Sonia Balassanian (, ; born 1942)

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Sonia Amirian, is an Iranian-born painter, sculptor, and curator, of Armenian ethnicity. She co-founded the

Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (or ACCEA; , or NPAK) is a contemporary art institution founded in 1992, and located in Yerevan, capital of Armenia. About ACCEA/NPAK was founded in 1992 by Sonia Balassanian and her husband Edwar ...

. Balassanian lives in New York City and Yerevan.

Biography

Sonia Balassanian was born in 1942 in Arak, Pahlavi Iran. In 1966, she emigrated to the United States. Balassanian attended the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was ...

, where she received a MFA degree (1978). In her early career she worked in installation art with sculptural elements, and later she worked in video art. She also worked on theater set design in New York City. In 1983, she was in the group exhibition, "Seven Women–Image Impact" at

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, other artists included in the exhibition were

Ana Mendieta Ana Mendieta (November 18, 1948 – September 8, 1985) was a Cuban-American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is best known for her "earth-body" artwork. Born in Havana, Mendieta left for the United States in 1961. Earl ...

, Anne Pitrone, Judy Rifka, Dena Shottenkirk,

Susan Rothenberg Susan Charna Rothenberg (January 20, 1945 – May 18, 2020) was an American Contemporary art, contemporary painter, printmaker, sculptor, and draughtswoman. She became known as an artist through her iconic images of the horse, which synthesized t ...

, and

Mimi Smith Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Smith (''née'' Stanley; 24 April 1906 – 6 December 1991) was a maternal aunt and the parental guardian of the English musician John Lennon. Mimi Stanley was born in Toxteth, Liverpool, England Liverpool is ...

. In 1992, she and her husband Edward Balassanian co-founded the Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art (). The center got its start with two seminal exhibitions, "The Show of the Nine" or "9" (1992), and "Identification" (1993). Her work is found in the museum collection at the

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, (Persian: موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران), also known as TMoCA, is among the largest art museums in Tehran and Iran. It has collections of more than 3,000 items that include 19th and 20th century ...

. She has artist files at the Smithsonian American Art and Portrait Gallery Library.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balassanian, Sonia 1942 births Living people People from Arak, Iran Artists from New York City Artists from Yerevan Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Pratt Institute alumni 21st-century Armenian women artists Armenian women curators American women curators Iranian people of Armenian descent

Biography

See also

References

External links