Before she became an artist, Iranian born Ellie Iranfard did not realize art was the missing part of her life. Her long journey to locate that missing part took her from Iran to Dubai, to Boston and finally to San Francisco where she now makes her home. She was raised in a highly successful business-oriented family. She explained that art, for them, was regarded as mere entertainment.
“We had people in different fields at family parties, but no artists. I was always wondering what is the process of making a movie, or how music is written? I did not have a clear idea of what I wanted to do.”
Iranfard did not have answers to those questions nor had she any idea of how to explore her own gifts. As a teenager she was allowed to have painting and art classes as a hobby. She was not permitted to focus on her gifts when they became apparent in those classes or to set any goal for their professional development. At the age of eighteen the family sent her to school in Dubai with the strict and clearly designated purpose of earning a degree in business. Those years in Dubai, far from family and friends, were lonely. Local coffee shops became a place of refuge. Her personal interest in painting grew more serious.
“I started to read and educate myself about art. Among all artists I was following Frida Kahlo, as a woman, was so inspiring to me. Especially that she used art as a way to minimize her pain while she was sick. Now art did not seem as just a hobby to me. Art could be more than what most people think of it and useful in many aspects of life.”
It was during this period of reflection and study that Iranfard had an unexpected stroke of good fortune in her first direct encounter with the commercial side of the art world. She entered a painting contest in Dubai with two thousand five hundred other contestants. The competition involved three-days of painting canvases in a shopping mall during which the participants were allowed to paint whatever they wanted, each one in their own individual booth, with their work being sold “on the spot” as each painting was finished. Although her family had not encouraged Ellie’s talent, they did endorse her participation in the contest. Best of all, her mother came to Dubai and stayed with her for the entire competition. For the first time, Elle not only had her mother’s encouragement, she received the first serious recognition of her talent.
“I really got good feedback from people. I sold almost ninety percent of my paintings. People admired what I was doing.”
She not only experienced that kind of acknowledgment but received a reward she’d never dared imagine. She was ranked as number eight out of the two thousand and five hundred participants. For the first time it was clear to her that art, her art, had the potential to earn money, not just serve to amuse someone. This contest was a turning point in her life. She dared to say to herself:
“My dream was coming true. I thought maybe I can be an artist.”
From that moment Iranfard allowed herself to think about art as a career. And so did the art world, beginning with a gallery in Dubai where her paintings were put on display. The paintings were also shown in a gallery in Iran. Although her family knew about the exhibitions of her paintings they were not dissuaded from their conviction that where their daughter belonged was in their world of business.
Once again Iranfard yielded to family pressure. To please them she moved to Boston to earn their longed-for MBA degree. Once in Boston, away from her family’s wishes for her life, she determined for herself that business could not be her career. .Her first step in making her own dream career a reality was to leave Boston behind. She traveled to San Francisco where she checked out several art schools including the “Academy of Art University”,
“Once I saw the school I fall in love with it.”
Iranfard applied for admission and was accepted, but was now alone again, knowing no one.
“Moving from east coast to west coast and switching from business to art was a huge challenge for me and brought much stress to my life. I had now lived alone for almost all my adulthood. During those lonely years in Dubai, far from family and friends, coffee shops became good places to free my mind. Separation from home made me hang out in them as a remedy.”
Cafes became a solace in San Francisco as well. Life got much smoother for her when she met her future husband who now provides her biggest encouragement. Her current painting project is called “Cafe Conversations”. These paintings depict her observations of the people she sees in cafes. Her goal is to portray the diverse backgrounds and stages of the worlds which exist for the people who hang out in a single cafe. For example, a mother who goes to a cafe to relax with her child, people who go there for their first date, or those who go for work or study. Each of these, in Iranfard’s opinion, carries within them a separate world and identity while outwardly sharing the same environment. Her creative process involves a variety of tools.
“I love painting with oil. Although I do acrylics, pastels, charcoal and colored pencils too.
Her process also includes photographing her subjects in cafes, painting them later on in her own studio. She’s received such good reactions from people who’ve seen her work that a nearby gallery is planning an exhibition of “Cafe Conversations” in the near future. There are now no missing parts in Ellie Iranfard’s life because art is her life. The San Franciscans snapping up her paintings are helping her keep it that way.
Creative Credits
- Written by
- Mandana Azimi
- Image courtesy
- Ellie Iranfard
