Jackie Kazarian

Jackie Kazarian (Ջեքի Ղազարյան), is an American painter, video artist, and installation artist of Armenian descent.

Ancestors
Jackie Kazarian's grandfathers, Abram Bedrosian (Adana) and Kazar Kazarian (Tadem), both left Western Armenia before 1915, they were from Sivas, Marash, Tadem and Adana. Jachie's grandmother, Mariam Betlezian's father was a linguist professor and was taken and killed by Ottoman soldiers. Mariam's mother feared that her teen daughter would be abducted and/or enslaved, so placed her in an orphanage before she fled with her younger children. Mariam eventually left the orphanage to become an immigrant bride and lived her life in Waukegan, Illinois.

Jachie's grandmother, Elmas Shahinian, was well-educated and came from a wealthy family in Sivas. Her grandfather owned a flour mill in Sivas, and lived with 22 family members and servants in a house that is now a post office. When the home was confiscated by Ottoman soldiers, most of her family members were killed, but her father and uncle were spared for a while to run the mill. Eventually, they were also killed. Elmas became a young manager of a Sivas orphanage and went back to her home every week to give piano lessons to the Turkish captain's wife in exchange for flour to feed her mother and brother, who were living on the street. She eventually emigrated to the U.S. with them and lived the rest of her life in Milwaukee, WI.

Education
Jackie Kazarian was born in Chicago. She has studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1981 she graduated from Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, 1989 -Chicago Art Institute. 1984–1990 she worked in Encyclopædia Britannica, 1988 – 2005 at Chicago Art Institute ։

Project 1915
In 2015 to promote awareness of the culture and the tragedy, Jackie created her work Armenia (Hayasdan) for the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. The painting is oriented in a way to reflect the view of Ararat and the names of the cities as if one is standing in historic Armenia and looking east. The orientation also refers to the ancient Christian maps (called TO maps), with east at the top of the map, north to the left. The needle lace used in the painting and the praying hands at the base of the painting is from Jachie's grandmother, Mariam Betlezian, who was from Marash. The work will be displayed for the first time in Chicago's Mana Contemporary from April 17 to May 29.

Exhibitions

 * 2012 Jackie Kazarian, Bellvitge Art, Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
 * 2010 Expect Nothing: New Works by Jackie Kazarian, Chicago Cultural Center
 * Jackie Kazarian, Damascus, Syria
 * Jackie Kazarian, Lattakia, Syria
 * 2009 Jackie Kazarian, Union League Club of Chicago
 * 2008 Jackie Kazarian, exhale, Alfedena Gallery, Chicago
 * Jackie Kazarian: breath, Stubbs, Chicago
 * Jackie Kazarian, The Artist Project, Artropolis, Chicago
 * 2007 Jackie Kazarian, The Artist Project, Artropolis, Chicago
 * 2006  Focus 5,  Illinois State Museum Gallery, Chicago
 * Gebben Gray Gallery, Fennville, MI
 * 2004 Don't Blink, Three Arts Club, Chicago
 * 1998 From Mariam's kitchen—the wallpaper series, Boyadjian Gallery,
 * AGBU Alex Manoogian Center, Pasadena, California
 * 1996 Jackie Kazarian, The Garden Wall Papers, Klein Art Works, Chicago
 * 1994 Klein Art Works, Chicago
 * 1993 55 Mercer, New York City
 * Klein Art Works, Chicago
 * 1991 Klein Art Works, Chicago
 * 1935 Gallery, Chicago

Awards

 * 2010 Visiting Artist, United States Embassy, Damascus, Syria
 * 2008 Fellowship, Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women & Gender in the Arts & Media, Columbia College, Chicago
 * 1996–2004 Advisory Board, Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
 * 1998–2004 Exhibition Advisory Committee, Department of Cultural Affairs, Chicago
 * 1997–2004 Grants Panelist (Chair), City Arts Program, City of Chicago
 * 1991 Community Artist Assistance Program Grant, City of Chicago