Tueday, August 7, 2007: Last Day in Iran

A bridge dating from 1930's with a village in Mazandaran Province.



A lovely painting by Mokarrameh depicting love and betrayal. This is one of the paintings I used to engage the students in a conversation with her work.


I can never really understand why this last day arrives so quickly. Yet, a few days ago, when I was sweating in the hot sun, wearing a scarf to cover my hair and a long garment over my clothes, I was dying to get away. I couldn't wait to be in cooler weather. Well, here is the last day, and I feel I don't have enough time to see everyone. I will not be able to see Aunt Ghashangi and will have to call her to say goodbye. Nanaz, Shahrokh (whose computer I'm using right now), and Aunt Fakhri will come over in the evening. I'm going to Uncle Ali's house later to see him and say goodbye to him.

I went to the "mahzar" with Mom this morning and signed documents giving her the authority to send stuff overseas for me. Then we went to the jewelers and I bought some last minute things to take back.

I'm glad I will not be blogging anymore. Uploading images in Iran takes forever and it's very frustrating to be sitting at the computer, staring at the screen, and waiting for the photographs to be posted.

Mom.

Here is a picture of Mom sitting in Mokarrameh's house after we had finished the workshop. She is sitting, appropriately so, under a sign that reads: "Maadar" in Persian. "Maadar" means Mother. This was a chance photo.

Monday, August 6, 2007: Archiving the Artworks

The Mountains in Mazandaran Province influenced many of the students and were a common theme in the paintings.



Mokarrameh's kitchen.



Color and use of supply demonstration for the students.


I posted the above photographs to remember our day at the workshop. I don't have any new photographs. I think I'm done taking photos for a while!


I went to Ali's place this morning and we spent the entire day archiving the paintings. First, we looked through each and everyone of them. We had over 150 pieces of artwork, done by students ranging in age from two to sixty. We read each story that was attached to the artwork, and we made sure we had the names and ages correctly written on each one. Then we arranged them by age: 2-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-15, 16-19, 20 and up. After we grouped them, we took a picture of each one. Then we chose eleven pieces of Mokarrameh's work for me to exhibit with the student's work at Teachers College.

Meanwhile, Aida cooked us lunch. Since she is from Rasht, another province by the Caspian Sea, she cooks a lot of vegetarian meals. Rasht is known for its healthy and vegetarian cuisine. We worked for seven hours and then I took all the selected artwork and came home. Later on, Ali, Aida, Morteza, and his wife, Somayeh, came over for dinner. We had a good time talking about future plans.

Saturday, Agust 4, & Sunday, August 5, 2007: No Computer and Much to Do

My computer died on me suddenly on my return from Mazandaran province. I have been working at Shahrokh's computer every day. Sunday was a full day. I went to Aunt Fakhri's house to work on Shahrokh's computer and then tried to work the camera, but it was not responding. My memory stick which has all the earlier photos won't open and my computer has the back up photos on it's desktop. Hopefully, the technician will be able to retrieve the photos. Shahrokh and I went to a camera place and as it turned out, the battery was low on my camera, so I was able to burn the photos of Mokarrameh's workshop on a CD.

I called Sanandaj today and spoke to Haddi. I explained that I wouldn't be able to visit him this summer and he told me that everyone was expecting me as it was part of my routine to go to Kurdestan every summer. I felt bad about this, but it's not possible to squeeze in so much in three weeks. Mokarrameh's workshop took up the time I had set aside for Kurdestan. I'm not too concerned because I have already visited Haddi two summers in a row and more or less have a lot of information on him and his practice, and the workshop was a great experience.

I went to the post office this morning and mailed three boxes to Kurdestan. A box went to Haddi with books and a CD of images of artwork, a box went to a distant Ardalan cousin with magazines of horses (he is writing his thesis on Persian horses), and a third box went to my third cousin, an Ardalan, who just had a baby. The third box contained baby gifts.

I did make a trip to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art this morning and it was such a disappointment. All the contemporary art was locked away and the museum had nothing but a show on clothing. I spoke to the head of the museum who said the artworks had to be put away because they were getting ruined in the light! Hah! Can you find a better excuse?

It's late and I have to get back home. But before I go, here is a picture of my cousin Shahrokh who just came back from Germany where he had a very successful musical performance.

Photographs of Mokarrameh's Workshop: Darikandeh Village

View of the front of the house where the supply stations were set up.


The brush and container station.

Ali getting the paint station ready.

Ali's older brother at the paint station.

Preparing the paint.

Setting up the chairs.

















This little girl was hard of hearing and loved to paint.






The local Art Society interviewing Ali and me.




Somayeh and Aida.