The other day I noticed that a Vancouver ceramic artist we’d invited to speak to TriCity Potters, Mitra Mahmoodi, was in a two-person show, along with fellow Iranian-Canadian artist Jamal Tabasinejad, at our local Evergreen Cultural Centre Gallery in Coquitlam. Somehow I missed the opening but I saw that there was to be a curator’s talk about the show last Friday. At 12.30pm I joined curator Katherine Dennis and a group of mainly Iranian fans of the work.
Here is the link to my little blog about Mitra’s talk last November: https://www.gillianmcmillan.com/blog/2023/11/28/mitra-mahmoodi/
“About the Exhibition
May 18 – July 21, 2024
Adobe buildings—uncommon in the wet, mild climate of British Columbia—are a fixture of Iranian desert architecture. This sophisticated and ancient architectural style uses sun-dried clay bricks to construct a diverse array of structures, from humble domes to vast citadels and intricate ziggurats.
The magic of adobe construction has captivated the imagination of two Iranian Canadian artists: painter Jamal Tabasinejad and ceramic artist Mitra Mahmoodi. Their joint exhibition delves into the artists’ shared fascination with adobe architecture, with a focus on representation in painting and abstraction in sculpture.”
Curator Katherine Dennis led us through the exhibit, first explaining how longtime painter Tabasinejad’s theme is the adobe structures of his homeland. He made drawings of them on return visits and he has captured the spirit of the buildings, painting on a straw-based matrix which reminds us of their adobe construction. Many of these traditional buildings are now gone.
Mahmoodi remembers visiting the adobe houses of her grandparents’ village, and the community effort needed to maintain the structures. The colours and smell of clay, straw and sand have stayed with her and these recent sculptures reference those memories.
Personally I find these sculptures to be delicious, voluptuous forms, awaiting your touch. Her mixing of several earthenware clays to achieve this variety of colour lends an extra element of excitement in a ceramic show which includes no glaze or other surface embellishment. Their presence in front of Tabasinejad’s desert paintings adds a contemporary but respectful element to their shared memories of their homeland.
I recommend you give yourself a while to wander through this foreign landscape, appreciate Jamal’s fluid images of desert homes and enjoy Mitra’s elegant, highly accomplished earthy sculptures.
I see that we’ve missed a ceramic workshop with Mitra but there is a nice brochure in the ‘AGE’ gallery, on the show, and you can catch it until July 21st.
As I left the gallery I noticed that the newly-opened Coquitlam Community building has a bold new mural. I’m told there will be a cafe there ere long. A gallery, a snack and a stroll around Lafarge Lake.. what more could you ask?
One last item: don’t forget to wander around old Port Moody next Friday evening June 14th, 4 – 9pm, for our Summer Art SHUFFLE. You can look for paintings, pottery, performances, food and much more. Click here for the map and the artists. .https://www.pomoshuffle.ca
