Leili Towfigh

Biography

I am a West Medford native with a background in religious philosophy, media production, and educational technology. I work in the media of clay, film, photography, painting, graphic design and drawing.

I’ve been drawing and painting since I could hold an implement in my hand, and I received much encouragement from my parents. My mother is unfailingly supportive. My father, too - throughout my childhood, he brought home samples of paints and markers from trade shows, and I used them – still do to this day! – with great relish.

I first started working with clay in the 1980s at the Commonwealth School in Boston. From 1998-2001, I studied ceramics with Darrell Finnegan at MIT. From 2004-06, I worked with Michal Ye’or and Rachel Tzamir in Haifa, Israel. In Israel, I experimented with new techniques and materials such as raku, porcelain and surface decoration, and have continued in this vein now that I am back at the MIT studios again.

Most recently I produced and directed a documentary film about social and economic development in Uganda, entitled, “Opening a Space: The Discourse on Science, Religion and Development in Uganda.”

After years away, it is exciting to show work in the Open Studios alongside my favorite artist (my mother, Patricia Towfigh). To see my online portfolio, please visit: http://www.leili.org.

Statement

When I take photographs, paint, or make a ceramic piece, I try to work as simply as I can. I don’t think too hard about the piece while I am making it, or about potential responses to it. I like to exert technical control, but try to avoid the point at which the piece becomes over-wrought and over-thought. I feel that a piece has turned out well when I can see evidence of learning in it.

I am drawn to fractals, abstract patterns and relationships that represent order, unity and harmony. One of the benefits of art is that it can awaken spiritual capacities of discernment and sensitivity; it reflects the spirit in which it was made.

I paint in acrylic on paper or canvas. The work is usually abstract, with lots of bright color and intricate patterns. When I look at the paintings after they are painted, a lot of them seem to be about people – in groups, in movements, as they relate to each other.

My clay work is stoneware fired in an electric kiln to Cone 6. I find clay to be a very integrated medium. There is little separation between the potter and the pot. Clay shows every mark of your fingers, it shows the temperature and humidity of the atmosphere in which it is made, it reveals the mood and inner thoughts of the person who shaped it. 

My photographs are from Addis, Akko, Alaska, Big Sur, Boston, Bristol, Cambridge, Central Vermont, Delhi, Haifa, Ipswich, Kampala, Lincoln, London, Lucknow, Mbale, Medford, Mexico City, Mountain View, Murrell’s Inlet, New York City, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Tel Aviv ...