fortunately I am glad that I accept your invitation.
His appreciation was a turning point in my work
it was an approval to keep on
And thereafter I continued in silence with the same impetus and
my granddaughter sat by me like an expert who observe the working of an artist.
I kept on collaging and when my granddaughter stepped
in an age that she could go to day nursery
she was sent to nursery and I was free to work freely.
I was alone and in my loneliness I sat and work and work.
Gradually I enlarge the size of my artistic product
larger and larger and the number of my works enhanced and exceeded to hundreds.
This trend was on the way so far that one day Dr. Baraheni came to Toronto
I should say that all the years I was working no one encouraged me to hold an exhibition and
it never occur to me to display my works
Only I was happy that after sixty years I can meet my heart desire through an artistic work
Now I knew I am discharging all the experiences
all the knowledge, all the researches, all the imaginations and even all the 52 year
experiences and all the events have occurred to me
and have been amassed in my mind
now I could be able to discharge them, gently and
softly not like a volcano but like a spring that flows in the bed of an even ravine.
One day, Dr. Baraheni came our house and I told him:
-“Did you know that I have done some artistic works?”
He answered: “No, I have not seen your works.”
-Would you like to cast a look at them?
– Yes. Please.
I went and brought a few of them.
– Are they all the works have you done?
– No, there are much more. I have a lot.
– Please show all of them.
And I show them. He said: “Wonderful, wonderful!
What makes me surprised is the power of your imagination!
From where have you gained such an imagination?”
Indeed, all of these appreciations, encouraged me to follow my job.
Then Mr. Barahani said: “I must write an article about your paintings.”
He added: “Scarcely I have been impressed by painting,
so far only I have written critical article for two persons, and you are the third one.
My first exhibition was held when I was exactly at the age of 70.
stepped into 70 and my exhibition was formed in one of the most celebrated galleries of Toronto
in an artistic district that possessed a 30 year background for showing precious works
This district is a complex that covers many galleries
A large number of people visited my exhibition that was out of my anticipation.
We have a magnificent inauguration too
Dr. Baraheni delivered an appreciating speech and then Nami talked too.
The latter one said that he is very glad that Tooran has held her first exhibition after 37 years
Then he presented me a spray of flower and kissed me.
His approach, made many to shed tears.
In Toronto many people told me, that your technique is unique
and so far no one has worked in this way
in fact, you are the main source of revival and the boom of collage
In California one of the galleries is known that display
only the works of collage but no one up to now has worked merely with paper
The amount of the first sale was 15000 dollars, such a selling not only made not me happy and
not only raised not my morale but my heart sank too.
I asked myself: “O God where my work would go?”
And then a new thought occurred to me
I would spend this amount for packaging and sending all of them to Iran.
Part 06
The characteristic of the works
Indeed, when I started to work I did not know why I chose the collage
Perhaps for the sake of 40 pieces bed cloths that my mother made
I was deeply impressed or perhaps it was for the sake of collages
that I made with children in my classes
No need to say that I learnt from them owing to the fact that how eagerly
how full of zest and zeal they work and I myself like to work with them
but I had not time to work and perhaps it was a combination of all these factors.
The background of my life was filled with love, compassion and innovative works
Unconsciously I chose collage for the sake that it is more difficult than painting
Or perhaps this choice stemmed from the amassing of my mental conceptions and
the events have been occurred in my life and in
the life of my students and my trainees
All of these came together made me to choose collage.
I believe any of these works is a page of my life
any particle, any piece of these works is my own existence
Its reason is clear to me, because any time I take the scissors
and start to cut the papers and
to form them I am not in a normal spiritual condition I am at the verge of a trance
As you see I employ both positive and negative forms they are my own existence
When I was in the 9th grade my mother said:
“I prefer, you yourself tailor your own clothes.” she said that
she won’t to tailoring my clothes anymore
One day she took me to a drapery and said you can buy whatever you wish
I saw a black and a red cloth that possess the same quality
I told her I want both of them. At home I tailored a skirt for myself.
My first experience seemed difficult
I cut it like the battlement of a castle
I cut the black cloth in rectangular form and glued them on the red background
My mom admonished me that first you must remove
its threadbare from the edge of the cloth and
then glue it on the red cloth
At length I glued the rectangular patches and it turned out
very beautiful and I wore it many years
Exactly those collages that mom was implementing impressed me
The first tailoring in my life was a collage and after
I never think about the theme of a collage because
during these long years the number of themes
that have been amassed in my mind is so affluent that I can offer as much as I wish.
Fortunately, up to the present time I am not depleted from the idea yet
As a whole my job possesses various phases the first phase
is cutting various picture from the journals
When they are heaped before me, I start to cut them in the desired form and size
Then cutting is one of the essential phase of my job
In fact, my design takes, form with the same soulless, meaningless and senseless pages and
when I place the first patch on the work
it paved my path and shows me how to follow the process
Even when I start to place the pieces, I do not know what
I am going to create and when the composition of the work would be formed
I know that the work would be completed in a short time
Sometimes when the work comes to end, I want to cry and on the contrary sometimes
I feel such a satisfaction that I want to show it to everyone
I want to disclose the secret of coloring. This phase is a special phase for me,
because it possesses a special technique that I have innovated it myself
I scarcely use brush, but I employ a technique that does not cover my collage too much
In fact, I perform a real collage and then conduct this
technique that causes a kind of ambiguity
I like ambiguity because it makes my addressee to think
about the meaning of the work and I am not discontent with it.
