Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Lakeville Artist & Fashion Designer Holds First Exhibition at Edina Art Center

Edina, Minn., July 25, 2016 – The Edina Art Center will show the works of local artist Anastasia Sohrabian in an exhibition titled Art, Founded in Fashion during the month of August in its Tea Room Gallery.

Like many artists, Sohrabian has been creating art all her life. She grew up overseas and as a child dreamed of a career in art and fashion, inspired by visits to Paris with her family. Even though plans to attend College de Sorbonne (Paris) to learn about the fashion industry fell through, Sohrabian continued to create art in her spare time. Parisian influences, like figures of the Eiffel Tower or French words like “vogue,” can be found in many of her pieces; other influences from her cultural background are also visible.

Only in the past year has Sohrabian taken a businesslike approach to her work, marketing online as well as selling originals and prints of her designs at small local events, like the Frog Creek Pottery Harvest Festival in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, in autumn 2015.

Using black India ink against a white background, Sohrabian creates images with "a strong graphic quality," according to Edina Art Center’s Exhibitions & Gallery Coordinator Sandra Shaughnessy. The designs portray figures of strong women in dramatic and abstract settings, and deliver powerful emotions through use of filigree, geometric shapes and exaggerated feminine features like full lips, wide hips and thick lashes. The artist is especially attuned to nature and her connection with it comes through.

“[My works] show my emotions about the calamity of the environment through my women’s eyes and tears,” says Sohrabian. “My abstract designs personify humanity’s cruelty to the earth.”

While most of her designs are strictly monochromatic, some of her pieces feature small portions of highlighted color, like the work "Ariesh," one of Sohrabian’s favorites.

Though the images display well as hung artwork—the high-contrast scenes blend well with both modern and classical furnishings—part of the intention in creating the designs was to have them integrated onto fabric as prints on clothing or home décor accents, like pillows or curtains. Aside from the two-dimensional images that will be shown at the exhibition, Sohrabian also maintains a catalog of original clothing designs as part of future fashion projects.

Sohrabian prefers the term "designs" as opposed to "paintings" or "drawings" when referring to her work. Says the artist on her AllYou website, “Though I make art, I've never stopped designing fashion."

The August exhibition will show off the best of Anastasia's latest designs as well as select favorites from her collection of past works. The opening of Art, Founded in Fashion will be held 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4, at the Edina Art Center, 4701 W. 64th St. The event is free and open to the public, and all artwork will be available for purchase.

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The City of Edina
4801 W. 50th St., Edina, MN 55424
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