Published December 07 2009
Armenian refugee finds artistic home in North Dakota
When Norik Astvatsaturov arrived in the United States two decades ago,
the Armenian refugee brought with him very little from his former
life, other than his wife, daughter and son.
By: John Lamb, INFORUM
Norik Astvatsaturov works in his Wahpeton, N.D., workshop.
Robb Siverson / Special to The Forum
Astvatsaturov in his workshop
Astvatsaturov shows detail on his repoussé work `Anna’s Box’
When Norik Astvatsaturov arrived in the United States two decades ago,
the Armenian refugee brought with him very little from his former
life, other than his wife, daughter and son.
But what he carried in his pockets, including a hammer and a few nail
punches, were enough to carve out a new life for him and make his mark
in a new country.
`To come with just that hammer and a few nail punches and $200 to
start a new life with a family of four in a country where they knew
nobody and didn’t know the language was truly remarkable,’ says Troyd
Geist, state folklorist with the North Dakota Council on the Arts.
`A good repoussé artist can carry all the tools he needs in his
pocket,’ Astvatsaturov told Dawn Morgan, executive director of Fargo’s
Spirit Room Gallery. An exhibit of the artist’s repoussé (a
metalworking technique in which both the front and back sides are
struck to create depth and volume) goes on display at the Spirit Room
this weekend and runs through April 7.
`His work is almost sculptural in its appearance and very ornate and
very detailed,’ says Geist, who brought Astvatsaturov’s art to
Morgan’s attention. With a $10,000 matching grant from the National
Endowment for the Arts, Morgan and Geist hope to share Astvatsaturov’s
art and story with a broader audience.
Prairie Public Television has already produced a short documentary on
the artist, and photographer Robb Siverson and designer Allen Sheets
are working on a book of Astvatsaturov’s work. Morgan has a series of
lectures on Armenian culture and the region’s art scheduled for early
next year.
Until the fall of the Soviet Union, Astvatsaturov lived in the
Soviet-ruled Baku, Azerbaijan. The Caspian Sea port town maintained a
small minority of Christian Armenians, from the neighboring country to
the West.
Under Soviet rule, religion and ethnic identity were suppressed, but
still Astvatsaturov created his traditional iconography and
religious-themed works for family and friends and even Muslim
customers, all under the radar.
`To me that was eye-opening, that someone so committed to his culture,
to his art that he would risk those kind of things to continue (his
craft),’ Geist says.
But with the crumbling of the Soviet regime, so came down the
tyrannical structure that kept the peace. Simmering ethnic and
religious tensions started bubbling over and forced Astvatsaturov to
flee to Armenia, then Moscow before finally settling in Wahpeton,
N.D., in the early 1990s.
In a foreign country, his hands found familiar work as a machinist at
Primewood Inc. in Wahpeton. Soon after his arrival, he turned his
hands back to his trade, crafting a traditional Armenian cross from an
aluminum sheet for his sponsoring church.
`I want to do much more to advance my artistry, especially now that we
live in a country where it is safe to express our culture publicly,’
he said.
While Geist points out that in Baku, Astvatsaturov was exposed to the
Muslim Azeri culture, as well as being influenced by classic Greek and
Roman styles, the artist still finds inspiration in traditional
Christian imagery.
`I know that Mary was refugee. She run with child,’ Astvatsaturov says
in the documentary, his accent still so thick, subtitles are needed to
translate. `When I see that, it probably looks like our history.’
`I want to show people here who we are because lots of people come
here,’ he says later in the documentary. `But we have to show who we
are. We don’t have to lose our roots, who we are.’
If you go
What: Opening reception for Norik Astvatsaturov’s `Cultural Treasures
of Armenia’
When: 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: The Spirit Room Gallery, 111 Broadway in Fargo
Info: The reception and show are free. (701) 237-0230.
Readers can reach Forum reporter John Lamb at (701) 241-5533
Tags: spirit room, north dakota, fargo, wahpeton, arts, life