About
Katayoun Amjadi is an Iranian-born, Minneapolis-based artist, educator, and independent curator. In her work, she often considers the sociopolitical systems that shape our perceptions of Self and Other, such as language, religion, gender, politics, and nationalist ideologies. Amjadi blurs these boundaries and creates an off-balance, hybrid style that is slightly acerbic and a little bit tongue-in-cheek. Her art probes the relationship between past and present, tradition and modernity, and individual versus collective identity, and simultaneously seeks to spur discussion about our place in the temporal arc and the interwoven roots of our histories.
Amjadi holds an MFA in ceramics and sculpture from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and currently teaches in the Art Department at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota. She also teaches as a visiting lecturer at the Minneapolis College of Art & Design and the University of Minnesota. Her work has been exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, including at Minnesota Museum of American Art (St. Paul, MN), Rochester Art Center (Rochester, MN), Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis, MN), South Dakota Museum of Art (Brookings, SD), The Soap Factory (Minneapolis, MN), University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), Public Functionary (Minneapolis, MN), Beijing Film Academy (Beijing, China), Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, Germany), and Haftsamar Gallery (Tehran, Iran) among others. Selected fellowships include 20/21 MCAD-Jerome Emerging Artist Fellowship, and Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2015 and 2019. Amjadi co-runs a studio arts building and maintains a small ceramics business in the Q.arma Building in the northeast Minneapolis art district.
In conversations with:
- Erin Shafkind, “Materials, Methods, Meaning: Abundance and Loss in the Art of Katayoun Amjadi”, Ceramics Monthly magazine, February 2023 issue.
- Nicole Nfonoyim-Hara, 2020/2021 MCAD Jerome Fellowship Exhibition Catalogue Essay.
- Erik Tormoen, “Pomegranates, Chickens, and Toilet Brushes: The Bold Art of Katayoun Amjadi”, Minnesota Monthly magazine, 25 April 2019.
- Kate Drakulic, “In Studio with Katayoun Amjadi”, N Studio Magazine.org, Fall 2018.
- Jacob Van Blarcom, “Karlsruhe Academy Exchange: On Names and Transition”, University of Minnesota Art Department, 28 December 2018.
- Susannah Schouweiler, “NEMMA Artist Series: Reconciling a Hyphenated Identity,” Mn Artists.org, 3 June 2016.