Painting the Epic: Shahnameh 
Artist Talk & Live Demonstration by Rashin Kheiriyeh

Our featured solo artist, Rashin Kheiriyeh will lead an artist talk that provides more insight into the subject of her exhibition “The Book of Shahnameh: Tales of Persia.”. As an accomplished author and illustration, Kheiriyeh will also lead a demonstration of her artistic practice and use of materials.

Join us for our culminating event in June as we feature solo artist, Rick Bach, who will provide us with a deeper understanding of his exhibition titled CUT, which is on view through Sunday, June 28. Bach, whose primary medium is steel, will talk about his artistic process, including his use of tools, canvas, and preparatory drawings to create his artwork from conception to completion. 

Free to the public (a $10 donation is suggested)

Join International Arts & Artists (IA&A) and Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) for Modern Movements Symposium—a convening of emerging scholars exploring the transnational exchanges, cultural diplomacy, and artistic innovations that shaped Latin American and Caribbean modern and contemporary art. This symposium accompanies the DC-based exhibition Modern Movements: Selections of Latin American and Caribbean Art from the Art Museum of the Americas (April 4 through May 31, 2026) on view at IA&A at Hillyer in Washington, DC. Visit our website to learn more.

Register

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

SESSION ONE: MODERNISM AND ITS DISCONTENTS

9:00

Welcome and Introduction

9:30 am 

Alejandro Soto Chaves

Three Theses on Central American (Modernist) Abstraction, 1936-1967

9:45 am

Ronan Shaw, The Face of Modernity: Germán Cueto’s Geometric Abstraction

10:00 am 

Ginevra Bria, Against Modernist Primitivism: Cildo Meireles’s Cruzeiro do Sul (1969-70) and “The Savage Slot”

10:15 am

Marco Polo Juarez Cruz , Latin American or Latinoamericano? Reframing Hemispheric Modernism

10:30 am

Q and A

11:00 am

Break

SESSION TWO: REFRAMING THE HEMISPHERE

11:10 am 

Panel Introduction

11:15 am

Ayelen Pagnanelli, Sarah Grilo and the Success of Women’s Abstraction

11:30 am

Rachel Remick, Ideas of Brazil: Maria Martins Art and Reception in the United States

11:45 am

Carlos Antonio-Colón, The Latin American Voice: Tracing the Relational Voice in the Work of Fernando de Szyszlo and Jesús Rafael Soto

12:00 pm 

Q&A 

12:30 pm

Break

SESSION THREE: INSTITUTIONS, EXHIBITIONS, AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY

1:00 pm

Panel Introduction

1:15 pm

Sol Izquierdo, Andean Handicrafts at the Pan American Union: Elena Eleska and Cold war Cultural exchange

1:30 pm

Anamaría Garzón Mantilla, Exhibiting Precolombinismo: Ecuadorian Abstraction at the Pan American 

1:45 pm

Abigail Lapin Dardashti, (De)materialized Archive: Brazil’s Exhibition at FESTAC and the Underpinnings of Afro-Brazilian Art History

2:00 pm

Q&A

2:30 pm

End and closing remarks

Hillyer will host a conversation between solo artist Abol Bahadori and photographer, Joshua Dunn, who will talk about the exhibition Hybrid Baroque. They will talk about the subject matter of Abol’s exhibition, his material methods and techniques, and his strongest pictorial influences.

Free to the public (a donation of $10 is suggested)

IA&A at Hillyer
9 Hillyer Court NW
Washington, DC 20008
202.338.0680

Free to the public ($10 suggested donation)

To celebrate the debut of Écriture (Writing) with the Body: Contemporary Korean Women’s Art, a selection of artists from Korea will be joined by the curators, Dr. Jung-Sil Lee and Dr. Koh Dong-Yeon, to discuss the general concept for the exhibition and their unique contributions to the subject. Artists from Korea, Jung Jungyeob, Ahn Okhyun, and Jaye Rhee will join to talk.