Part 07
Life and Art
The artists should have a motivation. The artist who is expressive,
is the one who expresses his ownself not a special form of aesthetics
Therefore, I personally think of my work. The environment that I live there,
is one of the most important factors in my mental motivations
I love my home land heartily and 1 have learnt many many things from the moment I was born
I am indebted my happiness, my knowledge and my artistic gift to this land
I am indebted to all the rough days, all the friendly manners,
all the people who walked in the street and I do not know them and they not know me
but I am familiar with their looks.
I appreciate the works of Kamran Kashefjah for there is a strange power in its works
Sometimes I feel that I desire to work like him I heartily appreciate
the works of Sohrab Sepehri for his works possess a great power
I like the works of Sepideh Nami, they have deeply impressed me
The first artist that left a great impression upon me was Van Gogh
when I was a university student,
I enjoyed to drawn myself in the works of Van Gogh, Cézanne and Gauguin
I studied their works as much as possible
I studied many articles were published about them and their works
The first time that I went to a museum and saw a tableau of Van Gogh
my heart started to throb violently
I mean there is a wonderful sense in his works that rooted you to the ground
One of the works that used to surprise me was the tableau of the Mona Lisa or La Gioconda.
I had seen its picture in many books and journal
and constantly had asked myself why people talk of it so much indeed it is not a great shake
But the first time I went to Louvre Museum my children were with me and when
I looked at it I was drawn in the tableau that I forgot myself for a long time
when at length I came to myself and looked for my children I felt that my cheeks are wet and
I was tearing unconsciously and when I looked at the faces of my children
I found out that they have wept too.it means that there is
a mysterious thing in that smile that rooted you in the ground
takes you into a transcendental condition
takes you into a celestial mood that you do not know it is joyful or sorrowful
There is something in this work that shake you from innermost
Now I want to talk of something different
One of my ex-students who was studying for his PhD pamphlet
on the subject of women during the Pahlavi regime
related to me that the result of his researches showed most of the women who were painting
either have abandoned their art or have left their husbands
I should confess that as a woman,
it was not easy for me to come along with these condition perhaps
somehow I was not happy to follow this art
But later I solved this problem internally. How?
Perhaps for this reason that I was teaching continuously
I was busy with children. We have two children and when
I saw they are growing up in a healthy condition,
I receive enough motivation to keep on the present condition.
As a whole I introduce myself with my works
I believe I am a lover of life, because I had a lot of ups and downs in the life.
Anybody but a lover could not endure all these disasters
When I lost my father, my brother proved that he is a good successor
I lost my mother in 1980. She was very dear to me
She was a real gem, a shining gem.
In 2000 my brother left me forever
It was a great loss for me. I had no one else. Of course I have two sisters too
One of them is the resident of Franc and the other one is here
These events proved me that I have been born a lover otherwise these problems could wear me out.
Whenever I am gloomy and feel I am under the weather I walk out,
and stare at the clouds and their movements
at the trees and their green leaves and
suddenly I feel that slackness has been replaced by an enthusiasm by a kind of zest and zeal.
I have learnt to solve my problems
Even now at the age of 75 I am the same one who has been ever
I should say frankly that regardless the days that
I was flying in the
skies and my family tries to help me to fly and mutually I tried to help them too
thereafter I stepped in the society, I faced with some aspects of life that I have no concept of them
. For example, my mom used to say that you are too good to be true and whoever marry with you
he would embrace the idol of happiness.
But she did not know how fragile I am, how vulnerable I am
She did not know how this heart which is fraught with love would break easily.
I feel I know myself perfectly and I know what I want in my life.
The reason that I have the feeling of satisfaction stems from this issue that I have lived happily
Almost I have achieved all my aspirations, as a woman,
as a mother, as a teacher, as a grandma and as a painter
I must declare that I have done all my duties as a woman, how?
Because I heartily believed in the culture of family,
I believe whatever I have achieved is the result of observing the principles of family culture
for this very reason despite all ups and downs in my life I have tried to keep my family avoid from any
tension and create a pleasant environment for my children like the one that my own provide for me.
Although we had a weekly discourse that we talked about various social issues
but I have learnt indirectly a lot from my family through their social relations
By the mercy of these relations, they provided me with a cultural package that was really helped me
in all the phases of life and just now by reliance on that culture I am enduring all the problems
For me painting is the reality of life and no enjoyment exists beyond it
and nothing like painting could offer me the delight of the life
In fact, by facing to painting. I attain to my greatest expectation
and now I won’t anything but to keep it on.