Photo: Art by Archie Azamehr
Archie Azarmehr is an Evergreen graduate and an active artist in Olympia. Their art often deals in opposites—in positives and negatives—and thus it was fitting when I learned that their other home is Austin, Texas, practically the opposite of Olympia’s climate. Much of their art featured in this issue utilizes printmaking, but naturally most artists prove to be nuanced and variable in their craft. This showed in my conversation with them, where we talked about everything from their various artistic mediums to location and identity.
A major feature of printing is that it works in a lot of positive and negative color relationships. How does that figure into how you approach making prints?
“Most of the stuff that I do is linoleum blocked, which means that you’re basically starting off with a chunk that’s going to all be black, and everything that you take out is going to be white. It’s kind of like you’re starting reverse from most processes. You have to have a really good sense of negative space. I normally start with a photograph or other image and see the ‘chunks’ of white and black in it, take it down to those two tones, and then work with that kind of structure.”
A component of your art that’s completely different from your printmaking is your fiber arts; there’s quite a few cool fiber pieces on your Instagram. Can you walk me through a bit of what you do in that space, and your background in it?
“I make clothes, I make patches, I knit and weave … I kind of do anything I can. I’ve been doing fiber art stuff since I was a kid. My mom and my grandmother are both big knitters and big sewers, so it’s always kind of been something I grew up doing, and a connection I have with my family.”
What were your first steps into approaching art in the way that you do now?
“I was always into doing crafts and weird DIY projects as a kid. In high school and middle school I was always in formal art classes, doing whatever the ‘formal art’ looks like for them. But I started doing printmaking at Evergreen, which completely swept me up.”
At this point it’s become clear to me that art has kind of been a throughline throughout your entire life. Where do you want to take your art from here?
“That’s a good question. I haven’t quite figured it out since I’ve graduated. I have a lot of different angles I’ve been thinking about. I’m going to continue to do screen printing and selling my stuff on the side, no matter what. I think it’s the early 20s, post-grad thing, where I know how to do all of these different things, but I’m not quite sure where exactly to apply it.”
Most literally, you’ve chosen to take your art to Olympia thus far. Can you tell me about your artistic experience in Olympia, as well as a bit about your connections to other places?
“I was born and raised in Austin, and lived there for most of my life. I have a big friend group in Austin, and half of my family is there. The other half of my family, on my dad’s side, is in Iran.”
“Being in Olympia, in contrast to those places, forces me to be inside a lot. I have a lot of nervous energy that gets pent-up since I’m used to being outside a lot more. I think it’s cool, though, since I really enjoy the way my things end up looking from being in my workspace for so long. The winter is when I crank out weird shit [laughs].”
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You can find Archie on Instagram @archie_makes_bigart
