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Artist in Residence Avish Khebrehzadeh P’27

This fall, the Visual Arts Department launched an artist-in-residence program, welcoming Avish Khebrehzadeh P’27 into the Art, Culture, and Technology studio for six weeks. Khebrehzadeh, whose drawings, paintings, and animations have been shown around the world, shared her animation process with students and helped them produce their own short films.

Studying another artist’s techniques is a fundamental aspect of art education. Much can be learned from demonstrations and assignments in the classroom, but there is no substitute for learning alongside the artist. Visual Arts Department Chair Cindy Santos Bravo explains, “Students…are being encouraged to think in collaboration with a professional artist. It is special for [them] to think of their studio as a laboratory and welcome someone new into it.” 

All of Khebrehzadeh’s animations are hand-drawn. Her distinctive marks bring the forms and figures in her films to life — infused with breath, emotion, and uncertainty. Touching on themes of migration, nature, and the human condition, Seven Silent Songs, her 2021 video installation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, is one example of her unique artistic point of view. 

While technology does play a role in her process — Khebrehzadeh edits her films on a computer — the central work of each animated film is hand drawing and redrawing. “With the computer, you don’t have that personal, really personal, touch,” says Khebrehzadeh. “When you take a breath, then your pencil maybe goes slower, maybe goes faster, and that’s your existence in the drawing.”  

Animating Transformation

In the studio with students this fall, Khebrehzadeh began with a presentation of her work and influences and then quickly demonstrated her process. She worked with Bravo to shape the project the students would tackle: a 15-30 second short that transforms a walking figure into something supernatural or unexpected. To spark the students’ creativity, she gave them Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis

Belle Cleveland ’28, one student in the class, decided to animate a human being that turns into a pig. Completing the many hand drawings required for a 15-30 second animation could be tedious and time-consuming according to Cleveland. But, she says, “It was really cool to work with Avish Khebrezadeh because she knows so much about animation and always had ideas that could help you improve your animation or make drawing quicker.” In the end, “It was a lot of fun because everyone draws a little bit differently, and you can see those differences in everyone’s frames.”

Student working on hand drawn animation on lightbox

 

One of the central challenges of hand animation, according to JT van Geertruyden ’26, is staying consistent from frame to frame: “While the flickering effect, which is caused by slight differences, is encouraged and adds a more unique touch to the animation, straying too far from the last frame would interrupt the flow of the animation.” He drew a man growing a red balloon in the place of his head. The idea was inspired by a film that Kehbrezadeh mentioned, The Red Balloon. Working alongside Khebrehzadeh “was extremely helpful to the process because it offered me space to ask her questions about stylistic and creative decision making,” van Geertruyden says.

On View Now

The animations that the students completed for this assignment are now on display in the new 3rd floor gallery, but the impact of Khebrehzadeh’s residency will continue to reverberate. 

Bravo is excited to share her newfound knowledge of animation with colleagues in the Visual Arts Department, and she is dreaming up ideas for future artist residencies at Maret. For van Geertruyden, this experience has opened up a whole new host of creative possibilities. And Cleveland has developed an interest in cinematography: “I feel like many people don’t realize that everything in a movie is an intentional decision, like the lighting, the camera angles, the colors, the locations, and so many other things. It was fun to be the one to make all of those decisions.”

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Avish Khebrehzadeh was born in Iran and  has lived in Madagascar, UK, Italy and the United States. Her work includes drawing, painting, and animation and is marked by the use of unusual media. 

Solo exhibitions include  Studio S.A.L.E.S. di Norberto Ruggeri, Rome (2024); National Gallery of Art, Washington (2021); Fondazione Volume!, Rome (2016); Ursula Blickle Foundation, Kraichtal, Germany (2014); and GAM, Turin (2013). 

Group exhibitions include: Ab-Anbar Gallery, London (2023); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2021); Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (2017); and Ursula Blickle Foundation, Germany (2013), among others.

She was awarded the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in 2011 and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship in 2014. 

Khebrehzadeh’s work is included in important public collections such as: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; GAM, Turin; MONA, Tasmania; MACRO Museum, Rome; MAXXI Museum, Rome; and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Khebrehzadeh also participated in the Santa Fe Biennial (2010), Liverpool Biennial (2008), and the 50th Venice Biennial (2003) where she was awarded the Lion D’or for her contribution to the Italian Pavilion, the “Young Italian Art Award.”