Pardiss Amerian is the 2026 William and Isabel Pope Artist-in-Residence.
Amerian draws on archival materials, textile patterns, and architectural motifs, treating painting as a palimpsest built through slow accretion and removal. Returning to illuminated manuscripts and historical Persian texts, her recent work turns to romance and epic poetry from 13th to 15th century Persian manuscripts—particularly the tale of Khosrow and Shirin—using it as a reference for meditations on love and fragility. Merging multiple planes of vision to depict inside and outside at once, she creates mercurial, myth-laden landscapes populated by latent figures, inviting close looking at what remains hidden or half-told.
As part of her residency, Pardiss Amerian will be holding a Bell Lecture at NSCAD University. The Bell Lecture is an introduction and overview to the practice of the current resident artist, their artistic influences, and their work.
Event schedule:
Bell Lecture
When: Tuesday, November 17 | 1 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Where: Bell Auditorium, NSCAD Fountain Campus
Noon Talk
When: Wednesday, Novemeber 25 |12 p.m. – 1 p.m.
Where: Anna Leonowens Gallery, 1891 Granville Street.
NSCAD gratefully acknowledges that the William and Isabel Pope NSCAD Painting Residency is funded by the Robert Pope Foundation.
