The artistic journey of
Vida Shajie Rezai
started in Elementary School where she studied Persian calligraphy and painted
flowers on the borders of her homework.
Later in her early twenties,
when bombs were exploding on the streets of Tehran during the Iran and Iraq
war, she found peace and joy in studying art. Her first art teacher and
inspiration was Iran’s famous portrait artist Abbas Katouzian. Vida also
studied abstract art with Craig Antrim (Los Angeles) and water color with
Michael Punke (Orange County) before meeting Rassouli in 2007.
She says, “I painted flowers
and landscapes and copied my favorite masters such as Van Gough and Georgia
O’Keef before I became a Fusionartist. My early work is a reflection of
external forms. Rassouli taught me how to access a wondrous inner world
of colors and forms. Under his guidance I became a “brush” in the invisible
hand of a creative force. In Rassouli’s words this means learning how to
get out of the way and let the creative impulse flow through me!”
These days, Vida’s canvases
are a fusion of acrylic paint and Persian calligraphy of the poetry that
she recalls and the music that she listens to while painting. She believes
that each of her paintings is a snapshot of a moment of connection with the
source of creation.