We were lucky to catch up with Naser D. Shahrivar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Naser D., thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I started painting at the age of seven, I just wish that I had taken classes early on because the struggle was real. I had to learn all of it the hard way, trial and error. I wish I had listened to my ninth grade teacher when he said “Be good at one thing!” But, back then my idol was Leonardo da Vinci who was a painter, draftsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. With this in mind I had a difficult time in being good at just one thing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in Iran and loved my heritage and my parents and had the deepest respect for them, but they did not have that same respect for the occupation of an artist. They were totally against it and when I painted, I had to go into hiding and paint in secrecy. I would paint on anything I could get my hands on; tiles, glass, mirrors, slices of tree trunks and my cousin would go around trying to sell them for me. I continued with my art throughout high school entering state and national competitions and earning awards and placement. In my later twenties I came to the USA initially to study architecture and later changed my degree to graphics and fine arts, graduating from Louisiana Tech University with a BA degree. After that I started my own business freelancing as a graphic artist and teaching art classes. With the entrepreneur in my blood since childhood, I opened an Art gallery to display my own and other artists works. Moving from time to time, but I stayed true to my art and continued operating an art gallery wherever life took me. Currently now in my seventies, I live in Maquoketa, Iowa and operate our own D’Arte Manor Art Gallery/Studio and Bed & Breakfast. I exhibit my works there but also show my work at other Exhibition destinations. The selling part was never my favorite part of being an artist because your art is an extension of oneself, but I have always set my goal to satisfy my customers. I want them to be happy with the paintings they have purchased and be proud to display them in their homes or place of business. I have entered many competitions and have won many awards, and my works have been featured in prestigious magazines. Recently my work was selected along with 17 other Iowa Artists by NAR magazine to be featured in their upcoming issue and asked to exhibit the selected piece at the Hearst Center for the Arts. During my recent years I have added writing novels and screenplay writing to my interests and have been selected and awarded for my screenplay “The Persian Lover/Creed and Greed “You see I never listened to my ninth-grade teacher, and I became a storyteller as well as an artist.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

There have always been challenges along the way for me a father of three children, but I have been able to overcome them one at a time. My life has managed to turn full circle as many years ago my wife and I bought an 1858 Old Brewery building (basically a shell of a building) which needed much care and transformed it into a gallery and a bed & breakfast. Nearly two decades later we moved away from there and the continuous years of hard labor of transforming the ruins into a thriving business. Now we are back to operating a bed & breakfast and Art Gallery in a beautiful 1882 Italianate Victorian home in a small quaint and lovely town which has a goal of becoming an art destination and artists community. Here we can focus on our artwork and writing. As an artist I find that we must be creative not only in the arts but also in shaping a successful business.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to create a work of art that is satisfying to myself and my collectors. I am my own worst critic, and I strive for excellence in order to create a masterpiece that will be valued and appreciated for years to come. I am a diverse artist who works on more than one painting at a time. If I tire of working on the present one, I can move on to another which allows me to stand back and reexamine the previous work. My focus is on color, composition and the overall subject matter. I love entertaining diversity with my art; mistake or not this is what I enjoy about being my own boss.
I try now to split my time between writing and painting. I have been submitting my screenplays in many national and international screenplay competitions and have received accolades and hopefully one of my screenplays will make it into the box office.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://e-artpro.com
• Instagram: @d_arte_manor_art_gallery_bandb
• Facebook: HTTPS://www.facebook.com/D’ArteManorGalleryandB&B
• Linkedin: Naser Shahrivar
• Twitter: Naser Shahrivar

Image Credits

Patricia Shahrivar